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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson -
+Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson
+
+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 Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25)
+
+Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
+
+Other: Andrew Lang
+
+Release Date: December 23, 2009 [EBook #30744]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF STEVENSON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       THE WORKS OF
+  ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
+
+     SWANSTON EDITION
+
+         VOLUME V
+
+
+  _Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five
+  Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS
+  STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies
+  have been printed, of which only Two Thousand
+  Copies are for sale._
+
+  _This is No._ ........
+
+
+[Illustration: 8 HOWARD PLACE, EDINBURGH, BIRTHPLACE OF R. L. S. IN 1850]
+
+
+
+
+  THE WORKS OF
+  ROBERT LOUIS
+  STEVENSON
+
+  VOLUME FIVE
+
+
+  LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND
+  WINDUS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL
+  AND COMPANY LIMITED: WILLIAM
+  HEINEMANN: AND LONGMANS GREEN
+  AND COMPANY       MDCCCCXI
+
+
+  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
+
+
+  THE DYNAMITER
+
+
+                                                 PAGE
+    PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN                     7
+
+
+  CHALLONER'S ADVENTURE
+
+    THE SQUIRE OF DAMES                            15
+
+    STORY OF THE DESTROYING ANGEL                  24
+
+    THE SQUIRE OF DAMES (_concluded_)              57
+
+
+  SOMERSET'S ADVENTURE
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION                        73
+
+    NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY             78
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)         104
+
+    ZERO'S TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE BOMB             130
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)         139
+
+
+  DESBOROUGH'S ADVENTURE
+
+    THE BROWN BOX                                 149
+
+    STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN                       155
+
+    THE BROWN BOX (_concluded_)                   190
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_concluded_)         202
+
+    EPILOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN                   212
+
+
+  STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
+
+    STORY OF THE DOOR                             227
+
+    SEARCH FOR MR. HYDE                           234
+
+    DR. JEKYLL WAS QUITE AT EASE                  243
+
+    THE CAREW MURDER CASE                         246
+
+    INCIDENT OF THE LETTER                        251
+
+    REMARKABLE INCIDENT OF DR. LANYON             256
+
+    INCIDENT AT THE WINDOW                        261
+
+    THE LAST NIGHT                                263
+
+    DR. LANYON'S NARRATIVE                        276
+
+    HENRY JEKYLL'S FULL STATEMENT OF THE CASE     284
+
+
+  THRAWN JANET                                    305
+
+
+
+
+MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
+
+THE DYNAMITER
+
+WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH MRS. STEVENSON
+
+
+
+
+  _TO
+  MESSRS. COLE AND COX_
+
+  _POLICE OFFICERS_
+
+_Gentlemen,_
+
+_In the volume now in your hands, the authors have touched upon that
+ugly devil of crime, with which it is your glory to have contended. It
+were a waste of ink to do so in a serious spirit. Let us dedicate our
+horror to acts of a more mingled strain, where crime preserves some
+features of nobility, and where reason and humanity can still relish the
+temptation. Horror, in this case, is due to Mr. Parnell: he sits before
+posterity silent, Mr. Forster's appeal echoing down the ages. Horror is
+due to ourselves, in that we have so long coquetted with political
+crime; not seriously weighing, not acutely following it from cause to
+consequence; but with a generous, unfounded heat of sentiment, like the
+schoolboy with the penny tale, applauding what was specious. When it
+touched ourselves (truly in a vile shape), we proved false to these
+imaginations; discovered, in a clap, that crime was no less cruel and no
+less ugly under sounding names; and recoiled from our false deities._
+
+_But seriousness comes most in place when we are to speak of our
+defenders. Whoever be in the right in this great and confused war of
+politics; whatever elements of greed, whatever traits of the bully,
+dishonour both parties in this inhuman contest;--your side, your part,
+is at least pure of doubt. Yours is the side of the child, of the
+breeding woman, of individual pity and public trust. If our society were
+the mere kingdom of the devil (as indeed it wears some of his colours),
+it yet embraces many precious elements and many innocent persons whom
+it_ _is a glory to defend. Courage and devotion, so common in the ranks
+of the police, so little recognised, so meagrely rewarded, have at
+length found their commemoration in an historical act. History, which
+will represent Mr. Parnell sitting silent under the appeal of Mr.
+Forster, and Gordon setting forth upon his tragic enterprise, will not
+forget Mr. Cole carrying the dynamite in his defenceless hands, nor Mr.
+Cox coming coolly to his aid._
+
+     _ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
+     FANNY VAN DE GRIFT STEVENSON._
+
+
+
+
+_A NOTE FOR THE READER_
+
+
+_It is within the bounds of possibility that you may take up this
+volume, and yet be unacquainted with its predecessor: the first series
+of_ NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS. _The loss is yours--and mine; or, to be more
+exact, my publishers'. But if you are thus unlucky, the least I can do
+is to pass you a hint. When you shall find a reference in the following
+pages to one Theophilus Godall of the Bohemian Cigar Divan in Rupert
+Street, Soho, you must be prepared to recognise under his features no
+less a person than Prince Florizel of Bohemia, formerly one of the
+magnates of Europe, now dethroned, exiled, impoverished, and embarked in
+the tobacco trade._
+
+     _R. L. S._
+
+
+
+
+MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
+
+THE DYNAMITER
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN
+
+
+In the city of encounters, the Bagdad of the West, and, to be more
+precise, on the broad northern pavement of Leicester Square, two young
+men of five- or six-and-twenty met after years of separation. The first,
+who was of a very smooth address, and clothed in the best fashion,
+hesitated to recognise the pinched and shabby air of his companion.
+
+"What!" he cried, "Paul Somerset!"
+
+"I am indeed Paul Somerset," returned the other, "or what remains of him
+after a well-deserved experience of poverty and law. But in you,
+Challoner, I can perceive no change; and time may be said, without
+hyperbole, to write no wrinkle on your azure brow."
+
+"All," replied Challoner, "is not gold that glitters. But we are here in
+an ill posture for confidences, and interrupt the movement of these
+ladies. Let us, if you please, find a more private corner."
+
+"If you will allow me to guide you," replied Somerset, "I will offer you
+the best cigar in London."
+
+And taking the arm of his companion, he led him in silence and at a
+brisk pace to the door of a quiet establishment in Rupert Street, Soho.
+The entrance was adorned with one of those gigantic Highlanders of wood
+which have almost risen to the standing of antiquities; and across the
+window-glass, which sheltered the usual display of pipes, tobacco, and
+cigars, there ran the gilded legend: "Bohemian Cigar Divan, by T.
+Godall." The interior of the shop was small, but commodious and ornate;
+the salesman grave, smiling, and urbane; and the two young men, each
+puffing a select regalia, had soon taken their places on a sofa of
+mouse-coloured plush, and proceeded to exchange their stories.
+
+"I am now," said Somerset, "a barrister; but Providence and the
+attorneys have hitherto denied me the opportunity to shine. A select
+society at the Cheshire Cheese engaged my evenings; my afternoons, as
+Mr. Godall could testify, have been generally passed in this divan; and
+my mornings, I have taken the precaution to abbreviate by not rising
+before twelve. At this rate, my little patrimony was very rapidly and, I
+am proud to remember, most agreeably expended. Since then a gentleman,
+who has really nothing else to recommend him beyond the fact of being my
+maternal uncle, deals me the small sum of ten shillings a week; and if
+you behold me once more revisiting the glimpses of the street lamps in
+my favourite quarter, you will readily divine that I have come into a
+fortune."
+
+"I should not have supposed so," replied Challoner. "But doubtless I met
+you on the way to your tailors."
+
+"It is a visit that I purpose to delay," returned Somerset, with a
+smile. "My fortune has definite limits. It consists, or rather this
+morning it consisted, of one hundred pounds."
+
+"That is certainly odd," said Challoner; "yes, certainly the coincidence
+is strange. I am myself reduced to the same margin."
+
+"You!" cried Somerset. "And yet Solomon in all his glory----"
+
+"Such is the fact. I am, dear boy, on my last legs," said Challoner.
+"Besides the clothes in which you see me, I have scarcely a decent
+trouser in my wardrobe; and if I knew how, I would this instant set
+about some sort of work or commerce. With a hundred pounds for capital,
+a man should push his way."
+
+"It may be," returned Somerset; "but what to do with mine is more than I
+can fancy.--Mr. Godall," he added, addressing the salesman, "you are a
+man who knows the world: what can a young fellow of reasonable education
+do with a hundred pounds?"
+
+"It depends," replied the salesman, withdrawing his cheroot. "The power
+of money is an article of faith in which I profess myself a sceptic. A
+hundred pounds will with difficulty support you for a year; with
+somewhat more difficulty you may spend it in a night; and without any
+difficulty at all you may lose it in five minutes on the Stock Exchange.
+If you are of that stamp of man that rises, a penny would be as useful;
+if you belong to those that fall, a penny would be no more useless. When
+I was myself thrown unexpectedly upon the world, it was my fortune to
+possess an art: I knew a good cigar. Do you know nothing, Mr. Somerset?"
+
+"Not even law," was the reply.
+
+"The answer is worthy of a sage," returned Mr. Godall.--"And you, sir,"
+he continued, turning to Challoner, "as the friend of Mr. Somerset, may
+I be allowed to address you the same question?"
+
+"Well," replied Challoner, "I play a fair hand at whist."
+
+"How many persons are there in London," returned the salesman, "who have
+two-and-thirty teeth? Believe me, young gentleman, there are more still
+who play a fair hand at whist. Whist, sir, is wide as the world; 'tis an
+accomplishment like breathing. I once knew a youth who announced that he
+was studying to be Chancellor of England; the design was certainly
+ambitious; but I find it less excessive than that of the man who aspires
+to make a livelihood by whist."
+
+"Dear me," said Challoner, "I am afraid I shall have to fall to be a
+working man."
+
+"Fall to be a working man?" echoed Mr. Godall. "Suppose a rural dean to
+be unfrocked, does he fall to be a major? suppose a captain were
+cashiered, would he fall to be a puisne judge? The ignorance of your
+middle class surprises me. Outside itself, it thinks the world to lie
+quite ignorant and equal, sunk in a common degradation; but to the eye
+of the observer, all ranks are seen to stand in ordered hierarchies, and
+each adorned with its particular aptitudes and knowledge. By the defects
+of your education you are more disqualified to be a working man than to
+be the ruler of an empire. The gulf, sir, is below; and the true learned
+arts--those which alone are safe from the competition of insurgent
+laymen--are those which give his title to the artisan."
+
+"This is a very pompous fellow," said Challoner in the ear of his
+companion.
+
+"He is immense," said Somerset.
+
+Just then the door of the divan was opened, and a third young fellow
+made his appearance, and rather bashfully requested some tobacco. He was
+younger than the others; and, in a somewhat meaningless and altogether
+English way, he was a handsome lad. When he had been served, and had
+lighted his pipe and taken his place upon the sofa, he recalled himself
+to Challoner by the name of Desborough.
+
+"Desborough, to be sure," cried Challoner. "Well, Desborough, and what
+do you do?"
+
+"The fact is," said Desborough, "that I am doing nothing."
+
+"A private fortune, possibly?" inquired the other.
+
+"Well, no," replied Desborough, rather sulkily. "The fact is that I am
+waiting for something to turn up."
+
+"All in the same boat!" cried Somerset. "And have you, too, one hundred
+pounds?"
+
+"Worse luck," said Mr. Desborough.
+
+"This is a very pathetic sight, Mr. Godall," said Somerset: "three
+futiles."
+
+"A character of this crowded age," returned the salesman.
+
+"Sir," said Somerset, "I deny that the age is crowded; I will admit one
+fact, and one fact only: that I am futile, that he is futile, and that
+we are all three as futile as the devil. What am I? I have smattered
+law, smattered letters, smattered geography, smattered mathematics; I
+have even a working knowledge of judicial astrology; and here I stand,
+all London roaring by at the street's end, as impotent as any baby. I
+have a prodigious contempt for my maternal uncle; but without him, it is
+idle to deny it, I should simply resolve into my elements like an
+unstable mixture. I begin to perceive that it is necessary to know some
+one thing to the bottom--were it only literature. And yet, sir, the man
+of the world is a great feature of this age; he is possessed of an
+extraordinary mass and variety of knowledge; he is everywhere at home;
+he has seen life in all its phases; and it is impossible but that this
+great habit of existence should bear fruit. I count myself a man of the
+world, accomplished, _cap-�-pie_. So do you, Challoner. And you, Mr.
+Desborough?"
+
+"Oh yes," returned the young man.
+
+"Well, then, Mr. Godall, here we stand, three men of the world, without
+a trade to cover us, but planted at the strategic centre of the universe
+(for so you will allow me to call Rupert Street), in the midst of the
+chief mass of people, and within earshot of the most continuous chink of
+money on the surface of the globe. Sir, as civilised men, what do we do?
+I will show you. You take in a paper?"
+
+"I take," said Mr. Godall solemnly, "the best paper in the world, the
+_Standard_."
+
+"Good," resumed Somerset. "I now hold it in my hand, the voice of the
+world, a telephone repeating all men's wants. I open it, and where my
+eye first falls--well, no, not Morrison's Pills--but here, sure enough,
+and but a little above, I find the joint that I was seeking; here is the
+weak spot in the armour of society. Here is a want, a plaint, an offer
+of substantial gratitude: '_Two Hundred Pounds Reward_.--The above
+reward will be paid to any person giving information as to the identity
+and whereabouts of a man observed yesterday in the neighbourhood of the
+Green Park. He was over six feet in height, with shoulders
+disproportionately broad, close shaved, with black moustaches, and
+wearing a sealskin great-coat.' There, gentlemen, our fortune, if not
+made, is founded."
+
+"Do you then propose, dear boy, that we should turn detectives?"
+inquired Challoner.
+
+"Do I propose it? No, sir," cried Somerset. "It is reason, destiny, the
+plain face of the world, that commands and imposes it. Here all our
+merits tell; our manners, habit of the world, powers of conversation,
+vast stores of unconnected knowledge, all that we are and have builds up
+the character of the complete detective. It is, in short, the only
+profession for a gentleman."
+
+"The proposition is perhaps excessive," replied Challoner; "for hitherto
+I own I have regarded it as of all dirty, sneaking, and ungentlemanly
+trades, the least and lowest."
+
+"To defend society?" asked Somerset; "to stake one's life for others? to
+deracinate occult and powerful evil? I appeal to Mr. Godall. He, at
+least, as a philosophic looker-on at life, will spit upon such
+philistine opinions. He knows that the policeman, as he is called upon
+continually to face greater odds, and that both worse equipped and for a
+better cause, is in form and essence a more noble hero than the soldier.
+Do you, by any chance, deceive yourself into supposing that a general
+would either ask or expect, from the best army ever marshalled, and on
+the most momentous battlefield, the conduct of a common constable at
+Peckham Rye?"[1]
+
+"I did not understand we were to join the force," said Challoner.
+
+"Nor shall we. These are the hands; but here--here, sir, is the head,"
+cried Somerset. "Enough; it is decreed. We shall hunt down this
+miscreant in the sealskin coat."
+
+"Suppose that we agreed," retorted Challoner, "you have no plan, no
+knowledge; you know not where to seek for a beginning."
+
+"Challoner!" cried Somerset, "is it possible that you hold the doctrine
+of Free Will? And are you devoid of any tincture of philosophy, that you
+should harp on such exploded fallacies? Chance, the blind Madonna of the
+Pagan, rules this terrestrial bustle; and in Chance I place my sole
+reliance. Chance has brought us three together; when we next separate
+and go forth our several ways, Chance will continually drag before our
+careless eyes a thousand eloquent clues, not to this mystery only, but
+to the countless mysteries by which we live surrounded. Then comes the
+part of the man of the world, of the detective born and bred. This clue,
+which the whole town beholds without comprehension, swift as a cat, he
+leaps upon it, makes it his, follows it with craft and passion, and from
+one trifling circumstance divines a world."
+
+"Just so," said Challoner; "and I am delighted that you should recognise
+these virtues in yourself. But in the meanwhile, dear boy, I own myself
+incapable of joining. I was neither born nor bred as a detective, but as
+a placable and very thirsty gentleman; and, for my part, I begin to
+weary for a drink. As for clues and adventures, the only adventure that
+is ever likely to occur to me will be an adventure with a bailiff."
+
+"Now there is the fallacy," cried Somerset. "There I catch the secret of
+your futility in life. The world teems and bubbles with adventure; it
+besieges you along the streets; hands waving out of windows, swindlers
+coming up and swearing they knew you when you were abroad, affable and
+doubtful people of all sorts and conditions begging and truckling for
+your notice. But not you: you turn away, you walk your seedy mill round,
+you must go the dullest way. Now here, I beg of you, the next adventure
+that offers itself, embrace it in with both your arms; whatever it
+looks, grimy or romantic, grasp it. I will do the like; the devil is in
+it, but at least we shall have fun; and each in turn we shall narrate
+the story of our fortunes to my philosophic friend of the divan, the
+great Godall, now hearing me with inward joy. Come, is it a bargain?
+Will you, indeed, both promise to welcome every chance that offers, to
+plunge boldly into every opening, and, keeping the eye wary and the head
+composed, to study and piece together all that happens? Come, promise:
+let me open to you the doors of the great profession of intrigue."
+
+"It is not much in my way," said Challoner, "but, since you make a point
+of it, amen."
+
+"I don't mind promising," said Desborough, "but nothing will happen to
+me."
+
+"O faithless ones!" cried Somerset. "But at least I have your promises;
+and Godall, I perceive, is transported with delight."
+
+"I promise myself at least much pleasure from your various narratives,"
+said the salesman, with the customary calm polish of his manner.
+
+"And now, gentlemen," concluded Somerset, "let us separate. I hasten to
+put myself in fortune's way. Hark how, in this quiet corner, London
+roars like the noise of battle; four million destinies are here
+concentred; and in the strong panoply of one hundred pounds, payable to
+the bearer, I am about to plunge into that web."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [1] Hereupon the Arabian author enters on one of his digressions.
+    Fearing, apparently, that the somewhat eccentric views of Mr.
+    Somerset should throw discredit on a part of truth, he calls upon
+    the English people to remember with more gratitude the services of
+    the police; to what unobserved and solitary acts of heroism they are
+    called; against what odds of numbers and of arms, and for how small
+    a reward, either in fame or money: matter, it has appeared to the
+    translators, too serious for this place.
+
+
+
+
+CHALLONER'S ADVENTURE:
+
+THE SQUIRE OF DAMES
+
+
+Mr. Edward Challoner had set up lodgings in the suburb of Putney, where
+he enjoyed a parlour and bedroom and the sincere esteem of the people of
+the house. To this remote home he found himself, at a very early hour in
+the morning of the next day, condemned to set forth on foot. He was a
+young man of a portly habit; no lover of the exercises of the body;
+bland, sedentary, patient of delay, a prop of omnibuses. In happier days
+he would have chartered a cab; but these luxuries were now denied him;
+and with what courage he could muster he addressed himself to walk.
+
+It was then the height of the season and the summer; the weather was
+serene and cloudless; and as he paced under the blinded houses and along
+the vacant streets, the chill of the dawn had fled, and some of the
+warmth and all the brightness of the July day already shone upon the
+city. He walked at first in a profound abstraction, bitterly reviewing
+and repenting his performances at whist; but as he advanced into the
+labyrinth of the south-west, his ear was gradually mastered by the
+silence. Street after street looked down upon his solitary figure, house
+after house echoed upon his passage with a ghostly jar, shop after shop
+displayed its shuttered front and its commercial legend; and meanwhile
+he steered his course, under day's effulgent dome and through this
+encampment of diurnal sleepers, lonely as a ship.
+
+"Here," he reflected, "if I were like my scatter-brained companion, here
+were indeed the scene where I might look for an adventure. Here, in
+broad day, the streets are secret as in the blackest night of January,
+and in the midst of some four million sleepers, solitary as the woods
+of Yucatan. If I but raise my voice I could summon up the number of an
+army, and yet the grave is not more silent than this city of sleep."
+
+He was still following these quaint and serious musings when he came
+into a street of more mingled ingredients than was common in the
+quarter. Here, on the one hand, framed in walls and the green tops of
+trees, were several of those discreet, _bijou_ residences on which
+propriety is apt to look askance. Here, too, were many of the
+brick-fronted barracks of the poor; a plaster cow, perhaps, serving as
+ensign to a dairy, or a ticket announcing the business of the mangler.
+Before one such house, that stood a little separate among walled
+gardens, a cat was playing with a straw, and Challoner paused a moment,
+looking on this sleek and solitary creature, who seemed an emblem of the
+neighbouring peace. With the cessation of the sound of his own steps the
+silence fell dead; the house stood smokeless; the blinds down, the whole
+machinery of life arrested; and it seemed to Challoner that he should
+hear the breathing of the sleepers.
+
+As he so stood, he was startled by a dull and jarring detonation from
+within. This was followed by a monstrous hissing and simmering as from a
+kettle of the bigness of St. Paul's; and at the same time from every
+chink of door and window spurted an ill-smelling vapour. The cat
+disappeared with a cry. Within the lodging-house feet pounded on the
+stairs; the door flew back, emitting clouds of smoke; and two men and an
+elegantly dressed young lady tumbled forth into the street and fled
+without a word. The hissing had already ceased, the smoke was melting in
+the air, the whole event had come and gone as in a dream, and still
+Challoner was rooted to the spot. At last his reason and his fear awoke
+together, and with the most unwonted energy he fell to running.
+
+Little by little this first dash relaxed, and presently he had resumed
+his sober gait and begun to piece together, out of the confused report
+of his senses, some theory of the occurrence. But the occasion of the
+sounds and stench that had so suddenly assailed him, and the strange
+conjunction of fugitives whom he had seen to issue from the house, were
+mysteries beyond his plummet. With an obscure awe he considered them in
+his mind, continuing, meanwhile, to thread the web of streets, and once
+more alone in morning sunshine.
+
+In his first retreat he had entirely wandered; and now, steering vaguely
+west, it was his luck to light upon an unpretending street, which
+presently widened so as to admit a strip of gardens in the midst. Here
+was quite a stir of birds; even at that hour, the shadow of the leaves
+was grateful; instead of the burnt atmosphere of cities, there was
+something brisk and rural in the air; and Challoner paced forward, his
+eyes upon the pavement and his mind running upon distant scenes, till he
+was recalled, upon a sudden, by a wall that blocked his further
+progress. This street, whose name I have forgotten, is no thoroughfare.
+
+He was not the first who had wandered there that morning; for, as he
+raised his eyes with an agreeable deliberation, they alighted on the
+figure of a girl, in whom he was struck to recognise the third of the
+incongruous fugitives. She had run there, seemingly, blindfold; the wall
+had checked her career; and being entirely wearied, she had sunk upon
+the ground beside the garden railings, soiling her dress among the
+summer dust. Each saw the other in the same instant of time; and she,
+with one wild look, sprang to her feet and began to hurry from the
+scene.
+
+Challoner was doubly startled to meet once more the heroine of his
+adventure and to observe the fear with which she shunned him. Pity and
+alarm, in nearly equal forces, contested the possession of his mind; and
+yet, in spite of both, he saw himself condemned to follow in the lady's
+wake. He did so gingerly, as fearing to increase her terrors; but, tread
+as lightly as he might, his footfalls eloquently echoed in the empty
+street. Their sound appeared to strike in her some strong emotion; for
+scarce had he begun to follow ere she paused. A second time she
+addressed herself to flight; and a second time she paused. Then she
+turned about, and, with doubtful steps and the most attractive
+appearance of timidity, drew near to the young man. He on his side
+continued to advance with similar signals of distress and bashfulness.
+At length, when they were but some steps apart, he saw her eyes brim
+over, and she reached out both her hands in eloquent appeal.
+
+"Are you an English gentleman?" she cried.
+
+The unhappy Challoner regarded her with consternation. He was the spirit
+of fine courtesy, and would have blushed to fail in his devoirs to any
+lady; but, in the other scale, he was a man averse from amorous
+adventures. He looked east and west; but the houses that looked down
+upon this interview remained inexorably shut; and he saw himself, though
+in the full glare of the day's eye, cut off from any human intervention.
+His looks returned at last upon the suppliant. He remarked with
+irritation that she was charming both in face and figure, elegantly
+dressed and gloved: a lady undeniable; the picture of distress and
+innocence; weeping and lost in the city of diurnal sleep.
+
+"Madam," he said, "I protest you have no cause to fear intrusion; and if
+I have appeared to follow you, the fault is in this street, which has
+deceived us both."
+
+An unmistakable relief appeared upon the lady's face. "I might have
+guessed it!" she exclaimed. "Thank you a thousand times! But at this
+hour, in this appalling silence, and among all these staring windows, I
+am lost in terrors--oh, lost in them!" she cried, her face blanching at
+the words. "I beg you to lend me your arm," she added with the
+loveliest, suppliant inflection. "I dare not go alone; my nerve is
+gone--I had a shock, O what a shock! I beg of you to be my escort."
+
+"My dear madam," responded Challoner heavily, "my arm is at your
+service."
+
+She took it and clung to it for a moment, struggling with her sobs; and
+the next, with feverish hurry, began to lead him in the direction of the
+city. One thing was plain, among so much that was obscure: it was plain
+her fears were genuine. Still, as she went, she spied around as if for
+dangers; and now she would shiver like a person in a chill, and now
+clutch his arm in hers. To Challoner her terror was at once repugnant
+and infectious; it gained and mastered, while it still offended him; and
+he wailed in spirit and longed for release.
+
+"Madam," he said at last, "I am, of course, charmed to be of use to any
+lady; but I confess I was bound in a direction opposite to that you
+follow, and a word of explanation----"
+
+"Hush!" she sobbed, "not here--not here!"
+
+The blood of Challoner ran cold. He might have thought the lady mad; but
+his memory was charged with more perilous stuff; and in view of the
+detonation, the smoke, and the flight of the ill-assorted trio, his mind
+was lost among mysteries. So they continued to thread the maze of
+streets in silence, with the speed of a guilty flight, and both
+thrilling with incommunicable terrors. In time, however, and above all
+by their quick pace of walking, the pair began to rise to firmer
+spirits; the lady ceased to peer about the corners; and Challoner,
+emboldened by the resonant tread and distant figure of a constable,
+returned to the charge with more of spirit and directness.
+
+"I thought," he said, in the tone of conversation, "that I had
+indistinctly perceived you leaving a villa in the company of two
+gentlemen."
+
+"Oh!" she said, "you need not fear to wound me by the truth. You saw me
+flee from a common lodging-house, and my companions were not gentlemen.
+In such a case, the best of compliments is to be frank."
+
+"I thought," resumed Challoner, encouraged as much as he was surprised
+by the spirit of her reply, "to have perceived, besides, a certain
+odour. A noise, too--I do not know to what I should compare it----"
+
+"Silence!" she cried. "You do not know the danger you invoke. Wait, only
+wait; and as soon as we have left those streets and got beyond the reach
+of listeners, all shall be explained. Meanwhile, avoid the topic. What a
+sight is this sleeping city!" she exclaimed; and then, with a most
+thrilling voice, "'Dear God,'" she quoted, "'the very houses seem
+asleep, and all that mighty heart is lying still.'"
+
+"I perceive, madam," said he, "you are a reader."
+
+"I am more than that," she answered, with a sigh. "I am a girl condemned
+to thoughts beyond her age; and so untoward is my fate, that this walk
+upon the arm of a stranger is like an interlude of peace."
+
+They had come by this time to the neighbourhood of the Victoria Station;
+and here, at a street corner, the young lady paused, withdrew her arm
+from Challoner's, and looked up and down as though in pain or
+indecision. Then, with a lovely change of countenance, and laying her
+gloved hand upon his arm:
+
+"What you already think of me," she said, "I tremble to conceive; yet I
+must here condemn myself still further. Here I must leave you, and here
+I beseech you to wait for my return. Do not attempt to follow me or spy
+upon my actions. Suspend yet awhile your judgment of a girl as innocent
+as your own sister; and do not, above all, desert me. Stranger as you
+are, I have none else to look to. You see me in sorrow and great fear;
+you are a gentleman, courteous and kind; and when I beg for a few
+minutes' patience, I make sure beforehand you will not deny me."
+
+Challoner grudgingly promised; and the young lady, with a grateful
+eye-shot, vanished round the corner. But the force of her appeal had
+been a little blunted; for the young man was not only destitute of
+sisters, but of any female relative nearer than a great-aunt in Wales.
+Now he was alone, besides, the spell that he had hitherto obeyed began
+to weaken; he considered his behaviour with a sneer; and plucking up the
+spirit of revolt, he started in pursuit. The reader, if he has ever
+plied the fascinating trade of the noctambulist, will not be unaware
+that, in the neighbourhood of the great railway centres, certain early
+taverns inaugurate the business of the day. It was into one of these
+that Challoner, coming round the corner of the block, beheld his
+charming companion disappear. To say he was surprised were inexact, for
+he had long since left that sentiment behind him. Acute disgust and
+disappointment seized upon his soul; and with silent oaths he damned
+this commonplace enchantress. She had scarce been gone a second ere the
+swing-doors reopened, and she appeared again in company with a young man
+of mean and slouching attire. For some five or six exchanges they
+conversed together with an animated air; then the fellow shouldered
+again into the tap; and the young lady, with something swifter than a
+walk, retraced her steps towards Challoner. He saw her coming, a miracle
+of grace; her ankle, as she hurried, flashing from her dress; her
+movements eloquent of speed and youth; and though he still entertained
+some thoughts of flight, they grew miserably fainter as the distance
+lessened. Against mere beauty he was proof: it was her unmistakable
+gentility that now robbed him of the courage of his cowardice. With a
+proved adventuress he had acted strictly on his right; with one whom, in
+spite of all, he could not quite deny to be a lady, he found himself
+disarmed. At the very corner from whence he had spied upon her
+interview, she came upon him, still transfixed, and--"Ah!" she cried,
+with a bright flush of colour. "Ah! Ungenerous!"
+
+The sharpness of the attack somewhat restored the Squire of Dames to the
+possession of himself.
+
+"Madam," he returned, with a fair show of stoutness, "I do not think
+that hitherto you can complain of any lack of generosity; I have
+suffered myself to be led over a considerable portion of the metropolis;
+and if I now request you to discharge me of my office of protector, you
+have friends at hand who will be glad of the succession."
+
+She stood a moment dumb.
+
+"It is well," she said. "Go! go, and may God help me! You have seen
+me--me, an innocent girl! fleeing from a dire catastrophe and haunted by
+sinister men; and neither pity, curiosity, nor honour move you to await
+my explanation or to help in my distress. Go!" she repeated. "I am lost
+indeed." And with a passionate gesture she turned and fled along the
+street.
+
+Challoner observed her retreat and disappear, an almost intolerable
+sense of guilt contending with the profound sense that he was being
+gulled. She was no sooner gone than the first of these feelings took the
+upper hand; he felt, if he had done her less than justice, that his
+conduct was a perfect model of the ungracious; the cultured tone of her
+voice, her choice of language, and the elegant decorum of her movements,
+cried out aloud against a harsh construction; and between penitence and
+curiosity he began slowly to follow in her wake. At the corner he had
+her once more full in view. Her speed was failing like a stricken
+bird's. Even as he looked, she threw her arm out gropingly, and fell and
+leaned against the wall. At the spectacle, Challoner's fortitude gave
+way. In a few strides he overtook her, and, for the first time removing
+his hat, assured her in the most moving terms of his entire respect and
+firm desire to help her. He spoke at first unheeded; but gradually it
+appeared that she began to comprehend his words; she moved a little, and
+drew herself upright; and finally, as with a sudden movement of
+forgiveness, turned on the young man a countenance in which reproach and
+gratitude were mingled. "Ah, madam," he cried, "use me as you will!" And
+once more, but now with a great air of deference, he offered her the
+conduct of his arm. She took it with a sigh that struck him to the
+heart; and they began once more to trace the deserted streets. But now
+her steps, as though exhausted by emotion, began to linger on the way;
+she leaned the more heavily upon his arm; and he, like the parent bird,
+stooped fondly above his drooping convoy. Her physical distress was not
+accompanied by any failing of her spirits; and hearing her strike so
+soon into a playful and charming vein of talk, Challoner could not
+sufficiently admire the elasticity of his companion's nature. "Let me
+forget," she had said, "for one half-hour, let me forget"; and sure
+enough, with the very word, her sorrows appeared to be forgotten. Before
+every house she paused, invented a name for the proprietor, and sketched
+his character: here lived the old general whom she was to marry on the
+fifth of the next month, there was the mansion of the rich widow who had
+set her heart on Challoner; and though she still hung wearily on the
+young man's arm, her laughter sounded low and pleasant in his ears.
+"Ah," she sighed, by way of commentary, "in such a life as mine I must
+seize tight hold of any happiness that I can find."
+
+When they arrived, in this leisurely manner, at the head of Grosvenor
+Place, the gates of the park were opening, and the bedraggled company of
+night-walkers were being at last admitted into that paradise of lawns.
+Challoner and his companion followed the movement, and walked for awhile
+in silence in that tatterdemalion crowd; but as one after another, weary
+with the night's patrolling of the city pavement, sank upon the benches
+or wandered into separate paths, the vast extent of the park had soon
+utterly swallowed up the last of these intruders; and the pair proceeded
+on their way alone in the grateful quiet of the morning.
+
+Presently they came in sight of a bench, standing very open on a mound
+of turf. The young lady looked about her with relief.
+
+"Here," she said, "here at last we are secure from listeners. Here,
+then, you shall learn and judge my history. I could not bear that we
+should part, and that you should still suppose your kindness squandered
+upon one who was unworthy."
+
+Thereupon she sat down upon the bench, and motioning Challoner to take a
+place immediately beside her, began in the following words, and with the
+greatest appearance of enjoyment, to narrate the story of her life.
+
+
+
+
+STORY OF THE DESTROYING ANGEL
+
+
+My father was a native of England, son of a cadet of a great ancient but
+untitled family; and by some event, fault, or misfortune he was driven
+to flee from the land of his birth and to lay aside the name of his
+ancestors. He sought the States; and instead of lingering in effeminate
+cities, pushed at once into the Far West with an exploring party of
+frontiersmen. He was no ordinary traveller; for he was not only brave
+and impetuous by character, but learned in many sciences, and above all
+in botany, which he particularly loved. Thus it fell that, before many
+months, Fremont himself, the nominal leader of the troop, courted and
+bowed to his opinion.
+
+They had pushed, as I have said, into the still unknown regions of the
+West. For some time they followed the track of Mormon caravans, guiding
+themselves in that vast and melancholy desert by the skeletons of men
+and animals. Then they inclined their route a little to the north, and,
+losing even these dire memorials, came into a country of forbidding
+stillness. I have often heard my father dwell upon the features of that
+ride: rock, cliff, and barren moor alternated; the streams were very far
+between; and neither beast nor bird disturbed the solitude. On the
+fortieth day they had already run so short of food that it was judged
+advisable to call a halt and scatter upon all sides to hunt. A great
+fire was built, that its smoke might serve to rally them; and each man
+of the party mounted and struck off at a venture into the surrounding
+desert.
+
+My father rode for many hours with a steep range of cliffs upon the one
+hand, very black and horrible; and upon the other an unwatered vale
+dotted with boulders like the site of some subverted city. At length he
+found the slot of a great animal, and from the claw-marks and the hair
+among the brush, judged that he was on the track of a cinnamon bear of
+most unusual size. He quickened the pace of his steed, and, still
+following the quarry, came at last to the division of two watersheds. On
+the far side the country was exceeding intricate and difficult, heaped
+with boulders, and dotted here and there with a few pines, which seemed
+to indicate the neighbourhood of water. Here, then, he picketed his
+horse, and, relying on his trusty rifle, advanced alone into that
+wilderness.
+
+Presently, in the great silence that reigned, he was aware of the sound
+of running water to his right; and leaning in that direction, was
+rewarded by a scene of natural wonder and human pathos strangely
+intermixed. The stream ran at the bottom of a narrow and winding
+passage, whose wall-like sides of rock were sometimes for miles together
+unscalable by man. The water, when the stream was swelled with rains,
+must have filled it from side to side; the sun's rays only plumbed it in
+the hour of noon; the wind, in that narrow and damp funnel, blew
+tempestuously. And yet, in the bottom of this den, immediately below my
+father's eyes as he leaned over the margin of the cliff, a party of some
+half a hundred men, women, and children lay scattered uneasily among the
+rocks. They lay, some upon their backs, some prone, and not one
+stirring; their upturned faces seemed all of an extraordinary paleness
+and emaciation; and from time to time, above the washing of the stream,
+a faint sound of moaning mounted to my father's ears.
+
+While he thus looked, an old man got staggering to his feet, unwound his
+blanket, and laid it, with great gentleness, on a young girl who sat
+hard by propped against a rock. The girl did not seem to be conscious of
+the act; and the old man, after having looked upon her with the most
+engaging pity, returned to his former bed and lay down again uncovered
+on the turf. But the scene had not passed without observation even in
+that starving camp. From the very outskirts of the party, a man with a
+white beard and seemingly of venerable years, rose up on his knees and
+came crawling stealthily among the sleepers towards the girl; and judge
+of my father's indignation, when he beheld this cowardly miscreant strip
+from her both the coverings and return with them to his original
+position. Here he lay down for a while below his spoils, and, as my
+father imagined, feigned to be asleep; but presently he had raised
+himself again upon one elbow, looked with sharp scrutiny at his
+companions, and then swiftly carried his hand into his bosom and thence
+to his mouth. By the movement of his jaws he must be eating; in that
+camp of famine he had reserved a store of nourishment; and, while his
+companions lay in the stupor of approaching death, secretly restored his
+powers.
+
+My father was so incensed at what he saw that he raised his rifle; and
+but for an accident, he has often declared, he would have shot the
+fellow dead upon the spot. How different would then have been my
+history! But it was not to be: even as he raised the barrel, his eye
+lighted on the bear, as it crawled along a ledge some way below him; and
+ceding to the hunter's instinct, it was at the brute, not at the man,
+that he discharged his piece. The bear leaped and fell into a pool of
+the river; the ca�on re-echoed the report; and in a moment the camp was
+afoot. With cries that were scarce human, stumbling, falling, and
+throwing each other down, these starving people rushed upon the quarry;
+and before my father, climbing down by the ledge, had time to reach the
+level of the stream, many were already satisfying their hunger on the
+raw flesh, and a fire was being built by the more dainty.
+
+His arrival was for some time unremarked. He stood in the midst of these
+tottering and clay-faced marionettes; he was surrounded by their cries;
+but their whole soul was fixed on the dead carcase; even those who were
+too weak to move, lay, half-turned over, with their eyes riveted upon
+the bear; and my father, seeing himself stand as though invisible in the
+thick of this dreary hubbub, was seized with a desire to weep. A touch
+upon the arm restrained him. Turning about, he found himself face to
+face with the old man he had so nearly killed; and yet, at the second
+glance, recognised him for no old man at all, but one in the full
+strength of his years, and of a strong, speaking, and intellectual
+countenance stigmatised by weariness and famine. He beckoned my father
+near the cliff, and there, in the most private whisper, begged for
+brandy. My father looked at him with scorn: "You remind me," he said,
+"of a neglected duty. Here is my flask; it contains enough, I trust, to
+revive the women of your party; and I will begin with her whom I saw you
+robbing of her blankets." And with that, not heeding his appeals, my
+father turned his back upon the egoist.
+
+The girl still lay reclined against the rock; she lay too far sunk in
+the first stage of death to have observed the bustle round her couch;
+but when my father had raised her head, put the flask to her lips, and
+forced or aided her to swallow some drops of the restorative, she opened
+her languid eyes and smiled upon him faintly. Never was there a smile of
+a more touching sweetness; never were eyes more deeply violet, more
+honestly eloquent of the soul! I speak with knowledge, for these were
+the same eyes that smiled upon me in the cradle. From her who was to be
+his wife, my father, still jealously watched and followed by the man
+with the grey beard, carried his attentions to all the women of the
+party, and gave the last drainings of his flask to those among the men
+who seemed in the most need.
+
+"Is there none left? not a drop for me?" said the man with the beard.
+
+"Not one drop," replied my father; "and if you find yourself in want,
+let me counsel you to put your hand into the pocket of your coat."
+
+"Ah!" cried the other, "you misjudge me. You think me one who clings to
+life for selfish and commonplace considerations. But let me tell you,
+that were all this caravan to perish, the world would but be lightened
+of a weight. These are but human insects, pullulating, thick as
+may-flies, in the slums of European cities, whom I myself have plucked
+from degradation and misery, from the dung-heap and gin-palace door. And
+you compare their lives with mine!"
+
+"You are then a Mormon missionary?" asked my father.
+
+"Oh!" cried the man, with a strange smile, "a Mormon missionary if you
+will! I value not the title. Were I no more than that, I could have died
+without a murmur. But with my life as a physician is bound up the
+knowledge of great secrets and the future of man. This it was, when we
+missed the caravan, tried for a short cut and wandered to this desolate
+ravine, that ate into my soul and, in five days, has changed my beard
+from ebony to silver."
+
+"And you are a physician," mused my father, looking on his face, "bound
+by oath to succour man in his distresses."
+
+"Sir," returned the Mormon, "my name is Grierson: you will hear that
+name again; and you will then understand that my duty was not to this
+caravan of paupers, but to mankind at large."
+
+My father turned to the remainder of the party, who were now
+sufficiently revived to hear; told them that he would set off at once to
+bring help from his own party; "and," he added, "if you be again reduced
+to such extremities, look round you, and you will see the earth strewn
+with assistance. Here, for instance, growing on the underside of
+fissures in this cliff, you will perceive a yellow moss. Trust me, it is
+both edible and excellent."
+
+"Ha!" said Dr. Grierson, "you know botany!"
+
+"Not I alone," returned my father, lowering his voice; "for see where
+these have been scraped away. Am I right? Was that your secret store?"
+
+My father's comrades, he found, when he returned to the signal-fire, had
+made a good day's hunting. They were thus the more easily persuaded to
+extend assistance to the Mormon caravan; and the next day beheld both
+parties on the march for the frontiers of Utah. The distance to be
+traversed was not great; but the nature of the country and the
+difficulty of procuring food extended the time to nearly three weeks;
+and my father had thus ample leisure to know and appreciate the girl
+whom he had succoured. I will call my mother Lucy. Her family name I am
+not at liberty to mention; it is one you would know well. By what series
+of undeserved calamities this innocent flower of maidenhood, lovely,
+refined by education, ennobled by the finest taste, was thus cast among
+the horrors of a Mormon caravan, I must not stay to tell you. Let it
+suffice, that even in these untoward circumstances, she found a heart
+worthy of her own. The ardour of attachment which united my father and
+mother was perhaps partly due to the strange manner of their meeting; it
+knew, at least, no bounds, either divine or human; my father, for her
+sake, determined to renounce his ambition and abjure his faith; and a
+week had not passed upon the march before he had resigned from his
+party, accepted the Mormon doctrine, and received the promise of my
+mother's hand on the arrival of the party at Salt Lake.
+
+The marriage took place, and I was its only offspring. My father
+prospered exceedingly in his affairs, remained faithful to my mother;
+and, though you may wonder to hear it, I believe there were few happier
+homes in any country than that in which I saw the light and grew to
+girlhood. We were, indeed, and in spite of all our wealth, avoided as
+heretics and half-believers by the more precise and pious of the
+faithful: Young himself, that formidable tyrant, was known to look
+askance upon my father's riches; but of this I had no guess. I dwelt,
+indeed, under the Mormon system, with perfect innocence and faith. Some
+of our friends had many wives; but such was the custom; and why should
+it surprise me more than marriage itself? From time to time one of our
+rich acquaintances would disappear, his family be broken up, his wives
+and houses shared among the elders of the church, and his memory only
+recalled with bated breath and dreadful head-shakings. When I had been
+very still, and my presence perhaps was forgotten, some such topic would
+arise among my elders by the evening fire; I would see them draw the
+closer together and look behind them with scared eyes; and I might
+gather from their whisperings how some one, rich, honoured, healthy, and
+in the prime of his days, some one, perhaps, who had taken me on his
+knees a week before, had in one hour been spirited from home and family,
+and vanished like an image from a mirror, leaving not a print behind. It
+was terrible, indeed; but so was death, the universal law. And even if
+the talk should wax still bolder, full of ominous silences and nods, and
+I should hear named in a whisper the Destroying Angels, how was a child
+to understand these mysteries? I heard of a Destroying Angel as some
+more happy child might hear in England of a bishop or a rural dean, with
+vague respect and without the wish for further information. Life
+anywhere, in society as in nature, rests upon dread foundations; I
+beheld safe roads, a garden blooming in the desert, pious people
+crowding to worship; I was aware of my parents' tenderness and all the
+harmless luxuries of my existence; and why should I pry beneath this
+honest seeming surface for the mysteries on which it stood?
+
+We dwelt originally in the city; but at an early date we moved to a
+beautiful house in a green dingle, musical with splashing water, and
+surrounded on almost every side by twenty miles of poisonous and rocky
+desert. The city was thirty miles away; there was but one road, which
+went no farther than my father's door; the rest were bridle-tracks
+impassable in winter; and we thus dwelt in a solitude inconceivable to
+the European. Our only neighbour was Dr. Grierson. To my young eyes,
+after the hair-oiled, chin-bearded elders of the city, and the
+ill-favoured and mentally stunted women of their harems, there was
+something agreeable in the correct manner, the fine bearing, the thin
+white hair and beard, and the piercing looks of the old doctor. Yet,
+though he was almost our only visitor, I never wholly overcame a sense
+of fear in his presence; and this disquietude was rather fed by the
+awful solitude in which he lived and the obscurity that hung about his
+occupations. His house was but a mile or two from ours, but very
+differently placed. It stood overlooking the road on the summit of a
+steep slope, and planted close against a range of overhanging bluffs.
+Nature, you would say, had here desired to imitate the works of man; for
+the slope was even, like the glacis of a fort, and the cliffs of a
+constant height, like the ramparts of a city. Not even spring could
+change one feature of that desolate scene; and the windows looked down
+across a plain, snowy with alkali, to ranges of cold stone sierras on
+the north. Twice or thrice I remember passing within view of this
+forbidding residence; and seeing it always shuttered, smokeless, and
+deserted, I remarked to my parents that some day it would certainly be
+robbed.
+
+"Ah, no," said my father, "never robbed"; and I observed a strange
+conviction in his tone.
+
+At last, and not long before the blow fell on my unhappy family, I
+chanced to see the doctor's house in a new light. My father was ill; my
+mother confined to his bedside; and I was suffered to go, under the
+charge of our driver, to the lonely house some twenty miles away, where
+our packages were left for us. The horse cast a shoe; night overtook us
+half-way home; and it was well on for three in the morning when the
+driver and I, alone in a light waggon, came to that part of the road
+which ran below the doctor's house. The moon swam clear; the cliffs and
+mountains in this strong light lay utterly deserted; but the house, from
+its station on the top of the long slope and close under the bluff, not
+only shone abroad from every window like a place of festival, but from
+the great chimney at the west end poured forth a coil of smoke so thick
+and so voluminous, that it hung for miles along the windless night-air,
+and its shadow lay far abroad in the moonlight upon the glittering
+alkali. As we continued to draw near, besides, a regular and panting
+throb began to divide the silence. First it seemed to me like the
+beating of a heart; and next it put into my mind the thought of some
+giant, smothered under mountains, and still, with incalculable effort,
+fetching breath. I had heard of the railway, though I had not seen it,
+and I turned to ask the driver if this resembled it. But some look in
+his eye, some pallor, whether of fear or moonlight on his face, caused
+the words to die upon my lips. We continued, therefore, to advance in
+silence, till we were close below the lighted house; when suddenly,
+without premonitory rustle, there burst forth a report of such a bigness
+that it shook the earth and set the echoes of the mountains thundering
+from cliff to cliff. A pillar of amber flame leaped from the chimney-top
+and fell in multitudes of sparks; and at the same time the lights in the
+windows turned for one instant ruby red and then expired. The driver had
+checked his horse instinctively, and the echoes were still rumbling
+farther off among the mountains, when there broke from the now darkened
+interior a series of yells--whether of man or woman it was impossible to
+guess--the door flew open, and there ran forth into the moonlight, at
+the top of the long slope, a figure clad in white, which began to dance
+and leap and throw itself down, and roll as if in agony, before the
+house. I could no more restrain my cries; the driver laid his lash about
+the horse's flank, and we fled up the rough track at the peril of our
+lives; and did not draw rein till, turning the corner of the mountain,
+we beheld my father's ranch and deep, green groves and gardens, sleeping
+in the tranquil light.
+
+This was the one adventure of my life, until my father had climbed to
+the very topmost point of material prosperity, and I myself had reached
+the age of seventeen. I was still innocent and merry like a child;
+tended my garden or ran upon the hills in glad simplicity; gave not a
+thought to coquetry or to material cares; and if my eye rested on my own
+image in a mirror or some sylvan spring, it was to seek and recognise
+the features of my parents. But the fears which had long pressed on
+others were now to be laid on my youth. I had thrown myself, one sultry,
+cloudy afternoon, on a divan; the windows stood open on the verandah,
+where my mother sat with her embroidery; and when my father joined her
+from the garden, their conversation, clearly audible to me, was of so
+startling a nature that it held me enthralled where I lay.
+
+"The blow has come," my father said, after a long pause.
+
+I could hear my mother start and turn, but in words she made no reply.
+
+"Yes," continued my father, "I have received to-day a list of all that I
+possess; of all, I say; of what I have lent privately to men whose lips
+are sealed with terror; of what I have buried with my own hand on the
+bare mountain, when there was not a bird in heaven. Does the air, then,
+carry secrets? Are the hills of glass? Do the stones we tread upon
+preserve the footprint to betray us? Oh, Lucy, Lucy, that we should have
+come to such a country!"
+
+"But this," returned my mother, "is no very new or very threatening
+event. You are accused of some concealment. You will pay more taxes in
+the future, and be mulcted in a fine. It is disquieting, indeed, to find
+our acts so spied upon, and the most private known. But is this new?
+Have we not long feared and suspected every blade of grass?"
+
+"Ay, and our shadows!" cried my father. "But all this is nothing. Here
+is the letter that accompanied the list."
+
+I heard my mother turn the pages; and she was some time silent.
+
+"I see," she said at last; and then, with the tone of one reading;
+"'From a believer so largely blessed by Providence with this world's
+goods,'" she continued, "'the Church awaits in confidence some signal
+mark of piety.' There lies the sting. Am I not right? These are the
+words you fear?"
+
+"These are the words," replied my father. "Lucy, you remember Priestley?
+Two days before he disappeared, he carried me to the summit of an
+isolated butte; we could see around us for ten miles; sure, if in any
+quarter of this land a man were safe from spies, it were in such a
+station; but it was in the very ague-fit of terror that he told me, and
+that I heard, his story. He had received a letter such as this; and he
+submitted to my approval an answer in which he offered to resign a third
+of his possessions. I conjured him, as he valued life, to raise his
+offering; and, before we parted, he had doubled the amount. Well, two
+days later he was gone--gone from the chief street of the city in the
+hour of noon--and gone for ever. O God!" cried my father, "by what art
+do they thus spirit out of life the solid body? What death do they
+command that leaves no traces? that this material structure, these
+strong arms, this skeleton that can resist the grave for centuries,
+should be thus reft in a moment from the world of sense? A horror dwells
+in that thought more awful than mere death."
+
+"Is there no hope in Grierson?" asked my mother.
+
+"Dismiss the thought," replied my father. "He now knows all that I can
+teach, and will do naught to save me. His power, besides, is small, his
+own danger not improbably more imminent than mine; for he, too, lives
+apart; he leaves his wives neglected and unwatched; he is openly cited
+for an unbeliever; and unless he buys security at a more awful
+price--but no; I will not believe it: I have no love for him, but I will
+not believe it."
+
+"Believe what?" asked my mother; and then, with a change of note, "But
+oh, what matters it?" she cried. "Abimelech, there is but one way open:
+we must fly!"
+
+"It is in vain," returned my father. "I should but involve you in my
+fate. To leave this land is hopeless: we are closed in it as men are
+closed in life; and there is no issue but the grave."
+
+"We can but die then," replied my mother. "Let us at least die together.
+Let not Asenath[2] and myself survive you. Think to what a fate we
+should be doomed!"
+
+My father was unable to resist her tender violence; and though I could
+see he nourished not one spark of hope, he consented to desert his whole
+estate, beyond some hundreds of dollars that he had by him at the
+moment, and to flee that night, which promised to be dark and cloudy. As
+soon as the servants were asleep, he was to load two mules with
+provisions; two others were to carry my mother and myself; and, striking
+through the mountains by an unfrequented trail, we were to make a fair
+stroke for liberty and life. As soon as they had thus decided, I showed
+myself at the window, and, owning that I had heard all, assured them
+that they could rely on my prudence and devotion. I had no fear, indeed,
+but to show myself unworthy of my birth; I held my life in my hand
+without alarm; and when my father, weeping upon my neck, had blessed
+Heaven for the courage of his child, it was with a sentiment of pride
+and some of the joy that warriors take in war, that I began to look
+forward to the perils of our flight.
+
+Before midnight, under an obscure and starless heaven, we had left far
+behind us the plantations of the valley, and were mounting a certain
+ca�on in the hills, narrow, encumbered with great rocks, and echoing
+with the roar of a tumultuous torrent. Cascade after cascade thundered
+and hung up its flag of whiteness in the night, or fanned our faces with
+the wet wind of its descent. The trail was break-neck, and led to
+famine-guarded deserts; it had been long since deserted for more
+practicable routes; and it was now a part of the world untrod from year
+to year by human footing. Judge of our dismay when, turning suddenly an
+angle of the cliffs, we found a bright bonfire blazing by itself under
+an impending rock; and on the face of the rock, drawn very rudely with
+charred wood, the great Open Eye which is the emblem of the Mormon
+faith. We looked upon each other in the firelight; my mother broke into
+a passion of tears; but not a word was said. The mules were turned
+about; and leaving that great eye to guard the lonely ca�on, we
+retraced our steps in silence. Day had not yet broken ere we were once
+more at home, condemned beyond reprieve.
+
+What answer my father sent I was not told; but two days later, a little
+before sundown, I saw a plain, honest-looking man ride slowly up the
+road in a great pother of dust. He was clad in homespun, with a broad
+straw hat; wore a patriarchal beard; and had an air of a simple rustic
+farmer, that was, in my eyes, very reassuring. He was, indeed, a very
+honest man and pious Mormon; with no liking for his errand, though
+neither he nor any one in Utah dared to disobey; and it was with every
+mark of diffidence that he had had himself announced as Mr. Aspinwall,
+and entered the room where our unhappy family was gathered. My mother
+and me he awkwardly enough dismissed; and as soon as he was alone with
+my father laid before him a blank signature of President Young's, and
+offered him a choice of services: either to set out as a missionary to
+the tribes about the White Sea, or to join the next day, with a party of
+Destroying Angels, in the massacre of sixty German immigrants. The last,
+of course, my father could not entertain, and the first he regarded as a
+pretext: even if he could consent to leave his wife defenceless, and to
+collect fresh victims for the tyranny under which he was himself
+oppressed, he felt sure he would never be suffered to return. He refused
+both; and Aspinwall, he said, betrayed sincere emotion, part religious,
+as the spectacle of such disobedience, but part human, in pity for my
+father and his family. He besought him to reconsider his decision; and
+at length, finding he could not prevail, gave him till the moon rose to
+settle his affairs, and say farewell to wife and daughter. "For," said
+he, "then, at the latest, you must ride with me."
+
+I dare not dwell upon the hours that followed: they fled all too fast;
+and presently the moon out-topped the eastern range, and my father and
+Mr. Aspinwall set forth, side by side, on their nocturnal journey. My
+mother, though still bearing an heroic countenance, had hastened to
+shut herself in her apartment, thenceforward solitary; and I, alone in
+the dark house, and consumed by grief and apprehension, made haste to
+saddle my Indian pony, to ride up to the corner of the mountain, and to
+enjoy one farewell sight of my departing father. The two men had set
+forth at a deliberate pace; nor was I long behind them, when I reached
+the point of view. I was the more amazed to see no moving creature in
+the landscape. The moon, as the saying is, shone bright as day; and
+nowhere, under the whole arch of night, was there a growing tree, a
+bush, a farm, a patch of tillage, or any evidence of man, but one. From
+the corner where I stood, a rugged bastion of the line of bluffs
+concealed the doctor's house; and across the top of that projection the
+soft night wind carried and unwound about the hills a coil of sable
+smoke. What fuel could produce a vapour so sluggish to dissipate in that
+dry air, or what furnace pour it forth so copiously, I was unable to
+conceive; but I knew well enough that it came from the doctor's chimney;
+I saw well enough that my father had already disappeared; and in despite
+of reason, I connected in my mind the loss of that dear protector with
+the ribbon of foul smoke that trailed along the mountains.
+
+Days passed, and still my mother and I waited in vain for news; a week
+went by, a second followed, but we heard no word of the father and
+husband. As smoke dissipates, as the image glides from the mirror, so in
+the ten or twenty minutes that I had spent in getting my horse and
+following upon his trail, had that strong and brave man vanished out of
+life. Hope, if any hope we had, fled with every hour; the worst was now
+certain for my father, the worst was to be dreaded for his defenceless
+family. Without weakness, with a desperate calm at which I marvel when I
+look back upon it, the widow and the orphan awaited the event. On the
+last day of the third week we rose in the morning to find ourselves
+alone in the house, alone, so far as we searched, on the estate; all our
+attendants, with one accord, had fled, and as we knew them to be
+gratefully devoted, we drew the darkest intimations from their flight.
+The day passed, indeed, without event; but in the fall of the evening we
+were called at last into the verandah by the approaching clink of
+horse's hoofs.
+
+The doctor, mounted on an Indian pony, rode into the garden, dismounted,
+and saluted us. He seemed much more bent, and his hair more silvery than
+ever; but his demeanour was composed, serious, and not unkind.
+
+"Madam," said he, "I am come upon a weighty errand; and I would have you
+recognise it as an effect of kindness in the President, that he should
+send as his ambassador your only neighbour and your husband's oldest
+friend in Utah."
+
+"Sir," said my mother, "I have but one concern, one thought. You know
+well what it is. Speak: my husband?"
+
+"Madam," returned the doctor, taking a chair on the verandah, "if you
+were a silly child my position would now be painfully embarrassing. You
+are, on the other hand, a woman of great intelligence and fortitude: you
+have, by my forethought, been allowed three weeks to draw your own
+conclusions and to accept the inevitable. Further words from me are, I
+conceive, superfluous."
+
+My mother was as pale as death, and trembled like a reed; I gave her my
+hand, and she kept it in the folds of her dress and wrung it till I
+could have cried aloud. "Then, sir," said she at last, "you speak to
+deaf ears. If this be indeed so, what have I to do with errands? what do
+I ask of Heaven but to die?"
+
+"Come," said the doctor, "command yourself. I bid you dismiss all
+thoughts of your late husband, and bring a clear mind to bear upon your
+own future and the fate of that young girl."
+
+"You bid me dismiss----" began my mother. "Then you know!" she cried.
+
+"I know," replied the doctor.
+
+"You know?" broke out the poor woman. "Then it was you who did the deed!
+I tear off the mask, and with dread and loathing see you as you
+are--you, whom the poor fugitive beholds in nightmares, and awakes
+raving--you, the Destroying Angel!"
+
+"Well, madam, and what then?" returned the doctor. "Have not my fate and
+yours been similar? Are we not both immured in this strong prison of
+Utah? Have you not tried to flee, and did not the Open Eye confront you
+in the ca�on? Who can escape the watch of that unsleeping eye of Utah?
+Not I, at least. Horrible tasks have, indeed, been laid upon me; and the
+most ungrateful was the last; but had I refused my offices, would that
+have spared your husband? You know well it would not. I, too, had
+perished along with him; nor would I have been able to alleviate his
+last moments, nor could I to-day have stood between his family and the
+hand of Brigham Young."
+
+"Ah!" cried I, "and could you purchase life by such concessions?"
+
+"Young lady," answered the doctor, "I both could and did; and you will
+live to thank me for that baseness. You have a spirit, Asenath, that it
+pleases me to recognise. But we waste time. Mr. Fonblanque's estate
+reverts, as you doubtless imagine, to the church; but some part of it
+has been reserved for him who is to marry the family; and that person, I
+should perhaps tell you without more delay, is no other than myself."
+
+At this odious proposal my mother and I cried out aloud, and clung
+together like lost souls.
+
+"It is as I supposed," resumed the doctor, with the same measured
+utterance. "You recoil from this arrangement. Do you expect me to
+convince you? You know very well that I have never held the Mormon view
+of women. Absorbed in the most arduous studies, I have left the
+slatterns whom they call my wives to scratch and quarrel among
+themselves; of me, they have had nothing but my purse; such was not the
+union I desired, even if I had the leisure to pursue it. No, you need
+not, madam, and my old friend--" and here the doctor rose and bowed with
+something of gallantry--"you need not apprehend my importunities. On the
+contrary, I am rejoiced to read in you a Roman spirit; and if I am
+obliged to bid you follow me at once, and that in the name, not of my
+wish, but of my orders, I hope it will be found that we are of a common
+mind."
+
+So, bidding us dress for the road, he took a lamp (for the night had now
+fallen) and set off to the stable to prepare our horses.
+
+"What does it mean?--what will become of us?" I cried.
+
+"Not that, at least," replied my mother, shuddering. "So far we can
+trust him. I seem to read among his words a certain tragic promise.
+Asenath, if I leave you, if I die, you will not forget your miserable
+parents?"
+
+Thereupon we fell to cross-purposes: I beseeching her to explain her
+words; she putting me by, and continuing to recommend the doctor for a
+friend. "The doctor!" I cried at last; "the man who killed my father?"
+
+"Nay," said she, "let us be just. I do believe, before Heaven, he played
+the friendliest part. And he alone, Asenath, can protect you in this
+land of death."
+
+At this the doctor returned, leading our two horses; and when we were
+all in the saddle, he bade me ride on before, as he had matter to
+discuss with Mrs. Fonblanque. They came at a foot's-pace, eagerly
+conversing in a whisper; and presently after the moon rose and showed
+them looking eagerly into each other's faces as they went, my mother
+laying her hand upon the doctor's arm, and the doctor himself, against
+his usual custom, making vigorous gestures of protest or asseveration.
+
+At the foot of the track which ascended the talus of the mountain to his
+door, the doctor overtook me at a trot.
+
+"Here," he said, "we shall dismount; and as your mother prefers to be
+alone, you and I shall walk together to my house."
+
+"Shall I see her again?" I asked.
+
+"I give you my word," he said, and helped me to alight. "We leave the
+horses here," he added. "There are no thieves in this stone wilderness."
+
+The track mounted gradually, keeping the house in view. The windows were
+once more bright; the chimney once more vomited smoke; but the most
+absolute silence reigned, and, but for the figure of my mother very
+slowly following in our wake, I felt convinced there was no human soul
+within a range of miles. At the thought, I looked upon the doctor,
+gravely walking by my side, with his bowed shoulders and white hair, and
+then once more at his house, lit up and pouring smoke like some
+industrious factory. And then my curiosity broke forth. "In Heaven's
+name," I cried, "what do you make in this inhuman desert?"
+
+He looked at me with a peculiar smile, and answered with an evasion:
+
+"This is not the first time," said he, "that you have seen my furnaces
+alight. One morning, in the small hours, I saw you driving past; a
+delicate experiment miscarried; and I cannot acquit myself of having
+startled either your driver or the horse that drew you."
+
+"What!" cried I, beholding again in fancy the antics of the figure,
+"could that be you?"
+
+"It was I," he replied; "but do not fancy that I was mad. I was in
+agony. I had been scalded cruelly."
+
+We were now near the house, which, unlike the ordinary houses of the
+country, was built of hewn stone and very solid. Stone, too, was its
+foundation, stone its background. Not a blade of grass sprouted among
+the broken mineral about the walls, not a flower adorned the windows.
+Over the door, by way of sole adornment, the Mormon Eye was rudely
+sculptured; I had been brought up to view that emblem from my
+childhood; but since the night of our escape, it had acquired a new
+significance, and set me shrinking. The smoke rolled voluminously from
+the chimney-top, its edges ruddy with the fire; and from the far corner
+of the building, near the ground, angry puffs of steam shone snow-white
+in the moon and vanished.
+
+The doctor opened the door and paused upon the threshold. "You ask me
+what I make here," he observed: "Two things: Life and Death." And he
+motioned me to enter.
+
+"I shall await my mother," said I.
+
+"Child," he replied, "look at me: am I not old and broken? Of us two,
+which is the stronger, the young maiden or the withered man?"
+
+I bowed and, passing by him, entered a vestibule or kitchen, lit by a
+good fire and a shaded reading-lamp. It was furnished only with a
+dresser, a rude table, and some wooden benches; and on one of these the
+doctor motioned me to take a seat; and passing by another door into the
+interior of the house, he left me to myself. Presently I heard the jar
+of iron from the far end of the building; and this was followed by the
+same throbbing noise that had startled me in the valley, but now so near
+at hand as to be menacing by loudness, and even to shake the house with
+every recurrence of the stroke. I had scarce time to master my alarm
+when the doctor returned, and almost in the same moment my mother
+appeared upon the threshold. But how am I to describe to you the peace
+and ravishment of that face? Years seemed to have passed over her head
+during that brief ride, and left her younger and fairer; her eyes shone,
+her smile went to my heart; she seemed no more a woman, but the angel of
+ecstatic tenderness. I ran to her in a kind of terror; but she shrank a
+little back and laid her finger on her lips, with something arch and yet
+unearthly. To the doctor, on the contrary, she reached out her hand as
+to a friend and helper; and so strange was the scene that I forgot to be
+offended.
+
+"Lucy," said the doctor, "all is prepared. Will you go alone, or shall
+your daughter follow us?"
+
+"Let Asenath come," she answered, "dear Asenath! At this hour when I am
+purified of fear and sorrow, and already survive myself and my
+affections, it is for your sake, and not for mine, that I desire her
+presence. Were she shut out, dear friend, it is to be feared she might
+misjudge your kindness."
+
+"Mother," I cried wildly, "mother, what is this?"
+
+But my mother, with her radiant smile, said only "Hush!" as though I
+were a child again, and tossing in some fever-fit; and the doctor bade
+me be silent and trouble her no more. "You have made a choice," he
+continued, addressing my mother, "that has often strangely tempted me.
+The two extremes: all, or else nothing; never, or this very hour upon
+the clock--these have been my incongruous desires. But to accept the
+middle term, to be content with a half-gift, to flicker awhile and to
+burn out--never for an hour, never since I was born, has satisfied the
+appetite of my ambition." He looked upon my mother fixedly, much of
+admiration and some touch of envy in his eyes; then, with a profound
+sigh, he led the way into the inner room.
+
+It was very long. From end to end it was lit up by many lamps, which by
+the changeful colour of their light, and by the incessant snapping
+sounds with which they burned, I have since divined to be electric. At
+the extreme end an open door gave us a glimpse into what must have been
+a lean-to shed beside the chimney; and this, in strong contrast to the
+room, was painted with a red reverberation as from furnace-doors. The
+walls were lined with books and glazed cases, the tables crowded with
+the implements of chemical research; great glass accumulators glittered
+in the light; and through a hole in the gable near the shed door a heavy
+driving-belt entered the apartment and ran overhead upon steel pulleys,
+with clumsy activity and many ghostly and fluttering sounds. In one
+corner I perceived a chair resting upon crystal feet, and curiously
+wreathed with wire. To this my mother advanced with a decisive
+swiftness.
+
+"Is this it?" she asked.
+
+The doctor bowed in silence.
+
+"Asenath," said my mother, "in this sad end of my life I have found one
+helper. Look upon him: it is Doctor Grierson. Be not, O my daughter, be
+not ungrateful to that friend!"
+
+She sat upon the chair, and took in her hands the globes that terminated
+the arms.
+
+"Am I right?" she asked, and looked upon the doctor with such a radiancy
+of face that I trembled for her reason. Once more the doctor bowed, but
+this time leaning hard against the wall. He must have touched a spring.
+The least shock agitated my mother where she sat; the least passing jar
+appeared to cross her features; and she sank back in the chair like one
+resigned to weariness. I was at her knees that moment; but her hands
+fell loosely in my grasp; her face, still beatified with the same
+touching smile, sank forward on her bosom: her spirit had for ever fled.
+
+I do not know how long may have elapsed before, raising for a moment my
+tearful face, I met the doctor's eyes. They rested upon mine with such a
+depth of scrutiny, pity, and interest, that even from the freshness of
+my sorrow I was startled into attention.
+
+"Enough," he said, "to lamentation. Your mother went to death as to a
+bridal, dying where her husband died. It is time, Asenath, to think of
+the survivors. Follow me to the next room."
+
+I followed him, like a person in a dream; he made me sit by the fire, he
+gave me wine to drink; and then, pacing the stone floor, he thus began
+to address me:
+
+"You are now, my child, alone in the world, and under the immediate
+watch of Brigham Young. It would be your lot, in ordinary circumstances,
+to become the fiftieth bride of some ignoble elder, or by particular
+fortune, as fortune is counted in this land, to find favour in the eyes
+of the President himself. Such a fate for a girl like you were worse
+than death; better to die as your mother died than to sink daily deeper
+in the mire of this pit of woman's degradation. But is escape
+conceivable? Your father tried; and you beheld yourself with what
+security his jailers acted, and how a dumb drawing on a rock was counted
+a sufficient sentry over the avenues of freedom. Where your father
+failed, will you be wiser or more fortunate? or are you, too, helpless
+in the toils?"
+
+I had followed his words with changing emotion, but now I believed I
+understood.
+
+"I see," I cried; "you judge me rightly. I must follow where my parents
+led; and oh! I am not only willing, I am eager!"
+
+"No," replied the doctor, "not death for you. The flawed vessel we may
+break, but not the perfect. No, your mother cherished a different hope,
+and so do I. I see," he cried, "the girl develop to the completed woman,
+the plan reach fulfilment, the promise--ay, outdone! I could not bear to
+arrest so lively, so comely a process. It was your mother's thought," he
+added, with a change of tone, "that I should marry you myself." I fear I
+must have shown a perfect horror of aversion from this fate, for he made
+haste to quiet me. "Reassure yourself, Asenath," he resumed. "Old as I
+am, I have not forgotten the tumultuous fancies of youth. I have passed
+my days, indeed, in laboratories; but in all my vigils I have not
+forgotten the tune of a young pulse. Age asks with timidity to be spared
+intolerable pain; youth, taking fortune by the beard, demands joy like a
+right. These things I have not forgotten; none, rather, has more keenly
+felt, none more jealously considered them; I have but postponed them to
+their day. See, then: you stand without support; the only friend left to
+you, this old investigator, old in cunning, young in sympathy. Answer me
+but one question: Are you free from the entanglement of what the world
+calls love? Do you still command your heart and purposes? or are you
+fallen in some bond-slavery of the eye and ear?"
+
+I answered him in broken words; my heart, I think I must have told him,
+lay with my dead parents.
+
+"It is enough," he said. "It has been my fate to be called on often, too
+often, for those services of which we spoke to-night; none in Utah could
+carry them so well to a conclusion; hence there has fallen into my hands
+a certain share of influence which I now lay at your service, partly for
+the sake of my dead friends, your parents; partly for the interest I
+bear you in your own right. I shall send you to England, to the great
+city of London, there to await the bridegroom I have selected. He shall
+be a son of mine, a young man suitable in age, and not grossly deficient
+in that quality of beauty that your years demand. Since your heart is
+free, you may well pledge me the sole promise that I ask in return for
+much expense and still more danger: to await the arrival of that
+bridegroom with the delicacy of a wife."
+
+I sat awhile stunned. The doctor's marriages, I remembered to have
+heard, had been unfruitful; and this added perplexity to my distress.
+But I was alone, as he had said, alone in that dark land; the thought of
+escape, of any equal marriage, was already enough to revive in me some
+dawn of hope; and, in what words I know not, I accepted the proposal.
+
+He seemed more moved by my consent than I could reasonably have looked
+for. "You shall see," he cried; "you shall judge for yourself." And
+hurrying to the next room he returned with a small portrait somewhat
+coarsely done in oils. It showed a man in the dress of nearly forty
+years before, young indeed, but still recognisable to be the doctor. "Do
+you like it?" he asked. "That is myself when I was young. My--my boy
+will be like that, like, but nobler; with such health as angels might
+condescend to envy; and a man of mind, Asenath, of commanding mind. That
+should be a man, I think; that should be one among ten thousand. A man
+like that--one to combine the passions of youth with the restraint, the
+force, the dignity of age--one to fill all the parts and faculties, one
+to be man's epitome--say, will that not satisfy the needs of an
+ambitious girl? Say, is not that enough?" And as he held the picture
+close before my eyes, his hand shook.
+
+I told him briefly I would ask no better, for I was transpierced with
+this display of fatherly emotion; but even as I said the words, the most
+insolent revolt surged through my arteries. I held him in horror, him,
+his portrait, and his son; and had there been any choice but death or a
+Mormon marriage, I declare before Heaven I had embraced it.
+
+"It is well," he replied, "and I had rightly counted on your spirit.
+Eat, then, for you have far to go." So saying, he set meat before me;
+and while I was endeavouring to obey, he left the room and returned with
+an armful of coarse raiment. "There," said he, "is your disguise. I
+leave you to your toilet."
+
+The clothes had probably belonged to a somewhat lubberly boy of fifteen;
+and they hung about me like a sack, and cruelly hampered my movements.
+But what filled me with uncontrollable shudderings was the problem of
+their origin and the fate of the lad to whom they had belonged. I had
+scarcely effected the exchange when the doctor returned, opened a back
+window, helped me out into the narrow space between the house and the
+overhanging bluffs, and showed me a ladder of iron foot-holds mortised
+in the rock. "Mount," he said, "swiftly. When you are at the summit,
+walk, so far as you are able, in the shadow of the smoke. The smoke will
+bring you, sooner or later, to a ca�on; follow that down, and you will
+find a man with two horses. Him you will implicitly obey. And remember,
+silence! That machinery which I now put in motion for your service may
+by one word be turned against you. Go; Heaven prosper you!"
+
+The ascent was easy. Arrived at the top of the cliff, I saw before me
+on the other side a vast and gradual declivity of stone, lying bare to
+the moon and the surrounding mountains. Nowhere was any vantage or
+concealment; and knowing how these deserts were beset with spies, I made
+haste to veil my movements under the blowing trail of smoke. Sometimes
+it swam high, rising on the night wind, and I had no more substantial
+curtain than its moon-thrown shadow; sometimes again it crawled upon the
+earth, and I would walk in it, no higher than to my shoulders, like some
+mountain fog. But, one way or another, the smoke of that ill-omened
+furnace protected the first steps of my escape, and led me unobserved to
+the ca�on.
+
+There, sure enough, I found a taciturn and sombre man beside a pair of
+saddle-horses; and thenceforward, all night long, we wandered in silence
+by the most occult and dangerous paths among the mountains. A little
+before the dayspring we took refuge in a wet and gusty cavern at the
+bottom of a gorge; lay there all day concealed; and the next night,
+before the glow had faded out of the west, resumed our wanderings. About
+noon we stopped again, in a lawn upon a little river, where was a screen
+of bushes; and here my guide, handing me a bundle from his pack, bade me
+change my dress once more. The bundle contained clothing of my own,
+taken from our house, with such necessaries as a comb and soap. I made
+my toilet by the mirror of a quiet pool; and as I was so doing and
+smiling with some complacency to see myself restored to my own image,
+the mountains rang with a scream of far more than human piercingness;
+and where I still stood astonished, there sprang up and swiftly
+increased a storm of the most awful and earth-rending sounds. Shall I
+own to you that I fell upon my face and shrieked? And yet this was but
+the overland train winding among the near mountains: the very means of
+my salvation: the strong wings that were to carry me from Utah!
+
+When I was dressed the guide gave me a bag, which contained, he said,
+both money and papers; and, telling me that I was already over the
+borders in the territory of Wyoming, bade me follow the stream until I
+reached the railway station, half a mile below. "Here," he added, "is
+your ticket as far as Council Bluffs. The East express will pass in a
+few hours." With that, he took both horses and, without further words or
+any salutation, rode off by the way that we had come.
+
+Three hours afterwards, I was seated on the end platform of the train as
+it swept eastward through the gorges and thundered in tunnels of the
+mountains. The change of scene, the sense of escape, the still throbbing
+terror of pursuit--above all the astounding magic of my new conveyance,
+kept me from any logical or melancholy thought. I had gone to the
+doctor's house two nights before prepared to die, prepared for worse
+than death; what had passed, terrible although it was, looked almost
+bright compared to my anticipations; and it was not till I had slept a
+full night in the flying palace car that I awoke to the sense of my
+irreparable loss and to some reasonable alarm about the future. In this
+mood I examined the contents of the bag. It was well supplied with gold;
+it contained tickets and complete directions for my journey as far as
+Liverpool, and a long letter from the doctor, supplying me with a
+fictitious name and story, recommending the most guarded silence, and
+bidding me to await faithfully the coming of his son. All then had been
+arranged beforehand: he had counted upon my consent, and, what was
+tenfold worse, upon my mother's voluntary death. My horror of my only
+friend, my aversion for this son who was to marry me, my revolt against
+the whole current and conditions of my life, were now complete. I was
+sitting stupefied by my distress and helplessness, when, to my joy, a
+very pleasant lady offered me her conversation. I clutched at the
+relief; and I was soon glibly telling her the story in the doctor's
+letter: how I was a Miss Gould, of Nevada City, going to England to an
+uncle, what money I had, what family, my age, and so forth, until I had
+exhausted my instructions, and, as the lady still continued to ply me
+with questions, began to embroider on my own account. This soon carried
+one of my inexperience beyond her depth; and I had already remarked a
+shadow on the lady's face, when a gentleman drew near and very civilly
+addressed me:
+
+"Miss Gould, I believe?" said he; and then, excusing himself to the lady
+by the authority of my guardian, drew me to the fore platform of the
+Pullman car. "Miss Gould," he said in my ear, "is it possible that you
+suppose yourself in safety? Let me completely undeceive you. One more
+such indiscretion and you return to Utah. And, in the meanwhile, if this
+woman should again address you, you are to reply with these words:
+'Madam, I do not like you, and I will be obliged if you will suffer me
+to choose my own associates.'"
+
+Alas, I had to do as I was bid; this lady, to whom I already felt myself
+drawn with the strongest cords of sympathy, I dismissed with insult; and
+thenceforward, through all that day I sat in silence, gazing on the bare
+plains and swallowing my tears. Let that suffice: it was the pattern of
+my journey. Whether on the train, at the hotels, or on board the ocean
+steamer, I never exchanged a friendly word with any fellow-traveller but
+I was certain to be interrupted. In every place, on every side, the most
+unlikely persons, man or woman, rich or poor, became protectors to
+forward me upon my journey or spies to observe and regulate my conduct.
+Thus I crossed the States, thus passed the ocean, the Mormon Eye still
+following my movements; and when at length a cab had set me down before
+that London lodging-house from which you saw me flee this morning, I had
+already ceased to struggle and ceased to hope.
+
+The landlady, like every one else through all that journey, was
+expecting my arrival. A fire was lighted in my room, which looked upon
+the garden; there were books on the table, clothes in the drawers; and
+there (I had almost said with contentment, and certainly with
+resignation) I saw month follow month over my head. At times my landlady
+took me for a walk or an excursion, but she would never suffer me to
+leave the house alone; and I, seeing that she also lived under the
+shadow of that widespread Mormon terror, felt too much pity to resist.
+To the child born on Mormon soil, as to the man who accepts the
+engagements of a secret order, no escape is possible; so I had clearly
+read, and I was thankful even for this respite. Meanwhile, I tried
+honestly to prepare my mind for my approaching nuptials. The day drew
+near when my bridegroom was to visit me, and gratitude and fear alike
+obliged me to consent. A son of Dr. Grierson's be he what he pleased,
+must still be young, and it was even probable he should be handsome; on
+more than that I felt I dared not reckon; and in moulding my mind
+towards consent I dwelt the more carefully on these physical attractions
+which I felt I might expect, and averted my eyes from moral or
+intellectual considerations. We have a great power upon our spirits; and
+as time passed I worked myself into a frame of acquiescence, nay, and I
+began to grow impatient for the hour. At night sleep forsook me; I sat
+all day by the fire, absorbed in dreams, conjuring up the features of my
+husband, and anticipating in fancy the touch of his hand and the sound
+of his voice. In the dead level and solitude of my existence, this was
+the one eastern window and the one door of hope. At last I had so
+cultivated and prepared my will, that I began to be besieged with fears
+upon the other side. How if it was I that did not please? How if this
+unseen lover should turn from me with disaffection? And now I spent
+hours before the glass, studying and judging my attractions, and was
+never weary of changing my dress or ordering my hair.
+
+When the day came I was long about my toilet; but at last, with a sort
+of hopeful desperation, I had to own that I could do no more, and must
+now stand or fall by nature. My occupation ended, I fell a prey to the
+most sickening impatience, mingled with alarms; giving ear to the
+swelling rumour of the streets, and at each change of sound or silence,
+starting, shrinking, and colouring to the brow. Love is not to be
+prepared, I know, without some knowledge of the object; and yet, when
+the cab at last rattled to the door, and I heard my visitor mount the
+stairs, such was the tumult of hopes in my poor bosom that love itself
+might have been proud to own their parentage. The door opened, and it
+was Dr. Grierson that appeared. I believe I must have screamed aloud,
+and I know, at least, that I fell fainting to the floor.
+
+When I came to myself he was standing over me, counting my pulse. "I
+have startled you," he said. "A difficulty unforeseen--the impossibility
+of obtaining a certain drug in its full purity--has forced me to resort
+to London unprepared. I regret that I should have shown myself once more
+without those poor attractions which are much, perhaps, to you, but to
+me are no more considerable than rain that falls into the sea. Youth is
+but a state, as passing as that syncope from which you are but just
+awakened, and, if there be truth in science, as easy to recall; for I
+find, Asenath, that I must now take you for my confidant. Since my first
+years I have devoted every hour and act of life to one ambitious task;
+and the time of my success is at hand. In these new countries, where I
+was so long content to stay, I collected indispensable ingredients; I
+have fortified myself on every side from the possibility of error; what
+was a dream now takes the substance of reality; and when I offered you a
+son of mine I did so in a figure. That son--that husband, Asenath, is
+myself--not as you now behold me, but restored to the first energy of
+youth. You think me mad? It is the customary attitude of ignorance. I
+will not argue; I will leave facts to speak. When you behold me
+purified, invigorated, renewed, restamped in the original image--when
+you recognise in me (what I shall be) the first perfect expression of
+the powers of mankind--I shall be able to laugh with a better grace at
+your passing and natural incredulity. To what can you aspire--fame,
+riches, power, the charm of youth, the dear-bought wisdom of age--that I
+shall not be able to afford you in perfection? Do not deceive yourself.
+I already excel you in every human gift but one: when that gift also has
+been restored to me you will recognise your master."
+
+Hereupon, consulting his watch, he told me he must now leave me to
+myself; and bidding me consult reason, and not girlish fancies, he
+withdrew. I had not the courage to move; the night fell, and found me
+still where he had laid me during my faint, my face buried in my hands,
+my soul drowned in the darkest apprehensions. Late in the evening he
+returned, carrying a candle, and, with a certain irritable tremor, bade
+me rise and sup. "Is it possible," he added, "that I have been deceived
+in your courage? A cowardly girl is no fit mate for me."
+
+I flung myself before him on my knees, and with floods of tears besought
+him to release me from this engagement, assuring him that my cowardice
+was abject, and that in every point of intellect and character I was his
+hopeless and derisible inferior.
+
+"Why, certainly," he replied. "I know you better than yourself; and I am
+well enough acquainted with human nature to understand this scene. It is
+addressed to me," he added with a smile, "in my character of the still
+untransformed. But do not alarm yourself about the future. Let me but
+attain my end, and not you only, Asenath, but every woman on the face of
+the earth becomes my willing slave."
+
+Thereupon he obliged me to rise and eat; sat down with me to table;
+helped and entertained me with the attentions of a fashionable host; and
+it was not till a late hour that, bidding me courteously good-night, he
+once more left me alone to my misery.
+
+In all this talk of an elixir and the restoration of his youth, I
+scarce knew from which hypothesis I should the more eagerly recoil. If
+his hopes reposed on any base of fact, if, indeed, by some abhorrent
+miracle, he should discard his age, death were my only refuge from that
+most unnatural, that most ungodly union. If, on the other hand, these
+dreams were merely lunatic, the madness of a life waxed suddenly acute,
+my pity would become a load almost as heavy to bear as my revolt against
+the marriage. So passed the night, in alternations of rebellion and
+despair, of hate and pity; and with the next morning I was only to
+comprehend more fully my enslaved position. For though he appeared with
+a very tranquil countenance, he had no sooner observed the marks of
+grief upon my brow than an answering darkness gathered on his own.
+"Asenath," he said, "you owe me much already; with one finger I still
+hold you suspended over death; my life is full of labour and anxiety;
+and I choose," said he, with a remarkable accent of command, "that you
+shall greet me with a pleasant face." He never needed to repeat the
+recommendation: from that day forward I was always ready to receive him
+with apparent cheerfulness; and he rewarded me with a good deal of his
+company, and almost more than I could bear of his confidence. He had set
+up a laboratory in the back part of the house, where he toiled day and
+night at his elixir, and he would come thence to visit me in my parlour:
+now with passing humours of discouragement; now, and far more often,
+radiant with hope. It was impossible to see so much of him, and not to
+recognise that the sands of his life were running low; and yet all the
+time he would be laying out vast fields of future, and planning, with
+all the confidence of youth, the most unbounded schemes of pleasure and
+ambition. How I replied I know not; but I found a voice and words to
+answer, even while I wept and raged to hear him.
+
+A week ago the doctor entered my room with the marks of great
+exhilaration contending with pitiful bodily weakness. "Asenath," said
+he, "I have now obtained the last ingredient. In one week from now the
+perilous moment of the last projection will draw nigh. You have once
+before assisted, although unconsciously, at the failure of a similar
+experiment. It was the elixir which so terribly exploded one night when
+you were passing my house; and it is idle to deny that the conduct of so
+delicate a process, among the million jars and trepidations of so great
+a city, presents a certain element of danger. From this point of view, I
+cannot but regret the perfect stillness of my house among the deserts;
+but, on the other hand, I have succeeded in proving that the singularly
+unstable equilibrium of the elixir, at the moment of projection, is due
+rather to the impurity than to the nature of the ingredients; and as all
+are now of an equal and exquisite nicety, I have little fear for the
+result. In a week then from to-day, my dear Asenath, this period of
+trial will be ended." And he smiled upon me in a manner unusually
+paternal.
+
+I smiled back with my lips, but at my heart there raged the blackest and
+most unbridled terror. What if he failed? And oh, tenfold worse! what if
+he succeeded? What detested and unnatural changeling would appear before
+me to claim my hand? And could there, I asked myself with a dreadful
+sinking, be any truth in his boasts of an assured victory over my
+reluctance? I knew him, indeed, to be masterful, to lead my life at a
+sign. Suppose, then, this experiment to succeed; suppose him to return
+to me, hideously restored, like a vampire in a legend; and suppose that,
+by some devilish fascination.... My head turned; all former fears
+deserted me; and I felt I could embrace the worst in preference to this.
+
+My mind was instantly made up. The doctor's presence in London was
+justified by the affairs of the Mormon polity. Often, in our
+conversation, he would gloat over the details of that great
+organisation, which he feared even while yet he wielded it; and would
+remind me that, even in the humming labyrinth of London, we were still
+visible to that unsleeping eye in Utah. His visitors, indeed, who were
+of every sort, from the missionary to the destroying angel, and seemed
+to belong to every rank of life, had, up to that moment, filled me with
+unmixed repulsion and alarm. I knew that if my secret were to reach the
+ear of any leader my fate were sealed beyond redemption; and yet in my
+present pass of horror and despair, it was to these very men that I
+turned for help. I waylaid upon the stair one of the Mormon
+missionaries, a man of a low class, but not inaccessible to pity; told
+him I scarce remember what elaborate fable to explain my application;
+and by his intermediacy entered into correspondence with my father's
+family. They recognised my claim for help, and on this very day I was to
+begin my escape.
+
+Last night I sat up fully dressed, awaiting the result of the doctor's
+labours, and prepared against the worst. The nights at this season and
+in this northern latitude are short; and I had soon the company of the
+returning daylight. The silence in and around the house was only broken
+by the movements of the doctor in the laboratory; to these I listened,
+watch in hand, awaiting the hour of my escape, and yet consumed by
+anxiety about the strange experiment that was going forward overhead.
+Indeed, now that I was conscious of some protection for myself, my
+sympathies had turned more directly to the doctor's side; I caught
+myself even praying for his success; and when some hours ago a low,
+peculiar cry reached my ears from the laboratory, I could no longer
+control my impatience, but mounted the stairs and opened the door.
+
+The doctor was standing in the middle of the room; in his hand a large,
+round-bellied, crystal flask, some three parts full of a bright
+amber-coloured liquid; on his face a rapture of gratitude and joy
+unspeakable. As he saw me he raised the flask at arm's-length.
+"Victory!" he cried. "Victory, Asenath!" And then--whether the flask
+escaped his trembling fingers, or whether the explosion was spontaneous,
+I cannot tell--enough that we were thrown, I against the door-post, the
+doctor into the corner of the room; enough that we were shaken to the
+soul by the same explosion that must have startled you upon the street;
+and that, in the brief space of an indistinguishable instant, there
+remained nothing of the labours of the doctor's lifetime but a few
+shards of broken crystal and those voluminous and ill-smelling vapours
+that pursued me in my flight.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [2] In this name the accent falls upon the _e_; the _s_ is sibilant.
+
+
+
+
+THE SQUIRE OF DAMES (_concluded_)
+
+
+What with the lady's animated manner and dramatic conduct of her voice,
+Challoner had thrilled to every incident with genuine emotion. His
+fancy, which was not perhaps of a very lively character, applauded both
+the matter and the style; but the more judicial functions of his mind
+refused assent. It was an excellent story; and it might be true, but he
+believed it was not. Miss Fonblanque was a lady, and it was doubtless
+possible for a lady to wander from the truth; but how was a gentleman to
+tell her so? His spirits for some time had been sinking, but they now
+fell to zero; and long after her voice had died away he still sat with a
+troubled and averted countenance, and could find no form of words to
+thank her for her narrative. His mind, indeed, was empty of everything
+beyond a dull longing for escape. From this pause, which grew the more
+embarrassing with every second, he was roused by the sudden laughter of
+the lady. His vanity was alarmed; he turned and faced her; their eyes
+met; and he caught from hers a spark of such frank merriment as put him
+instantly at ease.
+
+"You certainly," he said, "appear to bear your calamities with excellent
+spirit."
+
+"Do I not?" she cried, and fell once more into delicious laughter. But
+from this access she more speedily recovered. "This is all very well,"
+said she, nodding at him gravely, "but I am still in a most distressing
+situation, from which, if you deny me your help, I shall find it
+difficult indeed to free myself."
+
+At this mention of help Challoner fell back to his original gloom.
+
+"My sympathies are much engaged with you," he said, "and I should be
+delighted, I am sure. But our position is most unusual; and
+circumstances over which I have, I can assure you, no control, deprive
+me of the power--the pleasure----Unless, indeed," he added, somewhat
+brightening at the thought, "I were to recommend you to the care of the
+police?"
+
+She laid her hand upon his arm and looked hard into his eyes; and he saw
+with wonder that, for the first time since the moment of their meeting,
+every trace of colour had faded from her cheek.
+
+"Do so," she said, "and--weigh my words well--you kill me as certainly
+as with a knife."
+
+"God bless me!" exclaimed Challoner.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "I can see you disbelieve my story, and make light of
+the perils that surround me; but who are you to judge? My family share
+my apprehensions; they help me in secret; and you saw yourself by what
+an emissary, and in what a place, they have chosen to supply me with the
+funds for my escape. I admit that you are brave and clever, and have
+impressed me most favourably; but how are you to prefer your opinion
+before that of my uncle, an ex-minister of State, a man with the ear of
+the Queen, and of a long political experience? If I am mad, is he? And
+you must allow me, besides, a special claim upon your help. Strange as
+you may think my story, you know that much of it is true; and if you who
+heard the explosion, and saw the Mormon at Victoria, refuse to credit
+and assist me, to whom am I to turn?"
+
+"He gave you money then?" asked Challoner, who had been dwelling singly
+on that fact.
+
+"I begin to interest you," she cried. "But, frankly, you are condemned
+to help me. If the service I had to ask of you were serious, were
+suspicious, were even unusual, I should say no more. But what is it? To
+take a pleasure trip (for which, if you will suffer me, I propose to
+pay) and to carry from one lady to another a sum of money! What can be
+more simple?"
+
+"Is the sum," asked Challoner, "considerable?"
+
+She produced a packet from her bosom; and observing that she had not yet
+found time to make the count, tore open the cover and spread upon her
+knees a considerable number of Bank of England notes. It took some time
+to make the reckoning, for the notes were of every degree of value; but
+at last, and counting a few loose sovereigns, she made out the sum to be
+a little under �710 sterling. The sight of so much money worked an
+immediate revolution in the mind of Challoner.
+
+"And you propose, madam," he cried, "to intrust that money to a perfect
+stranger?"
+
+"Ah!" said she, with a charming smile, "but I no longer regard you as a
+stranger."
+
+"Madam," said Challoner, "I perceive I must make you a confession.
+Although of a very good family--through my mother, indeed, a lineal
+descendant of the patriot Bruce--I dare not conceal from you that my
+affairs are deeply, very deeply, involved. I am in debt; my pockets are
+practically empty; and, in short, I am fallen to that state when a
+considerable sum of money would prove to many men an irresistible
+temptation."
+
+"Do you not see," returned the young lady, "that by these words you have
+removed my last hesitation? Take them." And she thrust the notes into
+the young man's hand.
+
+He sat so long, holding them, like a baby at the font, that Miss
+Fonblanque once more bubbled into laughter.
+
+"Pray," she said, "hesitate no further; put them in your pocket; and to
+relieve our position of any shadow of embarrassment, tell me by what
+name I am to address my knight-errant, for I find myself reduced to the
+awkwardness of the pronoun."
+
+Had borrowing been in question, the wisdom of our ancestors had come
+lightly to the young man's aid; but upon what pretext could he refuse so
+generous a trust? Upon none, he saw, that was not unpardonably wounding;
+and the bright eyes and the high spirits of his companion had already
+made a breach in the rampart of Challoner's caution. The whole thing, he
+reasoned, might be a mere mystification, which it were the height of
+solemn folly to resent. On the other hand, the explosion, the interview
+at the public-house, and the very money in his hands, seemed to prove
+beyond denial the existence of some serious danger; and if that were so,
+could he desert her? There was a choice of risks: the risk of behaving
+with extraordinary incivility and unhandsomeness to a lady, and the risk
+of going on a fool's errand. The story seemed false; but then the money
+was undeniable. The whole circumstances were questionable and obscure;
+but the lady was charming, and had the speech and manners of society.
+While he still hung in the wind, a recollection returned upon his mind
+with some of the dignity of prophecy. Had he not promised Somerset to
+break with the traditions of the commonplace, and to accept the first
+adventure offered? Well, here was the adventure.
+
+He thrust the money into his pocket.
+
+"My name is Challoner," said he.
+
+"Mr. Challoner," she replied, "you have come very generously to my aid
+when all was against me. Though I am myself a very humble person, my
+family commands great interest; and I do not think you will repent this
+handsome action."
+
+Challoner flushed with pleasure.
+
+"I imagine that, perhaps, a consulship," she added, her eyes dwelling on
+him with a judicial admiration, "a consulship in some great town or
+capital--or else----But we waste time; let us set about the work of my
+delivery."
+
+She took his arm with a frank confidence that went to his heart; and
+once more laying by all serious thoughts, she entertained him, as they
+crossed the park, with her agreeable gaiety of mind. Near the Marble
+Arch they found a hansom, which rapidly conveyed them to the terminus at
+Euston Square; and here, in the hotel, they sat down to an excellent
+breakfast. The young lady's first step was to call for writing
+materials, and write, upon one corner of the table, a hasty note; still,
+as she did so, glancing with smiles at her companion. "Here," said she,
+"here is the letter which will introduce you to my cousin." She began to
+fold the paper. "My cousin, although I have never seen her, has the
+character of a very charming woman and a recognised beauty; of that I
+know nothing, but at least she has been very kind to me; so has my lord
+her father; so have you--kinder than all--kinder than I can bear to
+think of." She said this with unusual emotion; and, at the same time,
+sealed the envelope. "Ah!" she cried, "I have shut my letter! It is not
+quite courteous; and yet, as between friends, it is perhaps better so. I
+introduce you, after all, into a family secret; and though you and I are
+already old comrades, you are still unknown to my uncle. You go, then,
+to this address, Richard Street, Glasgow; go, please, as soon as you
+arrive; and give this letter with your own hands into those of Miss
+Fonblanque, for that is the name by which she is to pass. When we next
+meet, you will tell me what you think of her," she added, with a touch
+of the provocative.
+
+"Ah," said Challoner, almost tenderly, "she can be nothing to me."
+
+"You do not know," replied the young lady, with a sigh. "By the by, I
+had forgotten--it is very childish, and I am almost ashamed to mention
+it--but when you see Miss Fonblanque, you will have to make yourself a
+little ridiculous; and I am sure the part in no way suits you. We had
+agreed upon a watchword. You will have to address an earl's daughter in
+these words: '_Nigger_, _nigger, never die_'; but reassure yourself,"
+she added, laughing, "for the fair patrician will at once finish the
+quotation. Come now, say your lesson."
+
+"'Nigger, nigger, never die,'" repeated Challoner, with undisguised
+reluctance.
+
+Miss Fonblanque went into fits of laughter. "Excellent," said she, "it
+will be the most humorous scene!" And she laughed again.
+
+"And what will be the counterword?" asked Challoner stiffly.
+
+"I will not tell you till the last moment," said she; "for I perceive
+you are growing too imperious."
+
+Breakfast over, she accompanied the young man to the platform, bought
+him the _Graphic_, the _Athen�um_, and a paper-cutter, and stood on the
+step conversing till the whistle sounded. Then she put her head into the
+carriage. "_Black face and shining eye!_" she whispered, and instantly
+leaped down upon the platform, with a trill of gay and musical laughter.
+As the train steamed out of the great arch of glass, the sound of that
+laughter still rang in the young man's ears.
+
+Challoner's position was too unusual to be long welcome to his mind. He
+found himself projected the whole length of England, on a mission beset
+with obscure and ridiculous circumstances, and yet, by the trust he had
+accepted, irrevocably bound to persevere. How easy it appeared, in the
+retrospect, to have refused the whole proposal, returned the money, and
+gone forth again upon his own affairs, a free and happy man! And it was
+now impossible: the enchantress who had held him with her eye had now
+disappeared, taking his honour in pledge; and as she had failed to leave
+him an address, he was denied even the inglorious safety of retreat. To
+use the paper-knife, or even to read the periodicals with which she had
+presented him, was to renew the bitterness of his remorse; and as he was
+alone in the compartment, he passed the day staring at the landscape in
+impotent repentance, and long before he was landed on the platform of
+St. Enoch's, had fallen to the lowest and coldest zones of
+self-contempt.
+
+As he was hungry, and elegant in his habits, he would have preferred to
+dine and to remove the stains of travel; but the words of the young
+lady, and his own impatient eagerness, would suffer no delay. In the
+late, luminous, and lamp-starred dusk of the summer evening he
+accordingly set forward with brisk steps.
+
+The street to which he was directed had first seen the day in the
+character of a row of small suburban villas on a hillside; but the
+extension of the city had, long since and on every hand, surrounded it
+with miles of streets. From the top of the hill a range of very tall
+buildings, densely inhabited by the poorest classes of the population
+and variegated by drying-poles from every second window, overplumbed the
+villas and their little gardens like a sea-board cliff. But still, under
+the grime of years of city smoke, these antiquated cottages, with their
+venetian blinds and rural porticoes, retained a somewhat melancholy
+savour of the past.
+
+The street, when Challoner entered it, was perfectly deserted. From hard
+by, indeed, the sound of a thousand footfalls filled the ear; but in
+Richard Street itself there was neither light nor sound of human
+habitation. The appearance of the neighbourhood weighed heavily on the
+mind of the young man; once more, as in the streets of London, he was
+impressed by the sense of city deserts; and as he approached the number
+indicated, and somewhat falteringly rang the bell, his heart sank within
+him.
+
+The bell was ancient, like the house; it had a thin and garrulous note;
+and it was some time before it ceased to sound from the rear quarters of
+the building. Following upon this an inner door was stealthily opened,
+and careful and catlike steps drew near along the hall. Challoner,
+supposing he was to be instantly admitted, produced his letter and, as
+well as he was able, prepared a smiling face. To his indescribable
+surprise, however, the footsteps ceased, and then, after a pause and
+with the like stealthiness, withdrew once more, and died away in the
+interior of the house. A second time the young man rang violently at the
+bell; a second time, to his keen hearkening, a certain bustle of
+discreet footing moved upon the hollow boards of the old villa; and
+again the faint-hearted garrison only drew near to retreat. The cup of
+the visitor's endurance was now full to overflowing; and, committing the
+whole family of Fonblanque to every mood and shade of condemnation, he
+turned upon his heel and redescended the steps. Perhaps the mover in the
+house was watching from a window, and plucked up courage at the sight of
+this desistance; or perhaps, where he lurked trembling in the back parts
+of the villa, reason in its own right had conquered his alarms.
+Challoner, at least, had scarce set foot upon the pavement when he was
+arrested by the sound of the withdrawal of an inner bolt; one followed
+another, rattling in their sockets; the key turned harshly in the lock;
+the door opened; and there appeared upon the threshold a man of a very
+stalwart figure in his shirt sleeves. He was a person neither of great
+manly beauty nor of a refined exterior; he was not the man, in ordinary
+moods, to attract the eyes of the observer; but as he now stood in the
+doorway he was marked so legibly with the extreme passion of terror that
+Challoner stood wonder-struck. For a fraction of a minute they gazed
+upon each other in silence; and then the man of the house, with ashen
+lips and gasping voice, inquired the business of his visitor. Challoner
+replied, in tones from which he strove to banish his surprise, that he
+was the bearer of a letter to a certain Miss Fonblanque. At this name,
+as at a talisman, the man fell back and impatiently invited him to
+enter; and no sooner had the adventurer crossed the threshold than the
+door was closed behind him and his retreat cut off.
+
+It was already long past eight at night; and though the late twilight of
+the north still lingered in the streets, in the passage it was already
+groping dark. The man led Challoner directly to a parlour looking on
+the garden to the back. Here he had apparently been supping; for by the
+light of a tallow dip, the table was seen to be covered with a napkin,
+and set out with a quart of bottled ale and the heel of a Gouda cheese.
+The room, on the other hand, was furnished with faded solidity, and the
+walls were lined with scholarly and costly volumes in glazed cases. The
+house must have been taken furnished; for it had no congruity with this
+man of the shirt sleeves and the mean supper. As for the earl's
+daughter, the earl and the visionary consulships in foreign cities, they
+had long ago begun to fade in Challoner's imagination. Like Dr. Grierson
+and the Mormon angels, they were plainly woven of the stuff of dreams.
+Not an illusion remained to the knight-errant; not a hope was left him
+but to be speedily relieved from this disreputable business.
+
+The man had continued to regard his visitor with undisguised anxiety,
+and began once more to press him for his errand.
+
+"I am here," said Challoner, "simply to do a service between two ladies;
+and I must ask you, without further delay, to summon Miss Fonblanque,
+into whose hands alone I am authorised to deliver the letter that I
+bear."
+
+A growing wonder began to mingle on the man's face with the lines of
+solicitude. "I am Miss Fonblanque," he said; and then, perceiving the
+effect of this communication, "Good God!" he cried, "what are you
+staring at? I tell you I am Miss Fonblanque."
+
+Seeing the speaker wore a chin-beard of considerable length, and the
+remainder of his face was blue with shaving, Challoner could only
+suppose himself the subject of a jest. He was no longer under the spell
+of the young lady's presence; and with men, and above all with his
+inferiors, he was capable of some display of spirit.
+
+"Sir," said he, pretty roundly, "I have put myself to great
+inconvenience for persons of whom I know too little, and I begin to be
+weary of the business. Either you shall immediately summon Miss
+Fonblanque, or I leave this house and put myself under the direction of
+the police."
+
+"This is horrible!" exclaimed the man. "I declare before Heaven I am the
+person meant, but how shall I convince you? It must have been Clara, I
+perceive, that sent you on this errand--a madwoman, who jests with the
+most deadly interests; and here we are, incapable, perhaps, of an
+agreement, and Heaven knows what may depend on our delay!"
+
+He spoke with a really startling earnestness; and at the same time there
+flashed upon the mind of Challoner the ridiculous jingle which was to
+serve as password. "This may, perhaps, assist you," he said; and then,
+with some embarrassment: "'Nigger, nigger, never die.'"
+
+A light of relief broke upon the troubled countenance of the man with
+the chin-beard. "'Black face and shining eye'--give me the letter," he
+panted, in one gasp.
+
+"Well," said Challoner, though still with some reluctance, "I suppose I
+must regard you as the proper recipient; and though I may justly
+complain of the spirit in which I have been treated, I am only too glad
+to be done with all responsibility. Here it is," and he produced the
+envelope.
+
+The man leaped upon it like a beast, and with hands that trembled in a
+manner painful to behold, tore it open and unfolded the letter. As he
+read, terror seemed to mount upon him to the pitch of nightmare. He
+struck one hand upon his brow, while with the other, as if
+unconsciously, he crumpled the paper to a ball. "My gracious powers!" he
+cried; and then, dashing to the window, which stood open on the garden,
+he clapped forth his head and shoulders and whistled long and shrill.
+Challoner fell back into a corner, and resolutely grasping his staff,
+prepared for the most desperate events; but the thoughts of the man with
+the chin-beard were far removed from violence. Turning again into the
+room, and once more beholding his visitor, whom he appeared to have
+forgotten, he fairly danced with trepidation. "Impossible!" he cried.
+"Oh, quite impossible! O Lord, I have lost my head." And then, once
+more striking his hand upon his brow, "The money!" he exclaimed. "Give
+me the money."
+
+"My good friend," replied Challoner, "this is a very painful exhibition;
+and until I see you reasonably master of yourself, I decline to proceed
+with any business."
+
+"You are quite right," said the man. "I am of a very nervous habit; a
+long course of the dumb ague has undermined my constitution. But I know
+you have money; it may be still the saving of me; and oh, dear young
+gentleman, in pity's name be expeditious!"
+
+Challoner, sincerely uneasy as he was, could scarce refrain from
+laughter; but he was himself in a hurry to be gone, and without more
+delay produced the money. "You will find the sum, I trust, correct," he
+observed; "and let me ask you to give me a receipt."
+
+But the man heeded him not. He seized the money, and disregarding the
+sovereigns that rolled loose upon the floor, thrust the bundle of notes
+into his pocket.
+
+"A receipt," repeated Challoner, with some asperity. "I insist on a
+receipt."
+
+"Receipt?" repeated the man, a little wildly. "A receipt? Immediately!
+Await me here."
+
+Challoner, in reply, begged the gentleman to lose no unnecessary time,
+as he was himself desirous of catching a particular train.
+
+"Ah, by God, and so am I!" exclaimed the man with the chin-beard; and
+with that he was gone out of the room, and had rattled upstairs, four at
+a time, to the upper story of the villa.
+
+"This is certainly a most amazing business," thought Challoner;
+"certainly a most disquieting affair; and I cannot conceal from myself
+that I have become mixed up with either lunatics or malefactors. I may
+truly thank my stars that I am so nearly and so creditably done with
+it." Thus thinking, and perhaps remembering the episode of the whistle,
+he turned to the open window. The garden was still faintly clear; he
+could distinguish the stairs and terraces with which the small domain
+had been adorned by former owners, and the blackened bushes and dead
+trees that had once afforded shelter to the country birds; beyond these
+he saw the strong retaining wall, some thirty feet in height, which
+enclosed the garden to the back; and again above that, the pile of dingy
+buildings rearing its frontage high into the night. A peculiar object
+lying stretched upon the lawn for some time baffled his eyesight; but at
+length he had made it out to be a long ladder, or series of ladders
+bound into one; and he was still wondering of what service so great an
+instrument could be in such a scant enclosure, when he was recalled to
+himself by the noise of some one running violently down the stairs. This
+was followed by the sudden, clamorous banging of the house door; and
+that again, by rapid and retreating footsteps in the street.
+
+Challoner sprang into the passage. He ran from room to room, upstairs
+and downstairs; and in that old dingy and worm-eaten house, he found
+himself alone. Only in one apartment looking to the front were there any
+traces of the late inhabitant: a bed that had been recently slept in and
+not made, a chest of drawers disordered by a hasty search and on the
+floor a roll of crumpled paper. This he picked up. The light in this
+upper story looking to the front was considerably brighter than in the
+parlour; and he was able to make out that the paper bore the mark of the
+hotel at Euston, and even, by peering closely, to decipher the following
+lines in a very elegant and careful female hand:
+
+   "DEAR M'GUIRE,--It is certain your retreat is known. We have just had
+   another failure, clockwork thirty hours too soon, with the usual
+   humiliating result. Zero is quite disheartened. We are all scattered,
+   and I could find no one but the _solemn ass_ who brings you this and
+   the money. I would love to see your meeting.--Ever yours,
+
+     "SHINING EYE."
+
+Challoner was stricken to the heart. He perceived by what facility, by
+what unmanly fear of ridicule, he had been brought down to be the gull
+of this intriguer; and his wrath flowed forth in almost equal measure
+against himself, against the woman, and against Somerset, whose idle
+counsels had impelled him to embark on that adventure. At the same time
+a great and troubled curiosity, and a certain chill of fear, possessed
+his spirits. The conduct of the man with the chin-beard, the terms of
+the letter, and the explosion of the early morning, fitted together like
+parts in some obscure and mischievous imbroglio. Evil was certainly
+afoot; evil, secrecy, terror, and falsehood were the conditions and the
+passions of the people among whom he had begun to move, like a blind
+puppet; and he who began as a puppet, his experience told him, was often
+doomed to perish as a victim.
+
+From the stupor of deep thought into which he had glided with the letter
+in his hand, he was awakened by the clatter of the bell. He glanced from
+the window; and conceive his horror and surprise when he beheld,
+clustered on the steps, in the front garden and on the pavement of the
+street, a formidable posse of police! He started to the full possession
+of his powers and courage. Escape, and escape at any cost, was the one
+idea that possessed him. Swiftly and silently he redescended the
+creaking stairs; he was already in the passage when a second and more
+imperious summons from the door awoke the echoes of the empty house; nor
+had the bell ceased to jangle before he had bestridden the window-sill
+of the parlour and was lowering himself into the garden. His coat was
+hooked upon the iron flower-basket; for a moment he hung dependent heels
+and head below; and then, with the noise of rending cloth and followed
+by several pots, he dropped upon the sod. Once more the bell was rung,
+and now with furious and repeated peals. The desperate Challoner turned
+his eyes on every side. They fell upon the ladder, and he ran to it, and
+with strenuous but unavailing effort sought to raise it from the ground.
+Suddenly the weight, which was thus resisting his whole strength, began
+to lighten in his hands; the ladder, like a thing of life, reared its
+bulk from off the sod; and Challoner, leaping back with a cry of almost
+superstitious terror, beheld the whole structure mount, foot by foot,
+against the face of the retaining-wall. At the same time, two heads were
+dimly visible above the parapet, and he was hailed by a guarded whistle.
+Something in its modulation recalled, like an echo, the whistle of the
+man with the chin-beard.
+
+Had he chanced upon a means of escape prepared beforehand by those very
+miscreants, whose messenger and gull he had become? Was this, indeed, a
+means of safety, or but the starting-point of further complication and
+disaster? He paused not to reflect. Scarce was the ladder reared to its
+full length than he had sprung already on the rounds; hand over hand,
+swift as an ape, he scaled the tottering stairway. Strong arms received,
+embraced, and helped him; he was lifted and set once more upon the
+earth; and with the spasm of his alarm yet unsubsided, found himself, in
+the company of two rough-looking men, in the paved back-yard of one of
+the tall houses that crowned the summit of the hill. Meanwhile, from
+below, the note of the bell had been succeeded by the sound of vigorous
+and redoubling blows.
+
+"Are you all out?" asked one of his companions; and as soon as he had
+babbled an answer in the affirmative, the rope was cut from the top
+round, and the ladder thrust roughly back into the garden, where it fell
+and broke with clattering reverberations. Its fall was hailed with many
+broken cries; for the whole of Richard Street was now in high emotion,
+the people crowding to the windows or clambering on the garden walls.
+The same man who had already addressed Challoner seized him by the arm;
+whisked him through the basement of the house and across the street upon
+the other side; and before the unfortunate adventurer had time to
+realise his situation, a door was opened, and he was thrust into a low
+and dark compartment.
+
+"Bedad," observed his guide, "there was no time to lose. Is M'Guire
+gone, or was it you that whistled?"
+
+"M'Guire is gone," said Challoner.
+
+The guide now struck a light. "Ah," said he, "this will never do. You
+dare not go upon the streets in such a figure. Wait quietly here and I
+will bring you something decent."
+
+With that the man was gone, and Challoner, his attention thus rudely
+awakened, began ruefully to consider the havoc that had been worked in
+his attire. His hat was gone; his trousers were cruelly ripped; and the
+best part of one tail of his very elegant frock-coat had been left
+hanging from the iron crockets of the window. He had scarce had time to
+measure these disasters when his host re-entered the apartment and
+proceeded, without a word, to envelop the refined and urbane Challoner
+in a long ulster of the cheapest material and of a pattern so gross and
+vulgar that his spirit sickened at the sight. This calumnious disguise
+was crowned and completed by a soft felt hat of the Tyrolese design and
+several sizes too small. At another moment Challoner would simply have
+refused to issue forth upon the world thus travestied; but the desire to
+escape from Glasgow was now too strongly and too exclusively impressed
+upon his mind. With one haggard glance at the spotted tails of his new
+coat, he inquired what was to pay for this accoutrement. The man assured
+him that the whole expense was easily met from funds in his possession,
+and begged him, instead of wasting time, to make his best speed out of
+the neighbourhood.
+
+The young man was not loath to take the hint. True to his usual
+courtesy, he thanked the speaker and complimented him upon his taste in
+greatcoats; and leaving the man somewhat abashed by these remarks and
+the manner of their delivery, he hurried forth into the lamp-lit city.
+The last train was gone ere, after many deviations, he had reached the
+terminus. Attired as he was he dared not present himself at any
+reputable inn; and he felt keenly that the unassuming dignity of his
+demeanour would serve to attract attention, perhaps mirth, and possibly
+suspicion, in any humbler hostelry. He was thus condemned to pass the
+solemn and uneventful hours of a whole night in pacing the streets of
+Glasgow; supperless; a figure of fun for all beholders; waiting the
+dawn, with hope indeed, but with unconquerable shrinkings; and above all
+things, filled with a profound sense of the folly and weakness of his
+conduct. It may be conceived with what curses he assailed the memory of
+the fair narrator of Hyde Park; her parting laughter rang in his ears
+all night with damning mockery and iteration; and when he could spare a
+thought from this chief artificer of his confusion, it was to expend his
+wrath on Somerset and the career of the amateur detective. With the
+coming of the day, he found in a shy milk-shop the means to appease his
+hunger. There were still many hours to wait before the departure of the
+south express; these he passed wandering with indescribable fatigue in
+the obscurer by-streets of the city; and at length slipped quietly into
+the station and took his place in the darkest corner of a third-class
+carriage. Here, all day long, he jolted on the bare boards, distressed
+by heat and continually reawakened from uneasy slumbers. By the half
+return ticket in his purse, he was entitled to make the journey on the
+easy cushions and with the ample space of the first-class; but alas! in
+his absurd attire, he durst not, for decency, commingle with his equals;
+and this small annoyance, coming last in such a series of disasters, cut
+him to the heart.
+
+That night, when, in his Putney lodging, he reviewed the expense,
+anxiety, and weariness of his adventure; when he beheld the ruins of his
+last good trousers and his last presentable coat; and above all, when
+his eye by any chance alighted on the Tyrolese hat or the degrading
+ulster, his heart would overflow with bitterness, and it was only by a
+serious call on his philosophy that he maintained the dignity of his
+demeanour.
+
+
+
+
+SOMERSET'S ADVENTURE
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION
+
+
+Mr. Paul Somerset was a young gentleman of a lively and fiery
+imagination, with very small capacity for action. He was one who lived
+exclusively in dreams and in the future: the creature of his own
+theories, and an actor in his own romances. From the cigar divan he
+proceeded to parade the streets, still heated with the fire of his
+eloquence, and scouting upon every side for the offer of some fortunate
+adventure. In the continual stream of passers-by, on the sealed fronts
+of houses, on the posters that covered the hoardings, and in every
+lineament and throb of the great city, he saw a mysterious and hopeful
+hieroglyph. But although the elements of adventure were streaming by him
+as thick as drops of water in the Thames, it was in vain that, now with
+a beseeching, now with something of a braggadocio air, he courted and
+provoked the notice of the passengers; in vain that, putting fortune to
+the touch, he even thrust himself into the way and came into direct
+collision with those of the more promising demeanour. Persons brimful of
+secrets, persons pining for affection, persons perishing for lack of
+help or counsel, he was sure he could perceive on every side; but by
+some contrariety of fortune, each passed upon his way without remarking
+the young gentleman, and went farther (surely to fare worse!) in quest
+of the confidant, the friend, or the adviser. To thousands he must have
+turned an appealing countenance, and yet not one regarded him.
+
+A light dinner, eaten to the accompaniment of his impetuous aspirations,
+broke in upon the series of his attempts on fortune; and when he
+returned to the task, the lamps were already lighted, and the nocturnal
+crowd was dense upon the pavement. Before a certain restaurant, whose
+name will readily occur to any student of our Babylon, people were
+already packed so closely that passage had grown difficult; and
+Somerset, standing in the kennel, watched, with a hope that was
+beginning to grow somewhat weary, the faces and the manners of the
+crowd. Suddenly he was startled by a gentle touch upon the shoulder, and
+facing about, he was aware of a very plain and elegant brougham, drawn
+by a pair of powerful horses, and driven by a man in sober livery. There
+were no arms upon the panel; the window was open, but the interior was
+obscure; the driver yawned behind his palm; and the young man was
+already beginning to suppose himself the dupe of his own fancy, when a
+hand, no larger than a child's and smoothly gloved in white, appeared in
+a corner of the window and privily beckoned him to approach. He did so,
+and looked in. The carriage was occupied by a single small and very
+dainty figure, swathed head and shoulders in impenetrable folds of white
+lace; and a voice, speaking low and silvery, addressed him in these
+words:
+
+"Open the door and get in."
+
+"It must be," thought the young man, with an almost unbearable thrill,
+"it must be that duchess at last!" Yet, although the moment was one to
+which he had long looked forward, it was with a certain share of alarm
+that he opened the door, and, mounting into the brougham, took his seat
+beside the lady of the lace. Whether or no she had touched a spring, or
+given some other signal, the young man had hardly closed the door before
+the carriage, with considerable swiftness, and with a very luxurious and
+easy movement on its springs, turned and began to drive towards the
+west.
+
+Somerset, as I have written, was not unprepared; it had long been his
+particular pleasure to rehearse his conduct in the most unlikely
+situations; and this, among others, of the patrician ravisher, was one
+he had familiarly studied. Strange as it may seem, however, he could
+find no apposite remark; and as the lady, on her side, vouchsafed no
+further sign, they continued to drive in silence through the streets.
+Except for alternate flashes from the passing lamps, the carriage was
+plunged in obscurity; and beyond the fact that the fittings were
+luxurious, and that the lady was singularly small and slender in person
+and, all but one gloved hand, still swathed in her costly veil, the
+young man could decipher no detail of an inspiring nature. The suspense
+began to grow unbearable. Twice he cleared his throat, and twice the
+whole resources of the language failed him. In similar scenes, when he
+had forecast them on the theatre of fancy, his presence of mind had
+always been complete, his eloquence remarkable; and at this disparity
+between the rehearsal and the performance, he began to be seized with a
+panic of apprehension. Here, on the very threshold of adventure, suppose
+him ignominiously to fail; suppose that after ten, twenty, or sixty
+seconds of still uninterrupted silence, the lady should touch the
+check-string and re-deposit him, weighed and found wanting, on the
+common street! Thousands of persons of no mind at all, he reasoned,
+would be found more equal to the part; could, that very instant, by some
+decisive step, prove the lady's choice to have been well inspired, and
+put a stop to this intolerable silence.
+
+His eye, at this point, lighted on the hand. It was better to fall by
+desperate councils than to continue as he was; and with one tremulous
+swoop he pounced on the gloved fingers and drew them to himself. One
+overt step, it had appeared to him, would dissolve the spell of his
+embarrassment; in act, he found it otherwise: he found himself no less
+incapable of speech or further progress; and, with the lady's hand in
+his, sat helpless. But worse was in store. A peculiar quivering began to
+agitate the form of his companion; the hand that lay unresistingly in
+Somerset's trembled as with ague; and presently there broke forth, in
+the shadow of the carriage, the bubbling and musical sound of laughter,
+resisted but triumphant. The young man dropped his prize; had it been
+possible, he would have bounded from the carriage. The lady, meanwhile,
+lying back upon the cushions, passed on from trill to trill of the most
+heartfelt, high-pitched, clear, and fairy-sounding merriment.
+
+"You must not be offended," she said at last, catching an opportunity
+between two paroxysms. "If you have been mistaken in the warmth of your
+attentions, the fault is solely mine; it does not flow from your
+presumption, but from my eccentric manner of recruiting friends; and,
+believe me, I am the last person in the world to think the worse of a
+young man for showing spirit. As for to-night, it is my intention to
+entertain you to a little supper; and if I shall continue to be as much
+pleased with your manners as I was taken with your face, I may perhaps
+end by making you an advantageous offer."
+
+Somerset sought in vain to find some form of answer, but his
+discomfiture had been too recent and complete.
+
+"Come," returned the lady, "we must have no display of temper; that is
+for me the one disqualifying fault; and as I perceive we are drawing
+near our destination, I shall ask you to descend and offer me your arm."
+
+Indeed, at that very moment the carriage drew up before a stately and
+severe mansion in a spacious square; and Somerset, who was possessed of
+an excellent temper, with the best grace in the world assisted the lady
+to alight. The door was opened by an old woman of a grim appearance, who
+ushered the pair into a dining-room somewhat dimly lighted, but already
+laid for supper, and occupied by a prodigious company of large and
+valuable cats. Here, as soon as they were alone, the lady divested
+herself of the lace in which she was enfolded; and Somerset was relieved
+to find, that although still bearing the traces of great beauty, and
+still distinguished by the fire and colour of her eye, her hair was of
+silvery whiteness and her face lined with years.
+
+"And now, _mon preux_," said the old lady, nodding at him with a quaint
+gaiety, "you perceive that I am no longer in my first youth. You will
+soon find that I am all the better company for that."
+
+As she spoke, the maid re-entered the apartment with a light but
+tasteful supper. They sat down, accordingly, to table, the cats with
+savage pantomime surrounding the old lady's chair; and what with the
+excellence of the meal and the gaiety of his entertainer, Somerset was
+soon completely at his ease. When they had well eaten and drunk, the old
+lady leaned back in her chair, and taking a cat upon her lap, subjected
+her guest to a prolonged but evidently mirthful scrutiny.
+
+"I fear, madam," said Somerset, "that my manners have not risen to the
+height of your preconceived opinion."
+
+"My dear young man," she replied, "you were never more mistaken in your
+life. I find you charming, and you may very well have lighted on a fairy
+godmother. I am not one of those who are given to change their opinions,
+and short of substantial demerit, those who have once gained my favour
+continue to enjoy it; but I have a singular swiftness of decision, read
+my fellow men and women with a glance, and have acted throughout life on
+first impressions. Yours, as I tell you, has been favourable; and if, as
+I suppose, you are a young fellow of somewhat idle habits, I think it
+not improbable that we may strike a bargain."
+
+"Ah, madam," returned Somerset, "you have divined my situation. I am a
+man of birth, parts, and breeding; excellent company, or at least so I
+find myself; but by a peculiar iniquity of fate, destitute alike of
+trade or money. I was, indeed, this evening upon the quest of an
+adventure, resolved to close with any offer of interest, emolument, or
+pleasure; and your summons, which I profess I am still at some loss to
+understand, jumped naturally with the inclination of my mind. Call it,
+if you will, impudence; I am here, at least, prepared for any
+proposition you can find it in your heart to make, and resolutely
+determined to accept."
+
+"You express yourself very well," replied the old lady, "and are
+certainly a droll and curious young man. I should not care to affirm
+that you were sane, for I have never found any one entirely so besides
+myself; but at least the nature of your madness entertains me, and I
+will reward you with some description of my character and life."
+
+Thereupon the old lady, still fondling the cat upon her lap, proceeded
+to narrate the following particulars.
+
+
+
+
+NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY
+
+
+I was the eldest daughter of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe, who held a
+valuable living in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Our family, a very
+large one, was noted for a sprightly and incisive wit, and came of a
+good old stock where beauty was an heirloom. In Christian grace of
+character we were unhappily deficient. From my earliest years I saw and
+deplored the defects of those relatives whose age and position should
+have enabled them to conquer my esteem; and while I was yet a child, my
+father married a second wife, in whom (strange to say) the Fanshawe
+failings were exaggerated to a monstrous and almost laughable degree.
+Whatever may be said against me, it cannot be denied I was a pattern
+daughter; but it was in vain that, with the most touching patience, I
+submitted to my stepmother's demands; and from the hour she entered my
+father's house, I may say that I met with nothing but injustice and
+ingratitude.
+
+I stood not alone, however, in the sweetness of my disposition; for one
+other of the family besides myself was free from any violence of
+character. Before I had reached the age of sixteen, this cousin, John by
+name, had conceived for me a sincere but silent passion; and although
+the poor lad was too timid to hint at the nature of his feelings, I had
+soon divined and begun to share them. For some days I pondered on the
+odd situation created for me by the bashfulness of my admirer; and at
+length, perceiving that he begun, in his distress, rather to avoid than
+seek my company, I determined to take the matter into my own hands.
+Finding him alone in a retired part of the rectory garden, I told him
+that I had divined his amiable secret; that I knew with what disfavour
+our union was sure to be regarded; and that, under the circumstances, I
+was prepared to flee with him at once. Poor John was literally paralysed
+with joy; such was the force of his emotions, that he could find no
+words in which to thank me; and that I, seeing him thus helpless, was
+obliged to arrange, myself, the details of our flight, and of the stolen
+marriage which was immediately to crown it. John had been at that time
+projecting a visit to the metropolis. In this I bade him persevere, and
+promised on the following day to join him at the Tavistock Hotel.
+
+True, on my side, to every detail of our arrangement, I arose, on the
+day in question, before the servants, packed a few necessaries in a bag,
+took with me the little money I possessed, and bade farewell for ever to
+the rectory. I walked with good spirits to a town some thirty miles from
+home; and was set down the next morning in this great city of London. As
+I walked from the coach-office to the hotel, I could not help exulting
+in the pleasant change that had befallen me; beholding, meanwhile, with
+innocent delight, the traffic of the streets, and depicting, in all the
+colours of fancy, the reception that awaited me from John. But alas!
+when I inquired for Mr. Fanshawe, the porter assured me there was no
+such gentleman among the guests. By what channel our secret had leaked
+out, or what pressure had been brought to bear on the too facile John, I
+could never fathom. Enough that my family had triumphed; that I found
+myself alone in London, tender in years, smarting under the most
+sensible mortification, and by every sentiment of pride and self-respect
+debarred for ever from my father's house.
+
+I rose under the blow, and found lodgings in the neighbourhood of Euston
+Road, where, for the first time in my life, I tasted the joys of
+independence. Three days afterwards, an advertisement in _The Times_
+directed me to the office of a solicitor whom I knew to be in my
+father's confidence. There I was given the promise of a very moderate
+allowance, and a distinct intimation that I must never look to be
+received at home. I could not but resent so cruel a desertion, and I
+told the lawyer it was a meeting I desired as little as themselves. He
+smiled at my courageous spirit, paid me the first quarter of my income,
+and gave me the remainder of my personal effects, which had been sent to
+me, under his care, in a couple of rather ponderous boxes. With these I
+returned in triumph to my lodgings, more content with my position than I
+should have thought possible a week before, and fully determined to make
+the best of the future.
+
+All went well for several months; and, indeed, it was my own fault alone
+that ended this pleasant and secluded episode of life. I have, I must
+confess, the fatal trick of spoiling my inferiors. My landlady, to whom
+I had as usual been overkind, impertinently called me in fault for some
+particular too small to mention; and I, annoyed that I had allowed her
+the freedom upon which she thus presumed, ordered her to leave my
+presence. She stood a moment dumb, and then, recalling her
+self-possession, "Your bill," said she, "shall be ready this evening,
+and to-morrow, madam, you shall leave my house. See," she added, "that
+you are able to pay what you owe me; for If I do not receive the
+uttermost farthing, no box of yours shall pass my threshold."
+
+I was confounded at her audacity, but, as a whole quarter's income was
+due to me, not otherwise affected by the threat. That afternoon, as I
+left the solicitor's door, carrying in one hand, and done up in a paper
+parcel, the whole amount of my fortune, there befell me one of those
+decisive incidents that sometimes shape a life. The lawyer's office was
+situated in a street that opened at the upper end upon the Strand and
+was closed at the lower, at the time of which I speak, by a row of iron
+railings looking on the Thames. Down this street, then, I beheld my
+stepmother advancing to meet me, and doubtless bound to the very house
+I had just left. She was attended by a maid whose face was new to me;
+but her own was too clearly printed on my memory; and the sight of it,
+even from a distance, filled me with generous indignation. Flight was
+impossible. There was nothing left but to retreat against the railing,
+and with my back turned to the street, pretend to be admiring the barges
+on the river or the chimneys of transpontine London.
+
+I was still so standing, and had not yet fully mastered the turbulence
+of my emotions, when a voice at my elbow addressed me with a trivial
+question. It was the maid whom my stepmother, with characteristic
+hardness, had left to await her on the street, while she transacted her
+business with the family solicitor. The girl did not know who I was; the
+opportunity was too golden to be lost; and I was soon hearing the latest
+news of my father's rectory and parish. It did not surprise me to find
+that she detested her employers; and yet the terms in which she spoke of
+them were hard to bear, hard to let pass unchallenged. I heard them,
+however, without dissent, for my self-command is wonderful; and we might
+have parted as we met, had she not proceeded, in an evil hour, to
+criticise the rector's missing daughter, and with the most shocking
+perversions to narrate the story of her flight. My nature is so
+essentially generous that I can never pause to reason. I flung up my
+hand sharply, by way, as well as I remember, of indignant protest; and,
+in the act, the packet slipped from my fingers, glanced between the
+railings, and fell and sunk in the river. I stood a moment petrified,
+and then, struck by the drollery of the incident, gave way to peals of
+laughter. I was still laughing when my stepmother reappeared, and the
+maid, who doubtless considered me insane, ran off to join her; nor had I
+yet recovered my gravity when I presented myself before the lawyer to
+solicit a fresh advance. His answer made me serious enough, for it was a
+flat refusal; and it was not until I had besought him even with tears,
+that he consented to lend me ten pounds from his own pocket. "I am a
+poor man," said he, "and you must look for nothing further at my hands."
+
+The landlady met me at the door. "Here, madam," said she, with a curtsey
+insolently low, "here is my bill. Would it inconvenience you to settle
+it at once?"
+
+"You shall be paid, madam," said I, "in the morning, in the proper
+course." And I took the paper with a very high air, but inwardly
+quaking.
+
+I had no sooner looked at it than I perceived myself to be lost. I had
+been short of money and had allowed my debt to mount; and it had now
+reached the sum, which I shall never forget, of twelve pounds thirteen
+and fourpence halfpenny. All evening I sat by the fire considering my
+situation. I could not pay the bill; my landlady would not suffer me to
+remove my boxes; and without either baggage or money, how was I to find
+another lodging? For three months, unless I could invent some remedy, I
+was condemned to be without a roof and without a penny. It can surprise
+no one that I decided on immediate flight; but even here I was
+confronted by a difficulty, for I had no sooner packed my boxes than I
+found I was not strong enough to move, far less to carry them.
+
+In this strait I did not hesitate a moment, but throwing on a shawl and
+bonnet, and covering my face with a thick veil, I betook myself to that
+great bazaar of dangerous and smiling chances, the pavement of the city.
+It was already late at night, and the weather being wet and windy, there
+were few abroad besides policemen. These, on my present mission, I had
+wit enough to know for enemies; and wherever I perceived their moving
+lanterns, I made haste to turn aside and choose another thoroughfare. A
+few miserable women still walked the pavement; here and there were young
+fellows returning drunk, or ruffians of the lowest class lurking in the
+mouths of alleys; but of any one to whom I might appeal in my distress,
+I began almost to despair.
+
+At last, at the corner of a street, I ran into the arms of one who was
+evidently a gentleman, and who, in all his appointments, from his furred
+greatcoat to the fine cigar which he was smoking, comfortably breathed
+of wealth. Much as my face has changed from its original beauty, I still
+retain (or so I tell myself) some traces of the youthful lightness of my
+figure. Even veiled as I then was, I could perceive the gentleman was
+struck by my appearance; and this emboldened me for my adventure.
+
+"Sir," said I, with a quickly beating heart, "sir, are you one in whom a
+lady can confide?"
+
+"Why, my dear," said he, removing his cigar, "that depends on
+circumstances. If you will raise your veil--"
+
+"Sir," I interrupted, "let there be no mistake. I ask you, as a
+gentleman, to serve me, but I offer no reward."
+
+"That is frank," said he; "but hardly tempting. And what, may I inquire,
+is the nature of the service?"
+
+But I knew well enough it was not my interest to tell him on so short an
+interview. "If you will accompany me," said I, "to a house not far from
+here, you can see for yourself."
+
+He looked at me awhile with hesitating eyes; and then, tossing away his
+cigar, which was not yet a quarter smoked, "Here goes!" said he, and
+with perfect politeness offered me his arm. I was wise enough to take
+it; to prolong our walk as far as possible, by more than one excursion
+from the shortest line; and to beguile the way with that sort of
+conversation which should prove to him indubitably from what station in
+society I sprang. By the time we reached the door of my lodging, I felt
+sure I had confirmed his interest, and might venture, before I turned
+the pass-key, to beseech him to moderate his voice and to tread softly.
+He promised to obey me; and I admitted him into the passage, and thence
+into my sitting-room, which was fortunately next the door.
+
+"And now," said he, when with trembling fingers I had lighted a candle,
+"what is the meaning of all this?"
+
+"I wish you," said I, speaking with great difficulty, "to help me out
+with these boxes--and I wish nobody to know."
+
+He took up the candle. "And I wish to see your face," said he.
+
+I turned back my veil without a word, and looked at him with every
+appearance of resolve that I could summon up. For some time he gazed
+into my face, still holding up the candle. "Well," said he at last, "and
+where do you wish them taken?"
+
+I knew that I had gained my point; and it was with a tremor in my voice
+that I replied. "I had thought we might carry them between us to the
+corner of Euston Road," said I, "where, even at this late hour, we may
+still find a cab."
+
+"Very good," was his reply; and he immediately hoisted the heavier of my
+trunks upon his shoulder, and taking one handle of the second, signed to
+me to help him at the other end. In this order we made good our retreat
+from the house, and without the least adventure, drew pretty near to the
+corner of Euston Road. Before a house, where there was a light still
+burning, my companion paused. "Let us here," said he, "set down our
+boxes, while we go forward to the end of the street in quest of a cab.
+By doing so, we can still keep an eye upon their safety; and we avoid
+the very extraordinary figure we should otherwise present--a young man,
+a young lady, and a mass of baggage, standing castaway at midnight on
+the streets of London." So it was done, and the event proved him to be
+wise; for long before there was any word of a cab, a policeman appeared
+upon the scene, turned upon us the full glare of his lantern, and hung
+suspiciously behind us in a doorway.
+
+"There seem to be no cabs about, policeman," said my champion, with
+affected cheerfulness. But the constable's answer was ungracious; and as
+for the offer of a cigar, with which this rebuff was most unwisely
+followed up, he refused it point-blank, and without the least civility.
+The young gentleman looked at me with a warning grimace, and there we
+continued to stand, on the edge of the pavement, in the beating rain,
+and with the policeman still silently watching our movements from the
+doorway.
+
+At last, and after a delay that seemed interminable, a four-wheeler
+appeared lumbering along in the mud, and was instantly hailed by my
+companion. "Just pull up here, will you?" he cried. "We have some
+baggage up the street."
+
+And now came the hitch of our adventure; for when the policeman, still
+closely following us, beheld my two boxes lying in the rain, he arose
+from mere suspicion to a kind of certitude of something evil. The light
+in the house had been extinguished; the whole frontage of the street was
+dark; there was nothing to explain the presence of these unguarded
+trunks; and no two innocent people were ever, I believe, detected in
+such questionable circumstances.
+
+"Where have these things come from?" asked the policeman, flashing his
+light full into my champion's face.
+
+"Why, from that house of course," replied the young gentleman, hastily
+shouldering a trunk.
+
+The policeman whistled and turned to look at the dark windows; he then
+took a step towards the door, as though to knock, a course which had
+infallibly proved our ruin; but seeing us already hurrying down the
+street under our double burthen, thought better or worse of it, and
+followed in our wake.
+
+"For God's sake," whispered my companion, "tell me where to drive to."
+
+"Anywhere," I replied, with anguish. "I have no idea. Anywhere you
+like."
+
+Thus it fell that, when the boxes had been stowed and I had already
+entered the cab, my deliverer called out in clear tones the address of
+the house in which we are now seated. The policeman, I could see, was
+staggered. This neighbourhood, so retired, so aristocratic, was far from
+what he had expected. For all that, he took the number of the cab, and
+spoke for a few seconds and with a decided manner, in the cabman's ear.
+
+"What can he have said?" I gasped, as soon as the cab had rolled away.
+
+"I can very well imagine," replied my champion; "and I can assure you
+that you are now condemned to go where I have said; for, should we
+attempt to change our destination by the way, the jarvey will drive us
+straight to a police-office. Let me compliment you on your nerves," he
+added. "I have had, I believe, the most horrible fright of my
+existence."
+
+But my nerves, which he so much misjudged, were in so strange a disarray
+that speech was now become impossible; and we made the drive
+thenceforward in unbroken silence. When we arrived before the door of
+our destination, the young gentleman alighted, opened it with a pass-key
+like one who was at home, bade the driver carry the trunks into the
+hall, and dismissed him with a handsome fee. He then led me into this
+dining-room, looking nearly as you behold it, but with certain marks of
+bachelor occupancy, and hastened to pour out a glass of wine, which he
+insisted on my drinking. As soon as I could find my voice, "In God's
+name," I cried, "where am I?"
+
+He told me I was in his house, where I was very welcome, and had no more
+urgent business than to rest myself and recover my spirits. As he spoke
+he offered me another glass of wine, of which, indeed, I stood in great
+want, for I was faint, and inclined to be hysterical. Then he sat down
+beside the fire, lit another cigar, and for some time observed me
+curiously in silence.
+
+"And now," said he, "that you have somewhat restored yourself, will you
+be kind enough to tell me in what sort of crime I have become a partner?
+Are you murderer, smuggler, thief, or only the harmless and domestic
+moonlight flitter?"
+
+I had been already shocked by his lighting a cigar without permission,
+for I had not forgotten the one he threw away on our first meeting; and
+now, at these explicit insults, I resolved at once to reconquer his
+esteem. The judgment of the world I have consistently despised, but I
+had already begun to set a certain value on the good opinion of my
+entertainer. Beginning with a note of pathos, but soon brightening into
+my habitual vivacity and humour, I rapidly narrated the circumstances of
+my birth, my flight, and subsequent misfortunes. He heard me to an end
+in silence, gravely smoking. "Miss Fanshawe," said he, when I had done,
+"you are a very comical and most enchanting creature; and I can see
+nothing for it but that I should return to-morrow morning and satisfy
+your landlady's demands."
+
+"You strangely misinterpret my confidence," was my reply; "and if you
+had at all appreciated my character, you would understand that I can
+take no money at your hands."
+
+"Your landlady will doubtless not be so particular," he returned; "nor
+do I at all despair of persuading even your unconquerable self. I desire
+you to examine me with critical indulgence. My name is Henry Luxmore,
+Lord Southwark's second son. I possess nine thousand a year, the house
+in which we are now sitting and seven others in the best neighbourhoods
+in town. I do not believe I am repulsive to the eye, and as for my
+character, you have seen me under trial. I think you simply the most
+original of created things; I need not tell you what you know very well,
+that you are ravishingly pretty; and I have nothing more to add, except
+that foolish as it may appear, I am already head over heels in love with
+you."
+
+"Sir," said I, "I am prepared to be misjudged; but while I continue to
+accept your hospitality, that fact alone should be enough to protect me
+from insult."
+
+"Pardon me," said he: "I offer you marriage." And leaning back in his
+chair he replaced his cigar between his lips.
+
+I own I was confounded by an offer, not only so unprepared, but couched
+in terms so singular. But he knew very well how to obtain his purposes,
+for he was not only handsome in person, but his very coolness had a
+charm; and to make a long story short, a fortnight later I became the
+wife of the Honourable Henry Luxmore.
+
+For nearly twenty years I now led a life of almost perfect quiet. My
+Henry had his weaknesses; I was twice driven to flee from his roof, but
+not for long; for though he was easily over-excited, his nature was
+placable below the surface, and, with all his faults, I loved him
+tenderly. At last he was taken from me; and such is the power of
+self-deception, and so strange are the whims of the dying, he actually
+assured me, with his latest breath, that he forgave the violence of my
+temper!
+
+There was but one pledge of the marriage, my daughter Clara. She had,
+indeed, inherited a shadow of her father's failing; but in all things
+else, unless my partial eyes deceived me, she derived her qualities from
+me, and might be called my moral image. On my side, whatever else I may
+have done amiss, as a mother I was above reproach. Here, then, was
+surely every promise for the future; here, at last, was a relation in
+which I might hope to taste repose. But it was not to be. You will
+hardly credit me when I inform you that she ran away from home; yet such
+was the case. Some whim about oppressed nationalities--Ireland, Poland,
+and the like--has turned her brain; and if you should anywhere encounter
+a young lady (I must say of remarkable attractions) answering to the
+name of Luxmore, Lake, or Fonblanque (for I am told she uses these
+indifferently, as well as many others), tell her, from me, that I
+forgive her cruelty, and though I will never more behold her face, I am
+at any time prepared to make her a liberal allowance.
+
+On the death of Mr. Luxmore I sought oblivion in the details of
+business. I believe I have mentioned that seven mansions, besides this,
+formed part of Mr. Luxmore's property: I have found them seven white
+elephants. The greed of tenants, the dishonesty of solicitors, and the
+incapacity that sits upon the bench, have combined together to make
+these houses the burthen of my life. I had no sooner, indeed, begun to
+look into these matters for myself, than I discovered so many injustices
+and met with so much studied incivility, that I was plunged into a long
+series of lawsuits, some of which are pending to this day. You must have
+heard my name already; I am the Mrs. Luxmore of the Law Reports: a
+strange destiny, indeed, for one born with an almost cowardly desire for
+peace! But I am of the stamp of those who, when they have once begun a
+task, will rather die than leave their duty unfulfilled. I have met with
+every obstacle: insolence and ingratitude from my own lawyers; in my
+adversaries, that fault of obstinacy which is to me perhaps the most
+distasteful in the calendar; from the bench, civility indeed--always, I
+must allow, civility--but never a spark of independence, never that
+knowledge of the law and love of justice which we have a right to look
+for in a judge, the most august of human officers. And still, against
+all these odds, I have undissuadably persevered.
+
+It was after the loss of one of my innumerable cases (a subject on which
+I will not dwell) that it occurred to me to make a melancholy pilgrimage
+to my various houses. Four were at that time tenantless and closed, like
+pillars of salt, commemorating the corruption of the age and the decline
+of private virtue. Three were occupied by persons who had wearied me by
+every conceivable unjust demand and legal subterfuge--persons whom, at
+that very hour, I was moving heaven and earth to turn into the streets.
+This was perhaps the sadder spectacle of the two; and my heart grew hot
+within me to behold them occupying, in my very teeth, and with an
+insolent ostentation, these handsome structures which were as much mine
+as the flesh upon my body.
+
+One more house remained for me to visit, that in which we now are. I had
+let it (for at that period I lodged in a hotel, the life that I have
+always preferred) to a Colonel Geraldine, a gentleman attached to Prince
+Florizel of Bohemia, whom you must certainly have heard of; and I had
+supposed, from the character and position of my tenant, that here, at
+least, I was safe against annoyance. What was my surprise to find this
+house also shuttered and apparently deserted! I will not deny that I was
+offended; I conceived that a house, like a yacht, was better to be kept
+in commission; and I promised myself to bring the matter before my
+solicitor the following morning. Meanwhile the sight recalled my fancy
+naturally to the past; and, yielding to the tender influence of
+sentiment, I sat down opposite the door upon the garden parapet. It was
+August and a sultry afternoon, but that spot is sheltered, as you may
+observe by daylight, under the branches of a spreading chestnut; the
+square, too, was deserted; there was a sound of distant music in the
+air; and all combined to plunge me into that most agreeable of states,
+which is neither happiness nor sorrow, but shares the poignancy of both.
+
+From this I was recalled by the arrival of a large van, very handsomely
+appointed, drawn by valuable horses, mounted by several men of an
+appearance more than decent, and bearing on its panels, instead of a
+trader's name, a coat of arms too modest to be deciphered from where I
+sat. It drew up before my house, the door of which was immediately
+opened by one of the men. His companions--I counted seven of them in
+all--proceeded, with disciplined activity, to take from the van and
+carry into the house a variety of hampers, bottle-baskets, and boxes,
+such as are designed for plate and napery. The windows of the
+dining-room were thrown widely open, as though to air it; and I saw some
+of those within laying the table for a meal. Plainly, I concluded, my
+tenant was about to return; and while still determined to submit to no
+aggression on my rights, I was gratified by the number and discipline of
+his attendants, and the quiet profusion that appeared to reign in his
+establishment. I was still so thinking when, to my extreme surprise, the
+windows and shutters of the dining-room were once more closed; the men
+began to reappear from the interior and resume their stations on the
+van; the last closed the door behind his exit; the van drove away; and
+the house was once more left to itself, looking blindly on the square
+with shuttered windows, as though the whole affair had been a vision.
+
+It was no vision, however; for, as I rose to my feet and thus brought my
+eyes a little nearer to the level of the fanlight over the door, I saw
+that, though the day had still some hours to run, the hall lamps had
+been lighted and left burning. Plainly, then, guests were expected, and
+were not expected before night. For whom, I asked myself with
+indignation, were such secret preparations likely to be made? Although
+no prude, I am a woman of decided views upon morality; if my house, to
+which my husband had brought me, was to serve in the character of a
+_petite maison_, I saw myself forced, however unwillingly, into a new
+course of litigation; and, determined to return and know the worst, I
+hastened to my hotel for dinner.
+
+I was at my post by ten. The night was clear and quiet; the moon rode
+very high and put the lamps to shame; and the shadow below the chestnut
+was black as ink. Here, then, I ensconced myself on the low parapet,
+with my back against the railings, face to face with the moonlit front
+of my old home, and ruminating gently on the past. Time fled; eleven
+struck on all the city clocks; and presently after I was aware of the
+approach of a gentleman of stately and agreeable demeanour. He was
+smoking as he walked; his light paletot, which was open, did not conceal
+his evening clothes; and he bore himself with a serious grace that
+immediately awakened my attention. Before the door of this house he took
+a pass-key from his pocket, quietly admitted himself, and disappeared
+into the lamp-lit hall.
+
+He was scarcely gone when I observed another and a much younger man
+approaching hastily from the opposite side of the square. Considering
+the season of the year and the genial mildness of the night, he was
+somewhat closely muffled up; and as he came, for all his hurry, he kept
+looking nervously behind him. Arrived before my door, he halted and set
+one foot upon the step, as though about to enter; then, with a sudden
+change, he turned and began to hurry away; halted a second time, as if
+in painful indecision; and lastly, with a violent gesture, wheeled
+about, returned straight to the door, and rapped upon the knocker. He
+was almost immediately admitted by the first arrival.
+
+My curiosity was now broad awake. I made myself as small as I could in
+the very densest of the shadow, and waited for the sequel. Nor had I
+long to wait. From the same side of the square a second young man made
+his appearance, walking slowly and softly, and like the first, muffled
+to the nose. Before the house he paused; looked all about him with a
+swift and comprehensive glance; and seeing the square lie empty in the
+moon and lamp-light, leaned far across the area railings and appeared to
+listen to what was passing in the house. From the dining-room there came
+the report of a champagne cork, and following upon that, the sound of
+rich and manly laughter. The listener took heart of grace, produced a
+key, unlocked the area gate, shut it noiselessly behind him, and
+descended the stair. Just when his head had reached the level of the
+pavement, he turned half round and once more raked the square with a
+suspicious eyeshot. The mufflings had fallen lower round his neck; the
+moon shone full upon him; and I was startled to observe the pallor and
+passionate agitation of his face.
+
+I could remain no longer passive. Persuaded that something deadly was
+afoot, I crossed the roadway and drew near the area railings. There was
+no one below; the man must therefore have entered the house, with what
+purpose I dreaded to imagine. I have at no part of my career lacked
+courage; and now, finding the area gate was merely laid-to, I pushed it
+gently open and descended the stairs. The kitchen door of the house,
+like the area gate, was closed but not fastened. It flashed upon me
+that the criminal was thus preparing his escape; and the thought, as it
+confirmed the worst of my suspicions, lent me new resolve. I entered the
+house; and being now quite reckless of my life, I shut and locked the
+door.
+
+From the dining-room above I could hear the pleasant tones of a voice in
+easy conversation. On the ground floor all was not only profoundly
+silent, but the darkness seemed to weigh upon my eyes. Here, then, I
+stood for some time, having thrust myself uncalled into the utmost
+peril, and being destitute of any power to help or interfere. Nor will I
+deny that fear had begun already to assail me, when I became aware, all
+at once and as though by some immediate but silent incandescence, of a
+certain glimmering of light upon the passage floor. Towards this I
+groped my way with infinite precaution; and having come at length as far
+as the angle of the corridor, beheld the door of the butler's pantry
+standing just ajar and a narrow thread of brightness falling from the
+chink. Creeping still closer, I put my eye to the aperture. The man sat
+within upon a chair, listening, I could see, with the most rapt
+attention. On a table before him he had laid a watch, a pair of steel
+revolvers, and a bull's-eye lantern. For one second many contradictory
+theories and projects whirled together in my head; the next, I had
+slammed the door and turned the key upon the malefactor. Surprised at my
+own decision, I stood and panted, leaning on the wall. From within the
+pantry not a sound was to be heard; the man, whatever he was, had
+accepted his fate without a struggle, and now, as I hugged myself to
+fancy, sat frozen with terror and looking for the worst to follow. I
+promised myself that he should not be disappointed; and the better to
+complete my task, I turned to ascend the stairs.
+
+The situation, as I groped my way to the first floor, appealed to me
+suddenly by my strong sense of humour. Here was I, the owner of the
+house, burglariously present in its walls; and there, in the
+dining-room, were two gentlemen, unknown to me, seated complacently at
+supper, and only saved by my promptitude from some surprising or deadly
+interruption. It were strange if I could not manage to extract the
+matter of amusement from so unusual a situation.
+
+Behind this dining-room there is a small apartment intended for a
+library. It was to this that I cautiously groped my way; and you will
+see how fortune had exactly served me. The weather, I have said, was
+sultry: in order to ventilate the dining-room and yet preserve the
+uninhabited appearance of the mansion to the front, the window of the
+library had been widely opened and the door of communication between the
+two apartments left ajar. To this interval I now applied my eye.
+
+Wax tapers, set in silver candlesticks, shed their chastened brightness
+on the damask of the tablecloth and the remains of a cold collation of
+the rarest delicacy. The two gentlemen had finished supper, and were now
+trifling with cigars and maraschino; while in a silver spirit-lamp,
+coffee of the most captivating fragrance was preparing in the fashion of
+the East. The elder of the two, he who had first arrived, was placed
+directly facing me; the other was set on his left hand. Both, like the
+man in the butler's pantry, seemed to be intently listening; and on the
+face of the second I thought I could perceive the marks of fear. Oddly
+enough, however, when they came to speak, the parts were found to be
+reversed.
+
+"I assure you," said the elder gentleman, "I not only heard the slamming
+of a door, but the sound of very guarded footsteps."
+
+"Your highness was certainly deceived," replied the other. "I am endowed
+with the acutest hearing, and I can swear that not a mouse has rustled."
+Yet the pallor and contraction of his features were in total discord
+with the tenor of his words.
+
+His highness (whom, of course, I readily divined to be Prince Florizel)
+looked at his companion for the least fraction of a second; and though
+nothing shook the easy quiet of his attitude, I could see that he was
+far from being duped. "It is well," said he: "let us dismiss the topic.
+And now, sir, that I have very freely explained the sentiments by which
+I am directed, let me ask you, according to your promise, to imitate my
+frankness."
+
+"I have heard you," replied the other, "with great interest."
+
+"With singular patience," said the prince politely.
+
+"Ay, your highness, and with unlooked-for sympathy," returned the young
+man. "I know not how to tell the change that has befallen me. You have,
+I must suppose, a charm, to which even your enemies are subject." He
+looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and visibly blanched. "So late!"
+he cried. "Your highness--God knows I am now speaking from the
+heart--before it be too late, leave this house!"
+
+The prince glanced once more at his companion, and then very
+deliberately shook the ash from his cigar. "That is a strange remark,"
+said he; "and _� propos de bottes_, I never continue a cigar when once
+the ash is fallen; the spell breaks, the soul of the flavour flies away,
+and there remains but the dead body of tobacco; and I make it a rule to
+throw away that husk and choose another." He suited the action to the
+words.
+
+"Do not trifle with my appeal," resumed the young man, in tones that
+trembled with emotion. "It is made at the price of my honour and to the
+peril of my life. Go--go now! lose not a moment; and if you have any
+kindness for a young man, miserably deceived indeed, but not devoid of
+better sentiments, look not behind you as you leave."
+
+"Sir," said the prince, "I am here upon your honour; I assure you upon
+mine that I shall continue to rely upon that safeguard. The coffee is
+ready; I must again trouble you, I fear." And with a courteous movement
+of the hand, he seemed to invite his companion to pour out the coffee.
+
+The unhappy young man rose from his seat. "I appeal to you," he cried,
+"by every holy sentiment, in mercy to me, if not in pity to yourself,
+begone before it is too late."
+
+"Sir," replied the prince, "I am not readily accessible to fear; and if
+there is one defect to which I must plead guilty, it is that of a
+curious disposition. You go the wrong way about to make me leave this
+house, in which I play the part of your entertainer; and, suffer me to
+add, young man, if any peril threaten us, it was of your contriving, not
+of mine."
+
+"Alas, you do not know to what you condemn me," cried the other. "But I
+at least will have no hand in it." With these words he carried his hand
+to his pocket, hastily swallowed the contents of a phial, and, with the
+very act, reeled back and fell across his chair upon the floor. The
+prince left his place and came and stood above him, where he lay
+convulsed upon the carpet. "Poor moth!" I heard his highness murmur.
+"Alas, poor moth! must we again inquire which is the more
+fatal--weakness or wickedness? And can a sympathy with ideas, surely not
+ignoble in themselves, conduct a man to this dishonourable death?"
+
+By this time I had pushed the door open and walked into the room. "Your
+highness," said I, "this is no time for moralising; with a little
+promptness we may save this creature's life; and as for the other, he
+need cause you no concern, for I have him safely under lock and key."
+
+The prince had turned about upon my entrance, and regarded me certainly
+with no alarm, but with a profundity of wonder which almost robbed me of
+my self-possession. "My dear madam," he cried at last, "and who the
+devil are you?"
+
+I was already on the floor beside the dying man. I had, of course, no
+idea with what drug he had attempted his life, and I was forced to try
+him with a variety of antidotes. Here were both oil and vinegar, for the
+prince had done the young man the honour of compounding for him one of
+his celebrated salads; and of each of these I administered from a
+quarter to half a pint, with no apparent efficacy. I next plied him
+with the hot coffee, of which there may have been near upon a quart.
+
+"Have you no milk?" I inquired.
+
+"I fear, madam, that milk has been omitted," returned the prince.
+
+"Salt, then," said I; "salt is a revulsive. Pass the salt."
+
+"And possibly the mustard?" asked his highness, as he offered me the
+contents of the various salt-cellars poured together on a plate.
+
+"Ah," cried I, "the thought is excellent! Mix me about half a pint of
+mustard, drinkably dilute."
+
+Whether it was the salt or the mustard, or the mere combination of so
+many subversive agents, as soon as the last had been poured over his
+throat, the young sufferer obtained relief.
+
+"There!" I exclaimed, with natural triumph, "I have saved a life!"
+
+"And yet, madam," returned the prince, "your mercy may be cruelly
+disguised. Where the honour is lost, it is, at least, superfluous to
+prolong the life."
+
+"If you had led a life as changeable as mine, your highness," I replied,
+"you would hold a very different opinion. For my part, and after
+whatever extremity of misfortune or disgrace, I should still count
+to-morrow worth a trial."
+
+"You speak as a lady, madam," said the prince; "and for such you speak
+the truth. But to men there is permitted such a field of licence, and
+the good behaviour asked of them is at once so easy and so little, that
+to fail in that is to fall beyond the reach of pardon. But will you
+suffer me to repeat a question, put to you at first, I am afraid, with
+some defect of courtesy; and to ask you once more, who you are and how I
+have the honour of your company?"
+
+"I am the proprietor of the house in which we stand," said I.
+
+"And still I am at fault," returned the prince.
+
+But at that moment the timepiece on the mantelshelf began to strike the
+hour of twelve; and the young man, raising himself upon one elbow, with
+an expression of despair and horror that I have never seen excelled,
+cried lamentably: "Midnight? oh, just God!" We stood frozen to our
+places, while the tingling hammer of the timepiece measured the
+remaining strokes; nor had we yet stirred, so tragic had been the tones
+of the young man, when the various bells of London began in turn to
+declare the hour. The timepiece was inaudible beyond the walls of the
+chamber where we stood; but the second pulsation of Big Ben had scarcely
+throbbed into the night, before a sharp detonation rang about the house.
+The prince sprang for the door by which I had entered; but quick as he
+was, I yet contrived to intercept him.
+
+"Are you armed?" I cried.
+
+"No, madam," replied he. "You remind me appositely; I will take the
+poker."
+
+"The man below," said I, "has two revolvers. Would you confront him at
+such odds?"
+
+He paused, as though staggered in his purpose. "And yet, madam," said
+he, "we cannot continue to remain in ignorance of what has passed."
+
+"No!" cried I. "And who proposes it? I am as curious as yourself, but
+let us rather send for the police; or, if your highness dreads a
+scandal, for some of your own servants."
+
+"Nay, madam," he replied, smiling, "for so brave a lady, you surprise
+me. Would you have me, then, send others where I fear to go myself."
+
+"You are perfectly right," said I, "and I was entirely wrong. Go, in
+God's name, and I will hold the candle!"
+
+Together, therefore, we descended to the lower story, he carrying the
+poker, I the light; and together we approached and opened the door of
+the butler's pantry. In some sort, I believe, I was prepared for the
+spectacle that met our eyes; I was prepared, that is, to find the
+villain dead, but the rude details of such a violent suicide I was
+unable to endure. The prince, unshaken by horror as he had remained
+unshaken by alarm, assisted me with the most respectful gallantry to
+regain the dining-room.
+
+There we found our patient, still, indeed, deadly pale, but vastly
+recovered and already seated on a chair. He held out both his hands with
+a most pitiful gesture of interrogation.
+
+"He is dead," said the prince.
+
+"Alas!" cried the young man, "and it should be I! What do I do, thus
+lingering on the stage I have disgraced, while he, my sure comrade,
+blameworthy indeed for much, but yet the soul of fidelity, has judged
+and slain himself for an involuntary fault? Ah, sir," said he, "and you
+too, madam, without whose cruel help I should be now beyond the reach of
+my accusing conscience, you behold in me the victim equally of my own
+faults and virtues. I was born a hater of injustice; from my most tender
+years my blood boiled against Heaven when I beheld the sick, and against
+men when I witnessed the sorrows of the poor; the pauper's crust stuck
+in my throat when I sat down to eat my dainties, and the cripple child
+has set me weeping. What was there in that but what was noble? and yet
+observe to what a fall these thoughts have led me! Year after year this
+passion for the lost besieged me closer. What hope was there in kings?
+what hope in these well-feathered classes that now roll in money? I had
+observed the course of history; I knew the burgess, our ruler of to-day,
+to be base, cowardly, and dull; I saw him, in every age, combine to pull
+down that which was immediately above and to prey upon those that were
+below; his dulness, I knew, would ultimately bring about his ruin; I
+knew his days were numbered, and yet how was I to wait? how was I to let
+the poor child shiver in the rain? The better days, indeed, were coming,
+but the child would die before that. Alas, your highness, in surely no
+ungenerous impatience I enrolled myself among the enemies of this unjust
+and doomed society; in surely no unnatural desire to keep the fires of
+my philanthropy alight, I bound myself by an irrevocable oath.
+
+"That oath is all my history. To give freedom to posterity, I had
+forsworn my own. I must attend upon every signal; and soon my father
+complained of my irregular hours and turned me from his house. I was
+engaged in betrothal to an honest girl; from her also I had to part, for
+she was too shrewd to credit my inventions and too innocent to be
+intrusted with the truth. Behold me, then, alone with conspirators!
+Alas! as the years went on, my illusions left me. Surrounded as I was by
+the fervent disciples and apologists of revolution, I beheld them daily
+advance in confidence and desperation; I beheld myself, upon the other
+hand, and with an almost equal regularity, decline in faith. I had
+sacrificed all to further that cause in which I still believed; and
+daily I began to grow in doubts if we were advancing it indeed. Horrible
+was the society with which we warred, but our own means were not less
+horrible.
+
+"I will not dwell upon my sufferings; I will not pause to tell you how,
+when I beheld young men still free and happy, married, fathers of
+children, cheerfully toiling at their work, my heart reproached me with
+the greatness and vanity of my unhappy sacrifice. I will not describe to
+you how, worn by poverty, poor lodging, scanty food, and an unquiet
+conscience, my health began to fail, and in the long nights, as I
+wandered bedless in the rainy streets, the most cruel sufferings of the
+body were added to the tortures of my mind. These things are not
+personal to me; they are common to all unfortunates in my position. An
+oath, so light a thing to swear, so grave a thing to break: an oath,
+taken in the heat of youth, repented with what sobbings of the heart,
+but yet in vain repented, as the years go on: an oath, that was once the
+very utterance of the truth of God, but that falls to be the symbol of a
+meaningless and empty slavery; such is the yoke that many young men
+joyfully assume, and under whose dead weight they live to suffer worse
+than death.
+
+"It is not that I was patient. I have begged to be released; but I knew
+too much, and I was still refused. I have fled; ay, and for the time
+successfully. I reached Paris. I found a lodging in the Rue St. Jacques,
+almost opposite the Val de Gr�ce. My room was mean and bare, but the sun
+looked into it towards evening; it commanded a peep of a green garden; a
+bird hung by a neighbour's window and made the morning beautiful; and I,
+who was sick, might lie in bed and rest myself: I, who was in full
+revolt against the principles that I had served, was now no longer at
+the beck of the council, and was no longer charged with shameful and
+revolting tasks. Oh! what an interval of peace was that! I still dream,
+at times, that I can hear the note of my neighbour's bird.
+
+"My money was running out, and it became necessary that I should find
+employment. Scarcely had I been three days upon the search, ere I
+thought that I was being followed. I made certain of the features of the
+man, which were quite strange to me, and turned into a small caf�, where
+I whiled away an hour, pretending to read the papers, but inwardly
+convulsed with terror. When I came forth again into the street, it was
+quite empty, and I breathed again; but alas, I had not turned three
+corners, when I once more observed the human hound pursuing me. Not an
+hour was to be lost; timely submission might yet preserve a life which
+otherwise was forfeit and dishonoured; and I fled, with what speed you
+may conceive, to the Paris agency of the society I served.
+
+"My submission was accepted. I took up once more the hated burthen of
+that life; once more I was at the call of men whom I despised and hated,
+while yet I envied and admired them. They at least were whole-hearted in
+the things they purposed; but I, who had once been such as they, had
+fallen from the brightness of my faith, and now laboured, like a
+hireling, for the wages of a loathed existence. Ay, sir, to that I was
+condemned; I obeyed to continue to live, and lived but to obey.
+
+"The last charge that was laid upon me was the one which has to-night so
+tragically ended. Boldly telling who I was, I was to request from your
+highness, on behalf of my society, a private audience, where it was
+designed to murder you. If one thing remained to me of my old
+convictions, it was the hate of kings; and when this task was offered
+me, I took it gladly. Alas, sir, you triumphed. As we supped, you gained
+upon my heart. Your character, your talents, your designs for our
+unhappy country, all had been misrepresented. I began to forget you were
+a prince; I began, all too feelingly, to remember that you were a man.
+As I saw the hour approach, I suffered agonies untold; and when, at
+last, we heard the slamming of the door which announced in my unwilling
+ears the arrival of the partner of my crime, you will bear me out with
+what instancy I besought you to depart. You would not, alas! and what
+could I? Kill you, I could not; my heart revolted, my hand turned back
+from such a deed. Yet it was impossible that I should suffer you to
+stay; for when the hour struck and my companion came, true to his
+appointment, and he, at least, true to our design, I could neither
+suffer you to be killed nor yet him to be arrested. From such a tragic
+passage, death, and death alone, could save me; and it is no fault of
+mine if I continue to exist.
+
+"But you, madam," continued the young man, addressing himself more
+directly to myself, "were doubtless born to save the prince and to
+confound our purposes. My life you have prolonged; and by turning the
+key on my companion, you have made me the author of his death. He heard
+the hour strike; he was impotent to help; and thinking himself forfeit
+to honour, thinking that I should fall alone upon his highness and
+perish for lack of his support, he has turned his pistol on himself."
+
+"You are right," said Prince Florizel: "it was in no ungenerous spirit
+that you brought these burthens on yourself; and when I see you so nobly
+to blame, so tragically punished, I stand like one reproved. For is it
+not strange, madam, that you and I, by practising accepted and
+inconsiderable virtues, and commonplace but still unpardonable faults,
+should stand here, in the sight of God, with what we call clean hands
+and quiet consciences; while this poor youth, for an error that I could
+almost envy him, should be sunk beyond the reach of hope?
+
+"Sir," resumed the prince, turning to the young man, "I cannot help you;
+my help would but unchain the thunderbolt that overhangs you; and I can
+but leave you free."
+
+"And, sir," said I, "as this house belongs to me, I will ask you to have
+the kindness to remove the body. You and your conspirators, it appears
+to me, can hardly in civility do less."
+
+"It shall be done," said the young man, with a dismal accent.
+
+"And you, dear madam," said the prince, "you, to whom I owe my life, how
+can I serve you?"
+
+"Your highness," I said, "to be very plain, this is my favourite house,
+being not only a valuable property, but endeared to me by various
+associations. I have endless troubles with tenants of the ordinary
+class; and at first applauded my good fortune when I found one of the
+station of your Master of the Horse. I now begin to think otherwise;
+dangers set a siege about great personages; and I do not wish my
+tenement to share these risks. Procure me the resiliation of the lease,
+and I shall feel myself your debtor."
+
+"I must tell you, madam," replied his highness, "that Colonel Geraldine
+is but a cloak for myself; and I should be sorry indeed to think myself
+so unacceptable a tenant."
+
+"Your highness," said I, "I have conceived a sincere admiration for your
+character; but on the subject of house property I cannot allow the
+interference of my feelings. I will, however, to prove to you that there
+is nothing personal in my request, here solemnly engage my word that I
+will never put another tenant in this house."
+
+"Madam," said Florizel, "you plead your cause too charmingly to be
+refused."
+
+Thereupon we all three withdrew. The young man, still reeling in his
+walk, departed by himself to seek the assistance of his
+fellow-conspirators; and the prince, with the most attentive gallantry,
+lent me his escort to the door of my hotel. The next day the lease was
+cancelled; nor from that hour to this, though sometimes regretting my
+engagement, have I suffered a tenant in this house.
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)
+
+
+As soon as the old lady had finished her relation, Somerset made haste
+to offer her his compliments.
+
+"Madam," said he, "your story is not only entertaining but instructive;
+and you have told it with infinite vivacity. I was much affected towards
+the end, as I held at one time very liberal opinions, and should
+certainly have joined a secret society if I had been able to find one.
+But the whole tale came home to me; and I was the better able to feel
+for you in your various perplexities, as I am myself of somewhat hasty
+temper."
+
+"I do not understand you," said Mrs. Luxmore, with some marks of
+irritation. "You must have strangely misinterpreted what I have told
+you. You fill me with surprise."
+
+Somerset, alarmed by the old lady's change of tone and manner, hurried
+to recant.
+
+"Dear Mrs. Luxmore," said he, "you certainly misconstrue my remark. As a
+man of somewhat fiery humour, my conscience repeatedly pricked me when I
+heard what you had suffered at the hands of persons similarly
+constituted."
+
+"Oh, very well indeed," replied the old lady; "and a very proper spirit.
+I regret that I have met with it so rarely."
+
+"But in all this," resumed the young man, "I perceive nothing that
+concerns myself."
+
+"I am about to come to that," she returned. "And you have already before
+you, in the pledge I gave Prince Florizel, one of the elements of the
+affair. I am a woman of the nomadic sort, and when I have no case before
+the courts I make it a habit to visit continental spas: not that I have
+ever been ill; but then I am no longer young, and I am always happy in a
+crowd. Well, to come more shortly to the point, I am now on the wing for
+Evian; this incubus of a house, which I must leave behind and dare not
+let, hangs heavily upon my hands; and I propose to rid myself of that
+concern, and do you a very good turn into the bargain, by lending you
+the mansion, with all its fittings, as it stands. The idea was sudden;
+it appealed to me as humorous; and I am sure it will cause my relatives,
+if they should ever hear of it, the keenest possible chagrin. Here,
+then, is the key; and when you return at two to-morrow afternoon, you
+will find neither me nor my cats to disturb you in your new possession."
+
+So saying, the old lady arose, as if to dismiss her visitor; but
+Somerset, looking somewhat blankly on the key, began to protest.
+
+"Dear Mrs. Luxmore," said he, "this is a most unusual proposal. You know
+nothing of me, beyond the fact that I displayed both impudence and
+timidity. I may be the worst kind of scoundrel; I may sell your
+furniture--"
+
+"You may blow up the house with gunpowder, for what I care!" cried Mrs.
+Luxmore. "It is in vain to reason. Such is the force of my character
+that, when I have one idea clearly in my head, I do not care two straws
+for any side consideration. It amuses me to do it, and let that suffice.
+On your side, you may do what you please--let apartments, or keep a
+private hotel; on mine, I promise you a full month's warning before I
+return, and I never fail religiously to keep my promises."
+
+The young man was about to renew his protest, when he observed a sudden
+and significant change in the old lady's countenance.
+
+"If I thought you capable of disrespect!" she cried.
+
+"Madam," said Somerset, with the extreme fervour of asseveration,
+"madam, I accept. I beg you to understand that I accept with joy and
+gratitude."
+
+"Ah, well," returned Mrs. Luxmore, "if I am mistaken, let it pass. And
+now, since all is comfortably settled, I wish you a good-night."
+
+Thereupon, as if to leave him no room for repentance, she hurried
+Somerset out of the front door, and left him standing, key in hand, upon
+the pavement.
+
+The next day, about the hour appointed, the young man found his way to
+the square, which I will here call Golden Square, though that was not
+its name. What to expect, he knew not; for a man may live in dreams, and
+yet be unprepared for their realisation. It was already with a certain
+pang of surprise that he beheld the mansion, standing in the eye of day,
+a solid among solids. The key, upon trial, readily opened the front
+door; he entered that great house, a privileged burglar; and, escorted
+by the echoes of desertion, rapidly reviewed the empty chambers. Cats,
+servant, old lady, the very marks of habitation, like writing on a
+slate, had been in these few hours obliterated. He wandered from floor
+to floor, and found the house of great extent; the kitchen offices
+commodious and well appointed; the rooms many and large; and the
+drawing-room, in particular, an apartment of princely size and tasteful
+decoration. Although the day without was warm, genial, and sunny, with a
+ruffling wind from the quarter of Torquay, a chill, as it were, of
+suspended animation, inhabited the house. Dust and shadows met the eye;
+and but for the ominous procession of the echoes, and the rumour of the
+wind among the garden trees, the ear of the young man was stretched in
+vain.
+
+Behind the dining-room, that pleasant library, referred to by the old
+lady in her tale, looked upon the flat roofs and netted cupolas of the
+kitchen quarters; and on a second visit, this room appeared to greet him
+with a smiling countenance. He might as well, he thought, avoid the
+expense of lodging: the library fitted with an iron bedstead which he
+had remarked, in one of the upper chambers, would serve his purpose for
+the night; while in the dining-room, which was large, airy, and
+lightsome, looking on the square and garden, he might very agreeably
+pass his days, cook his meals, and study to bring himself to some
+proficiency in that art of painting which he had recently determined to
+adopt. It did not take him long to make the change: he had soon returned
+to the mansion with his modest kit; and the cabman who brought him was
+readily induced, by the young man's pleasant manner and a small
+gratuity, to assist him in the installation of the iron bed. By six in
+the evening, when Somerset went forth to dine, he was able to look back
+upon the mansion with a sense of pride and property. Four-square it
+stood, of an imposing frontage, and flanked on either side by family
+hatchments. His eye, from where he stood whistling in the key, with his
+back to the garden railings, reposed on every feature of reality; and
+yet his own possession seemed as flimsy as a dream.
+
+In the course of a few days, the genteel inhabitants of the square began
+to remark the customs of their neighbour. The sight of a young gentleman
+discussing a clay pipe, about four o'clock of the afternoon, in the
+drawing-room balcony of so discreet a mansion; and perhaps still more,
+his periodical excursion to a decent tavern in the neighbourhood, and
+his unabashed return, nursing the full tankard: had presently raised to
+a high pitch the interest and indignation of the liveried servants of
+the square. The disfavour of some of these gentlemen at first proceeded
+to the length of insult; but Somerset knew how to be affable with any
+class of men; and a few rude words merrily accepted, and a few glasses
+amicably shared, gained for him the right of toleration.
+
+The young man had embraced the art of Raphael, partly from a notion of
+its ease, partly from an inborn distrust of offices. He scorned to bear
+the yoke of any regular schooling; and proceeded to turn one half of the
+dining-room into a studio for the reproduction of still life. There he
+amassed a variety of objects, indiscriminately chosen from the kitchen,
+the drawing-room, and the back garden; and there spent his days in
+smiling assiduity. Meantime, the great bulk of empty building overhead
+lay, like a load, upon his imagination. To hold so great a stake and to
+do nothing, argued some defect of energy; and he at length determined to
+act upon the hint given by Mrs. Luxmore herself, and to stick, with
+wafers, in the window of the dining-room, a small hand-bill announcing
+furnished lodgings. At half-past six of a fine July morning, he affixed
+the bill, and went forth into the square to study the result. It seemed,
+to his eye, promising and unpretentious; and he returned to the
+drawing-room balcony to consider, over a studious pipe, the knotty
+problem of how much he was to charge.
+
+Thereupon he somewhat relaxed in his devotion to the art of painting.
+Indeed, from that time forth, he would spend the best part of the day in
+the front balcony, like the attentive angler poring on his float; and
+the better to support the tedium, he would frequently console himself
+with his clay pipe. On several occasions passers-by appeared to be
+arrested by the ticket, and on several others ladies and gentlemen drove
+to the very doorstep by the carriageful; but it appeared there was
+something repulsive in the appearance of the house; for, with one
+accord, they would cast but one look upward, and hastily resume their
+onward progress, or direct the driver to proceed. Somerset had thus the
+mortification of actually meeting the eye of a large number of
+lodging-seekers; and though he hastened to withdraw his pipe, and to
+compose his features to an air of invitation, he was never rewarded by
+so much as an inquiry. "Can there," he thought, "be anything repellent
+in myself?" But a candid examination in one of the pier-glasses of the
+drawing-room led him to dismiss the fear.
+
+Something, however, was amiss. His vast and accurate calculations on the
+fly-leaves of books, or on the backs of playbills, appeared to have been
+an idle sacrifice of time. By these, he had variously computed the weekly
+takings of the house, from sums as modest as five-and-twenty-shillings, up
+to the more majestic figure of a hundred pounds; and yet, in despite of
+the very elements of arithmetic, here he was making literally nothing.
+
+This incongruity impressed him deeply and occupied his thoughtful
+leisure on the balcony; and at last it seemed to him that he had
+detected the error of his method. "This," he reflected, "is an age of
+generous display: the age of the sandwich-man, of Griffiths, of Pears'
+legendary soap, and of Eno's fruit salt which, by sheer brass and
+notoriety, and the most disgusting pictures I ever remember to have
+seen, has overlaid that comforter of my childhood, Lamplough's pyretic
+saline. Lamplough was genteel, Eno was omnipresent; Lamplough was trite,
+Eno original and abominably vulgar; and here have I, a man of some
+pretensions to knowledge of the world, contented myself with half a
+sheet of note-paper, a few cold words which do not directly address the
+imagination, and the adornment (if adornment it may be called) of four
+red wafers! Am I, then, to sink with Lamplough, or to soar with Eno? Am
+I to adopt that modesty which is doubtless becoming in a duke? or to
+take hold of the red facts of life with the emphasis of the tradesman
+and the poet?"
+
+Pursuant upon these meditations, he procured several sheets of the very
+largest size of drawing-paper; and laying forth his paints, proceeded to
+compose an ensign that might attract the eye and at the same time, in
+his own phrase, directly address the imagination of the passenger.
+Something taking in the way of colour, a good, savoury choice of words,
+and a realistic design setting forth the life a lodger might expect to
+lead within the walls of that palace of delight: these, he perceived,
+must be the elements of his advertisement. It was possible, upon the one
+hand, to depict the sober pleasures of domestic life, the evening fire,
+blond-headed urchins, and the hissing urn; but on the other, it was
+possible (and he almost felt as if it were more suited to his muse) to
+set forth the charms of an existence somewhat wider in its range, or,
+boldly say, the paradise of the Mohammedan. So long did the artist waver
+between these two views, that, before he arrived at a conclusion, he had
+finally conceived and completed both designs. With the proverbially
+tender heart of the parent, he found himself unable to sacrifice either
+of these offspring of his art; and decided to expose them on alternate
+days. "In this way," he thought, "I shall address myself indifferently
+to all classes of the world."
+
+The tossing of a penny decided the only remaining point; and the more
+imaginative canvas received the suffrages of fortune and appeared first
+in the window of the mansion. It was of a high fancy, the legend
+eloquently writ, the scheme of colour taking and bold; and but for the
+imperfection of the artist's drawing, it might have been taken for a
+model of its kind. As it was, however, when viewed from his favourite
+point against the garden railings, and with some touch of distance, it
+caused a pleasurable rising of the artist's heart. "I have thrown away,"
+he ejaculated, "an invaluable motive; and this shall be the subject of
+my first Academy picture."
+
+The fate of neither of these works was equal to its merit. A crowd would
+certainly, from time to time, collect before the area-railings; but they
+came to jeer and not to speculate; and those who pushed their inquiries
+further, were too plainly animated by the spirit of derision. The racier
+of the two cartoons displayed, indeed, no symptom of attractive merit;
+and though it had a certain share of that success called scandalous,
+failed utterly of its effect. On the day, however, of the second
+appearance of the companion work, a real inquirer did actually present
+himself before the eyes of Somerset.
+
+This was a gentlemanly man, with some marks of recent merriment, and his
+voice under inadequate control.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said he, "but what is the meaning of your
+extraordinary bill?"
+
+"I beg yours," returned Somerset hotly. "Its meaning is sufficiently
+explicit." And being now, from dire experience, fearful of ridicule, he
+was preparing to close the door, when the gentleman thrust his cane into
+the aperture.
+
+"Not so fast, I beg of you," said he. "If you really let apartments,
+here is a possible tenant at your door; and nothing would give me
+greater pleasure than to see the accommodation and to learn your terms."
+
+His heart joyously beating, Somerset admitted the visitor, showed him
+over the various apartments, and, with some return of his persuasive
+eloquence, expounded their attractions. The gentleman was particularly
+pleased by the elegant proportions of the drawing-room.
+
+"This," he said, "would suit me very well. What, may I ask, would be
+your terms a week, for this floor and the one above it?"
+
+"I was thinking," returned Somerset, "of a hundred pounds."
+
+"Surely not," exclaimed the gentleman.
+
+"Well, then," returned Somerset, "fifty."
+
+The gentleman regarded him with an air of some amazement. "You seem to
+be strangely elastic in your demands," said he. "What if I were to
+proceed on your own principle of division, and offer twenty-five?"
+
+"Done!" cried Somerset; and then, overcome by a sudden embarrassment,
+"you see," he added apologetically, "it is all found money for me."
+
+"Really?" said the stranger, looking at him all the while with growing
+wonder. "Without extras, then?"
+
+"I--I suppose so," stammered the keeper of the lodging-house.
+
+"Service included?" pursued the gentleman.
+
+"Service?" cried Somerset. "Do you mean that you expect me to empty your
+slops?"
+
+The gentleman regarded him with a very friendly interest. "My dear
+fellow," said he, "if you take my advice, you will give up this
+business." And thereupon he resumed his hat and took himself away.
+
+This smarting disappointment produced a strong effect on the artist of
+the cartoons; and he began with shame to eat up his rosier illusions.
+First one and then the other of his great works was condemned, withdrawn
+from exhibition, and relegated, as a mere wall-picture, to the
+decoration of the dining-room. Their place was taken by a replica of the
+original watered announcement, to which, in particularly large letters,
+he had added the pithy rubric: "_No service._" Meanwhile he had fallen
+into something as nearly bordering on low spirits as was consistent with
+his disposition; depressed, at once by the failure of his scheme, the
+laughable turn of his late interview, and the judicial blindness of the
+public to the merit of the twin cartoons.
+
+Perhaps a week had passed before he was again startled by the note of
+the knocker. A gentleman of a somewhat foreign and somewhat military
+air, yet closely shaven and wearing a soft hat, desired in the politest
+terms to visit the apartments. He had (he explained) a friend, a
+gentleman in tender health, desirous of a sedate and solitary life,
+apart from interruptions and the noises of the common lodging-house.
+"The unusual clause," he continued, "in your announcement, particularly
+struck me. 'This,' I said, 'is the place for Mr. Jones.' You are
+yourself, sir, a professional gentleman?" concluded the visitor, looking
+keenly in Somerset's face.
+
+"I am an artist," replied the young man lightly.
+
+"And these," observed the other, taking a side glance through the open
+door of the dining-room, which they were then passing, "these are some
+of your works. Very remarkable." And he again and still more sharply
+peered into the countenance of the young man.
+
+Somerset, unable to suppress a blush, made the more haste to lead his
+visitor upstairs and to display the apartments.
+
+"Excellent," observed the stranger, as he looked from one of the back
+windows. "Is that a mews behind, sir? Very good. Well, sir: see here. My
+friend will take your drawing-room floor; he will sleep in the back
+drawing-room; his nurse, an excellent Irish widow, will attend on all
+his wants and occupy a garret; he will pay you the round sum of ten
+dollars a week; and you, on your part, will engage to receive no other
+lodger? I think that fair."
+
+Somerset had scarcely words in which to clothe his gratitude and joy.
+
+"Agreed," said the other; "and to spare you trouble, my friend will
+bring some men with him to make the changes. You will find him a
+retiring inmate, sir; receives but few, and rarely leaves the house
+except at night."
+
+"Since I have been in this house," returned Somerset, "I have myself,
+unless it were to fetch beer, rarely gone abroad except in the evening.
+But a man," he added, "must have some amusement."
+
+An hour was then agreed on; the gentleman departed; and Somerset sat
+down to compute in English money the value of the figure named. The
+result of this investigation filled him with amazement and disgust; but
+it was now too late; nothing remained but to endure; and he awaited the
+arrival of his tenant, still trying, by various arithmetical expedients,
+to obtain a more favourable quotation for the dollar. With the approach
+of dusk, however, his impatience drove him once more to the front
+balcony. The night fell, mild and airless; the lamps shone around the
+central darkness of the garden; and through the tall grove of trees that
+intervened, many warmly illuminated windows on the farther side of the
+square told their tale of white napery, choice wine, and genial
+hospitality. The stars were already thickening overhead, when the young
+man's eyes alighted on a procession of three four-wheelers, coasting
+round the garden railing and bound for the Superfluous Mansion. They
+were laden with formidable boxes; moved in a military order, one
+following another; and, by the extreme slowness of their advance,
+inspired Somerset with the most serious ideas of his tenant's malady.
+
+By the time he had the door open, the cabs had drawn up beside the
+pavement; and from the two first, there had alighted the military
+gentleman of the morning and two very stalwart porters. These proceeded
+instantly to take possession of the house; with their own hands, and
+firmly rejecting Somerset's assistance, they carried in the various
+crates and boxes; with their own hands dismounted and transferred to the
+back drawing-room the bed in which the tenant was to sleep; and it was
+not until the bustle of arrival had subsided, and the arrangements were
+complete, that there descended, from the third of the three vehicles, a
+gentleman of great stature and broad shoulders, leaning on the shoulder
+of a woman in a widow's dress, and himself covered by a long cloak and
+muffled in a coloured comforter.
+
+Somerset had but a glimpse of him in passing; he was soon shut into the
+back drawing-room; the other men departed; silence redescended on the
+house; and had not the nurse appeared a little before half-past ten,
+and, with a strong brogue, asked if there were a decent public-house in
+the neighbourhood, Somerset might have still supposed himself to be
+alone in the Superfluous Mansion.
+
+Day followed day; and still the young man had never come by speech or
+sight of his mysterious lodger. The doors of the drawing-room flat were
+never open; and although Somerset could hear him moving to and fro, the
+tall man had never quitted the privacy of his apartments. Visitors,
+indeed, arrived; sometimes in the dusk, sometimes at intempestuous hours
+of night or morning; men, for the most part; some meanly attired, some
+decently; some loud, some cringing; and yet all, in the eyes of
+Somerset, displeasing. A certain air of fear and secrecy was common to
+them all; they were all voluble, he thought, and ill at ease; even the
+military gentleman proved, on a closer inspection, to be no gentleman at
+all; and as for the doctor who attended the sick man, his manners were
+not suggestive of a university career. The nurse, again, was scarcely a
+desirable house-fellow. Since her arrival, the fall of whisky in the
+young man's private bottle was much accelerated; and though never
+communicative, she was at times unpleasantly familiar. When asked about
+the patient's health, she would dolorously shake her head, and declare
+that the poor gentleman was in a pitiful condition.
+
+Yet somehow Somerset had early begun to entertain the notion that his
+complaint was other than bodily. The ill-looking birds that gathered to
+the house, the strange noises that sounded from the drawing-room in the
+dead hours of night, the careless attendance and intemperate habits of
+the nurse, the entire absence of correspondence, the entire seclusion of
+Mr. Jones himself, whose face, up to that hour, he could not have sworn
+to in a court of justice--all weighed unpleasantly upon the young man's
+mind. A sense of something evil, irregular and underhand, haunted and
+depressed him; and this uneasy sentiment was the more firmly rooted in
+his mind, when, in the fulness of time, he had an opportunity of
+observing the features of his tenant. It fell in this way. The young
+landlord was awakened about four in the morning by a noise in the hall.
+Leaping to his feet, and opening the door of the library, he saw the
+tall man, candle in hand, in earnest conversation with the gentleman who
+had taken the rooms. The faces of both were strongly illuminated; and in
+that of his tenant Somerset could perceive none of the marks of disease,
+but every sign of health, energy, and resolution. While he was still
+looking, the visitor took his departure; and the invalid, having
+carefully fastened the front door, sprang upstairs without a trace of
+lassitude.
+
+That night upon his pillow, Somerset began to kindle once more into the
+hot fit of the detective fever; and the next morning resumed the
+practice of his art with careless hand and an abstracted mind. The day
+was destined to be fertile in surprises; nor had he long been seated at
+the easel ere the first of these occurred. A cab laden with baggage
+drew up before the door; and Mrs. Luxmore in person rapidly mounted the
+steps and began to pound upon the knocker. Somerset hastened to attend
+the summons.
+
+"My dear fellow," she said, with the utmost gaiety, "here I come
+dropping from the moon. I am delighted to find you faithful; and I have
+no doubt you will be equally pleased to be restored to liberty."
+
+Somerset could find no words, whether of protest or welcome; and the
+spirited old lady pushed briskly by him, and paused on the threshold of
+the dining-room. The sight that met her eyes was one well calculated to
+inspire astonishment. The mantelpiece was arrayed with saucepans and
+empty bottles; on the fire some chops were frying; the floor was
+littered from end to end with books, clothes, walking-canes, and the
+materials of the painter's craft; but what far outstripped the other
+wonders of the place was the corner which had been arranged for the
+study of still-life. This formed a sort of rockery; conspicuous upon
+which, according to the principles of the art of composition, a cabbage
+was relieved against a copper kettle, and both contrasted with the mail
+of a boiled lobster.
+
+"My gracious goodness!" cried the lady of the house; and then, turning
+in wrath on the young man, "From what rank in life are you sprung?" she
+demanded. "You have the exterior of a gentleman; but from the
+astonishing evidences before me, I should say you can only be a
+green-grocer's man. Pray, gather up your vegetables, and let me see no
+more of you."
+
+"Madam," babbled Somerset, "you promised me a month's warning."
+
+"That was under a misapprehension," returned the old lady. "I now give
+you warning to leave at once."
+
+"Madam," said the young man, "I wish I could; and indeed, as far as I am
+concerned, it might be done. But then, my lodger!"
+
+"Your lodger?" echoed Mrs. Luxmore.
+
+"My lodger: why should I deny it?" returned Somerset. "He is only by the
+week."
+
+The old lady sat down upon a chair. "You have a lodger?--you?" she
+cried. "And pray, how did you get him?"
+
+"By advertisement," replied the young man. "O madam, I have not lived
+unobservantly. I adopted"--his eyes involuntarily shifted to the
+cartoons--"I adopted every method."
+
+Her eyes had followed his; for the first time in Somerset's experience,
+she produced a double eyeglass; and as soon as the full merit of the
+works had flashed upon her, she gave way to peal after peal of her
+trilling and soprano laughter.
+
+"Oh, I think you are perfectly delicious!" she cried. "I do hope you had
+them in the window. M'Pherson," she continued, crying to her maid, who
+had been all this time grimly waiting in the hall, "I lunch with Mr.
+Somerset. Take the cellar key and bring some wine."
+
+In this gay humour she continued throughout the luncheon; presented
+Somerset with a couple of dozen of wine, which she made M'Pherson bring
+up from the cellar--"as a present, my dear," she said, with another
+burst of tearful merriment, "for your charming pictures, which you must
+be sure to leave me when you go"; and finally, protesting that she dared
+not spoil the absurdest houseful of madmen in the whole of London,
+departed (as she vaguely phrased it) for the continent of Europe.
+
+She was no sooner gone than Somerset encountered in the corridor the
+Irish nurse; sober, to all appearance, and yet a prey to singularly
+strong emotion. It was made to appear, from her account, that Mr. Jones
+had already suffered acutely in his health from Mrs. Luxmore's visit,
+and that nothing short of a full explanation could allay the invalid's
+uneasiness. Somerset, somewhat staring, told what he thought fit of the
+affair.
+
+"Is that all?" cried the woman. "As God sees you, is that all?"
+
+"My good woman," said the young man, "I have no idea what you can be
+driving at. Suppose the lady were my friend's wife, suppose she were my
+fairy godmother, suppose she were the Queen of Portugal; and how should
+that affect yourself or Mr. Jones?"
+
+"Blessed Mary!" cried the nurse, "it's he that will be glad to hear it!"
+
+And immediately she fled upstairs.
+
+Somerset, on his part, returned to the dining-room, and, with a very
+thoughtful brow and ruminating many theories, disposed of the remainder
+of the bottle. It was port; and port is a wine, sole among its equals
+and superiors, that can in some degree support the competition of
+tobacco. Sipping, smoking, and theorising, Somerset moved on from
+suspicion to suspicion, from resolve to resolve, still growing braver
+and rosier as the bottle ebbed. He was a sceptic, none prouder of the
+name; he had no horror at command, whether for crimes or vices, but
+beheld and embraced the world, with an immoral approbation, the frequent
+consequence of youth and health. At the same time, he felt convinced
+that he dwelt under the same roof with secret malefactors; and the
+unregenerate instinct of the chase impelled him to severity. The bottle
+had run low; the summer sun had finally withdrawn; and at the same
+moment, night and the pangs of hunger recalled him from his dreams.
+
+He went forth, and dined in the Criterion: a dinner in consonance, not
+so much with his purse, as with the admirable wine he had discussed.
+What with one thing and another, it was long past midnight when he
+returned home. A cab was at the door; and entering the hall, Somerset
+found himself face to face with one of the most regular of the few who
+visited Mr. Jones: a man of powerful figure, strong lineaments, and a
+chin-beard in the American fashion. This person was carrying on one
+shoulder a black portmanteau, seemingly of considerable weight. That he
+should find a visitor removing baggage in the dead of night, recalled
+some odd stories to the young man's memory; he had heard of lodgers who
+thus gradually drained away, not only their own effects, but the very
+furniture and fittings of the house that sheltered them; and now, in a
+mood between pleasantry and suspicion, and aping the manner of a
+drunkard, he roughly bumped against the man with the chin-beard and
+knocked the portmanteau from his shoulder to the floor. With a face
+struck suddenly as white as paper, the man with the chin-beard called
+lamentably on the name of his Maker, and fell in a mere heap on the mat
+at the foot of the stairs. At the same time, though only for a single
+instant, the heads of the sick lodger and the Irish nurse popped out
+like rabbits over the banisters of the first floor; and on both the same
+scare and pallor were apparent.
+
+The sight of this incredible emotion turned Somerset to stone, and he
+continued speechless, while the man gathered himself together, and, with
+the help of the hand-rail and audibly thanking God, scrambled once more
+upon his feet.
+
+"What in Heaven's name ails you?" gasped the young man as soon as he
+could find words and utterance.
+
+"Have you a drop of brandy?" returned the other. "I am sick."
+
+Somerset administered two drams, one after the other, to the man with
+the chin-beard; who then, somewhat restored, began to confound himself
+in apologies for what he called his miserable nervousness, the result,
+he said, of a long course of dumb ague; and having taken leave with a
+hand that still sweated and trembled, he gingerly resumed his burthen
+and departed.
+
+Somerset retired to bed but not to sleep. What, he asked himself, had
+been the contents of the black portmanteau? Stolen goods? the carcass of
+one murdered? or--and at the thought he sat upright in bed--an infernal
+machine? He took a solemn vow that he would set these doubts at rest;
+and, with the next morning, installed himself beside the dining-room
+window, vigilant with eye and ear, to await and profit by the earliest
+opportunity.
+
+The hours went heavily by. Within the house there was no circumstance of
+novelty; unless it might be that the nurse more frequently made little
+journeys round the corner of the square, and before afternoon was
+somewhat loose of speech and gait. A little after six, however, there
+came round the corner of the gardens a very handsome and elegantly
+dressed young woman, who paused a little way off, and for some time, and
+with frequent sighs, contemplated the front of the Superfluous Mansion.
+It was not the first time that she had thus stood afar and looked upon
+it, like our common parents at the gates of Eden; and the young man had
+already had occasion to remark the lively slimness of her carriage, and
+had already been the butt of a chance arrow from her eye. He hailed her
+coming, then, with pleasant feelings, and moved a little nearer to the
+window to enjoy the sight. What was his surprise, however, when, as if
+with a sensible effort, she drew near, mounted the steps, and tapped
+discreetly at the door! He made haste to get before the Irish nurse, who
+was not improbably asleep, and had the satisfaction to receive this
+gracious visitor in person.
+
+She inquired for Mr. Jones; and then, without transition, asked the
+young man if he were the person of the house (and at the words, he
+thought he could perceive her to be smiling), "because," she added, "if
+you are, I should like to see some of the other rooms."
+
+Somerset told her he was under an engagement to receive no other
+lodgers; but she assured him that would be no matter, as these were
+friends of Mr. Jones's. "And," she continued, moving suddenly to the
+dining-room door, "let us begin here." Somerset was too late to prevent
+her entering, and perhaps lacked the courage to essay. "Ah!" she cried,
+"how changed it is!"
+
+"Madam," cried the young man, "since your entrance, it is I who have the
+right to say so."
+
+She received this inane compliment with a demure and conscious droop of
+the eyelids, and gracefully steering her dress among the mingled
+litter, now with a smile, now with a sigh, reviewed the wonders of the
+two apartments. She gazed upon the cartoons with sparkling eyes, and a
+heightened colour, and, in a somewhat breathless voice, expressed a high
+opinion of their merits. She praised the effective disposition of the
+rockery, and in the bedroom, of which Somerset had vainly endeavoured to
+defend the entry, she fairly broke forth in admiration. "How simple and
+manly!" she cried: "none of that effeminacy of neatness, which is so
+detestable in a man!" Hard upon this, telling him, before he had time to
+reply, that she very well knew her way, and would trouble him no
+further, she took her leave with an engaging smile, and ascended the
+staircase alone.
+
+For more than an hour the young lady remained closeted with Mr. Jones;
+and at the end of that time, the night being now come completely, they
+left the house in company. This was the first time since the arrival of
+his lodger that Somerset had found himself alone with the Irish widow;
+and without the loss of any more time than was required by decency, he
+stepped to the foot of the stairs and hailed her by her name. She came
+instantly, wreathed in weak smiles and with a nodding head; and when the
+young man politely offered to introduce her to the treasures of his art,
+she swore that nothing could afford her greater pleasure, for, though
+she had never crossed the threshold, she had frequently observed his
+beautiful pictures through the door. On entering the dining-room, the
+sight of a bottle and two glasses prepared her to be a gentle critic;
+and as soon as the pictures had been viewed and praised, she was easily
+persuaded to join the painter in a single glass. "Here," she said, "are
+my respects; and a pleasure it is, in this horrible house, to see a
+gentleman like yourself, so affable and free, and a very nice painter, I
+am sure." One glass so agreeably prefaced, was sure to lead to the
+acceptance of a second; at the third, Somerset was free to cease from
+the affectation of keeping her company; and as for the fourth, she
+asked it of her own accord. "For indeed," said she, "what with all these
+clocks and chemicals, without a drop of the creature life would be
+impossible entirely. And you seen yourself that even M'Guire was glad to
+beg for it. And even himself, when he is downhearted with all these
+cruel disappointments, though as temperate a man as any child, will be
+sometimes crying for a glass of it. And I'll thank you for a thimbleful
+to settle what I got." Soon after, she began with tears to narrate the
+deathbed dispositions and lament the trifling assets of her husband.
+Then she declared she heard "the master" calling her, rose to her feet,
+made but one lurch of it into the still-life rockery, and with her head
+upon the lobster, fell into stertorous slumbers.
+
+Somerset mounted at once to the first story, and opened the door of the
+drawing-room, which was brilliantly lit by several lamps. It was a great
+apartment; looking on the square with three tall windows, and joined by
+a pair of ample folding-doors to the next room; elegant in proportion,
+papered in sea-green, furnished in velvet of a delicate blue, and
+adorned with a majestic mantelpiece of variously tinted marbles. Such
+was the room that Somerset remembered; that which he now beheld was
+changed in almost every feature: the furniture covered with a figured
+chintz; the walls hung with a rhubarb-coloured paper, and diversified by
+the curtained recesses for no less than seven windows. It seemed to
+himself that he must have entered, without observing the transition,
+into the adjoining house. Presently from these more specious changes,
+his eye condescended to the many curious objects with which the floor
+was littered. Here were the locks of dismounted pistols; clocks and
+clockwork in every stage of demolition, some still busily ticking, some
+reduced to their dainty elements; a great company of carboys, jars, and
+bottles; a carpenter's bench and a laboratory-table.
+
+The back drawing-room, to which Somerset proceeded, had likewise
+undergone a change. It was transformed to the exact appearance of a
+common lodging-house bedroom; a bed with green curtains occupied one
+corner; and the window was blocked by the regulation table and mirror.
+The door of a small closet here attracted the young man's attention; and
+striking a vesta, he opened it and entered. On a table, several wigs and
+beards were lying spread; about the walls hung an incongruous display of
+suits and overcoats; and conspicuous among the last the young man
+observed a large overall of the most costly sealskin. In a flash his
+mind reverted to the advertisement in the _Standard_ newspaper. The
+great height of his lodger, the disproportionate breadth of his
+shoulders, and the strange particulars of his instalment, all pointed to
+the same conclusion.
+
+The vesta had now burned to his fingers; and taking the coat upon his
+arm, Somerset hastily returned to the lighted drawing-room. There, with
+a mixture of fear and admiration, he pored upon its goodly proportions
+and the regularity and softness of the pile. The sight of a large
+pier-glass put another fancy in his head. He donned the fur coat; and
+standing before the mirror in an attitude suggestive of a Russian
+prince, he thrust his hands into the ample pockets. There his fingers
+encountered a folded journal. He drew it out, and recognised the type
+and paper of the _Standard;_ and at the same instant his eyes alighted
+on the offer of two hundred pounds. Plainly then, his lodger, now no
+longer mysterious, had laid aside his coat on the very day of the
+appearance of the advertisement.
+
+He was thus standing, the tell-tale coat upon his back, the
+incriminating paper in his hand, when the door opened and the tall
+lodger, with a firm but somewhat pallid face, stepped into the room and
+closed the door again behind him. For some time the two looked upon each
+other in perfect silence; then Mr. Jones moved forward to the table,
+took a seat, and, still without once changing the direction of his eyes,
+addressed the young man.
+
+"You are right," he said. "It is for me the blood money is offered. And
+now what will you do?"
+
+It was a question to which Somerset was far from being able to reply.
+Taken as he was at unawares, masquerading in the man's own coat, and
+surrounded by a whole arsenal of diabolical explosives, the keeper of
+the lodging-house was silenced.
+
+"Yes," resumed the other, "I am he. I am that man, whom with impotent
+hate and fear they still hunt from den to den, from disguise to
+disguise. Yet, my landlord, you have it in your power, if you be poor,
+to lay the basis of your fortune; if you be unknown, to capture honour
+at one snatch. You have hocussed an innocent widow; and I find you here
+in my apartment, for whose use I pay you in stamped money, searching my
+wardrobe, and your hand--shame, sir!--your hand in my very pocket. You
+can now complete the cycle of your ignominious acts, by what will be at
+once the simplest, the safest, and the most remunerative." The speaker
+paused as if to emphasise his words; and then, with a great change of
+tone and manner, thus resumed: "And yet, sir, when I look upon your
+face, I feel certain that I cannot be deceived: certain that in spite of
+all, I have the honour and pleasure of speaking to a gentleman. Take off
+my coat, sir--which but cumbers you. Divest yourself of this confusion:
+that which is but thought upon, thank God, need be no burthen to the
+conscience; we have all harboured guilty thoughts; and if it flashed
+into your mind to sell my flesh and blood, my anguish in the dock, and
+the sweat of my death agony--it was a thought, dear sir, you were as
+incapable of acting on, as I of any further question of your honour." At
+these words the speaker, with a very open, smiling countenance, like a
+forgiving father, offered Somerset his hand.
+
+It was not in the young man's nature to refuse forgiveness or dissect
+generosity. He instantly, and almost without thought, accepted the
+proffered grasp.
+
+"And now," resumed the lodger, "now that I hold in mine your loyal hand,
+I lay by my apprehensions, I dismiss suspicion, I go further--by an
+effort of will, I banish the memory of what is past. How you came here,
+I care not: enough that you are here--as my guest. Sit ye down; and let
+us, with your good permission, improve acquaintance over a glass of
+excellent whisky."
+
+So speaking, he produced glasses and a bottle; and the pair pledged each
+other in silence.
+
+"Confess," observed the smiling host, "you were surprised at the
+appearance of the room."
+
+"I was indeed," said Somerset; "nor can I imagine the purpose of these
+changes."
+
+"These," replied the conspirator, "are the devices by which I continue
+to exist. Conceive me now, accused before one of your unjust tribunals;
+conceive the various witnesses appearing, and the singular variety of
+their reports! One will have visited me in this drawing-room as it
+originally stood; a second finds it as it is to-night; and to-morrow or
+next day, all may have been changed. If you love romance (as artists
+do), few lives are more romantic than that of the obscure individual now
+addressing you. Obscure yet famous. Mine is an anonymous, infernal
+glory. By infamous means, I work towards my bright purpose. I found the
+liberty and peace of a poor country desperately abused; the future
+smiles upon that land; yet, in the meantime, I lead the existence of a
+hunted brute, work towards appalling ends, and practise hell's
+dexterities."
+
+Somerset, glass in hand, contemplated the strange fanatic before him,
+and listened to his heated rhapsody, with indescribable bewilderment. He
+looked him in the face with curious particularity; saw there the marks
+of education; and wondered the more profoundly.
+
+"Sir," he said--"for I know not whether I should still address you as
+Mr. Jones--"
+
+"Jones, Breitman, Higginbotham, Pumpernickel, Daviot, Henderland, by all
+or any of these you may address me," said the plotter; "for all I have
+at some time borne. Yet that which I most prize, that which is most
+feared, hated, and obeyed, is not a name to be found in your
+directories; it is not a name current in post-offices or banks; and
+indeed, like the celebrated clan M'Gregor, I may justly describe myself
+as being nameless by day. But," he continued, rising to his feet, "by
+night, and among my desperate followers, I am the redoubted Zero."
+
+Somerset was unacquainted with the name; but he politely expressed
+surprise and gratification. "I am to understand," he continued, "that,
+under this alias, you follow the profession of a dynamiter?"[3]
+
+The plotter had resumed his seat and now replenished the glasses.
+
+"I do," he said. "In this dark period of time, a star--the star of
+dynamite--has risen for the oppressed; and among those who practise its
+use, so thick beset with dangers and attended by such incredible
+difficulties and disappointments, few have been more assiduous, and not
+many--" He paused, and a shade of embarrassment appeared upon his
+face--"not many have been more successful than myself."
+
+"I can imagine," observed Somerset, "that, from the sweeping
+consequences looked for, the career is not devoid of interest. You have,
+besides, some of the entertainment of the game of hide-and-seek. But it
+would still seem to me--I speak as a layman--that nothing could be
+simpler or safer than to deposit an infernal machine and retire to an
+adjacent county to await the painful consequences."
+
+"You speak, indeed," returned the plotter, with some evidence of warmth,
+"you speak, indeed, most ignorantly. Do you make nothing, then, of such
+a peril as we share this moment? Do you think it nothing to occupy a
+house like this one, mined, menaced, and, in a word, literally tottering
+to its fall?"
+
+"Good God!" ejaculated Somerset.
+
+"And when you speak of ease," pursued Zero, "in this age of scientific
+studies, you fill me with surprise. Are you not aware that chemicals are
+proverbially fickle as woman, and clockwork as capricious as the very
+devil? Do you see upon my brow these furrows of anxiety? do you observe
+the silver threads that mingle with my hair? Clockwork, clockwork has
+stamped them on my brow--chemicals have sprinkled them upon my locks!
+No, Mr. Somerset," he resumed, after a moment's pause, his voice still
+quivering with sensibility, "you must not suppose the dynamiter's life
+to be all gold. On the contrary: you cannot picture to yourself the
+bloodshot vigils and the staggering disappointments of a life like mine.
+I have toiled (let us say) for months, up early and down late; my bag is
+ready, my clock set; a daring agent has hurried with white face to
+deposit the instrument of ruin; we await the fall of England, the
+massacre of thousands, the yell of fear and execration; and lo! a snap
+like that of a child's pistol, an offensive smell, and the entire loss
+of so much time and plant! If," he concluded musingly, "we had been
+merely able to recover the lost bags, I believe, with but a touch or
+two, I could have remedied the peccant engine. But what with the loss of
+plant and the almost insuperable scientific difficulties of the task,
+our friends in France are almost ready to desert the chosen medium. They
+propose, instead, to break up the drainage system of cities and sweep
+off whole populations with the devastating typhoid pestilence: a
+tempting and a scientific project: a process, indiscriminate indeed, but
+of idyllical simplicity. I recognise its elegance; but, sir, I have
+something of the poet in my nature; something, possibly, of the tribune.
+And, for my small part, I shall remain devoted to that more emphatic,
+more striking, and (if you please) more popular method of the explosive
+bomb. Yes," he cried, with unshaken hope, "I will still continue and, I
+feel it in my bosom, I shall yet succeed."
+
+"Two things I remark," said Somerset. "The first somewhat staggers me.
+Have you, then--in all this course of life, which you have sketched so
+vividly--have you not once succeeded?"
+
+"Pardon me," said Zero. "I have had one success. You behold in me the
+author of the outrage of Red Lion Court."
+
+"But if I remember right," objected Somerset, "the thing was a _fiasco_.
+A scavenger's barrow and some copies of the _Weekly Budget_--these were
+the only victims."
+
+"You will pardon me again," returned Zero, with positive asperity: "a
+child was injured."
+
+"And that fitly brings me to my second point," said Somerset. "For I
+observed you to employ the word 'indiscriminate.' Now, surely, a
+scavenger's barrow and a child (if child there were) represent the very
+acme and top pin-point of indiscriminate and, pardon me, of ineffectual
+reprisal."
+
+"Did I employ the word?" asked Zero. "Well, I will not defend it. But
+for efficiency, you touch on graver matters; and before entering upon so
+vast a subject, permit me once more to fill our glasses. Disputation is
+dry work," he added, with a charming gaiety of manner.
+
+Once more accordingly the pair pledged each other in a stalwart grog;
+and Zero, leaning back with an air of some complacency, proceeded more
+largely to develop his opinions.
+
+"The indiscriminate?" he began. "War, my dear sir, is indiscriminate.
+War spares not the child; it spares not the barrow of the harmless
+scavenger. No more," he concluded, beaming, "no more do I. Whatever may
+strike fear, whatever may confound or paralyse the activities of the
+guilty nation, barrow or child, imperial Parliament or excursion
+steamer, is welcome to my simple plans. You are not," he inquired, with
+a shade of sympathetic interest, "you are not, I trust, a believer?"
+
+"Sir, I believe in nothing," said the young man.
+
+"You are then," replied Zero, "in a position to grasp my argument. We
+agree that humanity is the object, the glorious triumph of humanity; and
+being pledged to labour for that end, and face to face with the banded
+opposition of kings, parliaments, churches, and the members of the
+force, who am I--who are we, dear sir--to affect a nicety about the
+tools employed? You might, perhaps, expect us to attack the Queen, the
+sinister Gladstone, the rigid Derby, or the dexterous Granville; but
+there you would be in error. Our appeal is to the body of the people; it
+is these that we would touch and interest. Now, sir, have you observed
+the English housemaid?"
+
+"I should think I had," cried Somerset.
+
+"From a man of taste and a votary of art, I had expected it," returned
+the conspirator politely. "A type apart; a very charming figure; and
+thoroughly adapted to our ends. The neat cap, the clean print, the
+comely person, the engaging manner; her position between classes,
+parents in one, employers in another; the probability that she will have
+at least one sweetheart, whose feelings we shall address:--yes, I have a
+leaning--call it, if you will, a weakness--for the housemaid. Not that I
+would be understood to despise the nurse. For the child is a very
+interesting feature: I have long since marked out the child as the
+sensitive point in society." He wagged his head, with a wise, pensive
+smile. "And talking, sir, of children and of the perils of our trade,
+let me now narrate to you a little incident of an explosive bomb, that
+fell out some weeks ago under my own observation. It fell out thus."
+
+And Zero leaning back in his chair narrated the following simple tale.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [3] The Arabian author of the original has here a long passage
+    conceived in a style too oriental for the English reader. We subjoin
+    a specimen, and it seems doubtful whether it should be printed as
+    prose or verse: "Any writard who writes dynamitard shall find in me
+    a never-resting fightard"; and he goes on (if we correctly gather
+    his meaning) to object to such elegant and obviously correct
+    spellings as lamp-lightard, corn-dealard, apple-filchard (clearly
+    justified by the parallel--pilchard), and opera-dan�ard.
+    "Dynamitist," he adds, "I could understand."
+
+
+
+
+ZERO'S TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE BOMB[4]
+
+
+I dined by appointment with one of our most trusted agents, in a private
+chamber at St. James's Hall. You have seen the man: it was M'Guire, the
+most chivalrous of creatures, but not himself expert in our
+contrivances. Hence the necessity of our meeting; for I need not remind
+you what enormous issues depend upon the nice adjustment of the engine.
+I set our little petard for half an hour, the scene of action being hard
+by; and, the better to avert miscarriage, employed a device, a recent
+invention of my own, by which the opening of the Gladstone bag in which
+the bomb was carried should instantly determine the explosion. M'Guire
+was somewhat dashed by this arrangement, which was new to him: and
+pointed out, with excellent, clear good sense, that should he be
+arrested, it would probably involve him in the fall of our opponents.
+But I was not to be moved, made a strong appeal to his patriotism, gave
+him a good glass of whisky, and despatched him on his glorious errand.
+
+Our objective was the effigy of Shakespeare in Leicester Square: a spot,
+I think, admirably chosen; not only for the sake of the dramatist, still
+very foolishly claimed as a glory by the English race, in spite of his
+disgusting political opinions; but from the fact that the seats in the
+immediate neighbourhood are often thronged by children, errand-boys,
+unfortunate young ladies of the poorer class, and infirm old men--all
+classes making a direct appeal to public pity, and therefore suitable
+with our designs. As M'Guire drew near, his heart was inflamed by the
+most noble sentiment of triumph. Never had he seen the garden so
+crowded; children, still stumbling in the impotence of youth, ran to and
+fro, shouting and playing, round the pedestal; an old, sick pensioner
+sat upon the nearest bench, a medal on his breast, a stick with which he
+walked (for he was disabled by wounds) reclining on his knee. Guilty
+England would thus be stabbed in the most delicate quarters; the moment
+had, indeed, been well selected; and M'Guire, with a radiant prevision
+of the event, drew merrily nearer. Suddenly his eye alighted on the
+burly form of a policeman, standing hard by the effigy in an attitude of
+watch. My bold companion paused; he looked about him closely; here and
+there, at different points of the enclosure, other men stood or
+loitered, affecting an abstraction, feigning to gaze upon the shrubs,
+feigning to talk, feigning to be weary and to rest upon the benches.
+M'Guire was no child in these affairs; he instantly divined one of the
+plots of the Machiavellian Gladstone.
+
+A chief difficulty with which we have to deal is a certain nervousness
+in the subaltern branches of the corps; as the hour of some design draws
+near, these chicken-souled conspirators appear to suffer some revulsion
+of intent; and frequently despatch to the authorities, not indeed
+specific denunciations, but vague anonymous warnings. But for this
+purely accidental circumstance, England had long ago been an historical
+expression. On the receipt of such a letter, the Government lays a trap
+for its adversaries, and surrounds the threatened spot with hirelings.
+My blood sometimes boils in my veins, when I consider the case of those
+who sell themselves for money in such a cause. True, thanks to the
+generosity of our supporters, we patriots receive a very comfortable
+stipend; I myself, of course, touch a salary which puts me quite beyond
+the reach of any peddling, mercenary thoughts; M'Guire, again, ere he
+joined our ranks, was on the brink of starving, and now, thank God!
+receives a decent income. That is as it should be; the patriot must not
+be diverted from his task by any base consideration; and the distinction
+between our position and that of the police is too obvious to be stated.
+
+Plainly, however, our Leicester Square design had been divulged; the
+Government had craftily filled the place with minions; even the
+pensioner was not improbably a hireling in disguise; and our emissary,
+without other aid or protection than the simple apparatus in his bag,
+found himself confronted by force; brutal force; that strong hand which
+was a character of the ages of oppression. Should he venture to deposit
+the machine, it was almost certain that he would be observed and
+arrested; a cry would arise; and there was just a fear that the police
+might not be present in sufficient force to protect him from the
+savagery of the mob. The scheme must be delayed. He stood with his bag
+on his arm, pretending to survey the front of the Alhambra, when there
+flashed into his mind a thought to appal the bravest. The machine was
+set; at the appointed hour, it must explode; and how, in the interval,
+was he to be rid of it?
+
+Put yourself, I beseech you, into the body of that patriot. There he
+was, friendless and helpless; a man in the very flower of life, for he
+is not yet forty; with long years of happiness before him; and now
+condemned, in one moment, to a cruel and revolting death by dynamite!
+The square, he said, went round him like a thaumatrope; he saw the
+Alhambra leap into the air like a balloon; and reeled against the
+railing. It is probable he fainted.
+
+When he came to himself, a constable had him by the arm.
+
+"My God!" he cried.
+
+"You seem to be unwell, sir," said the hireling.
+
+"I feel better now," cried poor M'Guire: and with uneven steps, for the
+pavement of the square seemed to lurch and reel under his footing, he
+fled from the scene of this disaster. Fled? Alas, from what was he
+fleeing? Did he not carry that from which he fled, along with him? and
+had he the wings of the eagle, had he the swiftness of the ocean winds,
+could he have been rapt into the uttermost quarters of the earth, how
+should he escape the ruin that he carried? We have heard of living men
+who have been fettered to the dead; the grievance, soberly considered,
+is no more than sentimental; the case is but a flea-bite to that of him
+who should be linked, like poor M'Guire, to an explosive bomb.
+
+A thought struck him in Green Street, like a dart through his liver:
+suppose it were the hour already. He stopped as though he had been shot,
+and plucked his watch out. There was a howling in his ears, as loud as a
+winter tempest; his sight was now obscured as if by a cloud, now, as by
+a lightning flash, would show him the very dust upon the street. But so
+brief were these intervals of vision, and so violently did the watch
+vibrate in his hands, that it was impossible to distinguish the numbers
+on the dial. He covered his eyes for a few seconds; and in that space,
+it seemed to him that he had fallen to be a man of ninety. When he
+looked again, the watch-plate had grown legible: he had twenty minutes.
+Twenty minutes, and no plan!
+
+Green Street, at that time, was very empty; and he now observed a little
+girl of about six drawing near to him and, as she came, kicking in front
+of her, as children will, a piece of wood. She sang, too; and something
+in her accent recalling him to the past produced a sudden clearness in
+his mind. Here was a God-sent opportunity!
+
+"My dear," said he, "would you like a present of a pretty bag?"
+
+The child cried aloud with joy and put out her hands to take it. She had
+looked first at the bag, like a true child; but most unfortunately,
+before she had yet received the fatal gift, her eyes fell directly on
+M'Guire; and no sooner had she seen the poor gentleman's face than she
+screamed out and leaped backward, as though she had seen the devil.
+Almost at the same moment a woman appeared upon the threshold of a
+neighbouring shop, and called upon the child in anger. "Come here,
+colleen," she said, "and don't be plaguing the poor old gentleman!" With
+that she re-entered the house, and the child followed her, sobbing
+aloud.
+
+With the loss of this hope M'Guire's reason swooned within him. When
+next he awoke to consciousness, he was standing before St.
+Martin's-in-the-Fields, wavering like a drunken man; the passers-by
+regarded him with eyes in which he read, as in a glass, an image of the
+terror and horror that dwelt within his own.
+
+"I am afraid you are very ill, sir," observed a woman, stopping and
+gazing hard in his face. "Can I do anything to help you?"
+
+"Ill?" said M'Guire. "O God!" And then, recovering some shadow of his
+self-command, "Chronic, madam," said he: "a long course of the dumb
+ague. But since you are so compassionate--an errand that I lack the
+strength to carry out," he gasped--"this bag to Portman Square. O
+compassionate woman, as you hope to be saved, as you are a mother, in
+the name of your babes that wait to welcome you at home, oh, take this
+bag to Portman Square! I have a mother, too," he added, with a broken
+voice. "Number 19 Portman Square."
+
+I suppose he had expressed himself with too much energy of voice; for
+the woman was plainly taken with a certain fear of him. "Poor
+gentleman!" said she. "If I were you, I would go home." And she left him
+standing there in his distress.
+
+"Home!" thought M'Guire, "what a derision!" What home was there for him,
+the victim of philanthropy? He thought of his old mother, of his happy
+youth; of the hideous, rending pang of the explosion; of the possibility
+that he might not be killed, that he might be cruelly mangled, crippled
+for life, condemned to life-long pains, blinded perhaps, and almost
+surely deafened. Ah, you spoke lightly of the dynamiter's peril; but
+even waiving death, have you realised what it is for a fine, brave young
+man of forty, to be smitten suddenly with deafness, cut off from all the
+music of life, and from the voice of friendship and love? How little do
+we realise the sufferings of others! Even your brutal Government, in the
+heyday of its lust for cruelty, though it scruples not to hound the
+patriot with spies, to pack the corrupt jury, to bribe the hangman, and
+to erect the infamous gallows, would hesitate to inflict so horrible a
+doom: not, I am well aware, from virtue, not from philanthropy, but with
+the fear before it of the withering scorn of the good.
+
+But I wander from M'Guire. From this dread glance into the past and
+future, his thoughts returned at a bound upon the present. How had he
+wandered there? and how long--O heavens! how long had he been about it?
+He pulled out his watch; and found that but three minutes had elapsed.
+It seemed too bright a thing to be believed. He glanced at the church
+clock; and sure enough, it marked an hour four minutes in advance of the
+watch.
+
+Of all that he endured, M'Guire declares that pang was the most
+desolate. Till then, he had had one friend, one counsellor, in whom he
+plenarily trusted; by whose advertisement he numbered the minutes that
+remained to him of life; on whose sure testimony he could tell when the
+time was come to risk the last adventure, to cast the bag away from him,
+and take to flight. And now in what was he to place reliance? His watch
+was slow; it might be losing time; if so, in what degree? What limit
+could he set to its derangement? and how much was it possible for a
+watch to lose in thirty minutes? Five? ten? fifteen? It might be so;
+already, it seemed years since he had left St. James's Hall on this so
+promising enterprise; at any moment, then, the blow was to be looked
+for.
+
+In the face of this new distress, the wild disorder of his pulses
+settled down; and a broken weariness succeeded, as though he had lived
+for centuries and for centuries been dead. The buildings and the people
+in the street became incredibly small, and far-away, and bright; London
+sounded in his ears stilly, like a whisper; and the rattle of the cab
+that nearly charged him down was like a sound from Africa. Meanwhile, he
+was conscious of a strange abstraction from himself; and heard and felt
+his footfalls on the ground, as those of a very old, small, debile, and
+tragically fortuned man, whom he sincerely pitied.
+
+As he was thus moving forward past the National Gallery, in a medium, it
+seemed, of greater rarity and quiet than ordinary air, there slipped
+into his mind the recollection of a certain entry in Whitcomb Street
+hard by, where he might perhaps lay down his tragic cargo unremarked.
+Thither, then, he bent his steps, seeming, as he went, to float above
+the pavement; and there, in the mouth of the entry, he found a man in a
+sleeved waistcoat, gravely chewing a straw. He passed him by, and twice
+patrolled the entry, scouting for the barest chance; but the man had
+faced about and continued to observe him curiously.
+
+Another hope was gone. M'Guire re-issued from the entry, still followed
+by the wondering eyes of the man in the sleeved waistcoat. He once more
+consulted his watch: there were but fourteen minutes left to him. At
+that, it seemed as if a sudden, genial heat were spread about his brain;
+for a second or two, he saw the world as red as blood; and thereafter
+entered into a complete possession of himself, with an incredible
+cheerfulness of spirits, prompting him to sing and chuckle as he walked.
+And yet this mirth seemed to belong to things external; and within, like
+a black and leaden-heavy kernel, he was conscious of the weight upon his
+soul.
+
+  "I care for nobody, no, not I,
+   And nobody cares for me,"
+
+he sang, and laughed at the appropriate burthen, so that the passengers
+stared upon him on the street. And still the warmth seemed to increase
+and to become more genial. What was life? he considered, and what he,
+M'Guire? What even Erin, our green Erin? All seemed so incalculably
+little that he smiled as he looked down upon it. He would have given
+years, had he possessed them, for a glass of spirits; but time failed,
+and he must deny himself this last indulgence.
+
+At the corner of the Haymarket, he very jauntily hailed a hansom cab;
+jumped in; bade the fellow drive him to a part of the Embankment, which
+he named; and as soon as the vehicle was in motion, concealed the bag as
+completely as he could under the vantage of the apron, and once more
+drew out his watch. So he rode for five interminable minutes, his heart
+in his mouth at every jolt, scarce able to possess his terrors, yet
+fearing to wake the attention of the driver by too obvious a change of
+plan, and willing, if possible, to leave him time to forget the
+Gladstone bag.
+
+At length, at the head of some stairs on the Embankment, he hailed; the
+cab was stopped; and he alighted--with how glad a heart! He thrust his
+hand into his pocket. All was now over; he had saved his life; nor that
+alone, but he had engineered a striking act of dynamite; for what could
+be more pictorial, what more effective, than the explosion of a hansom
+cab, as it sped rapidly along the streets of London? He felt in one
+pocket; then in another. The most crushing seizure of despair descended
+on his soul; and, struck into abject dumbness, he stared upon the
+driver. He had not one penny.
+
+"Hillo," said the driver, "don't seem well."
+
+"Lost my money," said M'Guire, in tones so faint and strange that they
+surprised his hearing.
+
+The man looked through the trap. "I dessay," said he: "you've left your
+bag."
+
+M'Guire half unconsciously fetched it out; and looking on that black
+continent at arm's length, withered inwardly and felt his features
+sharpen as with mortal sickness.
+
+"This is not mine," said he. "Your last fare must have left it. You had
+better take it to the station."
+
+"Now look here," returned the cabman: "are you off your chump? or am I?"
+
+"Well, then, I'll tell you what," exclaimed M'Guire: "you take it for
+your fare!"
+
+"Oh, I dessay," replied the driver. "Anything else? What's _in_ your
+bag? Open it, and let me see."
+
+"No, no," returned M'Guire. "O no, not that. It's a surprise; it's
+prepared expressly: a surprise for honest cabmen."
+
+"No, you don't," said the man, alighting from his perch, and coming very
+close to the unhappy patriot. "You're either going to pay my fare, or
+get in again and drive to the office."
+
+It was at this supreme hour of his distress, that M'Guire spied the
+stout figure of one Godall, a tobacconist of Rupert Street, drawing near
+along the Embankment. The man was not unknown to him; he had bought of
+his wares, and heard him quoted for the soul of liberality; and such was
+now the nearness of his peril, that even at such a straw of hope he
+clutched with gratitude.
+
+"Thank God!" he cried. "Here comes a friend of mine. I'll borrow." And
+he dashed to meet the tradesman. "Sir," said he, "Mr. Godall, I have
+dealt with you--you doubtless know my face--calamities for which I
+cannot blame myself have overwhelmed me. Oh, sir, for the love of
+innocence, for the sake of the bonds of humanity, and as you hope for
+mercy at the throne of grace, lend me two-and-six!"
+
+"I do not recognise your face," replied Mr. Godall; "but I remember the
+cut of your beard, which I have the misfortune to dislike. Here, sir, is
+a sovereign; which I very willingly advance to you, on the single
+condition that you shave your chin."
+
+M'Guire grasped the coin without a word; cast it to the cabman, calling
+out to him to keep the change; bounded down the steps, flung the bag far
+forth into the river, and fell headlong after it. He was plucked from a
+watery grave, it is believed, by the hands of Mr. Godall. Even as he was
+being hoisted dripping to the shore, a dull and choked explosion shook
+the solid masonry of the Embankment, and far out in the river a
+momentary fountain rose and disappeared.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [4] The Arabian author, with that quaint particularity of touch
+    which our translation usually pr�termits, here registers a somewhat
+    interesting detail. Zero pronounced the word "boom"; and the reader,
+    if but for the nonce, will possibly consent to follow him.
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)
+
+
+Somerset in vain strove to attach a meaning to these words. He had, in
+the meanwhile, applied himself assiduously to the flagon; the plotter
+began to melt in twain, and seemed to expand and hover on his seat; and
+with a vague sense of nightmare, the young man rose unsteadily to his
+feet, and, refusing the proffer of a third grog, insisted that the hour
+was late and he must positively get to bed.
+
+"Dear me," observed Zero, "I find you very temperate. But I will not be
+oppressive. Suffice it that we are now fast friends; and, my dear
+landlord, _au revoir_!"
+
+So saying the plotter once more shook hands; and with the politest
+ceremonies, and some necessary guidance, conducted the bewildered young
+gentleman to the top of the stair.
+
+Precisely how he got to bed was a point on which Somerset remained in
+utter darkness; but the next morning when, at a blow, he started broad
+awake, there fell upon his mind a perfect hurricane of horror and
+wonder. That he should have suffered himself to be led into the
+semblance of intimacy with such a man as his abominable lodger,
+appeared, in the cold light of day, a mystery of human weakness. True,
+he was caught in a situation that might have tested the aplomb of
+Talleyrand. That was perhaps a palliation; but it was no excuse. For so
+wholesale a capitulation of principle, for such a fall into criminal
+familiarity, no excuse indeed was possible; nor any remedy, but to
+withdraw at once from the relation.
+
+As soon as he was dressed, he hurried upstairs, determined on a rupture.
+Zero hailed him with the warmth of an old friend.
+
+"Come in," he cried, "dear Mr. Somerset! Come in, sit down, and, without
+ceremony, join me at my morning meal."
+
+"Sir," said Somerset, "you must permit me first to disengage my honour.
+Last night, I was surprised into a certain appearance of complicity; but
+once for all, let me inform you that I regard you and your machinations
+with unmingled horror and disgust, and I will leave no stone unturned to
+crush your vile conspiracy."
+
+"My dear fellow," replied Zero, with an air of some complacency, "I am
+well accustomed to these human weaknesses. Disgust? I have felt it
+myself; it speedily wears off. I think none the worse, I think the more
+of you, for this engaging frankness. And in the meanwhile, what are you
+to do? You find yourself, if I interpret rightly, in very much the same
+situation as Charles the Second (possibly the least degraded of your
+British sovereigns) when he was taken into the confidence of the thief.
+To denounce me is out of the question; and what else can you attempt?
+No, dear Mr. Somerset, your hands are tied; and you find yourself
+condemned, under pain of behaving like a cad, to be that same charming
+and intellectual companion who delighted me last night."
+
+"At least," cried Somerset, "I can, and do, order you to leave this
+house."
+
+"Ah!" cried the plotter, "but there I fail to follow you. You may, if
+you please, enact the part of Judas; but if, as I suppose, you recoil
+from that extremity of meanness, I am, on my side, far too intelligent
+to leave these lodgings, in which I please myself exceedingly, and from
+which you lack the power to drive me. No, no, dear sir; here I am, and
+here I propose to stay."
+
+"I repeat," cried Somerset, beside himself with a sense of his own
+weakness, "I repeat that I give you warning. I am master of this house;
+and I emphatically give you warning."
+
+"A week's warning?" said the imperturbable conspirator. "Very well: we
+will talk of it a week from now. That is arranged; and, in the
+meanwhile, I observe my breakfast growing cold. Do, dear Mr. Somerset,
+since you find yourself condemned, for a week at least, to the society
+of a very interesting character, display some of that open favour, some
+of that interest in life's obscurer sides, which stamp the character of
+the true artist. Hang me, if you will, to-morrow; but to-day show
+yourself divested of the scruple of the burgess, and sit down pleasantly
+to share my meal."
+
+"Man!" cried Somerset, "do you understand my sentiments?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Zero; "and I respect them! Would you be outdone in
+such a contest? will you alone be partial? and in this nineteenth
+century, cannot two gentlemen of education agree to differ on a point of
+politics? Come, sir: all your hard words have left me smiling; judge
+then, which of us is the philosopher!"
+
+Somerset was a young man of a very tolerant disposition and by nature
+easily amenable to sophistry. He threw up his hands with a gesture of
+despair, and took the seat to which the conspirator invited him. The
+meal was excellent; the host not only affable, but primed with curious
+information. He seemed, indeed, like one who had too long endured the
+torture of silence, to exult in the most wholesale disclosures. The
+interest of what he had to tell was great; his character, besides,
+developed step by step; and Somerset, as the time fled, not only outgrew
+some of the discomfort of his false position, but began to regard the
+conspirator with a familiarity that verged upon contempt. In any
+circumstances, he had a singular inability to leave the society in which
+he found himself; company, even if distasteful, held him captive like a
+limed sparrow; and on this occasion, he suffered hour to follow hour,
+was easily persuaded to sit down once more to table, and did not even
+attempt to withdraw till, on the approach of evening, Zero, with many
+apologies, dismissed his guest. His fellow-conspirators, the dynamiter
+handsomely explained, as they were unacquainted with the sterling
+qualities of the young man, would be alarmed at the sight of a strange
+face.
+
+As soon as he was alone, Somerset fell back upon the humour of the
+morning. He raged at the thought of his facility; he paced the
+dining-room, forming the sternest resolutions for the future; he wrung
+the hand which had been dishonoured by the touch of an assassin; and
+among all these whirling thoughts, there flashed in from time to time,
+and ever with a chill of fear, the thought of the confounded ingredients
+with which the house was stored. A powder magazine seemed a secure
+smoking-room alongside of the Superfluous Mansion.
+
+He sought refuge in flight, in locomotion, in the flowing bowl. As long
+as the bars were open, he travelled from one to another, seeking light,
+safety, and the companionship of human faces; when these resources
+failed him, he fell back on the belated baked-potato man; and at length,
+still pacing the streets, he was goaded to fraternise with the police.
+Alas, with what a sense of guilt he conversed with these guardians of
+the law; how gladly had he wept upon their ample bosoms; and how the
+secret fluttered to his lips and was still denied an exit! Fatigue began
+at last to triumph over remorse; and about the hour of the first
+milkman, he returned to the door of the mansion; looked at it with a
+horrid expectation, as though it should have burst that instant into
+flames; drew out his key, and when his foot already rested on the steps,
+once more lost heart and fled for repose to the grisly shelter of a
+coffee-shop.
+
+It was on the stroke of noon when he awoke. Dismally searching in his
+pockets, he found himself reduced to half-a-crown; and, when he had paid
+the price of his distasteful couch, saw himself obliged to return to the
+Superfluous Mansion. He sneaked into the hall and stole on tiptoe to the
+cupboard where he kept his money. Yet half a minute, he told himself,
+and he would be free for days from his obseding lodger, and might decide
+at leisure on the course he should pursue. But fate had otherwise
+designed: there came a tap at the door and Zero entered.
+
+"Have I caught you?" he cried, with innocent gaiety. "Dear fellow, I was
+growing quite impatient." And on the speaker's somewhat stolid face
+there came a glow of genuine affection. "I am so long unused to have a
+friend," he continued, "that I begin to be afraid I may prove jealous."
+And he wrung the hand of his landlord.
+
+Somerset was, of all men, least fit to deal with such a greeting. To
+reject these kind advances was beyond his strength. That he could not
+return cordiality for cordiality was already almost more than he could
+carry. That inequality between kind sentiments which, to generous
+characters, will always seem to be a sort of guilt, oppressed him to the
+ground; and he stammered vague and lying words.
+
+"That is all right," cried Zero--"that is as it should be--say no more!
+I had a vague alarm; I feared you had deserted me; but I now own that
+fear to have been unworthy, and apologise. To doubt of your forgiveness
+were to repeat my sin. Come, then; dinner waits; join me again and tell
+me your adventures of the night."
+
+Kindness still sealed the lips of Somerset; and he suffered himself once
+more to be set down to table with his innocent and criminal
+acquaintance. Once more the plotter plunged up to the neck in damaging
+disclosures: now it would be the name and biography of an individual,
+now the address of some important centre, that rose, as if by accident,
+upon his lips; and each word was like another turn of the thumbscrew to
+his unhappy guest. Finally, the course of Zero's bland monologue led him
+to the young lady of two days ago; that young lady, who had flashed on
+Somerset for so brief a while but with so conquering a charm; and whose
+engaging grace, communicative eyes, and admirable conduct of the
+sweeping skirt, remained imprinted on his memory.
+
+"You saw her?" said Zero. "Beautiful, is she not? She, too, is one of
+ours: a true enthusiast: nervous, perhaps, in presence of the chemicals;
+but in matters of intrigue the very soul of skill and daring. Lake,
+Fonblanque, de Marly, Valdevia, such are some of the names that she
+employs; her true name--but there, perhaps, I go too far. Suffice it,
+that it is to her I owe my present lodging, and, dear Somerset, the
+pleasure of your acquaintance. It appears she knew the house. You see,
+dear fellow, I make no concealment: all that you can care to hear, I
+tell you openly."
+
+"For God's sake," cried the wretched Somerset, "hold your tongue! You
+cannot imagine how you torture me!"
+
+A shade of serious discomposure crossed the open countenance of Zero.
+
+"There are times," he said, "when I begin to fancy that you do not like
+me. Why, why, dear Somerset, this lack of cordiality? I am depressed;
+the touchstone of my life draws near; and if I fail"--he gloomily
+nodded--"from all the height of my ambitious schemes, I fall, dear boy,
+into contempt. These are grave thoughts, and you may judge my need of
+your delightful company. Innocent prattler, you relieve the weight of my
+concerns. And yet ... and yet...." The speaker pushed away his plate,
+and rose from table. "Follow me," said he, "follow me. My mood is on; I
+must have air, I must behold the plain of battle."
+
+So saying, he led the way hurriedly to the top flat of the mansion, and
+thence, by ladder and trap, to a certain leaded platform, sheltered at
+one end by a great stalk of chimneys and occupying the actual summit of
+the roof. On both sides, it bordered, without parapet or rail, on the
+incline of slates; and, northward above all, commanded an extensive view
+of housetops, and, rising through the smoke, the distant spires of
+churches.
+
+"Here," cried Zero, "you behold this field of city, rich, crowded,
+laughing with the spoil of continents; but soon, how soon, to be laid
+low! Some day, some night, from this coign of vantage, you shall perhaps
+be startled by the detonation of the judgment gun--not sharp and empty
+like the crack of cannon, but deep-mouthed and unctuously solemn.
+Instantly thereafter, you shall behold the flames break forth. Ay," he
+cried, stretching forth his hand, "ay, that will be a day of
+retribution. Then shall the pallid constable flee side by side with the
+detected thief. Blaze!" he cried, "blaze, derided city! Fall, flatulent
+monarchy, fall like Dagon!"
+
+With these words his foot slipped upon the lead; and but for Somerset's
+quickness, he had been instantly precipitated into space. Pale as a
+sheet, and limp as a pocket-handkerchief, he was dragged from the edge
+of downfall by one arm; helped, or rather carried, down the ladder; and
+deposited in safety on the attic landing. Here he began to come to
+himself, wiped his brow, and at length, seizing Somerset's hand in both
+of his, began to utter his acknowledgments.
+
+"This seals it," said he. "Ours is a life and death connection. You have
+plucked me from the jaws of death; and if I were before attracted by
+your character, judge now of the ardour of my gratitude and love! But I
+perceive I am still greatly shaken. Lend me, I beseech you, lend me your
+arm as far as my apartment."
+
+A dram of spirits restored the plotter to something of his customary
+self-possession; and he was standing, glass in hand and genially
+convalescent, when his eye was attracted by the dejection of the
+unfortunate young man.
+
+"Good Heavens, dear Somerset," he cried, "what ails you? Let me offer
+you a touch of spirits."
+
+But Somerset had fallen below the reach of this material comfort.
+
+"Let me be," he said. "I am lost; you have caught me in the toils. Up to
+this moment, I have lived all my life in the most reckless manner, and
+done exactly what I pleased, with the most perfect innocence. And
+now--what am I? Are you so blind and wooden that you do not see the
+loathing you inspire me with? Is it possible you can suppose me willing
+to continue to exist upon such terms? To think," he cried, "that a young
+man, guilty of no fault on earth but amiability, should find himself
+involved in such a damned imbroglio!" And, placing his knuckles in his
+eyes, Somerset rolled upon the sofa.
+
+"My God," said Zero, "is this possible? And I so filled with tenderness
+and interest! Can it be, dear Somerset, that you are under the empire of
+these outworn scruples? or that you judge a patriot by the morality of
+the religious tract? I thought you were a good agnostic."
+
+"Mr. Jones," said Somerset, "it is in vain to argue. I boast myself a
+total disbeliever not only in revealed religion, but in the data,
+method, and conclusions of the whole of ethics. Well! what matters it?
+what signifies a form of words? I regard you as a reptile, whom I would
+rejoice, whom I long, to stamp under my heel. You would blow up others?
+Well then, understand: I want, with every circumstance of infamy and
+agony, to blow up you!"
+
+"Somerset, Somerset!" said Zero, turning very pale, "this is wrong; this
+is very wrong. You pain, you wound me, Somerset."
+
+"Give me a match!" cried Somerset wildly. "Let me set fire to this
+incomparable monster! Let me perish with him in his fall!"
+
+"For God's sake," cried Zero, clutching hold of the young man, "for
+God's sake command yourself! We stand upon the brink; death yawns around
+us; a man--a stranger in this foreign land--one whom you have called
+your friend----"
+
+"Silence!" cried Somerset, "you are no friend, no friend of mine. I look
+on you with loathing, like a toad: my flesh creeps with physical
+repulsion; my soul revolts against the sight of you."
+
+Zero burst into tears. "Alas!" he sobbed, "this snaps the last link that
+bound me to humanity. My friend disowns--he insults me. I am indeed
+accurst."
+
+Somerset stood for an instant staggered by this sudden change of front.
+The next moment, with a despairing gesture, he fled from the room and
+from the house. The first dash of his escape carried him hard upon half
+way to the next police-office; but presently began to droop; and before
+he reached the house of lawful intervention, he fell once more among
+doubtful counsels. Was he an agnostic? had he a right to act? Away with
+such nonsense, and let Zero perish! ran his thoughts. And then again:
+had he not promised, had he not shaken hands and broken bread? and that
+with open eyes? and if so, how could he take action, and not forfeit
+honour? But honour? what was honour? A figment, which, in the hot
+pursuit of crime, he ought to dash aside. Ay, but crime? A figment, too,
+which his enfranchised intellect discarded. All day, he wandered in the
+parks, a prey to whirling thoughts; all night, patrolled the city; and
+at the peep of day he sat down by the wayside in the neighbourhood of
+Peckham and bitterly wept. His gods had fallen. He who had chosen the
+broad, daylit, unencumbered paths of universal scepticism, found himself
+still the bondslave of honour. He who had accepted life from a point of
+view as lofty as the predatory eagle's, though with no design to prey;
+he who had clearly recognised the common moral basis of war, of
+commercial competition, and of crime; he who was prepared to help the
+escaping murderer or to embrace the impenitent thief, found, to the
+overthrow of all his logic, that he objected to the use of dynamite. The
+dawn crept among the sleeping villas and over the smokeless fields of
+city; and still the unfortunate sceptic sobbed over his fall from
+consistency.
+
+At length he rose and took the rising sun to witness. "There is no
+question as to fact," he cried; "right and wrong are but figments and
+the shadow of a word; but for all that, there are certain things that I
+cannot do, and there are certain others that I will not stand."
+Thereupon he decided to return, to make one last effort of persuasion,
+and, if he could not prevail on Zero to desist from his infernal trade,
+throw delicacy to the winds, give the plotter an hour's start, and
+denounce him to the police. Fast as he went, being winged by this
+resolution, it was already well on in the morning when he came in sight
+of the Superfluous Mansion. Tripping down the steps, was the young lady
+of the various aliases; and he was surprised to see upon her countenance
+the marks of anger and concern.
+
+"Madam," he began, yielding to impulse and with no clear knowledge of
+what he was to add.
+
+But at the sound of his voice she seemed to experience a shock of fear
+or horror; started back; lowered her veil with a sudden movement; and
+fled, without turning, from the square.
+
+Here, then, we step aside a moment from following the fortunes of
+Somerset, and proceed to relate the strange and romantic episode of THE
+BROWN BOX.
+
+
+
+
+DESBOROUGH'S ADVENTURE
+
+THE BROWN BOX
+
+
+Mr. Harry Desborough lodged in the fine and grave old quarter of
+Bloomsbury, roared about on every side by the high tides of London, but
+itself rejoicing in romantic silences and city peace. It was in Queen
+Square that he had pitched his tent, next door to the Children's
+Hospital, on your left hand as you go north: Queen Square, sacred to
+humane and liberal arts, whence homes were made beautiful, where the
+poor were taught, where the sparrows were plentiful and loud, and where
+groups of patient little ones would hover all day long before the
+hospital, if by chance they might kiss their hand or speak a word to
+their sick brother at the window. Desborough's room was on the first
+floor and fronted to the square; but he enjoyed besides, a right by
+which he often profited, to sit and smoke upon a terrace at the back,
+which looked down upon a fine forest of back gardens, and was in turn
+commanded by the windows of an empty room.
+
+On the afternoon of a warm day, Desborough sauntered forth upon this
+terrace, somewhat out of hope and heart, for he had been now some weeks
+on the vain quest of situations, and prepared for melancholy and
+tobacco. Here, at least, he told himself that he would be alone; for,
+like most youths who are neither rich, nor witty, nor successful, he
+rather shunned than courted the society of other men. Even as he
+expressed the thought, his eye alighted on the window of the room that
+looked upon the terrace; and, to his surprise and annoyance, he beheld
+it curtained with a silken hanging. It was like his luck, he thought;
+his privacy was gone, he could no longer brood and sigh unwatched, he
+could no longer suffer his discouragement to find a vent in words or
+soothe himself with sentimental whistling; and in the irritation of the
+moment, he struck his pipe upon the rail with unnecessary force. It was
+an old, sweet, seasoned briar-root, glossy and dark with long
+employment, and justly dear to his fancy. What, then, was his chagrin,
+when the head snapped from the stem, leaped airily in space, and fell
+and disappeared among the lilacs of the garden?
+
+He threw himself savagely into the garden chair, pulled out the
+story-paper which he had brought with him to read, tore off a fragment
+of the last sheet, which contains only the answers to correspondents,
+and set himself to roll a cigarette. He was no master of the art; again
+and again, the paper broke between his fingers and the tobacco showered
+upon the ground; and he was already on the point of angry resignation,
+when the window swung slowly inward, the silken curtain was thrust
+aside, and a lady somewhat strangely attired stepped forth upon the
+terrace.
+
+"Se�orito," said she, and there was a rich thrill in her voice, like an
+organ note, "Se�orito, you are in difficulties. Suffer me to come to
+your assistance."
+
+With the words, she took the paper and tobacco from his unresisting
+hands; and with a facility that, in Desborough's eyes, seemed magical,
+rolled and presented him a cigarette. He took it, still seated, still
+without a word; staring with all his eyes upon that apparition. Her face
+was warm and rich in colour; in shape, it was that piquant triangle, so
+innocently sly, so saucily attractive, so rare in our more northern
+climates; her eyes were large, starry, and visited by changing lights;
+her hair was partly covered by a lace mantilla, through which her arms,
+bare to the shoulder, gleamed white; her figure, full and soft in all
+the womanly contours, was yet alive and active, light with excess of
+life, and slender by grace of some divine proportion.
+
+"You do not like my cigarrito, Se�or?" she asked. "Yet it is better made
+than yours." At that she laughed, and her laughter trilled in his ear
+like music; but the next moment her face fell. "I see," she cried. "It
+is my manner that repels you. I am too constrained, too cold. I am not,"
+she added, with a more engaging air, "I am not the simple English maiden
+I appear."
+
+"Oh!" murmured Harry, filled with inexpressible thoughts.
+
+"In my own dear land," she pursued, "things are differently ordered.
+There, I must own, a girl is bound by many and rigorous restrictions;
+little is permitted her; she learns to be distant, she learns to appear
+forbidding. But here, in free England--oh, glorious liberty!" she cried,
+and threw up her arms with a gesture of inimitable grace--"here there
+are no fetters; here the woman may dare to be herself entirely, and the
+men, the chivalrous men--is it not written on the very shield of your
+nation, _honi soit_? Ah, it is hard for me to learn, hard for me to dare
+to be myself. You must not judge me yet awhile; I shall end by
+conquering this stiffness, I shall end by growing English. Do I speak
+the language well?"
+
+"Perfectly--oh, perfectly!" said Harry, with a fervency of conviction
+worthy of a graver subject.
+
+"Ah, then," she said, "I shall soon learn; English blood ran in my
+father's veins; and I have had the advantage of some training in your
+expressive tongue. If I speak already without accent, with my thorough
+English appearance, there is nothing left to change except my manners."
+
+"Oh no," said Desborough. "Oh, pray not! I--madam----"
+
+"I am," interrupted the lady, "the Se�orita Teresa Valdevia. The evening
+air grows chill. Adios, Se�orito." And before Harry could stammer out a
+word, she had disappeared into her room.
+
+He stood transfixed, the cigarette still unlighted in his hand. His
+thoughts had soared above tobacco, and still recalled and beautified the
+image of his new acquaintance. Her voice re-echoed in his memory; her
+eyes, of which he could not tell the colour, haunted his soul. The
+clouds had risen at her coming, and he beheld a new-created world. What
+she was, he could not fancy, but he adored her. Her age, he durst not
+estimate; fearing to find her older than himself, and thinking sacrilege
+to couple that fair favour with the thought of mortal changes. As for
+her character, beauty, to the young, is always good. So the poor lad
+lingered late upon the terrace, stealing timid glances at the curtained
+window, sighing to the gold laburnums, rapt into the country of romance;
+and when at length he entered and sat down to dine, on cold boiled
+mutton and a pint of ale, he feasted on the food of gods.
+
+Next day when he returned to the terrace, the window was a little ajar
+and he enjoyed a view of the lady's shoulder, as she sat patiently
+sewing and all unconscious of his presence. On the next, he had scarce
+appeared when the window opened, and the Se�orita tripped forth into the
+sunlight, in a morning disorder, delicately neat, and yet somehow
+foreign, tropical, and strange. In one hand she held a packet.
+
+"Will you try," she said, "some of my father's tobacco--from dear Cuba?
+There, as I suppose you know, all smoke, ladies as well as gentlemen. So
+you need not fear to annoy me. The fragrance will remind me of home. My
+home, Se�or, was by the sea." And as she uttered these few words,
+Desborough, for the first time in his life, realised the poetry of the
+great deep. "Awake or asleep, I dream of it; dear home, dear Cuba!"
+
+"But some day," said Desborough, with an inward pang, "some day you will
+return!"
+
+"Never!" she cried; "ah, never, in Heaven's name!"
+
+"Are you then resident for life in England?" he inquired, with a strange
+lightening of spirit.
+
+"You ask too much, for you ask more than I know," she answered sadly;
+and then, resuming her gaiety of manner: "But you have not tried my
+Cuban tobacco," she said.
+
+"Se�orita," said he, shyly abashed by some shadow of coquetry in her
+manner, "whatever comes to me--you--I mean," he concluded, deeply
+flushing, "that I have no doubt the tobacco is delightful."
+
+"Ah, Se�or," she said, with almost mournful gravity, "you seemed so
+simple and good, and already you are trying to pay compliments--and
+besides," she added, brightening, with a quick upward glance, into a
+smile, "you do it so badly! English gentlemen, I used to hear, could be
+fast friends, respectful, honest friends; could be companions,
+comforters, if the need arose, or champions, and yet never encroach. Do
+not seek to please me by copying the graces of my countrymen. Be
+yourself: the frank, kindly, honest English gentleman that I have heard
+of since my childhood and still longed to meet."
+
+Harry, much bewildered, and far from clear as to the manners of the
+Cuban gentlemen, strenuously disclaimed the thought of plagiarism.
+
+"Your national seriousness of bearing best becomes you, Se�or," said the
+lady. "See!" marking a line with her dainty, slippered foot, "thus far
+it shall be common ground; there, at my window-sill, begins the
+scientific frontier. If you choose, you may drive me to my forts; but
+if, on the other hand, we are to be real English friends, I may join you
+here when I am not too sad; or, when I am yet more graciously inclined,
+you may draw your chair beside the window and teach me English customs,
+while I work. You will find me an apt scholar, for my heart is in the
+task." She laid her hand lightly upon Harry's arm, and looked into his
+eyes. "Do you know," said she, "I am emboldened to believe that I have
+already caught something of your English aplomb? Do you not perceive a
+change, Se�or? Slight, perhaps, but still a change? Is my deportment not
+more open, more free, more like that of the dear 'British Miss,' than
+when you saw me first?" She gave a radiant smile; withdrew her hand from
+Harry's arm; and before the young man could formulate in words the
+eloquent emotions that ran riot through his brain--with an "Adios,
+Se�or: good-night, my English friend," she vanished from his sight
+behind the curtain.
+
+The next day, Harry consumed an ounce of tobacco in vain upon the
+neutral terrace; neither sight nor sound rewarded him, and the
+dinner-hour summoned him at length from the scene of disappointment. On
+the next, it rained; but nothing, neither business nor weather, neither
+prospective poverty nor present hardship, could now divert the young man
+from the service of his lady; and wrapt in a long ulster, with the
+collar raised, he took his stand against the balustrade, awaiting
+fortune, the picture of damp and discomfort to the eye, but glowing
+inwardly with tender and delightful ardours. Presently the window
+opened; and the fair Cuban, with a smile imperfectly dissembled,
+appeared upon the sill.
+
+"Come here," she said, "here, beside my window. The small verandah gives
+a belt of shelter." And she graciously handed him a folding-chair.
+
+As he sat down, visibly aglow with shyness and delight, a certain
+bulkiness in his pocket reminded him that he was not come empty-handed.
+
+"I have taken the liberty," said he, "of bringing you a little book. I
+thought of you, when I observed it on the stall, because I saw it was in
+Spanish. The man assured me it was by one of the best authors, and quite
+proper." As he spoke, he placed the little volume in her hand. Her eyes
+fell as she turned the pages, and a flush rose and died again upon her
+cheeks, as deep as it was fleeting. "You are angry," he cried in agony.
+"I have presumed."
+
+"No, Se�or, it is not that," returned the lady. "I"--and a flood of
+colour once more mounted to her brow--"I am confused and ashamed because
+I have deceived you. Spanish," she began, and paused--"Spanish is of
+course my native tongue," she resumed, as though suddenly taking
+courage; "and this should certainly put the highest value on your
+thoughtful present; but alas, sir, of what use is it to me? And how
+shall I confess to you the truth--the humiliating truth--that I cannot
+read?"
+
+As Harry's eyes met hers in undisguised amazement, the fair Cuban seemed
+to shrink before his gaze. "Read?" repeated Harry. "You!"
+
+She pushed the window still more widely open with a large and noble
+gesture. "Enter, Se�or," said she. "The time has come to which I have
+long looked forward, not without alarm; when I must either fear to lose
+your friendship, or tell you without disguise the story of my life."
+
+It was with a sentiment bordering on devotion that Harry passed the
+window. A semi-barbarous delight in form and colour had presided over
+the studied disorder of the room in which he found himself. It was
+filled with dainty stuffs, furs and rugs and scarves of brilliant hues,
+and set with elegant and curious trifles--fans on the mantelshelf, an
+antique lamp upon a bracket, and on the table a silver-mounted bowl of
+cocoa-nut about half full of unset jewels. The fair Cuban, herself a gem
+of colour and the fit masterpiece for that rich frame, motioned Harry to
+a seat, and, sinking herself into another, thus began her history.
+
+
+
+
+STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN
+
+
+I am not what I seem. My father drew his descent, on the one hand, from
+grandees of Spain, and on the other, through the maternal line, from the
+patriot Bruce. My mother, too, was the descendant of a line of kings;
+but, alas! these kings were African. She was fair as the day: fairer
+than I, for I inherited a darker stain of blood from the veins of my
+European father; her mind was noble, her manners queenly and
+accomplished; and seeing her more than the equal of her neighbours and
+surrounded by the most considerate affection and respect, I grew up to
+adore her, and when the time came, received her last sigh upon my lips,
+still ignorant that she was a slave and alas! my father's mistress. Her
+death, which befell me in my sixteenth year, was the first sorrow I had
+known: it left our home bereaved of its attractions, cast a shade of
+melancholy on my youth, and wrought in my father a tragic and durable
+change. Months went by: with the elasticity of my years, I regained some
+of the simple mirth that had before distinguished me; the plantation
+smiled with fresh crops; the negroes on the estate had already forgotten
+my mother and transferred their simple obedience to myself; but still
+the cloud only darkened on the brows of Se�or Valdevia. His absences
+from home had been frequent even in the old days, for he did business in
+precious gems in the city of Havana; they now became almost continuous;
+and when he returned, it was but for the night and with the manner of a
+man crushed down by adverse fortune.
+
+The place where I was born and passed my days was an isle set in the
+Caribbean Sea, some half-hour's rowing from the coasts of Cuba. It was
+steep, rugged, and, except for my father's family and plantation,
+uninhabited and left to nature. The house, a low building surrounded by
+spacious verandahs, stood upon a rise of ground and looked across the
+sea to Cuba. The breezes blew about it gratefully, fanned us as we lay
+swinging in our silken hammocks, and tossed the boughs and flowers of
+the magnolia. Behind and to the left, the quarter of the negroes and the
+waving fields of the plantation covered an eighth part of the surface of
+the isle. On the right and closely bordering on the garden, lay a vast
+and deadly swamp, densely covered with wood, breathing fever, dotted
+with profound sloughs, and inhabited by poisonous oysters, man-eating
+crabs, snakes, alligators, and sickly fishes. Into the recesses of that
+jungle none could penetrate but those of African descent; an invisible,
+unconquerable foe lay there in wait for the European; and the air was
+death.
+
+One morning (from which I must date the beginning of my ruinous
+misfortune) I left my room a little after day, for in that warm climate
+all are early risers, and found not a servant to attend upon my wants. I
+made the circuit of the house, still calling; and my surprise had almost
+changed into alarm, when, coming at last into a large verandahed court,
+I found it thronged with negroes. Even then, even when I was amongst
+them, not one turned or paid the least regard to my arrival. They had
+eyes and ears for but one person: a woman, richly and tastefully
+attired; of elegant carriage, and a musical speech; not so much old in
+years, as worn and marred by self-indulgence: her face, which was still
+attractive, stamped with the most cruel passions, her eye burning with
+the greed of evil. It was not from her appearance, I believe, but from
+some emanation of her soul, that I recoiled in a kind of fainting
+terror; as we hear of plants that blight and snakes that fascinate, the
+woman shocked and daunted me. But I was of a brave nature; trod the
+weakness down; and forcing my way through the slaves, who fell back
+before me in embarrassment, as though in the presence of rival
+mistresses, I asked, in imperious tones: "Who is this person?"
+
+A slave girl, to whom I had been kind, whispered in my ear to have a
+care, for that was Madam Mendizabal; but the name was new to me.
+
+In the meanwhile the woman, applying a pair of glasses to her eyes,
+studied me with insolent particularity from head to foot.
+
+"Young woman," said she at last, "I have had a great experience in
+refractory servants, and take a pride in breaking them. You really tempt
+me; and if I had not other affairs, and these of more importance, on my
+hand, I should certainly buy you at your father's sale."
+
+"Madam----" I began, but my voice failed me.
+
+"Is it possible that you do not know your position?" she returned, with
+a hateful laugh. "How comical! Positively, I must buy her.
+Accomplishments, I suppose?" she added, turning to the servants.
+
+Several assured her that the young mistress had been brought up like
+any lady, for so it seemed in their inexperience.
+
+"She would do very well for my place of business in Havana," said Se�ora
+Mendizabal, once more studying me through her glasses; "and I should
+take a pleasure," she pursued, more directly addressing myself, "in
+bringing you acquainted with a whip." And she smiled at me with a
+savoury lust of cruelty upon her face.
+
+At this, I found expression. Calling by name upon the servants, I bade
+them turn this woman from the house, fetch her to the boat, and set her
+back upon the mainland. But with one voice they protested that they
+durst not obey, coming close about me, pleading and beseeching me to be
+more wise; and when I insisted, rising higher in passion and speaking of
+this foul intruder in the terms she had deserved, they fell back from me
+as from one who had blasphemed. A superstitious reverence plainly
+encircled the stranger; I could read it in their changed demeanour, and
+in the paleness that prevailed upon the natural colour of their faces;
+and their fear perhaps reacted on myself. I looked again at Madam
+Mendizabal. She stood perfectly composed, watching my face through her
+glasses with a smile of scorn; and at the sight of her assured
+superiority to all my threats, a cry broke from my lips, a cry of rage,
+fear, and despair, and I fled from the verandah and the house.
+
+I ran I knew not where, but it was towards the beach. As I went, my head
+whirled; so strange, so sudden, were these events and insults. Who was
+she? what, in Heaven's name, the power she wielded over my obedient
+negroes? Why had she addressed me as a slave? why spoken of my father's
+sale? To all these tumultuary questions I could find no answer; and, in
+the turmoil of my mind, nothing was plain except the hateful, leering
+image of the woman.
+
+I was still running, mad with fear and anger, when I saw my father
+coming to meet me from the landing-place; and, with a cry that I
+thought would have killed me, leaped into his arms and broke into a
+passion of sobs and tears upon his bosom. He made me sit down below a
+tall palmetto that grew not far off; comforted me, but with some
+abstraction in his voice; and, as soon as I regained the least command
+upon my feelings, asked me, not without harshness, what this grief
+betokened. I was surprised by his tone into a still greater measure of
+composure; and in firm tones, though still interrupted by sobs, I told
+him there was a stranger in the island, at which I thought he started
+and turned pale; that the servants would not obey me; that the
+stranger's name was Madam Mendizabal, and, at that, he seemed to me both
+troubled and relieved; that she had insulted me, treated me as a slave
+(and here my father's brow began to darken), threatened to buy me at a
+sale, and questioned my own servants before my face; and that, at last,
+finding myself quite helpless and exposed to these intolerable
+liberties, I had fled from the house in terror, indignation, and
+amazement.
+
+"Teresa," said my father, with singular gravity of voice, "I must make
+to-day a call upon your courage; much must be told you, there is much
+that you must do to help me; and my daughter must prove herself a woman
+by her spirit. As for this Mendizabal, what shall I say? or how am I to
+tell you what she is? Twenty years ago, she was the loveliest of slaves;
+to-day she is what you see her--prematurely old, disgraced by the
+practice of every vice and every nefarious industry, but free, rich,
+married, they say, to some reputable man, whom may Heaven assist! and
+exercising among her ancient mates, the slaves of Cuba, an influence as
+unbounded as its reason is mysterious. Horrible rites, it is supposed,
+cement her empire: the rites of Hoodoo. Be that as it may, I would have
+you dismiss the thought of this incomparable witch; it is not from her
+that danger threatens us; and into her hands, I make bold to promise,
+you shall never fall."
+
+"Father!" I cried. "Fall? Was there any truth, then, in her words? Am
+I--O father, tell me plain; I can bear anything but this suspense."
+
+"I will tell you," he replied, "with merciful bluntness. Your mother was
+a slave; it was my design, so soon as I had saved a competence, to sail
+to the free land of Britain, where the law would suffer me to marry her:
+a design too long procrastinated; for death, at the last moment,
+intervened. You will now understand the heaviness with which your
+mother's memory hangs about my neck."
+
+I cried out aloud, in pity for my parents; and, in seeking to console
+the survivor, I forgot myself.
+
+"It matters not," resumed my father. "What I have left undone can never
+be repaired, and I must bear the penalty of my remorse. But, Teresa,
+with so cutting a reminder of the evils of delay, I set myself at once
+to do what was still possible: to liberate yourself."
+
+I began to break forth in thanks, but he checked me with a sombre
+roughness.
+
+"Your mother's illness," he resumed, "had engaged too great a portion of
+my time; my business in the city had lain too long at the mercy of
+ignorant underlings; my head, my taste, my unequalled knowledge of the
+more precious stones, that art by which I can distinguish, even on the
+darkest night, a sapphire from a ruby and tell at a glance in what
+quarter of the earth a gem was disinterred--all these had been too long
+absent from the conduct of affairs. Teresa, I was insolvent."
+
+"What matters that?" I cried. "What matters poverty, if we be left
+together with our love and sacred memories?"
+
+"You do not comprehend," he said gloomily. "Slave as you are,
+young--alas! scarce more than child!--accomplished, beautiful with the
+most touching beauty, innocent as an angel--all these qualities that
+should disarm the very wolves and crocodiles, are, in the eyes of those
+to whom I stand indebted, commodities to buy and sell. You are a
+chattel; a marketable thing; and worth--heavens, that I should say such
+words!--worth money. Do you begin to see? If I were to give you freedom,
+I should defraud my creditors; the manumission would be certainly
+annulled; you would be still a slave, and I a criminal."
+
+I caught his hand in mine, kissed it, and moaned in pity for myself, in
+sympathy for my father.
+
+"How I have toiled," he continued, "how I have dared and striven to
+repair my losses, Heaven has beheld and will remember. Its blessing was
+denied to my endeavours, or, as I please myself by thinking, but delayed
+to descend upon my daughter's head. At length, all hope was at an end; I
+was ruined beyond retrieve; a heavy debt fell due upon the morrow, which
+I could not meet; I should be declared a bankrupt, and my goods, my
+lands, my jewels that I so much loved, my slaves whom I have spoiled and
+rendered happy, and oh! tenfold worse, you, my beloved daughter, would
+be sold and pass into the hands of ignorant and greedy traffickers. Too
+long, I saw, had I accepted and profited by this great crime of slavery;
+but was my daughter, my innocent, unsullied daughter, was _she_ to pay
+the price? I cried out--no!--I took Heaven to witness my temptation; I
+caught up this bag and fled. Close upon my track are the pursuers;
+perhaps to-night, perhaps to-morrow, they will land upon this isle,
+sacred to the memory of the dear soul that bore you, to consign your
+father to an ignominious prison, and yourself to slavery and dishonour.
+We have not many hours before us. Off the north coast of our isle, by
+strange good fortune, an English yacht has for some days been hovering.
+It belongs to Sir George Greville, whom I slightly know, to whom ere now
+I have rendered unusual services, and who will not refuse to help in our
+escape. Or if he did, if his gratitude were in default, I have the power
+to force him. For what does it mean my child--what means this
+Englishman, who hangs for years upon the shores of Cuba, and returns
+from every trip with new and valuable gems?"
+
+"He may have found a mine," I hazarded.
+
+"So he declares," returned my father; "but the strange gift I have
+received from nature easily transpierced the fable. He brought me
+diamonds only, which I bought, at first, in innocence; at a second
+glance, I started; for of these stones, my child, some had first seen
+the day in Africa, some in Brazil; while others, from their peculiar
+water and rude workmanship, I divined to be the spoil of ancient
+temples. Thus put upon the scent, I made inquiries: Oh, he is cunning,
+but I was cunninger than he. He visited, I found, the shop of every
+jeweller in town; to one he came with rubies, to one with emeralds, to
+one with precious beryl; to all, with this same story of the mine. But
+in what mine, what rich epitome of the earth's surface, were there
+conjoined the rubies of Ispahan, the pearls of Coromandel, and the
+diamonds of Golconda? No, child, that man, for all his yacht and title,
+that man must fear and must obey me. To-night, then, as soon as it is
+dark, we must take our way through the swamp by the path which I shall
+presently show you; thence, across the highlands of the isle, a track is
+blazed, which shall conduct us to the haven on the north; and close by
+the yacht is riding. Should my pursuers come before the hour at which I
+look to see them, they will still arrive too late; a trusty man attends
+on the mainland; as soon as they appear, we shall behold, if it be dark,
+the redness of a fire--if it be day, a pillar of smoke, on the opposing
+headland; and thus warned, we shall have time to put the swamp between
+ourselves and danger. Meantime, I would conceal this bag; I would,
+before all things, be seen to arrive at the house with empty hands; a
+babbling slave might else undo us. For see!" he added; and holding up
+the bag, which he had already shown me, he poured into my lap a shower
+of unmounted jewels, brighter than flowers, of every size and colour,
+and catching, as they fell, upon a million dainty facets, the ardour of
+the sun.
+
+I could not restrain a cry of admiration.
+
+"Even in your ignorant eyes," pursued my father, "they command respect.
+Yet what are they but pebbles, passive to the tool, cold as death?
+Ingrate!" he cried. "Each one of these--miracles of nature's patience,
+conceived out of the dust in centuries of microscopical activity, each
+one is, for you and me, a year of life, liberty, and mutual affection.
+How, then, should I cherish them! and why do I delay to place them
+beyond reach! Teresa, follow me."
+
+He rose to his feet, and led me to the borders of the great jungle,
+where they overhung, in a wall of poisonous and dusky foliage, the
+declivity of the hill on which my father's house stood planted. For some
+while he skirted, with attentive eyes, the margin of the thicket. Then,
+seeming to recognise some mark, for his countenance became immediately
+lightened of a load of thought, he paused and addressed me. "Here," said
+he, "is the entrance of the secret path that I have mentioned, and here
+you shall await me. I but pass some hundreds of yards into the swamp to
+bury my poor treasure; as soon as that is safe I will return." It was in
+vain that I sought to dissuade him, urging the dangers of the place; in
+vain that I begged to be allowed to follow, pleading the black blood
+that I now knew to circulate in my veins: to all my appeals he turned a
+deaf ear, and, bending back a portion of the screen of bushes,
+disappeared into the pestilential silence of the swamp.
+
+At the end of a full hour, the bushes were once more thrust aside; and
+my father stepped from out the thicket, and paused, and almost staggered
+in the first shock of the blinding sunlight. His face was of a singular
+dusky red; and yet, for all the heat of the tropical noon, he did not
+seem to sweat.
+
+"You are tired," I cried, springing to meet him. "You are ill."
+
+"I am tired," he replied; "the air in that jungle stifles one; my eyes,
+besides, have grown accustomed to its gloom, and the strong sunshine
+pierces them like knives. A moment, Teresa, give me but a moment. All
+shall yet be well. I have buried the hoard under a cypress, immediately
+beyond the bayou, on the left-hand margin of the path; beautiful, bright
+things, they now lie whelmed in slime; you shall find them there, if
+needful. But come, let us to the house; it is time to eat against our
+journey of the night; to eat and then to sleep, my poor Teresa: then to
+sleep." And he looked upon me out of bloodshot eyes, shaking his head as
+if in pity.
+
+We went hurriedly, for he kept murmuring that he had been gone too long
+and that the servants might suspect; passed through the airy stretch of
+the verandah; and came at length into the grateful twilight of the
+shuttered house. The meal was spread; the house servants, already
+informed by the boatmen of the master's return, were all back at their
+posts, and terrified, as I could see, to face me. My father still
+murmuring of haste with weary and feverish pertinacity, I hurried at
+once to take my place at table; but I had no sooner left his arm than he
+paused and thrust forth both his hands with a strange gesture of
+groping. "How is this?" he cried, in a sharp, unhuman voice. "Am I
+blind?" I ran to him and tried to lead him to the table; but he resisted
+and stood stiffly where he was, opening and shutting his jaws, as if in
+a painful effort after breath. Then suddenly he raised both hands to his
+temples, cried out, "My head, my head!" and reeled and fell against the
+wall.
+
+I knew too well what it must be. I turned and begged the servants to
+relieve him. But they, with one accord, denied the possibility of hope;
+the master had gone into the swamp, they said, the master must die; all
+help was idle. Why should I dwell upon his sufferings? I had him carried
+to a bed, and watched beside him. He lay still, and at times ground his
+teeth, and talked at times unintelligibly, only that one word of hurry,
+hurry, coming distinctly to my ears, and telling me that, even in the
+last struggle with the powers of death, his mind was still tortured by
+his daughter's peril. The sun had gone down, the darkness had fallen,
+when I perceived that I was alone on this unhappy earth. What thoughts
+had I of flight, of safety, of the impending dangers of my situation?
+Beside the body of my last friend, I had forgotten all except the
+natural pangs of my bereavement.
+
+The sun was some four hours above the eastern line when I was recalled
+to a knowledge of the things of earth by the entrance of the slave-girl
+to whom I have already referred. The poor soul was indeed devotedly
+attached to me; and it was with streaming tears that she broke to me the
+import of her coming. With the first light of dawn a boat had reached
+our landing-place, and set on shore upon our isle (till now so
+fortunate) a party of officers bearing a warrant to arrest my father's
+person, and a man of a gross body and low manners, who declared the
+island, the plantation, and all its human chattels, to be now his own.
+"I think," said my slave-girl, "he must be a politician or some very
+powerful sorcerer; for Madam Mendizabal had no sooner seen them coming
+than she took to the woods."
+
+"Fool," said I, "it was the officer she feared; and at any rate why does
+that beldam still dare to pollute the island with her presence? And oh,
+Cora," I exclaimed, remembering my grief, "what matter all these
+troubles to an orphan?"
+
+"Mistress," said she, "I must remind you of two things. Never speak as
+you do now of Madam Mendizabal; or never to a person of colour; for she
+is the most powerful woman in this world, and her real name even, if one
+durst pronounce it, were a spell to raise the dead. And whatever you do,
+speak no more of her to your unhappy Cora; for though it is possible she
+may be afraid of the police (and indeed I think that I have heard she is
+in hiding), and though I know that you will laugh and not believe, yet
+it is true, and proved, and known that she hears every word that people
+utter in this whole, vast world; and your poor Cora is already deep
+enough in her black books. She looks at me, mistress, till my blood
+turns ice. That is the first I had to say; and now for the second; do,
+pray, for Heaven's sake, bear in mind that you are no longer the poor
+Se�or's daughter. He is gone, dear gentleman; and now you are no more
+than a common slave-girl like myself. The man to whom you belong calls
+for you; oh, my dear mistress, go at once! With your youth and beauty,
+you may still, if you are winning and obedient, secure yourself an easy
+life."
+
+For the moment I looked on the creature with the indignation you may
+conceive; the next, it was gone: she did but speak after her kind, as
+the bird sings or cattle bellow. "Go," said I. "Go, Cora. I thank you
+for your kind intentions. Leave me alone one moment with my dead father;
+and tell this man that I will come at once."
+
+She went; and I, turning to the bed of death, addressed to those deaf
+ears the last appeal and defence of my beleaguered innocence. "Father,"
+I said, "it was your last thought, even in the pangs of dissolution,
+that your daughter should escape disgrace. Here, at your side, I swear
+to you that purpose shall be carried out; by what means, I know not; by
+crime, if need be; and Heaven forgive both you and me and our
+oppressors, and Heaven help my helplessness!" Thereupon I felt
+strengthened as by long repose; stepped to the mirror, ay, even in that
+chamber of the dead; hastily arranged my hair, refreshed my tear-worn
+eyes, breathed a dumb farewell to the originator of my days and sorrows;
+and, composing my features to a smile, went forth to meet my master.
+
+He was in a great, hot bustle, reviewing that house, once ours, to which
+he had but now succeeded; a corpulent, sanguine man of middle age,
+sensual, vulgar, humorous, and, if I judged rightly, not ill-disposed by
+nature. But the sparkle that came into his eye as he observed me enter
+warned me to expect the worse.
+
+"Is this your late mistress?" he inquired of the slaves; and, when he
+had learnt it was so, instantly dismissed them. "Now, my dear," said he,
+"I am a plain man: none of your damned Spaniards, but a true blue,
+hard-working, honest Englishman. My name is Caulder."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said I, and curtsied very smartly as I had seen the
+servants.
+
+"Come," said he, "this is better than I had expected; and if you choose
+to be dutiful in the station to which it has pleased God to call you,
+you will find me a very kind old fellow. I like your looks," he added,
+calling me by my name, which he scandalously mispronounced. "Is your
+hair all your own?" he then inquired with a certain sharpness, and
+coming up to me, as though I were a horse, he grossly satisfied his
+doubts. I was all one flame from head to foot, but I contained my
+righteous anger and submitted. "That is very well," he continued,
+chucking me good-humouredly under the chin. "You will have no cause to
+regret coming to old Caulder, eh? But that is by the way. What is more
+to the point is this: your late master was a most dishonest rogue and
+levanted with some valuable property that belonged of rights to me. Now,
+considering your relation to him, I regard you as the likeliest person
+to know what has become of it; and I warn you, before you answer, that
+my whole future kindness will depend upon your honesty. I am an honest
+man myself, and expect the same in my servants."
+
+"Do you mean the jewels?" said I, sinking my voice into a whisper.
+
+"That is just precisely what I do," said he, and chuckled.
+
+"Hush!" said I.
+
+"Hush?" he repeated. "And why hush? I am on my own place, I would have
+you to know, and surrounded by my own lawful servants."
+
+"Are the officers gone?" I asked; and, oh! how my hopes hung upon the
+answer!
+
+"They are," said he, looking somewhat disconcerted. "Why do you ask?"
+
+"I wish you had kept them," I answered, solemnly enough, although my
+heart at that same moment leaped with exultation. "Master, I must not
+conceal from you the truth. The servants on this estate are in a
+dangerous condition, and mutiny has long been brewing."
+
+"Why," he cried, "I never saw a milder-looking lot of niggers in my
+life." But for all that he turned somewhat pale.
+
+"Did they tell you," I continued, "that Madam Mendizabal is on the
+island? that, since her coming, they obey none but her? that if, this
+morning, they have received you with even decent civility, it was only
+by her orders--issued with what after-thought I leave you to consider?"
+
+"Madam Jezebel?" said he. "Well, she is a dangerous devil; the police
+are after her, besides, for a whole series of murders; but after all,
+what then? To be sure, she has a great influence with you coloured folk.
+But what in fortune's name can be her errand here?"
+
+"The jewels," I replied. "Ah, sir, had you seen that treasure, sapphire
+and emerald and opal, and the golden topaz, and rubies, red as the
+sunset--of what incalculable worth, of what unequalled beauty to the
+eye!--had you seen it, as I have, and alas! as _she_ has--you would
+understand and tremble at your danger."
+
+"She has seen them!" he cried, and I could see by his face that my
+audacity was justified by its success.
+
+I caught his hand in mine. "My master," said I, "I am now yours; it is
+my duty, it should be my pleasure, to defend your interests and life.
+Hear my advice then; and, I conjure you, be guided by my prudence.
+Follow me privily; let none see where we are going; I will lead you to
+the place where the treasure has been buried; that once disinterred, let
+us make straight for the boat, escape to the mainland, and not return to
+this dangerous isle without the countenance of soldiers."
+
+What free man in a free land would have credited so sudden a devotion?
+But this oppressor, through the very arts and sophistries he had abused,
+to quiet the rebellion of his conscience and to convince himself that
+slavery was natural, fell like a child into the trap I laid for him. He
+praised and thanked me; told me I had all the qualities he valued in a
+servant; and when he had questioned me further as to the nature and
+value of the treasure, and I had once more artfully inflamed his greed,
+bade me, without delay, proceed to carry out my plan of action.
+
+From a shed in the garden I took a pick and shovel; and thence, by
+devious paths among the magnolias, led my master to the entrance of the
+swamp. I walked first, carrying, as I was now in duty bound, the tools,
+and glancing continually behind me, lest we should be spied upon and
+followed. When we were come as far as the beginning of the path, it
+flashed into my mind I had forgotten meat; and leaving Mr. Caulder in
+the shadow of a tree, I returned alone to the house for a basket of
+provisions. Were they for him? I asked myself. And a voice within me
+answered, No. While we were face to face, while I still saw before my
+eyes the man to whom I belonged as the hand belongs to the body, my
+indignation held me bravely up. But now that I was alone, I conceived a
+sickness at myself and my designs that I could scarce endure; I longed
+to throw myself at his feet, avow my intended treachery, and warn him
+from that pestilential swamp, to which I was decoying him to die; but my
+vow to my dead father, my duty to my innocent youth, prevailed upon
+these scruples; and though my face was pale and must have reflected the
+horror that oppressed my spirits, it was with a firm step that I
+returned to the borders of the swamp, and with smiling lips that I bade
+him rise and follow me.
+
+The path on which we now entered was cut, like a tunnel, through the
+living jungle. On either hand and overhead, the mass of foliage was
+continuously joined; the day sparingly filtered through the depth of
+superimpending wood; and the air was hot like steam, and heady with
+vegetable odours, and lay like a load upon the lungs and brain.
+Underfoot, a great depth of mould received our silent footprints; on
+each side, mimosas, as tall as a man, shrank from my passing skirts
+with a continuous hissing rustle; and, but for these sentient
+vegetables, all in that den of pestilence was motionless and noiseless.
+
+We had gone but a little way in, when Mr. Caulder was seized with sudden
+nausea, and must sit down a moment on the path. My heart yearned, as I
+beheld him; and I seriously begged the doomed mortal to return upon his
+steps. What were a few jewels in the scales with life? I asked. But no,
+he said; that witch Madam Jezebel would find them out; he was an honest
+man, and would not stand to be defrauded, and so forth, panting the
+while, like a sick dog. Presently he got to his feet again, protesting
+he had conquered his uneasiness; but as we again began to go forward, I
+saw in his changed countenance the first approaches of death.
+
+"Master," said I, "you look pale, deathly pale; your pallor fills me
+with dread. Your eyes are bloodshot; they are red like the rubies that
+we seek."
+
+"Wench," he cried, "look before you; look at your steps. I declare to
+Heaven, if you annoy me once again by looking back, I shall remind you
+of the change in your position."
+
+A little after, I observed a worm upon the ground, and told, in a
+whisper, that its touch was death. Presently a great green serpent,
+vivid as the grass in spring, wound rapidly across the path; and once
+again I paused and looked back at my companion with a horror in my eyes.
+"The coffin snake," said I, "the snake that dogs its victim like a
+hound."
+
+But he was not to be dissuaded. "I am an old traveller," said he. "This
+is a foul jungle indeed; but we shall soon be at an end."
+
+"Ay," said I, looking at him with a strange smile, "what end?"
+
+Thereupon he laughed again and again, but not very heartily; and then,
+perceiving that the path began to widen and grow higher, "There!" said
+he. "What did I tell you? We are past the worst."
+
+Indeed, we had now come to the bayou, which was in that place very
+narrow and bridged across by a fallen trunk; but on either hand we could
+see it broaden out, under a cavern of great arms of trees and hanging
+creepers: sluggish, putrid, of a horrible and sickly stench, floated on
+by the flat heads of alligators, and its banks alive with scarlet crabs.
+
+"If we fall from that unsteady bridge," said I, "see, where the caiman
+lies ready to devour us! If, by the least divergence from the path, we
+should be snared in a morass, see, where those myriads of scarlet vermin
+scour the border of the thicket! Once helpless, how they would swarm
+together to the assault! What could man do against a thousand of such
+mailed assailants? And what a death were that, to perish alive under
+their claws!"
+
+"Are you mad, girl?" he cried. "I bid you be silent and lead on."
+
+Again I looked upon him, half relenting; and at that he raised the stick
+that was in his hand and cruelly struck me on the face. "Lead on!" he
+cried again. "Must I be all day, catching my death in this vile slough,
+and all for a prating slave-girl?"
+
+I took the blow in silence, I took it smiling; but the blood welled back
+upon my heart. Something, I know not what, fell at that moment with a
+dull plunge in the waters of the lagoon, and I told myself it was my
+pity that had fallen.
+
+On the farther side, to which we now hastily scrambled, the wood was not
+so dense, the web of creepers not so solidly convolved. It was possible,
+here and there, to mark a patch of somewhat brighter daylight, or to
+distinguish, through the lighter web of parasites, the proportions of
+some soaring tree. The cypress on the left stood very visibly forth,
+upon the edge of such a clearing; the path in that place widened
+broadly; and there was a patch of open ground, beset with horrible
+ant-heaps, thick with their artificers. I laid down the tools and basket
+by the cypress root, where they were instantly blackened over with the
+crawling ants; and looked once more in the face of my unconscious
+victim. Mosquitoes and foul flies wove so close a veil between us that
+his features were obscured; and the sound of their flight was like the
+turning of a mighty wheel.
+
+"Here," I said, "is the spot. I cannot dig, for I have not learned to
+use such instruments; but, for your own sake, I beseech you to be swift
+in what you do."
+
+He had sunk once more upon the ground, panting like a fish; and I saw
+rising in his face the same dusky flush that had mantled on my father's.
+"I feel ill," he gasped, "horribly ill; the swamp turns around me; the
+drone of these carrion flies confounds me. Have you not wine?"
+
+I gave him a glass, and he drank greedily. "It is for you to think,"
+said I, "if you should further persevere. The swamp has an ill name."
+And at the word I ominously nodded.
+
+"Give me the pick," said he. "Where are the jewels buried?"
+
+I told him vaguely; and in the sweltering heat and closeness, and dim
+twilight of the jungle, he began to wield the pickaxe, swinging it
+overhead with the vigour of a healthy man. At first, there broke forth
+upon him a strong sweat, that made his face to shine, and in which the
+greedy insects settled thickly.
+
+"To sweat in such a place," said I. "O master, is this wise? Fever is
+drunk in through open pores."
+
+"What do you mean?" he screamed, pausing with the pick buried in the
+soil. "Do you seek to drive me mad? Do you think I do not understand the
+danger that I run?"
+
+"That is all I want," said I: "I only wish you to be swift." And then,
+my mind flitting to my father's deathbed, I began to murmur, scarce
+above my breath, the same vain repetition of words, "Hurry, hurry,
+hurry."
+
+Presently, to my surprise, the treasure-seeker took them up; and while
+he still wielded the pick, but now with staggering and uncertain blows,
+repeated to himself, as it were the burthen of a song, "Hurry, hurry,
+hurry"; and then again, "There is no time to lose; the marsh has an ill
+name, ill name"; and then back to "Hurry, hurry, hurry," with a dreadful
+mechanical, hurried, and yet wearied utterance, as a sick man rolls upon
+his pillow. The sweat had disappeared; he was now dry, but, all that I
+could see of him, of the same dull brick-red. Presently his pick
+unearthed the bag of jewels; but he did not observe it, and continued
+hewing at the soil.
+
+"Master," said I, "there is the treasure."
+
+He seemed to waken from a dream. "Where?" he cried; and then, seeing it
+before his eyes, "Can this be possible?" he added. "I must be
+light-headed. Girl," he cried suddenly, with the same screaming tone of
+voice that I had once before observed, "what is wrong? is this swamp
+accursed?"
+
+"It is a grave," I answered. "You will not go out alive; and as for me,
+my life is in God's hands."
+
+He fell upon the ground like a man struck by a blow, but whether from
+the effect of my words, or from sudden seizure of the malady, I cannot
+tell. Pretty soon he raised his head. "You have brought me here to die,"
+he said; "at the risk of your own days, you have condemned me. Why?"
+
+"To save my honour," I replied. "Bear me out that I have warned you.
+Greed of these pebbles, and not I, has been your undoer."
+
+He took out his revolver and handed it to me. "You see," he said, "I
+could have killed you even yet. But I am dying, as you say; nothing
+could save me; and my bill is long enough already. Dear me, dear me," he
+said, looking in my face with a curious, puzzled, and pathetic look,
+like a dull child at school, "if there be a judgment afterwards, my bill
+is long enough."
+
+At that, I broke into a passion of weeping, crawled at his feet, kissed
+his hands, begged his forgiveness, put the pistol back into his grasp,
+and besought him to avenge his death; for indeed, if with my life I
+could have bought back his, I had not balanced at the cost. But he was
+determined, the poor soul, that I should yet more bitterly regret my
+act.
+
+"I have nothing to forgive," said he. "Dear Heaven, what a thing is an
+old fool! I thought, upon my word, you had taken quite a fancy to me."
+
+He was seized, at the same time, with a dreadful, swimming dizziness,
+clung to me like a child, and called upon the name of some woman.
+Presently this spasm, which I watched with choking tears, lessened and
+died away; and he came again to the full possession of his mind. "I must
+write my will," he said. "Get out my pocket-book." I did so, and he
+wrote hurriedly on one page with a pencil. "Do not let my son know," he
+said; "he is a cruel dog, is my son Philip; do not let him know how you
+have paid me out"; and then all of a sudden, "God," he cried, "I am
+blind," and clapped both hands before his eyes; and then again, and in a
+groaning whisper, "Don't leave me to the crabs!" I swore I would be true
+to him so long as a pulse stirred; and I redeemed my promise. I sat
+there and watched him, as I had watched my father; but with what
+different, with what appalling thoughts! Through the long afternoon, he
+gradually sank. All that while, I fought an uphill battle to shield him
+from the swarms of ants and the clouds of mosquitoes: the prisoner of my
+crime. The night fell, the roar of insects instantly redoubled in the
+dark arcades of the swamp; and still I was not sure that he had breathed
+his last. At length, the flesh of his hand, which I yet held in mine,
+grew chill between my fingers, and I knew that I was free.
+
+I took his pocket-book and the revolver, being resolved rather to die
+than to be captured, and, laden besides with the basket and the bag of
+gems, set forward towards the north. The swamp, at that hour of the
+night, was filled with a continuous din: animals and insects of all
+kinds and all inimical to life, contributing their parts. Yet in the
+midst of this turmoil of sound, I walked as though my eyes were
+bandaged, beholding nothing. The soil sank under my foot, with a horrid,
+slippery consistence, as though I were walking among toads; the touch of
+the thick wall of foliage, by which alone I guided myself, affrighted me
+like the touch of serpents; the darkness checked my breathing like a
+gag; indeed, I have never suffered such extremes of fear as during that
+nocturnal walk, nor have I ever known a more sensible relief than when I
+found the path beginning to mount and to grow firmer under foot, and
+saw, although still some way in front of me, the silver brightness of
+the moon.
+
+Presently I had crossed the last of the jungle, and come forth amongst
+noble and lofty woods, clean rock, the clean, dry dust, the aromatic
+smell of mountain plants that had been baked all day in sunlight, and
+the expressive silence of the night. My negro blood had carried me
+unhurt across that reeking and pestiferous morass; by mere good fortune,
+I had escaped the crawling and stinging vermin with which it was alive;
+and I had now before me the easier portion of my enterprise, to cross
+the isle and to make good my arrival at the haven and my acceptance on
+the English yacht. It was impossible by night to follow such a track as
+my father had described; and I was casting about for any landmark and,
+in my ignorance, vainly consulting the disposition of the stars, when
+there fell upon my ear, from somewhere far in front, the sound of many
+voices hurriedly singing.
+
+I scarce knew upon what grounds I acted; but I shaped my steps in the
+direction of that sound; and in a quarter of an hour's walking, came
+unperceived to the margin of an open glade. It was lighted by the strong
+moon and by the flames of a fire. In the midst there stood a little low
+and rude building, surmounted by a cross: a chapel, as I then remembered
+to have heard, long since desecrated and given over to the rites of
+Hoodoo. Hard by the steps of entrance was a black mass, continually
+agitated and stirring to and fro as if with inarticulate life; and this
+I presently perceived to be a heap of cocks, hares, dogs, and other
+birds and animals, still struggling, but helplessly tethered and cruelly
+tossed one upon another. Both the fire and the chapel were surrounded by
+a ring of kneeling Africans, both men and women. Now they would raise
+their palms half closed to Heaven, with a peculiar, passionate gesture
+of supplication; now they would bow their heads and spread their hands
+before them on the ground. As the double movement passed and repassed
+along the line, the heads kept rising and falling, like waves upon the
+sea; and still, as if in time to these gesticulations, the hurried chant
+continued. I stood spell-bound, knowing that my life depended by a hair,
+knowing that I had stumbled on a celebration of the rites of Hoodoo.
+
+Presently the door of the chapel opened and there came forth a tall
+negro, entirely nude, and bearing in his hand the sacrificial knife. He
+was followed by an apparition still more strange and shocking: Madam
+Mendizabal, naked also, and carrying in both hands, and raised to the
+level of her face, an open basket of wicker. It was filled with coiling
+snakes; and these, as she stood there with the uplifted basket, shot
+through the osier grating and curled about her arms. At the sight of
+this, the fervour of the crowd seemed to swell suddenly higher; and the
+chant rose in pitch and grew more irregular in time and accent. Then, at
+a sign from the tall negro, where he stood, motionless and smiling, in
+the moon- and fire-light, the singing died away, and there began the
+second stage of this barbarous and bloody celebration. From different
+parts of the ring, one after another, man or woman, ran forth into the
+midst; ducked, with that same gesture of the thrown-up hand, before the
+priestess and her snakes; and, with various adjurations, uttered aloud
+the blackest wishes of the heart. Death and disease were the favours
+usually invoked: the death or the disease of enemies or rivals; some
+calling down these plagues upon the nearest of their own blood, and one,
+to whom I swear I had been never less than kind, invoking them upon
+myself. At each petition, the tall negro, still smiling, picked up some
+bird or animal from the heaving mass upon his left, slew it with the
+knife, and tossed its body on the ground. At length, it seemed, it
+reached the turn of the high priestess. She set down the basket on the
+steps, moved into the centre of the ring, grovelled in the dust before
+the reptiles, and still grovelling lifted up her voice, between speech
+and singing, and with so great, with so insane a fervour of excitement,
+as struck a sort of horror through my blood.
+
+"Power," she began, "whose name we do not utter; power that is neither
+good nor evil, but below them both; stronger than good, greater than
+evil--all my life long I have adored and served thee. Who has shed blood
+upon thine altars? whose voice is broken with the singing of thy
+praises? whose limbs are faint before their age with leaping in thy
+revels? Who has slain the child of her body? I," she cried, "I,
+Metamnbogu! By my own name, I name myself. I tear away the veil. I would
+be served or perish. Hear me, slime of the fat swamp, blackness of the
+thunder, venom of the serpent's udder--hear or slay me! I would have two
+things, O shapeless one, O horror of emptiness--two things, or die! The
+blood of my white-faced husband; oh! give me that; he is the enemy of
+Hoodoo; give me blood! And yet another, O racer of the blind winds, O
+germinator in the ruins of the dead, O root of life, root of corruption!
+I grow old, I grow hideous; I am known, I am hunted for my life: let thy
+servant then lay by this outworn body; let thy chief priestess turn
+again to the blossom of her days, and be a girl once more, and the
+desired of all men, even as in the past! And, O lord and master, as I
+here ask a marvel not yet wrought since we were torn from the old land,
+have I not prepared the sacrifice in which thy soul delighteth--the kid
+without the horns?"
+
+Even as she uttered the words, there was a great rumour of joy through
+all the circle of worshippers; it rose, and fell, and rose again; and
+swelled at last into rapture, when the tall negro, who had stepped an
+instant into the chapel, reappeared before the door, carrying in his
+arms the body of the slave-girl, Cora. I know not if I saw what
+followed. When next my mind awoke to a clear knowledge, Cora was laid
+upon the steps before the serpents; the negro with the knife stood over
+her; the knife rose; and at this I screamed out in my great horror,
+bidding them, in God's name, to pause.
+
+A stillness fell upon the mob of cannibals. A moment more, and they must
+have thrown off this stupor, and I infallibly have perished. But Heaven
+had designed to save me. The silence of these wretched men was not yet
+broken, when there arose, in the empty night, a sound louder than the
+roar of any European tempest, swifter to travel than the wings of any
+Eastern wind. Blackness engulfed the world: blackness, stabbed across
+from every side by intricate and blinding lightning. Almost in the same
+second, at one world-swallowing stride, the heart of the tornado reached
+the clearing. I heard an agonising crash, and the light of my reason was
+overwhelmed.
+
+When I recovered consciousness, the day was come. I was unhurt; the
+trees close about me had not lost a bough; and I might have thought at
+first that the tornado was a feature in a dream. It was otherwise
+indeed; for when I looked abroad, I perceived I had escaped destruction
+by a hand's-breadth. Right through the forest, which here covered hill
+and dale, the storm had ploughed a lane of ruin. On either hand, the
+trees waved uninjured in the air of the morning; but in the forthright
+course of its advance, the hurricane had left no trophy standing.
+Everything in that line, tree, man, or animal, the desecrated chapel and
+the votaries of Hoodoo, had been subverted and destroyed in that brief
+spasm of anger of the powers of air. Everything but a yard or two beyond
+the line of its passage, humble flower, lofty tree, and the poor
+vulnerable maid who now knelt to pay her gratitude to Heaven, awoke
+unharmed in the crystal purity and peace of the new day.
+
+To move by the path of the tornado was a thing impossible to man, so
+wildly were the wrecks of the tall forest piled together by that
+fugitive convulsion. I crossed it indeed; with such labour and patience,
+with so many dangerous slips and falls, as left me, at the farther side,
+bankrupt alike of strength and courage. There I sat down awhile to
+recruit my forces; and as I ate (how should I bless the kindliness of
+Heaven!), my eye, flitting to and fro in the colonnade of the great
+trees, alighted on a trunk that had been blazed. Yes, by the directing
+hand of Providence, I had been conducted to the very track I was to
+follow. With what a light heart I now set forth, and walking with how
+glad a step traversed the uplands of the isle!
+
+It was hard upon the hour of noon when I came, all tattered and wayworn,
+to the summit of a steep descent, and looked below me on the sea. About
+all the coast, the surf, roused by the tornado of the night, beat with a
+particular fury and made a fringe of snow. Close at my feet I saw a
+haven, set in precipitous and palm-crowned bluffs of rock. Just outside,
+a ship was heaving on the surge, so trimly sparred, so glossily painted,
+so elegant and _point-device_ in every feature, that my heart was seized
+with admiration. The English colours blew from her masthead; and, from
+my high station, I caught glimpses of her snowy planking, as she rolled
+on the uneven deep, and saw the sun glitter on the brass of her deck
+furniture. There, then, was my ship of refuge; and of all my
+difficulties only one remained: to get on board of her.
+
+Half an hour later, I issued at last out of the woods on the margin of a
+cove, into whose jaws the tossing and blue billows entered, and along
+whose shores they broke with a surprising loudness. A wooded promontory
+hid the yacht; and I had walked some distance round the beach, in what
+appeared to be a virgin solitude, when my eye fell on a boat, drawn into
+a natural harbour, where it rocked in safety, but deserted. I looked
+about for those who should have manned her; and presently, in the
+immediate entrance of the wood, spied the red embers of a fire and,
+stretched around in various attitudes, a party of slumbering mariners.
+To these I drew near: most were black, a few white; but all were dressed
+with the conspicuous decency of yachtsmen; and one, from his peaked cap
+and glittering buttons, I rightly divined to be an officer. Him, then, I
+touched upon the shoulder. He started up; the sharpness of his movement
+woke the rest; and they all stared upon me in surprise.
+
+"What do you want?" inquired the officer.
+
+"To go on board the yacht," I answered.
+
+I thought they all seemed disconcerted at this; and the officer, with
+something of sharpness, asked me who I was. Now I had determined to
+conceal my name until I met Sir George; and the first name that rose to
+my lips was that of the Se�ora Mendizabal. At the word, there went a
+shock about the little party of seamen; the negroes stared at me with
+indescribable eagerness, the whites themselves with something of a
+scared surprise; and instantly the spirit of mischief prompted me to
+add: "And if the name is new to your ears, call me Metamnbogu."
+
+I had never seen an effect so wonderful. The negroes threw their hands
+into the air, with the same gesture I remarked the night before about
+the Hoodoo camp-fire; first one, and then another, ran forward and
+kneeled down and kissed the skirts of my torn dress; and when the white
+officer broke out swearing and calling to know if they were mad, the
+coloured seamen took him by the shoulders, dragged him on one side till
+they were out of hearing, and surrounded him with open mouths and
+extravagant pantomime. The officer seemed to struggle hard; he laughed
+aloud, and I saw him make gestures of dissent and protest; but in the
+end, whether overcome by reason or simply weary of resistance, he gave
+in--approached me civilly enough, but with something of a sneering
+manner underneath--and touching his cap, "My lady," said he, "if that
+is what you are, the boat is ready."
+
+My reception on board the _Nemorosa_ (for so the yacht was named)
+partook of the same mingled nature. We were scarcely within hail of that
+great and elegant fabric, where she lay rolling gunwale under and
+churning the blue sea to snow, before the bulwarks were lined with the
+heads of a great crowd of seamen, black, white, and yellow; and these
+and the few who manned the boat began exchanging shouts in some _lingua
+franca_ incomprehensible to me. All eyes were directed on the passenger;
+and once more I saw the negroes toss up their hands to Heaven, but now
+as if with passionate wonder and delight.
+
+At the head of the gangway, I was received by another officer, a
+gentlemanly man with blond and bushy whiskers; and to him I addressed my
+demand to see Sir George.
+
+"But this is not----" he cried, and paused.
+
+"I know it," returned the other officer, who had brought me from the
+shore. "But what the devil can we do? Look at all the niggers!"
+
+I followed his direction; and as my eye lighted upon each, the poor
+ignorant Africans ducked, and bowed, and threw their hands into the air,
+as though in the presence of a creature half divine. Apparently the
+officer with the whiskers had instantly come round to the opinion of his
+subaltern; for he now addressed me with every signal of respect.
+
+"Sir George is at the island, my lady," said he: "for which, with your
+ladyship's permission, I shall immediately make all sail. The cabins are
+prepared. Steward, take Lady Greville below."
+
+Under this new name, then, and so captivated by surprise that I could
+neither think nor speak, I was ushered into a spacious and airy cabin,
+hung about with weapons and surrounded by divans. The steward asked for
+my commands; but I was by this time so wearied, bewildered, and
+disturbed, that I could only wave him to leave me to myself, and sink
+upon a pile of cushions. Presently, by the changed motion of the ship, I
+knew her to be under way; my thoughts, so far from clarifying, grew the
+more distracted and confused; dreams began to mingle and confound them;
+and at length, by insensible transition, I sank into a dreamless
+slumber.
+
+When I awoke, the day and night had passed, and it was once more
+morning. The world on which I reopened my eyes swam strangely up and
+down; the jewels in the bag that lay beside me clinked together
+ceaselessly; the clock and the barometer wagged to and fro like
+pendulums; and overhead, seamen were singing out at their work, and
+coils of rope clattering and thumping on the deck. Yet it was long
+before I had divined that I was at sea; long before I had recalled, one
+after another, the tragical, mysterious, and inexplicable events that
+had brought me where I was.
+
+When I had done so, I thrust the jewels, which I was surprised to find
+had been respected, into the bosom of my dress; and, seeing a silver
+bell hard by upon a table, rang it loudly. The steward instantly
+appeared; I asked for food; and he proceeded to lay the table, regarding
+me the while with a disquieting and pertinacious scrutiny. To relieve
+myself of my embarrassment, I asked him, with as fair a show of ease as
+I could muster, if it were usual for yachts to carry so numerous a crew?
+
+"Madam," said he, "I know not who you are, nor what mad desire has
+induced you to usurp a name and an appalling destiny that are not yours.
+I warn you from the soul. No sooner arrived at the island----"
+
+At this moment he was interrupted by the whiskered officer, who had
+entered unperceived behind him, and now laid a hand upon his shoulder.
+The sudden pallor, the deadly and sick fear that was imprinted on the
+steward's face, formed a startling addition to his words.
+
+"Parker!" said the officer, and pointed towards the door.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Kentish," said the steward. "For God's sake, Mr. Kentish!"
+And vanished, with a white face, from the cabin.
+
+Thereupon the officer bade me sit down, and began to help me, and join
+in the meal. "I fill your ladyship's glass," said he, and handed me a
+tumbler of neat rum.
+
+"Sir," cried I, "do you expect me to drink this?"
+
+He laughed heartily. "Your ladyship is so much changed," said he, "that
+I no longer expect any one thing more than any other."
+
+Immediately after, a white seaman entered the cabin, saluted both Mr.
+Kentish and myself, and informed the officer there was a sail in sight,
+which was bound to pass us very close, and that Mr. Harland was in doubt
+about the colours.
+
+"Being so near the island?" asked Mr. Kentish.
+
+"That was what Mr. Harland said, sir," returned the sailor, with a
+scrape.
+
+"Better not, I think," said Mr. Kentish. "My compliments to Mr. Harland;
+and if she seem a lively boat, give her the stars and stripes; but if
+she be dull, and we can easily outsail her, show John Dutchman. That is
+always another word for incivility at sea; so we can disregard a hail or
+a flag of distress, without attracting notice."
+
+As soon as the sailor had gone on deck, I turned to the officer in
+wonder. "Mr. Kentish, if that be your name," said I, "are you ashamed of
+your own colours?"
+
+"Your ladyship refers to the 'Jolly Roger'?" he inquired, with perfect
+gravity; and, immediately after, went into peals of laughter. "Pardon
+me," said he; "but here for the first time, I recognise your ladyship's
+impetuosity." Nor, try as I pleased, could I extract from him any
+explanation of this mystery, but only oily and commonplace evasion.
+
+While we were thus occupied, the movement of the _Nemorosa_ gradually
+became less violent; its speed at the same time diminished; and
+presently after, with a sullen plunge, the anchor was discharged into
+the sea. Kentish immediately rose, offered his arm, and conducted me on
+deck; where I found we were lying in a roadstead among many low and
+rocky islets, hovered about by an innumerable cloud of sea-fowl.
+Immediately under our board, a somewhat larger isle was green with
+trees, set with a few low buildings and approached by a pier of very
+crazy workmanship; and a little inshore of us, a smaller vessel lay at
+anchor.
+
+I had scarce time to glance to the four quarters ere a boat was lowered.
+I was handed in, Kentish took place beside me, and we pulled briskly to
+the pier. A crowd of villainous, armed loiterers, both black and white,
+looked on upon our landing; and again the word passed about among the
+negroes, and again I was received with prostrations and the same gesture
+of the flung-up hand. By this, what with the appearance of these men and
+the lawless, seagirt spot in which I found myself, my courage began a
+little to decline, and, clinging to the arm of Mr. Kentish, I begged him
+to tell me what it meant.
+
+"Nay, madam," he returned, "_you_ know." And leading me smartly through
+the crowd, which continued to follow at a considerable distance, and at
+which he still kept looking back, I thought, with apprehension, he
+brought me to a low house that stood alone in an encumbered yard, opened
+the door, and begged me to enter.
+
+"But why?" said I. "I demand to see Sir George."
+
+"Madam," returned Mr. Kentish, looking suddenly as black as thunder, "to
+drop all fence, I know neither who nor what you are; beyond the fact
+that you are not the person whose name you have assumed. But be what you
+please, spy, ghost, devil, or most ill-judging jester, if you do not
+immediately enter that house, I will cut you to the earth." And even as
+he spoke, he threw an uneasy glance behind him at the following crowd of
+blacks.
+
+I did not wait to be twice threatened; I obeyed at once and with a
+palpitating heart; and the next moment, the door was locked from the
+outside and the key withdrawn. The interior was long, low, and quite
+unfurnished, but filled, almost from end to end, with sugar-cane,
+tar-barrels, old tarry rope, and other incongruous and highly
+inflammable material; and not only was the door locked, but the solitary
+window barred with iron.
+
+I was by this time so exceedingly bewildered and afraid, that I would
+have given years of my life to be once more the slave of Mr. Caulder. I
+still stood, with my hands clasped, the image of despair, looking about
+me on the lumber of the room or raising my eyes to Heaven; when there
+appeared, outside the window bars, the face of a very black negro, who
+signed to me imperiously to draw near. I did so, and he instantly, and
+with every mark of fervour, addressed me a long speech in some unknown
+and barbarous tongue.
+
+"I declare," I cried, clasping my brow, "I do not understand one
+syllable."
+
+"Not?" he said in Spanish. "Great, great, are the powers of Hoodoo! Her
+very mind is changed! But, O chief priestess, why have you suffered
+yourself to be shut into this cage? why did you not call your slaves at
+once to your defence? Do you not see that all has been prepared to
+murder you? at a spark, this flimsy house will go in flames; and alas!
+who shall then be the chief priestess? and what shall be the profit of
+the miracle?"
+
+"Heavens!" cried I, "can I not see Sir George? I must, I must, come by
+speech of him. Oh, bring me to Sir George!" And, my terror fairly
+mastering my courage, I fell upon my knees and began to pray to all the
+saints.
+
+"Lordy!" cried the negro, "here they come!" And his black head was
+instantly withdrawn from the window.
+
+"I never heard such nonsense in my life," exclaimed a voice.
+
+"Why, so we all say, Sir George," replied the voice of Mr. Kentish. "But
+put yourself in our place. The niggers were near two to one. And upon my
+word, if you'll excuse me, sir, considering the notion they have taken
+in their heads, I regard it as precious fortunate for all of us that
+the mistake occurred."
+
+"This is no question of fortune, sir," returned Sir George. "It is a
+question of my orders, and you may take my word for it, Kentish, either
+Harland, or yourself, or Parker--or, by George, all three of you!--shall
+swing for this affair. These are my sentiments. Give me the key and be
+off."
+
+Immediately after, the key turned in the lock; and there appeared upon
+the threshold a gentleman, between forty and fifty, with a very open
+countenance and of a stout and personable figure.
+
+"My dear young lady," said he, "who the devil may you be?"
+
+I told him all my story in one rush of words. He heard me, from the
+first, with an amazement you can scarcely picture, but when I came to
+the death of the Se�ora Mendizabal in the tornado, he fairly leaped into
+the air.
+
+"My dear child," he cried, clasping me in his arms, "excuse a man who
+might be your father! This is the best news I ever had since I was born;
+for that hag of a mulatto was no less a person than my wife." He sat
+down upon a tar-barrel, as if unmanned by joy. "Dear me," said he, "I
+declare this tempts me to believe in Providence. And what," he added,
+"can I do for you?"
+
+"Sir George," said I, "I am already rich: all that I ask is your
+protection."
+
+"Understand one thing," he said, with great energy: "I will never
+marry."
+
+"I had not ventured to propose it," I exclaimed, unable to restrain my
+mirth; "I only seek to be conveyed to England, the natural home of the
+escaped slave."
+
+"Well," returned Sir George, "frankly I owe you something for this
+exhilarating news; besides, your father was of use to me. Now, I have
+made a small competence in business--a jewel mine, a sort of naval
+agency, et c�tera, and I am on the point of breaking up my company, and
+retiring to my place in Devonshire to pass a plain old age, unmarried.
+One good turn deserves another: if you swear to hold your tongue about
+this island, these little bonfire arrangements, and the whole episode of
+my unfortunate marriage, why, I'll carry you home aboard the
+_Nemorosa_."
+
+I eagerly accepted his conditions.
+
+"One thing more," said he. "My late wife was some sort of a sorceress
+among the blacks; and they are all persuaded she has come alive again in
+your agreeable person. Now, you will have the goodness to keep up that
+fancy, if you please; and to swear to them, on the authority of Hoodoo
+or whatever his name may be, that I am from this moment quite a sacred
+character."
+
+"I swear it," said I, "by my father's memory; and that is a vow that I
+will never break."
+
+"I have considerably better hold on you than any oath," returned Sir
+George, with a chuckle; "for you are not only an escaped slave, but
+have, by your own account, a considerable amount of stolen property."
+
+I was struck dumb; I saw it was too true; in a glance, I recognised that
+these jewels were no longer mine; with similar quickness, I decided they
+should be restored, ay, if it cost me the liberty that I had just
+regained. Forgetful of all else, forgetful of Sir George, who sat and
+watched me with a smile, I drew out Mr. Caulder's pocket-book and turned
+to the page on which the dying man had scrawled his testament. How shall
+I describe the agony of happiness and remorse with which I read it! for
+my victim had not only set me free, but bequeathed to me the bag of
+jewels.
+
+My plain tale draws towards a close. Sir George and I, in my character
+of his rejuvenated wife, displayed ourselves arm-in-arm among the
+negroes, and were cheered and followed to the place of embarkation.
+There, Sir George, turning about, made a speech to his old companions,
+in which he thanked and bade them farewell with a very manly spirit; and
+towards the end of which he fell on some expressions which I still
+remember. "If any of you gentry lose your money," he said, "take care
+you do not come to me; for in the first place, I shall do my best to
+have you murdered; and if that fails, I hand you over to the law.
+Blackmail won't do for me. I'll rather risk all upon a cast, than be
+pulled to pieces by degrees. I'll rather be found out and hang, than
+give a doit to one man-jack of you." That same night we got under way
+and crossed to the port of New Orleans, whence, as a sacred trust, I
+sent the pocket-book to Mr. Caulder's son. In a week's time, the men
+were all paid off; new hands were shipped; and the _Nemorosa_ weighed
+her anchor for Old England.
+
+A more delightful voyage it were hard to fancy. Sir George, of course,
+was not a conscientious man; but he had an unaffected gaiety of
+character that naturally endeared him to the young; and it was
+interesting to hear him lay out his projects for the future, when he
+should be returned to parliament, and place at the service of the nation
+his experience of marine affairs. I asked him if his notion of piracy
+upon a private yacht were not original. But he told me, no. "A yacht,
+Miss Valdevia," he observed, "is a chartered nuisance. Who smuggles? Who
+robs the salmon rivers of the west of Scotland? Who cruelly beats the
+keepers if they dare to intervene? The crews and the proprietors of
+yachts. All I have done is to extend the line a trifle; and if you ask
+me for my unbiassed opinion, I do not suppose that I am in the least
+alone."
+
+In short we were the best of friends, and lived like father and
+daughter; though I still withheld from him, of course, that respect
+which is only due to moral excellence.
+
+We were still some days' sail from England, when Sir George obtained,
+from an outward-bound ship, a packet of newspapers; and from that fatal
+hour my misfortunes recommenced. He sat, the same evening, in the cabin,
+reading the news, and making savoury comments on the decline of England
+and the poor condition of the navy; when I suddenly observed him to
+change countenance.
+
+"Hullo!" said he, "this is bad; this is deuced bad, Miss Valdevia. You
+would not listen to sound sense, you would send that pocket-book to
+that man Caulder's son."
+
+"Sir George," said I, "it was my duty."
+
+"You are prettily paid for it, at least," says he; "and much as I regret
+it, I, for one, am done with you. This fellow Caulder demands your
+extradition."
+
+"But a slave," I returned, "is safe in England."
+
+"Yes, by George!" replied the baronet; "but it's not a slave, Miss
+Valdevia, it's a thief that he demands. He has quietly destroyed the
+will; and now accuses you of robbing your father's bankrupt estate of
+jewels to the value of a hundred thousand pounds."
+
+I was so much overcome by indignation at this hateful charge and concern
+for my unhappy fate that the genial baronet made haste to put me more at
+ease.
+
+"Do not be cast down," said he. "Of course, I wash my hands of you
+myself. A man in my position--baronet, old family, and all that--cannot
+possibly be too particular about the company he keeps. But I am a deuced
+good-humoured old boy, let me tell you, when not ruffled; and I will do
+the best I can to put you right. I will lend you a trifle of ready
+money, give you the address of an excellent lawyer in London, and find a
+way to set you on shore unsuspected."
+
+He was in every particular as good as his word. Four days later, the
+_Nemorosa_ sounded her way, under the cloak of a dark night, into a
+certain haven of the coast of England; and a boat, rowing with muffled
+oars, set me ashore upon the beach within a stone's throw of a railway
+station. Thither, guided by Sir George's directions, I groped a devious
+way; and, finding a bench upon the platform, sat me down, wrapped in a
+man's fur greatcoat, to await the coming of the day. It was still dark
+when a light was struck behind one of the windows of the building; nor
+had the east begun to kindle to the warmer colours of the dawn, before a
+porter, carrying a lantern, issued from the door and found himself face
+to face with the unfortunate Teresa. He looked all about him; in the
+grey twilight of the dawn, the haven was seen to lie deserted, and the
+yacht had long since disappeared.
+
+"Who are you?" he cried.
+
+"I am a traveller," said I.
+
+"And where do you come from?" he asked.
+
+"I'm going, by the first train, to London," I replied.
+
+In such manner, like a ghost or a new creation, was Teresa with her bag
+of jewels landed on the shores of England; in this silent fashion,
+without history or name, she took her place among the millions of a new
+country.
+
+Since then, I have lived by the expedients of my lawyer, lying concealed
+in quiet lodgings, dogged by the spies of Cuba, and not knowing at what
+hour my liberty and honour may be lost.
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN BOX (_concluded_)
+
+
+The effect of this tale on the mind of Harry Desborough was instant and
+convincing. The Fair Cuban had been already the loveliest, she now
+became, in his eyes, the most romantic, the most innocent and the most
+unhappy of her sex. He was bereft of words to utter what he felt: what
+pity, what admiration, what youthful envy of a career so vivid and
+adventurous. "Oh, madam!" he began; and finding no language adequate to
+that apostrophe, caught up her hand and wrung it in his own. "Count upon
+me," he added, with bewildered fervour; and, getting somehow or other
+out of the apartment and from the circle of that radiant sorceress, he
+found himself in the strange out-of-doors, beholding dull houses,
+wondering at dull passers-by, a fallen angel. She had smiled upon him as
+he left, and with how significant, how beautiful a smile! The memory
+lingered in his heart; and when he found his way to a certain restaurant
+where music was performed, flutes (as it were of Paradise) accompanied
+his meal. The strings went to the melody of that parting smile; they
+paraphrased and glossed it in the sense that he desired; and for the
+first time in his plain and somewhat dreary life, he perceived himself
+to have a taste for music.
+
+The next day, and the next, his meditations moved to that delectable
+air. Now he saw her, and was favoured; now saw her not at all; now saw
+her and was put by. The fall of her foot upon the stair entranced him;
+the books that he sought out and read were books on Cuba and spoke of
+her indirectly; nay, and in the very landlady's parlour, he found one
+that told of precisely such a hurricane and, down to the smallest
+detail, confirmed (had confirmation been required) the truth of her
+recital. Presently he began to fall into that prettiest mood of a young
+love, in which the lover scorns himself for his presumption. Who was he,
+the dull one, the commonplace unemployed, the man without adventure, the
+impure, the untruthful, to aspire to such a creature made of fire and
+air, and hallowed and adorned by such incomparable passages of life?
+What should he do, to be more worthy? by what devotion, call down the
+notice of these eyes to so terrene a being as himself?
+
+He betook himself, thereupon, to the rural privacy of the square, where,
+being a lad of a kind heart, he had made himself a circle of
+acquaintances among its shy frequenters, the half-domestic cats and the
+visitors that hung before the windows of the Children's Hospital. There
+he walked, considering the depth of his demerit and the height of the
+adored one's super-excellence; now lighting upon earth to say a pleasant
+word to the brother of some infant invalid; now, with a great heave of
+breath remembering the queen of women, and the sunshine of his life.
+
+What was he to do? Teresa, he had observed, was in the habit of leaving
+the house towards afternoon: she might, perchance, run danger from some
+Cuban emissary, when the presence of a friend might turn the balance in
+her favour: how, then, if he should follow her? To offer his company
+would seem like an intrusion; to dog her openly were a manifest
+impertinence; he saw himself reduced to a more stealthy part, which,
+though in some ways distasteful to his mind, he did not doubt that he
+could practise with the skill of a detective.
+
+The next day he proceeded to put his plan in action. At the corner of
+Tottenham Court Road, however, the Se�orita suddenly turned back, and
+met him face to face, with every mark of pleasure and surprise.
+
+"Ah, Se�or, I am sometimes fortunate!" she cried. "I was looking for a
+messenger"; and with the sweetest of smiles she despatched him to the
+east end of London, to an address which he was unable to find. This was
+a bitter pill to the knight-errant; but when he returned at night, worn
+out with fruitless wandering and dismayed by his _fiasco_, the lady
+received him with a friendly gaiety, protesting that all was for the
+best, since she had changed her mind and long since repented of her
+message.
+
+Next day he resumed his labours, glowing with pity and courage, and
+determined to protect Teresa with his life. But a painful shock awaited
+him. In the narrow and silent Hanway Street, she turned suddenly about
+and addressed him with a manner and a light in her eyes, that were new
+to the young man's experience.
+
+"Do I understand that you follow me, Se�or?" she cried. "Are these the
+manners of the English gentleman?"
+
+Harry confounded himself in the most abject apologies and prayers to be
+forgiven, vowed to offend no more, and was at length dismissed,
+crestfallen and heavy of heart. The check was final; he gave up that
+road to service; and began once more to hang about the square or on the
+terrace, filled with remorse and love, admirable and idiotic, a fit
+object for the scorn and envy of older men. In these idle hours, while
+he was courting fortune for a sight of the beloved, it fell out
+naturally that he should observe the manners and appearance of such as
+came about the house. One person alone was the occasional visitor of the
+young lady: a man of considerable stature and distinguished only by the
+doubtful ornament of a chin-beard in the style of an American deacon.
+Something in his appearance grated upon Harry; this distaste grew upon
+him in the course of days; and when at length he mustered courage to
+inquire of the Fair Cuban who this was, he was yet more dismayed by her
+reply.
+
+"That gentleman," said she, a smile struggling to her face, "that
+gentleman, I will not attempt to conceal from you, desires my hand in
+marriage, and presses me with the most respectful ardour. Alas, what am
+I to say? I, the forlorn Teresa, how shall I refuse or accept such
+protestations?"
+
+Harry feared to say more; a horrid pang of jealousy transfixed him; and
+he had scarce the strength of mind to take his leave with decency. In
+the solitude of his own chamber, he gave way to every manifestation of
+despair. He passionately adored the Se�orita; but it was not only the
+thought of her possible union with another that distressed his soul, it
+was the indefeasible conviction that her suitor was unworthy. To a duke,
+a bishop, a victorious general, or any man adorned with obvious
+qualities, he had resigned her with a sort of bitter joy; he saw himself
+follow the wedding party from a great way off; he saw himself return to
+the poor house, then robbed of its jewel; and while he could have wept
+for his despair, he felt he could support it nobly. But this affair
+looked otherwise. The man was patently no gentleman; he had a startled,
+skulking, guilty bearing; his nails were black, his eyes evasive, his
+love perhaps was a pretext; he was perhaps, under this deep disguise, a
+Cuban emissary! Harry swore that he would satisfy these doubts; and the
+next evening, about the hour of the usual visit, he posted himself at a
+spot whence his eye commanded the three issues of the square.
+
+Presently after, a four-wheeler rumbled to the door; and the man with
+the chin-beard alighted, paid off the cabman, and was seen by Harry to
+enter the house with a brown box hoisted on his back. Half an hour
+later, he came forth again without the box, and struck eastward at a
+rapid walk; and Desborough, with the same skill and caution that he had
+displayed in following Teresa, proceeded to dog the steps of her
+admirer. The man began to loiter, studying with apparent interest the
+wares of the small fruiterer or tobacconist; twice he returned hurriedly
+upon his former course; and then, as though he had suddenly conquered a
+moment's hesitation, once more set forth with resolute and swift steps
+in the direction of Lincoln's Inn. At length, in a deserted by-street,
+he turned; and coming up to Harry with a countenance which seemed to
+have become older and whiter, inquired with some severity of speech if
+he had not had the pleasure of seeing the gentleman before.
+
+"You have, sir," said Harry, somewhat abashed, but with a good show of
+stoutness; "and I will not deny that I was following you on purpose.
+Doubtless," he added, for he supposed that all men's minds must still be
+running on Teresa, "you can divine my reason."
+
+At these words, the man with the chin-beard was seized with a palsied
+tremor. He seemed, for some seconds, to seek the utterance which his
+fear denied him; and then, whipping sharply about, he took to his heels
+at the most furious speed of running.
+
+Harry was at first so taken aback that he neglected to pursue; and by
+the time he had recovered his wits, his best expedition was only
+rewarded by a glimpse of the man with the chin-beard mounting into a
+hansom, which immediately after disappeared into the moving crowds of
+Holborn.
+
+Puzzled and dismayed by this unusual behaviour, Harry returned to the
+house in Queen Square, and ventured for the first time to knock at the
+fair Cuban's door. She bade him enter, and he found her kneeling with
+rather a disconsolate air beside a brown wooden trunk.
+
+"Se�orita," he broke out, "I doubt whether that man's character is what
+he wishes you to believe. His manner, when he found, and indeed when I
+admitted, that I was following him, was not the manner of an honest
+man."
+
+"Oh!" she cried, throwing up her hands as in desperation, "Don Quixote,
+Don Quixote, have you again been tilting against windmills?" And then,
+with a laugh, "Poor soul!" she added, "how you must have terrified him!
+For know that the Cuban authorities are here, and your poor Teresa may
+soon be hunted down. Even yon humble clerk from my solicitor's office
+may find himself at any moment the quarry of armed spies."
+
+"A humble clerk!" cried Harry, "why, you told me yourself that he wished
+to marry you!"
+
+"I thought you English like what you call a joke," replied the lady
+calmly. "As a matter of fact he is my lawyer's clerk, and has been here
+to-night charged with disastrous news. I am in sore straits, Se�or
+Harry. Will you help me?"
+
+At this most welcome word, the young man's heart exulted; and in the
+hope, pride, and self-esteem, that kindled with the very thought of
+service, he forgot to dwell upon the lady's jest. "Can you ask?" he
+cried. "What is there that I can do? Only tell me that."
+
+With signs of an emotion that was certainly unfeigned, the Fair Cuban
+laid her hand upon the box. "This box," she said, "contains my jewels,
+papers, and clothes; all, in a word, that still connects me with Cuba
+and my dreadful past. They must now be smuggled out of England; or, by
+the opinion of my lawyer, I am lost beyond remedy. To-morrow, on board
+the Irish packet, a sure hand awaits the box; the problem still unsolved
+is to find some one to carry it as far as Holyhead, to see it placed on
+board the steamer, and instantly return to town. Will you be he? Will
+you leave to-morrow by the first train, punctually obey orders, bear
+still in mind that you are surrounded by Cuban spies; and without so
+much as a look behind you, or a single movement to betray your interest,
+leave the box where you have put it and come straight on shore? Will
+you do this, and so save your friend?"
+
+"I do not clearly understand ..." began Harry.
+
+"No more do I," replied the Cuban. "It is not necessary that we should,
+so long as we obey the lawyer's orders."
+
+"Se�orita," returned Harry gravely, "I think this, of course, a very
+little thing to do for you, when I would willingly do all. But suffer me
+to say one word. If London is unsafe for your treasures, it cannot long
+be safe for you; and indeed, if I at all fathom the plan of your
+solicitor, I fear I may find you already fled on my return. I am not
+considered clever, and can only speak out plainly what is in my heart:
+that I love you, and that I cannot bear to lose all knowledge of you. I
+hope no more than to be your servant; I ask no more than just that I
+shall hear of you. Oh, promise me so much!"
+
+"You shall," she said, after a pause. "I promise you, you shall." But
+though she spoke with earnestness, the marks of great embarrassment and
+a strong conflict of emotions appeared upon her face.
+
+"I wish to tell you," resumed Desborough, "in case of accidents...."
+
+"Accidents!" she cried: "why do you say that?"
+
+"I do not know," said he, "you may be gone before my return, and we may
+not meet again for long. And so I wished you to know this: That since
+the day you gave me the cigarette, you have never once, not once, been
+absent from my mind; and if it will in any way serve you, you may
+crumple me up like that piece of paper, and throw me on the fire. I
+would love to die for you."
+
+"Go!" she said, "Go now at once! My brain is in a whirl. I scarce know
+what we are talking. Go; and good-night; and oh, may you come safe!"
+
+Once back in his own room a fearful joy possessed the young man's mind;
+and as he recalled her face struck suddenly white and the broken
+utterance of her last words, his heart at once exulted and misgave him.
+Love had indeed looked upon him with a tragic mask; and yet what
+mattered, since at least it was love--since at least she was commoved at
+their division? He got to bed with these parti-coloured thoughts; passed
+from one dream to another all night long, the white face of Teresa still
+haunting him, wrung with unspoken thoughts; and, in the grey of the
+dawn, leaped suddenly out of bed, in a kind of horror. It was already
+time for him to rise. He dressed, made his breakfast on cold food that
+had been laid for him the night before; and went down to the room of his
+idol for the box. The door was open; a strange disorder reigned within;
+the furniture all pushed aside, and the centre of the room left bare of
+impediment, as though for the pacing of a creature with a tortured mind.
+There lay the box, however, and upon the lid a paper with these words:
+"Harry, I hope to be back before you go. Teresa."
+
+He sat down to wait, laying his watch before him on the table. She had
+called him Harry: that should be enough, he thought, to fill the day
+with sunshine; and yet somehow the sight of that disordered room still
+poisoned his enjoyment. The door of the bedchamber stood gaping open;
+and though he turned aside his eyes as from a sacrilege, he could not
+but observe the bed had not been slept in. He was still pondering what
+this should mean, still trying to convince himself that all was well,
+when the moving needle of his watch summoned him to set forth without
+delay. He was before all things a man of his word; ran round to
+Southampton Row to fetch a cab; and, taking the box on the front seat,
+drove off towards the terminus.
+
+The streets were scarcely awake; there was little to amuse the eye; and
+the young man's attention centred on the dumb companion of his drive. A
+card was nailed upon one side, bearing the superscription: "Miss Doolan,
+passenger to Dublin. Glass. With care." He thought with a sentimental
+shock that the fair idol of his heart was perhaps driven to adopt the
+name of Doolan; and, as he still studied the card, he was aware of a
+deadly black depression settling steadily upon his spirits. It was in
+vain for him to contend against the tide; in vain that he shook himself
+or tried to whistle: the sense of some impending blow was not to be
+averted. He looked out; in the long, empty streets, the cab pursued its
+way without a trace of any follower. He gave ear; and over and above the
+jolting of the wheels upon the road, he was conscious of a certain
+regular and quiet sound that seemed to issue from the box. He put his
+ear to the cover; at one moment, he seemed to perceive a delicate
+ticking; the next, the sound was gone, nor could his closest hearkening
+recapture it. He laughed at himself; but still the gloom continued; and
+it was with more than the common relief of an arrival, that he leaped
+from the cab before the station.
+
+Probably enough on purpose, Teresa had named an hour some thirty minutes
+earlier than needful; and when Harry had given the box into the charge
+of a porter, who set it on a truck, he proceeded briskly to pace the
+platform. Presently the bookstall opened; and the young man was looking
+at the books when he was seized by the arm. He turned and, though she
+was closely veiled, at once recognised the Fair Cuban.
+
+"Where is it?" she asked; and the sound of her voice surprised him.
+
+"It?" he said. "What?"
+
+"The box. Have it put on a cab instantly. I am in fearful haste."
+
+He hurried to obey, marvelling at these changes, but not daring to
+trouble her with questions; and when the cab had been brought round, and
+the box mounted on the front, she passed a little way off upon the
+pavement and beckoned him to follow.
+
+"Now," said she, still in those mechanical and hushed tones that had at
+first affected him, "you must go on to Holyhead alone; go on board the
+steamer; and if you see a man in tartan trousers and a pink scarf, say
+to him that all has been put off: if not," she added, with a sobbing
+sigh, "it does not matter. So, good-bye."
+
+"Teresa," said Harry, "get into your cab, and I will go along with you.
+You are in some distress, perhaps some danger; and till I know the
+whole, not even you can make me leave you."
+
+"You will not?" she asked. "Oh, Harry, it were better!"
+
+"I will not," said Harry stoutly.
+
+She looked at him for a moment through her veil; took his hand suddenly
+and sharply, but more as if in fear than tenderness; and, still holding
+him, walked to the cab-door.
+
+"Where are we to drive?" asked Harry.
+
+"Home, quickly," she answered; "double fare!" And as soon as they had
+both mounted to their places, the vehicle crazily trundled from the
+station.
+
+Teresa leaned back in a corner. The whole way Harry could perceive her
+tears to flow under her veil; but she vouchsafed no explanation. At the
+door of the house in Queen Square, both alighted; and the cabman lowered
+the box, which Harry, glad to display his strength, received upon his
+shoulders.
+
+"Let the man take it," she whispered. "Let the man take it."
+
+"I will do no such thing," said Harry cheerfully; and having paid the
+fare, he followed Teresa through the door which she had opened with her
+key. The landlady and maid were gone upon their morning errands; the
+house was empty and still; and as the rattling of the cab died away down
+Gloucester Street, and Harry continued to ascend the stair with his
+burthen, he heard close against his shoulders the same faint and muffled
+ticking as before. The lady, still preceding him, opened the door of her
+room, and helped him to lower the box tenderly in the corner by the
+window.
+
+"And now," said Harry, "what is wrong?"
+
+"You will not go away?" she cried, with a sudden break in her voice and
+beating her hands together in the very agony of impatience. "Oh, Harry,
+Harry, go away! Oh, go, and leave me to the fate that I deserve!"
+
+"The fate?" repeated Harry. "What is this?"
+
+"No fate," she resumed. "I do not know what I am saying. But I wish to
+be alone. You may come back this evening, Harry; come again when you
+like; but leave me now, only leave me now!" And then suddenly, "I have
+an errand," she exclaimed; "you cannot refuse me that!"
+
+"No," replied Harry, "you have no errand. You are in grief or danger.
+Lift your veil and tell me what it is."
+
+"Then," she said, with a sudden composure, "you leave but one course
+open to me." And raising the veil, she showed him a countenance from
+which every trace of colour had fled, eyes marred with weeping, and a
+brow on which resolve had conquered fear. "Harry," she began, "I am not
+what I seem."
+
+"You have told me that before," said Harry, "several times."
+
+"Oh, Harry, Harry," she cried, "how you shame me! But this is the God's
+truth. I am a dangerous and wicked girl. My name is Clara Luxmore. I was
+never nearer Cuba than Penzance. From first to last I have cheated and
+played with you. And what I am I dare not even name to you in words.
+Indeed, until to-day, until the sleepless watches of last night, I never
+grasped the depth and foulness of my guilt."
+
+The young man looked upon her aghast. Then a generous current poured
+along his veins. "That is all one," he said. "If you be all you say, you
+have the greater need of me."
+
+"Is it possible," she exclaimed, "that I have schemed in vain? And will
+nothing drive you from this house of death?"
+
+"Of death?" he echoed.
+
+"Death!" she cried: "death! In that box which you have dragged about
+London and carried on your defenceless shoulders, sleep, at the
+trigger's mercy, the destroying energies of dynamite."
+
+"My God!" cried Harry.
+
+"Ah!" she continued wildly, "will you flee now? At any moment you may
+hear the click that sounds the ruin of this building. I was sure M'Guire
+was wrong; this morning, before day, I flew to Zero; he confirmed my
+fears; I beheld you, my beloved Harry, fall a victim to my own
+contrivances. I knew then I loved you--Harry, will you go now? Will you
+not spare me this unwilling crime?"
+
+Harry remained speechless, his eyes fixed upon the box: at last he
+turned to her.
+
+"Is it," he asked hoarsely, "an infernal machine?"
+
+Her lips formed the word "yes"; which her voice refused to utter.
+
+With fearful curiosity, he drew near and bent above the box; in that
+still chamber, the ticking was distinctly audible; and at the measured
+sound, the blood flowed back upon his heart.
+
+"For whom?" he asked.
+
+"What matters it?" she cried, seizing him by the arm. "If you may still
+be saved, what matter questions?"
+
+"God in Heaven!" cried Harry. "And the Children's Hospital! At whatever
+cost, this damned contrivance must be stopped!"
+
+"It cannot," she gasped. "The power of man cannot avert the blow. But
+you, Harry--you, my beloved--you may still----"
+
+And then from the box that lay so quietly in the corner, a sudden catch
+was audible, like the catch of a clock before it strikes the hour. For
+one second, the two stared at each other with lifted brows and stony
+eyes. Then Harry, throwing one arm over his face, with the other
+clutched the girl to his breast and staggered against the wall.
+
+A dull and startling thud resounded through the room; their eyes blinked
+against the coming horror; and still clinging together like drowning
+people, they fell to the floor. Then followed a prolonged and strident
+hissing as from the indignant pit; an offensive stench seized them by
+the throat; the room was filled with dense and choking fumes.
+
+Presently these began a little to disperse: and when at length they drew
+themselves, all limp and shaken, to a sitting posture, the first object
+that greeted their vision was the box reposing uninjured in its corner,
+but still leaking little wreaths of vapour round the lid.
+
+"Oh, poor Zero!" cried the girl with a strange sobbing laugh. "Alas,
+poor Zero! This will break his heart!"
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_concluded_)
+
+
+Somerset ran straight upstairs; the door of the drawing-room, contrary
+to all custom, was unlocked; and, bursting in, the young man found Zero
+seated on a sofa in an attitude of singular dejection. Close beside him
+stood an untasted grog, the mark of strong preoccupation. The room
+besides was in confusion: boxes had been tumbled to and fro; the floor
+was strewn with keys and other implements; and in the midst of this
+disorder lay a lady's glove.
+
+"I have come," cried Somerset, "to make an end of this. Either you will
+instantly abandon all your schemes, or (cost what it may) I will
+denounce you to the police."
+
+"Ah!" replied Zero, slowly shaking his head. "You are too late, dear
+fellow! I am already at the end of all my hopes and fallen to be a
+laughing-stock and mockery. My reading," he added, with a gentle
+despondency of manner, "has not been much among romances; yet I recall
+from one a phrase that depicts my present state with critical
+exactitude; and you behold me sitting here 'like a burst drum.'"
+
+"What has befallen you?" cried Somerset.
+
+"My last batch," retorted the plotter wearily, "like all the others, is
+a hollow mockery and a fraud. In vain do I combine the elements; in vain
+adjust the springs; and I have now arrived at such a pitch of
+disconsideration that (except yourself, dear fellow) I do not know a
+soul that I can face. My subordinates themselves have turned upon me.
+What language have I heard to-day, what illiberality of sentiment, what
+pungency of expression! She came once; I could have pardoned that, for
+she was moved; but she returned, returned to announce to me this
+crushing blow; and, Somerset, she was very inhumane. Yes, dear fellow, I
+have drunk a bitter cup; the speech of females is remarkable for ...
+well, well! Denounce me, if you will; you but denounce the dead. I am
+extinct. It is strange how, at this supreme crisis of my life, I should
+be haunted by quotations from works of an inexact and even fanciful
+description; but here," he added, "is another: 'Othello's occupation's
+gone.' Yes, dear Somerset, it is gone; I am no more a dynamiter; and
+how, I ask you, after having tasted of these joys, am I to condescend to
+a less glorious life?"
+
+"I cannot describe how you relieve me," returned Somerset, sitting down
+on one of several boxes that had been drawn out into the middle of the
+floor. "I had conceived a sort of maudlin toleration for your character;
+I have a great distaste, besides, for anything in the nature of a duty;
+and upon both grounds, your news delights me. But I seem to perceive,"
+he added, "a certain sound of ticking in this box."
+
+"Yes," replied Zero, with the same slow weariness of manner, "I have set
+several of them going."
+
+"My God!" cried Somerset, bounding to his feet. "Machines?"
+
+"Machines!" returned the plotter bitterly. "Machines indeed! I blush to
+be their author. Alas!" he said, burying his face in his hands, "that I
+should live to say it!"
+
+"Madman!" cried Somerset, shaking him by the arm. "What am I to
+understand? Have you, indeed, set these diabolical contrivances in
+motion? and do we stay here to be blown up?"
+
+"'Hoist with his own petard?'" returned the plotter musingly. "One more
+quotation: strange! But indeed my brain is struck with numbness. Yes,
+dear boy, I have, as you say, put my contrivances in motion. The one on
+which you are sitting, I have timed for half an hour. Yon other----"
+
+"Half an hour!" echoed Somerset, dancing with trepidation. "Merciful
+heavens, in half an hour?"
+
+"Dear fellow, why so much excitement?" inquired Zero. "My dynamite is
+not more dangerous than toffy; had I an only child, I would give it him
+to play with. You see this brick?" he continued, lifting a cake of the
+infernal compound from the laboratory-table. "At a touch it should
+explode, and that with such unconquerable energy as should bestrew the
+square with ruins. Well, now, behold! I dash it on the floor."
+
+Somerset sprang forward, and, with the strength of the very ecstasy of
+terror, wrested the brick from his possession. "Heavens!" he cried,
+wiping his brow; and then with more care than ever mother handled her
+first-born withal, gingerly transported the explosive to the far end of
+the apartment; the plotter, his arms once more fallen to his side,
+dispiritedly watching him.
+
+"It was entirely harmless," he sighed. "They describe it as burning like
+tobacco."
+
+"In the name of fortune," cried Somerset, "what have I done to you, or
+what have you done to yourself, that you should persist in this insane
+behaviour? If not for your own sake, then for mine, let us depart from
+this doomed house, where I profess I have not the heart to leave you;
+and then, if you will take my advice, and if your determination be
+sincere, you will instantly quit this city, where no further occupation
+can detain you."
+
+"Such, dear fellow, was my own design," replied the plotter. "I have, as
+you observe, no further business here; and once I have packed a little
+bag, I shall ask you to share a frugal meal, to go with me as far as to
+the station, and see the last of a broken-hearted man. And yet," he
+added, looking on the boxes with a lingering regret, "I should have
+liked to make quite certain. I cannot but suspect my underlings of some
+mismanagement; it may be fond, but yet I cherish that idea: it may be
+the weakness of a man of science, but yet," he cried, rising into some
+energy, "I will never, I cannot if I try, believe that my poor dynamite
+has had fair usage!"
+
+"Five minutes!" said Somerset, glancing with horror at the timepiece.
+"If you do not instantly buckle to your bag, I leave you."
+
+"A few necessaries," returned Zero, "only a few necessaries, dear
+Somerset, and you behold me ready."
+
+He passed into the bedroom, and after an interval which seemed to draw
+out into eternity for his unfortunate companion, he returned, bearing in
+his hand an open Gladstone bag. His movements were still horribly
+deliberate, and his eyes lingered gloatingly on his dear boxes, as he
+moved to and fro about the drawing-room, gathering a few small trifles.
+Last of all, he lifted one of the squares of dynamite.
+
+"Put that down!" cried Somerset. "If what you say be true, you have no
+call to load yourself with that ungodly contraband."
+
+"Merely a curiosity, dear boy," he said persuasively, and slipped the
+brick into his bag; "merely a memento of the past--ah, happy past,
+bright past! You will not take a touch of spirits? no? I find you very
+abstemious. Well," he added, "if you have really no curiosity to await
+the event----"
+
+"I!" cried Somerset. "My blood boils to get away."
+
+"Well, then," said Zero, "I am ready; I would I could say, willing; but
+thus to leave the scene of my sublime endeavours----"
+
+Without further parley, Somerset seized him by the arm, and dragged him
+downstairs; the hall-door shut with a clang on the deserted mansion; and
+still towing his laggardly companion, the young man sped across the
+square in the Oxford Street direction. They had not yet passed the
+corner of the garden, when they were arrested by a dull thud of an
+extraordinary amplitude of sound, accompanied and followed by a
+shattering _fracas_. Somerset turned in time to see the mansion rend in
+twain, vomit forth flames and smoke, and instantly collapse into its
+cellars. At the same moment, he was thrown violently to the ground. His
+first glance was towards Zero. The plotter had but reeled against the
+garden rail; he stood there, the Gladstone bag clasped tight upon his
+heart, his whole face radiant with relief and gratitude; and the young
+man heard him murmur to himself: "_Nunc dimittis, nunc dimittis!_"
+
+The consternation of the populace was indescribable: the whole of Golden
+Square was alive with men, women, and children, running wildly to and
+fro, and, like rabbits in a warren, dashing in and out of the house
+doors, and under favour of this confusion, Somerset dragged away the
+lingering plotter.
+
+"It was grand," he continued to murmur: "it was indescribably grand. Ah,
+green Erin, green Erin, what a day of glory! and, oh, my calumniated
+dynamite, how triumphantly hast thou prevailed!"
+
+Suddenly a shade crossed his face; and pausing in the middle of the
+footway, he consulted the dial of his watch.
+
+"Good God!" he cried, "how mortifying! seven minutes too early! The
+dynamite surpassed my hopes; but the clockwork, fickle clockwork, has
+once more betrayed me. Alas, can there be no success unmixed with
+failure? and must even this red-letter day be chequered by a shadow?"
+
+"Incomparable ass!" said Somerset, "what have you done? Blown up the
+house of an unoffending old lady, and the whole earthly property of the
+only person who is fool enough to befriend you!"
+
+"You do not understand these matters," replied Zero, with an air of
+great dignity. "This will shake England to the heart. Gladstone, the
+truculent old man, will quail before the pointing finger of revenge. And
+now that my dynamite is proved effective----"
+
+"Heavens, you remind me!" ejaculated Somerset. "That brick in your bag
+must be instantly disposed of. But how? If we could throw it in the
+river----"
+
+"A torpedo," cried Zero, brightening, "a torpedo in the Thames! Superb,
+dear fellow! I recognise in you the marks of an accomplished anarch."
+
+"True!" returned Somerset. "It cannot so be done; and there is no help
+but you must carry it away with you. Come on, then, and let me at once
+consign you to a train."
+
+"Nay, nay, dear boy," protested Zero. "There is now no call for me to
+leave. My character is now reinstated; my fame brightens; this is the
+best thing I have done yet; and I see from here the ovations that await
+the author of the Golden Square Atrocity."
+
+"My young friend," returned the other, "I give you your choice. I will
+either see you safe on board a train or safe in gaol."
+
+"Somerset, this is unlike you!" said the chemist. "You surprise me,
+Somerset."
+
+"I shall considerably more surprise you at the next police office,"
+returned Somerset, with something bordering on rage. "For on one point
+my mind is settled: either I see you packed off to America, brick and
+all, or else you dine in prison."
+
+"You have perhaps neglected one point," returned the unoffended Zero:
+"for, speaking as a philosopher, I fail to see what means you can employ
+to force me. The will, my dear fellow----"
+
+"Now, see here," interrupted Somerset. "You are ignorant of anything but
+science, which I can never regard as being truly knowledge; I, sir, have
+studied life; and allow me to inform you that I have but to raise my
+hand and voice--here in this street--and the mob----"
+
+"Good God in Heaven, Somerset," cried Zero, turning deadly white and
+stopping in his walk, "great God in Heaven, what words are these? Oh,
+not in jest, not even in jest, should they be used! The brutal mob, the
+savage passions.... Somerset, for God's sake, a public-house!"
+
+Somerset considered him with freshly awakened curiosity. "This is very
+interesting," said he. "You recoil from such a death?"
+
+"Who would not?" asked the plotter.
+
+"And to be blown up by dynamite," inquired the young man, "doubtless
+strikes you as a form of euthanasia?"
+
+"Pardon me," returned Zero: "I own, and, since I have braved it daily in
+my professional career, I own it even with pride: it is a death
+unusually distasteful to the mind of man."
+
+"One more question," said Somerset; "you object to Lynch Law? why?"
+
+"It is assassination," said the plotter calmly; but with eyebrows a
+little lifted, as in wonder at the question.
+
+"Shake hands with me," cried Somerset. "Thank God, I have now no
+ill-feeling left; and though you cannot conceive how I burn to see you
+on the gallows, I can quite contentedly assist at your departure."
+
+"I do not very clearly take your meaning," said Zero, "but I am sure you
+mean kindly. As to my departure, there is another point to be
+considered. I have neglected to supply myself with funds; my little all
+has perished in what history will love to relate under the name of the
+Golden Square Atrocity; and without what is coarsely if vigorously
+called stamps, you must be well aware it is impossible for me to pass
+the ocean."
+
+"For me," said Somerset, "you have now ceased to be a man. You have no
+more claim upon me than a door-scraper; but the touching confusion of
+your mind disarms me from extremities. Until to-day, I always thought
+stupidity was funny; I now know otherwise; and when I look upon your
+idiot face, laughter rises within me like a deadly sickness, and the
+tears spring up into my eyes as bitter as blood. What should this
+portend? I begin to doubt; I am losing faith in scepticism. Is it
+possible," he cried, in a kind of horror of himself--"is it conceivable
+that I believe in right and wrong? Already I have found myself, with
+incredulous surprise, to be the victim of a prejudice of personal
+honour. And must this change proceed? Have you robbed me of my youth?
+Must I fall, at my time of life, into the Common Banker? But why should
+I address that head of wood? Let this suffice. I dare not let you stay
+among women and children; I lack the courage to denounce you, if by any
+means I may avoid it; you have no money; well then, take mine, and go;
+and if ever I behold your face after to-day, that day will be your
+last."
+
+"Under the circumstances," replied Zero, "I scarce see my way to refuse
+your offer. Your expressions may pain, they cannot surprise me; I am
+aware our point of view requires a little training, a little moral
+hygiene, if I may so express it; and one of the points that has always
+charmed me in your character is this delightful frankness. As for the
+small advance, it shall be remitted you from Philadelphia."
+
+"It shall not," said Somerset.
+
+"Dear fellow, you do not understand," returned the plotter. "I shall now
+be received with fresh confidence by my superiors; and my experiments
+will be no longer hampered by pitiful conditions of the purse."
+
+"What I am now about, sir, is a crime," replied Somerset; "and were you
+to roll in wealth like Vanderbilt, I should scorn to be reimbursed of
+money I had so scandalously misapplied. Take it, and keep it. By George,
+sir, three days of you have transformed me to an ancient Roman."
+
+With these words, Somerset hailed a passing hansom; and the pair were
+driven rapidly to the railway terminus. There, an oath having been
+extracted, the money changed hands.
+
+"And now," said Somerset, "I have bought back my honour with every penny
+I possess. And I thank God, though there is nothing before me but
+starvation, I am free from all entanglement with Mr. Zero Pumpernickel
+Jones."
+
+"To starve?" cried Zero. "Dear fellow, I cannot endure the thought."
+
+"Take your ticket!" returned Somerset.
+
+"I think you display temper," said Zero.
+
+"Take your ticket," reiterated the young man.
+
+"Well," said the plotter, as he returned, ticket in hand, "your attitude
+is so strange and painful, that I scarce know if I should ask you to
+shake hands."
+
+"As a man, no," replied Somerset; "but I have no objection to shake
+hands with you, as I might with a pump-well that ran poison or
+hell-fire."
+
+"This is a very cold parting," sighed the dynamiter; and still followed
+by Somerset, he began to descend the platform. This was now bustling
+with passengers; the train for Liverpool was just about to start,
+another had but recently arrived; and the double tide made movement
+difficult. As the pair reached the neighbourhood of the bookstall,
+however, they came into an open space; and here the attention of the
+plotter was attracted by a Standard broadside bearing the words: "Second
+Edition: Explosion in Golden Square." His eye lighted; groping in his
+pocket for the necessary coin, he sprang forward--his bag knocked
+sharply on the corner of the stall--and instantly, with a formidable
+report, the dynamite exploded. When the smoke cleared away the stall was
+seen much shattered, and the stall-keeper running forth in terror from
+the ruins; but of the Irish patriot or the Gladstone bag no adequate
+remains were to be found.
+
+In the first scramble of the alarm, Somerset made good his escape, and
+came out upon the Euston Road, his head spinning, his body sick with
+hunger, and his pockets destitute of coin. Yet as he continued to walk
+the pavements, he wondered to find in his heart a sort of peaceful
+exultation, a great content, a sense, as it were, of divine presence and
+the kindliness of fate; and he was able to tell himself that even if
+the worst befell, he could now starve with a certain comfort since Zero
+was expunged.
+
+Late in the afternoon he found himself at the door of Mr. Godall's shop;
+and being quite unmanned by his long fast, and scarce considering what
+he did, he opened the glass door and entered.
+
+"Ha!" said Mr. Godall, "Mr. Somerset! Well, have you met with an
+adventure? Have you the promised story? Sit down, if you please; suffer
+me to choose you a cigar of my own special brand; and reward me with a
+narrative in your best style."
+
+"I must not take a cigar," said Somerset.
+
+"Indeed!" said Mr. Godall. "But now I come to look at you more closely,
+I perceive that you are changed. My poor boy, I hope there is nothing
+wrong?"
+
+Somerset burst into tears.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN
+
+
+On a certain day of lashing rain in the December of last year, and
+between the hours of nine and ten in the morning, Mr. Edward Challoner
+pioneered himself under an umbrella to the door of the Cigar Divan in
+Rupert Street. It was a place he had visited but once before: the memory
+of what had followed on that visit and the fear of Somerset having
+prevented his return. Even now, he looked in before he entered; but the
+shop was free of customers.
+
+The young man behind the counter was so intently writing in a penny
+version-book, that he paid no heed to Challoner's arrival. On a second
+glance, it seemed to the latter that he recognised him.
+
+"By Jove," he thought, "unquestionably Somerset!"
+
+And though this was the very man he had been so sedulously careful to
+avoid, his unexplained position at the receipt of custom changed
+distaste to curiosity.
+
+"'Or opulent rotunda strike the sky,'" said the shopman to himself, in
+the tone of one considering a verse. "I suppose it would be too much to
+say 'orotunda,' and yet how noble it were! 'Or opulent orotunda strike
+the sky.' But that is the bitterness of arts; you see a good effect, and
+some nonsense about sense continually intervenes."
+
+"Somerset, my dear fellow," said Challoner, "is this a masquerade?"
+
+"What? Challoner!" cried the shopman. "I am delighted to see you. One
+moment, till I finish the octave of my sonnet: only the octave." And
+with a friendly waggle of the hand, he once more buried himself in the
+commerce of the Muses. "I say," he said presently, looking up, "you seem
+in wonderful preservation: how about the hundred pounds?"
+
+"I have made a small inheritance from a great aunt in Wales," replied
+Challoner modestly.
+
+"Ah," said Somerset, "I very much doubt the legitimacy of inheritance.
+The State, in my view, should collar it. I am now going through a stage
+of socialism and poetry," he added apologetically, as one who spoke of a
+course of medicinal waters.
+
+"And are you really the person of the--establishment?" inquired
+Challoner, deftly evading the word "shop."
+
+"A vendor, sir, a vendor," returned the other, pocketing his poesy. "I
+help old Happy and Glorious. Can I offer you a weed?"
+
+"Well, I scarcely like ..." began Challoner.
+
+"Nonsense, my dear fellow," cried the shopman. "We are very proud of the
+business; and the old man, let me inform you, besides being the most
+egregious of created beings from the point of view of ethics, is
+literally sprung from the loins of kings. '_De Godall je suis le
+fervent._' There is only one Godall.--By the way," he added, as
+Challoner lit his cigar, "how did you get on with the detective trade?"
+
+"I did not try," said Challoner curtly.
+
+"Ah, well, I did," returned Somerset, "and made the most incomparable
+mess of it; lost all my money and fairly covered myself with odium and
+ridicule. There is more in that business, Challoner, than meets the eye;
+there is more, in fact, in all businesses. You must believe in them, or
+get up the belief that you believe. Hence," he added, "the recognised
+inferiority of the plumber, for no one could believe in plumbing."
+
+"_A propos_," asked Challoner, "do you still paint?"
+
+"Not now," replied Paul; "but I think of taking up the violin."
+
+Challoner's eye, which had been somewhat restless since the trade of the
+detective had been named, now rested for a moment on the columns of the
+morning paper, where it lay spread upon the counter.
+
+"By Jove," he cried, "that's odd!"
+
+"What is odd?" asked Paul.
+
+"Oh, nothing," returned the other: "only I once met a person called
+M'Guire."
+
+"So did I!" cried Somerset. "Is there anything about him?"
+
+Challoner read as follows: "_Mysterious death in Stepney._ An inquest
+was held yesterday on the body of Patrick M'Guire, described as a
+carpenter. Dr. Dovering stated that he had for some time treated the
+deceased as a dispensary patient, for sleeplessness, loss of appetite,
+and nervous depression. There was no cause of death to be found. He
+would say the deceased had sunk. Deceased was not a temperate man, which
+doubtless accelerated death. Deceased complained of dumb ague, but
+witness had never been able to detect any positive disease. He did not
+know that he had any family. He regarded him as a person of unsound
+intellect, who believed himself a member and the victim of some secret
+society. If he were to hazard an opinion, he would say deceased had died
+of fear."
+
+"And the doctor would be right," cried Somerset; "and my dear Challoner,
+I am so relieved to hear of his demise, that I will----. Well, after
+all," he added, "poor devil, he was well served."
+
+The door at this moment opened, and Desborough appeared upon the
+threshold. He was wrapped in a long waterproof, imperfectly supplied
+with buttons; his boots were full of water, his hat greasy with service;
+and yet he wore the air of one exceeding well content with life. He was
+hailed by the two others with exclamations of surprise and welcome.
+
+"And did you try the detective business?" inquired Paul.
+
+"No," returned Harry. "Oh yes, by the way, I did though: twice, and got
+caught out both times. But I thought I should find my--my wife here?" he
+added, with a kind of proud confusion.
+
+"What? are you married?" cried Somerset.
+
+"Oh yes," said Harry, "quite a long time: a month at least."
+
+"Money?" asked Challoner.
+
+"That's the worst of it," Desborough admitted. "We are deadly hard up.
+But the Pri--Mr. Godall is going to do something for us. That is what
+brings us here."
+
+"Who was Mrs. Desborough?" said Challoner, in the tone of a man of
+society.
+
+"She was a Miss Luxmore," returned Harry. "You fellows will be sure to
+like her, for she is much cleverer than I. She tells wonderful stories,
+too; better than a book."
+
+And just then the door opened, and Mrs. Desborough entered. Somerset
+cried out aloud to recognise the young lady of the Superfluous Mansion,
+and Challoner fell back a step and dropped his cigar as he beheld the
+sorceress of Chelsea.
+
+"What!" cried Harry, "do you both know my wife?"
+
+"I believe I have seen her," said Somerset, a little wildly.
+
+"I think I have met the gentleman," said Mrs. Desborough sweetly; "but I
+cannot imagine where it was."
+
+"Oh no," cried Somerset fervently; "I have no notion--I cannot
+conceive--where it could have been. Indeed," he continued, growing in
+emphasis, "I think it highly probable that it's a mistake."
+
+"And you, Challoner?" asked Harry, "you seemed to recognise her, too."
+
+"These are both friends of yours, Harry?" said the lady. "Delighted, I
+am sure. I do not remember to have met Mr. Challoner."
+
+Challoner was very red in the face, perhaps from having groped after his
+cigar. "I do not remember to have had the pleasure," he responded
+huskily.
+
+"Well, and Mr. Godall?" asked Mrs. Desborough.
+
+"Are you the lady that has an appointment with old ..." began Somerset,
+and paused, blushing. "Because if so," he resumed, "I was to announce
+you at once."
+
+And the shopman raised a curtain, opened a door, and passed into a small
+pavilion which had been added to the back of the house. On the roof, the
+rain resounded musically. The walls were lined with maps and prints and
+a few works of reference. Upon a table was a large-scale map of Egypt
+and the Soudan, and another of Tonkin, on which, by the aid of coloured
+pins, the progress of the different wars was being followed day by day.
+A light, refreshing odour of the most delicate tobacco hung upon the
+air; and a fire, not of foul coal, but of clear-flaming resinous
+billets, chattered upon silver dogs. In this elegant and plain
+apartment, Mr. Godall sat in a morning muse, placidly gazing at the fire
+and hearkening to the rain upon the roof.
+
+"Ha, my dear Mr. Somerset," said he, "and have you since last night
+adopted any fresh political principle?"
+
+"The lady, sir," said Somerset, with another blush.
+
+"You have seen her, I believe?" returned Mr. Godall; and on Somerset's
+replying in the affirmative: "You will excuse me, my dear sir," he
+resumed, "if I offer you a hint. I think it not improbable this lady may
+desire entirely to forget the past. From one gentleman to another, no
+more words are necessary."
+
+A moment after, he had received Mrs. Desborough with that grave and
+touching urbanity that so well became him.
+
+"I am pleased, madam, to welcome you to my poor house," he said; "and
+shall be still more so, if what were else a barren courtesy and a
+pleasure personal to myself, shall prove to be of serious benefit to you
+and Mr. Desborough."
+
+"Your highness," replied Clara, "I must begin with thanks; it is like
+what I have heard of you, that you should thus take up the case of the
+unfortunate; and as for my Harry, he is worthy of all that you can do."
+She paused.
+
+"But for yourself?" suggested Mr. Godall--"it was thus you were about to
+continue, I believe."
+
+"You take the words out of my mouth," she said. "For myself, it is
+different."
+
+"I am not here to be a judge of men," replied the prince; "still less of
+women. I am now a private person like yourself and many million others;
+but I am one who still fights upon the side of quiet. Now, madam, you
+know better than I, and God better than you, what you have done to
+mankind in the past; I pause not to inquire; it is with the future I
+concern myself, it is for the future I demand security. I would not
+willingly put arms into the hands of a disloyal combatant; and I dare
+not restore to wealth one of the levyers of a private and a barbarous
+war. I speak with some severity, and yet I pick my terms. I tell myself
+continually that you are a woman; and a voice continually reminds me of
+the children whose lives and limbs you have endangered. A woman," he
+repeated solemnly--"and children. Possibly, madam, when you are yourself
+a mother, you will feel the bite of that antithesis: possibly when you
+kneel at night beside a cradle, a fear will fall upon you, heavier than
+any shame; and when your child lies in the pain and danger of disease,
+you shall hesitate to kneel before your Maker."
+
+"You look at the fault," she said, "and not at the excuse. Has your own
+heart never leaped within you at some story of oppression? But, alas,
+no! for you were born upon a throne."
+
+"I was born of woman," said the prince; "I came forth from my mother's
+agony, helpless as a wren, like other nurselings. This, which you
+forgot, I have still faithfully remembered. Is it not one of your
+English poets, that looked abroad upon the earth and saw vast
+circumvallations, innumerable troops manoeuvring, warships at sea, and a
+great dust of battles on shore; and, casting anxiously about for what
+should be the cause of so many and painful preparations, spied at last,
+in the centre of all, a mother and her babe? These, madam, are my
+politics; and the verses, which are by Mr. Coventry Patmore, I have
+caused to be translated into the Bohemian tongue. Yes, these are my
+politics: to change what we can, to better what we can; but still to
+bear in mind that man is but a devil weakly fettered by some generous
+beliefs and impositions; and for no word however nobly sounding, and no
+cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture of these bonds."
+
+There was a silence of a moment.
+
+"I fear, madam," resumed the prince, "that I but weary you. My views are
+formal like myself; and like myself, they also begin to grow old. But I
+must still trouble you for some reply."
+
+"I can say but one thing," said Mrs. Desborough: "I love my husband."
+
+"It is a good answer," returned the prince; "and you name a good
+influence, but one that need not be conterminous with life."
+
+"I will not play at pride with such a man as you," she answered. "What
+do you ask of me? not protestations, I am sure. What shall I say? I have
+done much that I cannot defend and that I would not do again. Can I say
+more? Yes: I can say this: I never abused myself with the muddle-headed
+fairy tales of politics. I was at least prepared to meet reprisals.
+While I was levying war myself--or levying murder, if you choose the
+plainer term--I never accused my adversaries of assassination. I never
+felt or feigned a righteous horror, when a price was put upon my life by
+those whom I attacked. I never called the policeman a hireling. I may
+have been a criminal, in short; but I never was a fool."
+
+"Enough, madam," returned the prince: "more than enough! Your words are
+most reviving to my spirits; for in this age, when even the assassin is
+a sentimentalist, there is no virtue greater in my eyes than
+intellectual clarity. Suffer me then to ask you to retire; for by the
+signal of that bell, I perceive my old friend, your mother, to be close
+at hand. With her I promise you to do my utmost."
+
+And as Mrs. Desborough returned to the Divan, the prince, opening a door
+upon the other side, admitted Mrs. Luxmore.
+
+"Madam, and my very good friend," said he, "is my face so much changed
+that you no longer recognise Prince Florizel in Mr. Godall?"
+
+"To be sure!" she cried, looking at him through her glasses. "I have
+always regarded your highness as a perfect man; and in your altered
+circumstances, of which I have already heard with deep regret, I will
+beg you to consider my respect increased instead of lessened."
+
+"I have found it so," returned the prince, "with every class of my
+acquaintance. But, madam, I pray you to be seated. My business is of a
+delicate order, and regards your daughter."
+
+"In that case," said Mrs. Luxmore, "you may save yourself the trouble of
+speaking, for I have fully made up my mind to have nothing to do with
+her. I will not hear one word in her defence; but as I value nothing so
+particularly as the virtue of justice, I think it my duty to explain to
+you the grounds of my complaint. She deserted me, her natural protector;
+for years she has consorted with the most disreputable persons; and, to
+fill the cup of her offence, she has recently married. I refuse to see
+her, or the being to whom she has linked herself. One hundred and twenty
+pounds a year, I have always offered her: I offer it again. It is what I
+had myself when I was her age."
+
+"Very well, madam," said the prince; "and be that so! But to touch upon
+another matter: what was the income of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe?"
+
+"My father?" asked the spirited old lady. "I believe he had seven
+hundred pounds in the year."
+
+
+"You were one, I think, of several?" pursued the prince.
+
+"Of four," was the reply. "We were four daughters; and, painful as the
+admission is to make, a more detestable family could scarce be found in
+England."
+
+"Dear me!" said the prince. "And you, madam, have an income of eight
+thousand?"
+
+"Not more than five," returned the old lady; "but where on earth are you
+conducting me?"
+
+"To an allowance of one thousand pounds a year," replied Florizel,
+smiling. "For I must not suffer you to take your father for a rule. He
+was poor, you are rich. He had many calls upon his poverty: there are
+none upon your wealth. And indeed, madam, if you will let me touch this
+matter with a needle, there is but one point in common to your two
+positions: that each had a daughter more remarkable for liveliness than
+duty."
+
+"I have been entrapped into this house," said the old lady, getting to
+her feet. "But it shall not avail. Not all the tobacconists in
+Europe...."
+
+"Ah, madam," interrupted Florizel, "before what is referred to as my
+fall, you had not used such language! And since you so much object to
+the simple industry by which I live, let me give you a friendly hint. If
+you will not consent to support your daughter, I shall be constrained to
+place that lady behind my counter, where I doubt not she would prove a
+great attraction; and your son-in-law shall have a livery and run the
+errands. With such young blood my business might be doubled, and I might
+be bound, in common gratitude, to place the name of Luxmore beside that
+of Godall."
+
+"Your highness," said the old lady, "I have been very rude, and you are
+very cunning. I suppose the minx is on the premises. Produce her."
+
+"Let us rather observe them unperceived," said the prince; and so saying
+he rose and quietly drew back the curtain.
+
+Mrs. Desborough sat with her back to them on a chair; Somerset and Harry
+were hanging on her words with extraordinary interest; Challoner,
+alleging some affair, had long ago withdrawn from the detested
+neighbourhood of the enchantress.
+
+"At that moment," Mrs. Desborough was saying, "Mr. Gladstone detected
+the features of his cowardly assailant. A cry rose to his lips: a cry of
+mingled triumph...."
+
+"That is Mr. Somerset!" interrupted the spirited old lady, in the
+highest note of her register. "Mr. Somerset, what have you done with my
+house-property?"
+
+"Madam," said the prince, "let it be mine to give the explanation; and
+in the meanwhile, welcome your daughter."
+
+"Well, Clara, how do you do?" said Mrs. Luxmore. "It appears I am to
+give you an allowance. So much the better for you. As for Mr. Somerset,
+I am very ready to have an explanation; for the whole affair, though
+costly, was eminently humorous. And at any rate," she added, nodding to
+Paul, "he is a young gentleman for whom I have a great affection, and
+his pictures were the funniest I ever saw."
+
+"I have ordered a collation," said the prince. "Mr. Somerset, as these
+are all your friends, I propose, if you please, that you should join
+them at table. I will take the shop."
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
+
+
+  _TO
+  KATHARINE DE MATTOS_
+
+  _It's ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind;
+  Still will we be the children of the heather and the wind.
+  Far away from home, O it's still for you and me
+  That the broom is blowing bonnie in the north countrie._
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
+
+STORY OF THE DOOR
+
+
+Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was
+never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse;
+backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow
+lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste,
+something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which
+never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these
+silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in
+the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was
+alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the
+theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had
+an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy,
+at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any
+extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. "I incline to Cain's
+heresy," he used to say quaintly: "I let my brother go to the devil in
+his own way." In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the
+last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of
+down-going men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his
+chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.
+
+No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson; for he was undemonstrative
+at the best, and even his friendships seemed to be founded in a similar
+catholicity of good-nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his
+friendly circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was
+the lawyer's way. His friends were those of his own blood, or those whom
+he had known the longest; his affections, like ivy, were the growth of
+time, they implied no aptness in the object. Hence, no doubt, the bond
+that united him to Mr. Richard Enfield, his distant kinsman, the
+well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack for many, what these
+two could see in each other or what subject they could find in common.
+It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks that
+they said nothing, looked singularly dull, and would hail with obvious
+relief the appearance of a friend. For all that, the two men put the
+greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each
+week, and not only set aside occasions of pleasure, but even resisted
+the calls of business, that they might enjoy them uninterrupted.
+
+It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a
+by-street in a busy quarter of London. The street was small, and what is
+called quiet, but it drove a thriving trade on the week-days. The
+inhabitants were all doing well, it seemed, and all emulously hoping to
+do better still, and laying out the surplus of their gains in coquetry;
+so that the shop-fronts stood along that thoroughfare with an air of
+invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen. Even on Sunday, when it
+veiled its more florid charms and lay comparatively empty of passage,
+the street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood, like a fire
+in a forest; and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished
+brasses, and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught
+and pleased the eye of the passenger.
+
+Two doors from one corner on the left hand going east, the line was
+broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point a certain
+sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It
+was two stories high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower
+story and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in
+every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door,
+which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and
+distained. Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the
+panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his
+knife on the mouldings; and for close on a generation no one had
+appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.
+
+Mr. Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the by-street, but
+when they came abreast of the entry, the former lifted up his cane and
+pointed.
+
+"Did you ever remark that door?" he asked; and when his companion had
+replied in the affirmative, "it is connected in my mind," added he,
+"with a very odd story."
+
+"Indeed?" said Mr. Utterson, with a slight change of voice, "and what
+was that?"
+
+"Well, it was this way," returned Mr. Enfield: "I was coming home from
+some place at the end of the world, about three o'clock of a black
+winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was
+literally nothing to be seen but lamps. Street after street, and all the
+folks asleep--street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession
+and all as empty as a church--till at last I got into that state of mind
+when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a
+policeman. All at once I saw two figures: one a little man who was
+stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe
+eight or ten, who was running as hard as she was able down a cross
+street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the
+corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man
+trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the
+ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn't
+like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut. I gave a view-holloa,
+took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and brought him back to where
+there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was
+perfectly cool, and made no resistance, but gave me one look so ugly
+that it brought out the sweat on me like running. The people who had
+turned out were the girl's own family; and pretty soon, the doctor, for
+whom she had been sent, put in his appearance. Well, the child was not
+much the worse, more frightened, according to the Sawbones; and there
+you might have supposed would be an end to it. But there was one curious
+circumstance. I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight. So
+had the child's family, which was only natural. But the doctor's case
+was what struck me. He was the usual cut-and-dry apothecary, of no
+particular age and colour, with a strong Edinburgh accent, and about as
+emotional as a bagpipe. Well, sir, he was like the rest of us; every
+time he looked at my prisoner, I saw that Sawbones turn sick and white
+with the desire to kill him. I knew what was in his mind, just as he
+knew what was in mine; and killing being out of the question, we did the
+next best. We told the man we could and would make such a scandal out of
+this as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other.
+If he had any friends or any credit, we undertook that he should lose
+them. And all the time, as we were pitching it in red-hot, we were
+keeping the women off him as best we could, for they were as wild as
+harpies. I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the
+man in the middle, with a kind of black sneering coolness--frightened,
+too, I could see that--but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan. 'If
+you choose to make capital out of this accident,' said he, 'I am
+naturally helpless. No gentleman but wishes to avoid a scene,' says he.
+'Name your figure.' Well, we screwed him up to a hundred pounds for the
+child's family; he would have clearly liked to stick out; but there was
+something about the lot of us that meant mischief, and at last he
+struck. The next thing was to get the money; and where do you think he
+carried us but to that place with the door?--whipped out a key, went in,
+and presently came back with the matter of ten pounds in gold and a
+cheque for the balance on Coutts's, drawn payable to bearer and signed
+with a name that I can't mention, though it's one of the points of my
+story, but it was a name at least very well known and often printed. The
+figure was stiff; but the signature was good for more than that, if it
+was only genuine. I took the liberty of pointing out to my gentleman
+that the whole business looked apocryphal, and that a man does not, in
+real life, walk into a cellar-door at four in the morning and come out
+of it with another man's cheque for close upon a hundred pounds. But he
+was quite easy and sneering. 'Set your mind at rest,' says he, 'I will
+stay with you till the banks open and cash the cheque myself.' So we all
+set off, the doctor, and the child's father, and our friend and myself,
+and passed the rest of the night in my chambers; and next day, when we
+had breakfasted, went in a body to the bank. I gave in the cheque
+myself, and said I had every reason to believe it was a forgery. Not a
+bit of it. The cheque was genuine."
+
+"Tut-tut," said Mr. Utterson.
+
+"I see you feel as I do," said Mr. Enfield. "Yes, it's a bad story. For
+my man was a fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable
+man: and the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of the
+proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your
+fellows who do what they call good. Blackmail, I suppose; an honest man
+paying through the nose for some of the capers of his youth. Black Mail
+House is what I call that place with the door, in consequence. Though
+even that, you know, is far from explaining all," he added, and with the
+words fell into a vein of musing.
+
+From this he was recalled by Mr. Utterson asking rather suddenly: "And
+you don't know if the drawer of the cheque lives there?"
+
+"A likely place, isn't it?" returned Mr. Enfield. "But I happened to
+have noticed his address; he lives in some square or other."
+
+"And you never asked about--the place with the door?" said Mr. Utterson.
+
+
+"No, sir: I had a delicacy," was the reply. "I feel very strongly about
+putting questions; it partakes too much of the style of the day of
+judgment. You start a question, and it's like starting a stone. You sit
+quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others;
+and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of)
+is knocked on the head in his own back-garden and the family have to
+change their name. No, sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks
+like Queer Street, the less I ask."
+
+"A very good rule too," said the lawyer.
+
+"But I have studied the place for myself," continued Mr. Enfield. "It
+seems scarcely a house. There is no other door, and nobody goes in or
+out of that one but, once in a great while, the gentleman of my
+adventure. There are three windows looking on the court on the first
+floor; none below; the windows are always shut, but they're clean. And
+then there is a chimney which is generally smoking; so somebody must
+live there. Yet it's not so sure; for the buildings are so packed
+together about that court that it's hard to say where one ends and
+another begins."
+
+The pair walked on again for a while in silence; and then, "Enfield,"
+said Mr. Utterson, "that's a good rule of yours."
+
+"Yes, I think it is," returned Enfield.
+
+"But for all that," continued the lawyer, "there's one point I want to
+ask: I want to ask the name of that man who walked over the child."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Enfield, "I can't see what harm it would do. He was a
+man of the name of Hyde."
+
+"H'm," said Mr. Utterson. "What sort of a man is he to see?"
+
+"He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his
+appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I
+never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be
+deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I
+couldn't specify the point. He's an extraordinary-looking man, and yet
+I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of
+it; I can't describe him. And it's not want of memory; for I declare I
+can see him this moment."
+
+Mr. Utterson again walked some way in silence and obviously under a
+weight of consideration. "You are sure he used a key?" he inquired at
+last.
+
+"My dear sir----" began Enfield, surprised out of himself.
+
+"Yes, I know," said Utterson; "I know it must seem strange. The fact is,
+if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it
+already. You see, Richard, your tale has gone home. If you have been
+inexact in any point, you had better correct it."
+
+"I think you might have warned me," returned the other with a touch of
+sullenness. "But I have been pedantically exact, as you call it. The
+fellow had a key; and what's more, he has it still. I saw him use it not
+a week ago."
+
+Mr. Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word; and the young man
+presently resumed. "Here is another lesson to say nothing," said he. "I
+am ashamed of my long tongue. Let us make a bargain never to refer to
+this again."
+
+"With all my heart," said the lawyer. "I shake hands on that, Richard."
+
+
+
+
+SEARCH FOR MR. HYDE
+
+
+That evening Mr. Utterson came home to his bachelor house in sombre
+spirits and sat down to dinner without relish. It was his custom of a
+Sunday, when this meal was over, to sit close by the fire, a volume of
+some dry divinity on his reading-desk, until the clock of the
+neighbouring church rang out the hour of twelve, when he would go
+soberly and gratefully to bed. On this night, however, as soon as the
+cloth was taken away, he took up a candle and went into his
+business-room. There he opened his safe, took from the most private part
+of it a document endorsed on the envelope as Dr. Jekyll's Will, and sat
+down with a clouded brow to study its contents. The will was holograph,
+for Mr. Utterson, though he took charge of it now that it was made, had
+refused to lend the least assistance in the making of it; it provided
+not only that, in case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L.,
+LL.D., F.R.S., &c., all his possessions were to pass into the hands of
+his "friend and benefactor Edward Hyde," but that in case of Dr.
+Jekyll's "disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding
+three calendar months," the said Edward Hyde should step into the said
+Henry Jekyll's shoes without further delay and free from any burthen or
+obligation, beyond the payment of a few small sums to the members of the
+doctor's household. This document had long been the lawyer's eyesore. It
+offended him both as a lawyer and as a lover of the sane and customary
+sides of life, to whom the fanciful was the immodest. And hitherto it
+was his ignorance of Mr. Hyde that had swelled his indignation; now, by
+a sudden turn, it was his knowledge. It was already bad enough when the
+name was but a name of which he could learn no more. It was worse when
+it began to be clothed upon with detestable attributes; and out of the
+shifting, insubstantial mists that had so long baffled his eye, there
+leaped up the sudden, definite presentment of a fiend.
+
+"I thought it was madness," he said, as he replaced the obnoxious paper
+in the safe, "and now I begin to fear it is disgrace."
+
+With that he blew out his candle, put on a great-coat, and set forth in
+the direction of Cavendish Square, that citadel of medicine, where his
+friend, the great Dr. Lanyon, had his house and received his crowding
+patients. "If any one knows, it will be Lanyon," he had thought.
+
+The solemn butler knew and welcomed him; he was subjected to no stage of
+delay, but ushered direct from the door to the dining-room, where Dr.
+Lanyon sat alone over his wine. This was a hearty, healthy, dapper,
+red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a
+boisterous and decided manner. At sight of Mr. Utterson, he sprang up
+from his chair and welcomed him with both hands. The geniality, as was
+the way of the man, was somewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed
+on genuine feeling. For these two were old friends, old mates both at
+school and college, both thorough respecters of themselves and of each
+other, and, what does not always follow, men who thoroughly enjoyed each
+other's company.
+
+After a little rambling talk, the lawyer led up to the subject which so
+disagreeably preoccupied his mind.
+
+"I suppose, Lanyon," said he, "you and I must be the two oldest friends
+that Henry Jekyll has?"
+
+"I wish the friends were younger," chuckled Dr. Lanyon. "But I suppose
+we are. And what of that? I see little of him now."
+
+"Indeed?" said Utterson. "I thought you had a bond of common interest."
+
+"We had," was the reply. "But it is more than ten years since Henry
+Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind;
+and though of course I continue to take an interest in him for old
+sake's sake, as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the
+man. Such unscientific balderdash," added the doctor, flushing suddenly
+purple, "would have estranged Damon and Pythias."
+
+This little spirt of temper was somewhat of a relief to Mr. Utterson.
+"They have only differed on some point of science," he thought; and
+being a man of no scientific passions (except in the matter of
+conveyancing) he even added: "It is nothing worse than that!" He gave
+his friend a few seconds to recover his composure, and then approached
+the question he had come to put. "Did you ever come across a prot�g� of
+his--one Hyde?" he asked.
+
+"Hyde," repeated Lanyon. "No. Never heard of him. Since my time."
+
+That was the amount of information that the lawyer carried back with him
+to the great, dark bed on which he tossed to and fro, until the small
+hours of the morning began to grow large. It was a night of little ease
+to his toiling mind, toiling in mere darkness and besieged by questions.
+
+Six o'clock struck on the bells of the church that was so conveniently
+near to Mr. Utterson's dwelling, and still he was digging at the
+problem. Hitherto it had touched him on the intellectual side alone; but
+now his imagination also was engaged, or rather enslaved; and as he lay
+and tossed in the gross darkness of the night and the curtained room,
+Mr. Enfield's tale went by before his mind in a scroll of lighted
+pictures. He would be aware of the great field of lamps of a nocturnal
+city; then of the figure of a man walking swiftly; then of a child
+running from the doctor's; and then these met, and that human Juggernaut
+trod the child down and passed on regardless of her screams. Or else he
+would see a room in a rich house, where his friend lay asleep, dreaming
+and smiling at his dreams; and then the door of that room would be
+opened, the curtains of the bed plucked apart, the sleeper recalled, and
+lo! there would stand by his side a figure to whom power was given, and
+even at that dead hour he must rise and do its bidding. The figure in
+these two phases haunted the lawyer all night; and if at any time he
+dozed over, it was but to see it glide more stealthily through sleeping
+houses, or move the more swiftly and still the more swiftly, even to
+dizziness, through wider labyrinths of lamplighted city, and at every
+street-corner crush a child and leave her screaming. And still the
+figure had no face by which he might know it; even in his dreams, it had
+no face, or one that baffled him and melted before his eyes; and thus it
+was that there sprang up and grew apace in the lawyer's mind a
+singularly strong, almost an inordinate, curiosity to behold the
+features of the real Mr. Hyde. If he could but once set eyes on him, he
+thought the mystery would lighten and perhaps roll altogether away, as
+was the habit of mysterious things when well examined. He might see a
+reason for his friend's strange preference or bondage (call it which you
+please) and even for the startling clauses of the will. And at least it
+would be a face worth seeing: the face of a man who was without bowels
+of mercy: a face which had but to show itself to raise up, in the mind
+of the unimpressionable Enfield, a spirit of enduring hatred.
+
+From that time forward, Mr. Utterson began to haunt the door in the
+by-street of shops. In the morning before office hours, at noon when
+business was plenty and time scarce, at night under the face of the
+fogged city moon, by all lights and at all hours of solitude or
+concourse, the lawyer was to be found on his chosen post.
+
+"If he be Mr. Hyde," he had thought, "I shall be Mr. Seek."
+
+And at last his patience was rewarded. It was a fine dry night; frost in
+the air; the streets as clean as a ballroom floor; the lamps, unshaken
+by any wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow. By ten
+o'clock, when the shops were closed, the by-street was very solitary
+and, in spite of the low growl of London from all round, very silent.
+Small sounds carried far; domestic sounds out of the houses were clearly
+audible on either side of the roadway; and the rumour of the approach of
+any passenger preceded him by a long time. Mr. Utterson had been some
+minutes at his post, when he was aware of an odd, light footstep drawing
+near. In the course of his nightly patrols he had long grown accustomed
+to the quaint effect with which the footfalls of a single person, while
+he is still a great way off, suddenly spring out distinct from the vast
+hum and clatter of the city. Yet his attention had never before been so
+sharply and decisively arrested; and it was with a strong, superstitious
+prevision of success that he withdrew into the entry of the court.
+
+The steps drew swiftly nearer, and swelled out suddenly louder as they
+turned the end of the street. The lawyer, looking forth from the entry,
+could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with. He was small and
+very plainly dressed, and the look of him, even at that distance, went
+somehow strongly against the watcher's inclination. But he made straight
+for the door, crossing the roadway to save time; and as he came, he drew
+a key from his pocket like one approaching home.
+
+Mr. Utterson stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as he passed.
+"Mr. Hyde, I think?"
+
+Mr. Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath. But his fear
+was only momentary; and though he did not look the lawyer in the face,
+he answered coolly enough: "That is my name. What do you want?"
+
+"I see you are going in," returned the lawyer. "I am an old friend of
+Dr. Jekyll's--Mr. Utterson of Gaunt Street--you must have heard my name;
+and meeting you so conveniently, I thought you might admit me."
+
+"You will not find Dr. Jekyll; he is from home," replied Mr. Hyde,
+blowing in the key. And then suddenly, but still without looking up,
+"How did you know me?" he asked.
+
+"On your side," said Mr. Utterson, "will you do me a favour?"
+
+"With pleasure," replied the other. "What shall it be?"
+
+"Will you let me see your face?" asked the lawyer.
+
+Mr. Hyde appeared to hesitate, and then, as if upon some sudden
+reflection, fronted about with an air of defiance; and the pair stared
+at each other pretty fixedly for a few seconds. "Now I shall know you
+again," said Mr. Utterson. "It may be useful."
+
+"Yes," returned Mr. Hyde, "it is as well we have met; and _� propos_,
+you should have my address." And he gave a number of a street in Soho.
+
+"Good God!" thought Mr. Utterson, "can he too have been thinking of the
+will?" But he kept his feelings to himself and only grunted in
+acknowledgment of the address.
+
+"And now," said the other, "how did you know me?"
+
+"By description," was the reply.
+
+"Whose description?"
+
+"We have common friends," said Mr. Utterson.
+
+"Common friends?" echoed Mr. Hyde, a little hoarsely. "Who are they?"
+
+"Jekyll, for instance," said the lawyer.
+
+"He never told you," cried Mr. Hyde, with a flush of anger. "I did not
+think you would have lied."
+
+"Come," said Mr. Utterson, "that is not fitting language."
+
+The other snarled aloud into a savage laugh; and the next moment, with
+extraordinary quickness, he had unlocked the door and disappeared into
+the house.
+
+The lawyer stood awhile when Mr. Hyde had left him, the picture of
+disquietude. Then he began slowly to mount the street, pausing every
+step or two and putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental
+perplexity. The problem he was thus debating as he walked was one of a
+class that is rarely solved. Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish. He gave an
+impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a
+displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of
+murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky,
+whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him,
+but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown
+disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. "There
+must be something else," said the perplexed gentleman. "There _is_
+something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man
+seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be
+the old story of Dr. Fell? or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul
+that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The
+last, I think; for O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan's
+signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend."
+
+Round the corner from the by-street there was a square of ancient,
+handsome houses, now for the most part decayed from their high estate
+and let in flats and chambers to all sorts and conditions of men:
+map-engravers, architects, shady lawyers, and the agents of obscure
+enterprises. One house, however, second from the corner, was still
+occupied entire; and at the door of this, which wore a great air of
+wealth and comfort, though it was now plunged in darkness except for the
+fan-light, Mr. Utterson stopped and knocked. A well-dressed elderly
+servant opened the door.
+
+"Is Dr. Jekyll at home, Poole?" asked the lawyer.
+
+"I will see, Mr. Utterson," said Poole, admitting the visitor, as he
+spoke, into a large, low-roofed, comfortable hall, paved with flags,
+warmed (after the fashion of a country house) by a bright, open fire,
+and furnished with costly cabinets of oak. "Will you wait here by the
+fire, sir? or shall I give you a light in the dining-room?"
+
+"Here, thank you," said the lawyer, and he drew near and leaned on the
+tall fender. This hall, in which he was now left alone, was a pet fancy
+of his friend the doctor's; and Utterson himself was wont to speak of it
+as the pleasantest room in London. But to-night there was a shudder in
+his blood; the face of Hyde sat heavy on his memory; he felt (what was
+rare with him) a nausea and distaste of life; and in the gloom of his
+spirits, he seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the firelight
+on the polished cabinets and the uneasy starting of the shadow on the
+roof. He was ashamed of his relief, when Poole presently returned to
+announce that Dr. Jekyll was gone out.
+
+"I saw Mr. Hyde go in by the old dissecting-room door, Poole," he said.
+"Is that right, when Dr. Jekyll is from home?"
+
+"Quite right, Mr. Utterson, sir," replied the servant. "Mr. Hyde has a
+key."
+
+"Your master seems to repose a great deal of trust in that young man,
+Poole," resumed the other musingly.
+
+"Yes, sir, he do indeed," said Poole. "We have all orders to obey him."
+
+"I do not think I ever met Mr. Hyde?" asked Utterson.
+
+"O dear no, sir. He never _dines_ here," replied the butler. "Indeed, we
+see very little of him on this side of the house; he mostly comes and
+goes by the laboratory."
+
+"Well, good-night, Poole."
+
+"Good-night, Mr. Utterson."
+
+And the lawyer set out homeward with a very heavy heart. "Poor Harry
+Jekyll," he thought, "my mind misgives me he is in deep waters! He was
+wild when he was young; a long while ago, to be sure; but in the law of
+God there is no statute of limitations. Ay, it must be that; the ghost
+of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace: punishment
+coming, _pede claudo_, years after memory has forgotten and self-love
+condoned the fault." And the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded
+awhile on his own past, groping in all the corners of memory, lest by
+chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light
+there. His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of
+their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the
+many ill things he had done, and raised up again into a sober and
+fearful gratitude by the many that he had come so near to doing, yet
+avoided. And then, by a return on his former subject, he conceived a
+spark of hope. "This Master Hyde, if he were studied," thought he, "must
+have secrets of his own: black secrets, by the look of him; secrets
+compared to which poor Jekyll's worst would be like sunshine. Things
+cannot continue as they are. It turns me cold to think of this creature
+stealing like a thief to Harry's bedside; poor Harry, what a wakening!
+And the danger of it; for if this Hyde suspects the existence of the
+will, he may grow impatient to inherit. Ay, I must put my shoulder to
+the wheel--if Jekyll will but let me," he added, "if Jekyll will only
+let me." For once more he saw before his mind's eye, as clear as a
+transparency, the strange clauses of the will.
+
+
+
+
+DR. JEKYLL WAS QUITE AT EASE
+
+
+A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his
+pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intelligent,
+reputable men, and all judges of good wine; and Mr. Utterson so
+contrived that he remained behind after the others had departed. This
+was no new arrangement, but a thing that had befallen many scores of
+times. Where Utterson was liked, he was liked well. Hosts loved to
+detain the dry lawyer, when the light-hearted and the loose-tongued had
+already their foot on the threshold; they liked to sit awhile in his
+unobtrusive company, practising for solitude, sobering their minds in
+the man's rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety. To this
+rule Dr. Jekyll was no exception; and as he now sat on the opposite side
+of the fire--a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with
+something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and
+kindness--you could see by his looks that he cherished for Mr. Utterson
+a sincere and warm affection.
+
+"I have been wanting to speak to you, Jekyll," began the latter. "You
+know that will of yours?"
+
+A close observer might have gathered that the topic was distasteful; but
+the doctor carried it off gaily. "My poor Utterson," said he, "you are
+unfortunate in such a client. I never saw a man so distressed as you
+were by my will; unless it were that hide-bound pedant, Lanyon, at what
+he called my scientific heresies. Oh, I know he's a good fellow--you
+needn't frown--an excellent fellow, and I always mean to see more of
+him; but a hide-bound pedant for all that; an ignorant, blatant pedant.
+I was never more disappointed in any man than Lanyon."
+
+"You know I never approved of it," pursued Utterson, ruthlessly
+disregarding the fresh topic.
+
+"My will? Yes, certainly, I know that," said the doctor, a trifle
+sharply. "You have told me so."
+
+"Well, I tell you so again," continued the lawyer. "I have been learning
+something of young Hyde."
+
+The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and
+there came a blackness about his eyes. "I do not care to hear more,"
+said he. "This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop."
+
+"What I heard was abominable," said Utterson.
+
+"It can make no change. You do not understand my position," returned the
+doctor, with a certain incoherency of manner. "I am painfully situated,
+Utterson; my position is a very strange--a very strange one. It is one
+of those affairs that cannot be mended by talking."
+
+"Jekyll," said Utterson, "you know me: I am a man to be trusted. Make a
+clean breast of this in confidence; and I make no doubt I can get you
+out of it."
+
+"My good Utterson," said the doctor, "this is very good of you, this is
+downright good of you, and I cannot find words to thank you in. I
+believe you fully; I would trust you before any man alive--ay, before
+myself, if I could make the choice; but indeed it isn't what you fancy;
+it is not so bad as that; and just to put your good heart at rest, I
+will tell you one thing: the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde.
+I give you my hand upon that; and I thank you again and again; and I
+will just add one little word, Utterson, that I'm sure you'll take in
+good part: this is a private matter, and I beg of you to let it sleep."
+
+Utterson reflected a little, looking in the fire.
+
+"I have no doubt you are perfectly right," he said at last, getting to
+his feet.
+
+"Well, but since we have touched upon this business, and for the last
+time I hope," continued the doctor, "there is one point I should like
+you to understand. I have really a very great interest in poor Hyde. I
+know you have seen him; he told me so; and I fear he was rude. But I do
+sincerely take a great, a very great interest in that young man; and if
+I am taken away, Utterson, I wish you to promise me that you will bear
+with him and get his rights for him. I think you would, if you knew all;
+and it would be a weight off my mind if you would promise."
+
+"I can't pretend that I shall ever like him," said the lawyer.
+
+"I don't ask that," pleaded Jekyll, laying his hand upon the other's
+arm; "I only ask for justice; I only ask you to help him for my sake,
+when I am no longer here."
+
+Utterson heaved an irrepressible sigh. "Well," said he, "I promise."
+
+
+
+
+THE CAREW MURDER CASE
+
+
+Nearly a year later, in the month of October 18--, London was startled
+by a crime of singular ferocity, rendered all the more notable by the
+high position of the victim. The details were few and startling. A
+maid-servant living alone in a house not far from the river had gone
+upstairs to bed about eleven. Although a fog rolled over the city in the
+small hours, the early part of the night was cloudless, and the lane,
+which the maid's window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the full
+moon. It seems she was romantically given, for she sat down upon her
+box, which stood immediately under the window, and fell into a dream of
+musing. Never (she used to say, with streaming tears, when she narrated
+that experience), never had she felt more at peace with all men or
+thought more kindly of the world. And as she so sat she became aware of
+an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair drawing near along the
+lane: and advancing to meet him another and very small gentleman, to
+whom at first she paid less attention. When they had come within speech
+(which was just under the maid's eyes) the older man bowed and accosted
+the other with a very pretty manner of politeness. It did not seem as if
+the subject of his address were of great importance; indeed, from his
+pointing, it sometimes appeared as if he were only inquiring his way;
+but the moon shone on his face as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to
+watch it, it seemed to breathe such an innocent and old-world kindness
+of disposition, yet with something high too, as of a well-founded
+self-content. Presently her eye wandered to the other, and she was
+surprised to recognise in him a certain Mr. Hyde, who had once visited
+her master, and for whom she had conceived a dislike. He had in his
+hand a heavy cane, with which he was trifling; but he answered never a
+word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And then
+all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with
+his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described
+it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of
+one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke
+out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with
+ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot, and hailing down
+a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the
+body jumped upon the roadway. At the horror of these sights and sounds
+the maid fainted.
+
+It was two o'clock when she came to herself and called for the police.
+The murderer was gone long ago; but there lay his victim in the middle
+of the lane, incredibly mangled. The stick with which the deed had been
+done, although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood, had
+broken in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty; and one
+splintered half had rolled in the neighbouring gutter--the other,
+without doubt, had been carried away by the murderer. A purse and a gold
+watch were found upon the victim; but no cards or papers, except a
+sealed and stamped envelope, which he had been probably carrying to the
+post, and which bore the name and address of Mr. Utterson.
+
+This was brought to the lawyer the next morning before he was out of
+bed; and he had no sooner seen it, and been told the circumstances, than
+he shot out a solemn lip. "I shall say nothing till I have seen the
+body," said he; "this may be very serious. Have the kindness to wait
+while I dress." And with the same grave countenance he hurried through
+his breakfast and drove to the police station, whither the body had been
+carried. As soon as he came into the cell he nodded.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I recognise him. I am sorry to say that this is Sir
+Danvers Carew."
+
+"Good God, sir," exclaimed the officer, "is it possible?" And the next
+moment his eye lighted up with professional ambition. "This will make a
+deal of noise," he said. "And perhaps you can help us to the man." And
+he briefly narrated what the maid had seen, and showed the broken stick.
+
+Mr. Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick
+was laid before him he could doubt no longer; broken and battered as it
+was, he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years
+before to Henry Jekyll.
+
+"Is this Mr. Hyde a person of small stature?" he inquired.
+
+"Particularly small and particularly wicked-looking, is what the maid
+calls him," said the officer.
+
+Mr. Utterson reflected; and then, raising his head, "If you will come
+with me in my cab," he said, "I think I can take you to his house."
+
+It was by this time about nine in the morning, and the first fog of the
+season. A great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven, but the
+wind was continually charging and routing these embattled vapours; so
+that as the cab crawled from street to street, Mr. Utterson beheld a
+marvellous number of degrees and hues of twilight; for here it would be
+dark like the back-end of evening; and there would be a glow of a rich,
+lurid brown, like the light of some strange conflagration; and here, for
+a moment, the fog would be quite broken up, and a haggard shaft of
+daylight would glance in between the swirling wreaths. The dismal
+quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways,
+and slatternly passengers, and its lamps, which had never been
+extinguished or had been kindled afresh to combat this mournful
+re-invasion of darkness, seemed, in the lawyer's eyes, like a district
+of some city in a nightmare.
+
+The thoughts of his mind, besides, were of the gloomiest dye; and when
+he glanced at the companion of his drive, he was conscious of some touch
+of that terror of the law and the law's officers which may at times
+assail the most honest.
+
+As the cab drew up before the address indicated, the fog lifted a
+little, and showed him a dingy street, a gin-palace, a low French
+eating-house, a shop for the retail of penny numbers and twopenny
+salads, many ragged children huddled in the doorways, and many women of
+many different nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a morning
+glass; and the next moment the fog settled down again upon that part, as
+brown as umber, and cut him off from his blackguardly surroundings. This
+was the home of Henry Jekyll's favourite; of a man who was heir to a
+quarter of a million sterling.
+
+An ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door. She had an
+evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent. Yes,
+she said, this was Mr. Hyde's, but he was not at home; he had been in
+that night very late, but had gone away again in less than an hour;
+there was nothing strange in that; his habits were very irregular, and
+he was often absent; for instance, it was nearly two months since she
+had seen him till yesterday.
+
+"Very well then, we wish to see his rooms," said the lawyer; and when
+the woman began to declare it was impossible, "I had better tell you who
+this person is," he added. "This is Inspector Newcomen of Scotland
+Yard."
+
+A flash of odious joy appeared upon the woman's face. "Ah!" said she,
+"he is in trouble! What has he done?"
+
+Mr. Utterson and the inspector exchanged glances. "He don't seem a very
+popular character," observed the latter. "And now, my good woman, just
+let me and this gentleman have a look about us."
+
+In the whole extent of the house, which but for the old woman remained
+otherwise empty, Mr. Hyde had only used a couple of rooms; but these
+were furnished with luxury and good taste. A closet was filled with
+wine; the plate was of silver, the napery elegant; a good picture hung
+upon the walls, a gift (as Utterson supposed) from Henry Jekyll, who
+was much of a connoisseur; and the carpets were of many plies and
+agreeable in colour. At this moment, however, the rooms bore every mark
+of having been recently and hurriedly ransacked; clothes lay about the
+floor, with their pockets inside out; lockfast drawers stood open; and
+on the hearth there lay a pile of grey ashes, as though many papers had
+been burned. From these embers the inspector disinterred the butt-end of
+a green cheque-book, which had resisted the action of the fire; the
+other half of the stick was found behind the door; and as this clinched
+his suspicions, the officer declared himself delighted. A visit to the
+bank, where several thousand pounds were found to be lying to the
+murderer's credit, completed his gratification.
+
+"You may depend upon it, sir," he told Mr. Utterson: "I have him in my
+hand. He must have lost his head, or he never would have left the stick
+or, above all, burned the cheque-book. Why, money's life to the man. We
+have nothing to do but wait for him at the bank, and get out the
+handbills."
+
+This last, however, was not so easy of accomplishment; for Mr. Hyde had
+numbered few familiars--even the master of the servant-maid had only
+seen him twice; his family could nowhere be traced; he had never been
+photographed; and the few who could describe him differed widely, as
+common observers will. Only on one point were they agreed; and that was
+the haunting sense of unexpressed deformity with which the fugitive
+impressed his beholders.
+
+
+
+
+INCIDENT OF THE LETTER
+
+
+It was late in the afternoon when Mr. Utterson found his way to Dr.
+Jekyll's door, where he was at once admitted by Poole, and carried down
+by the kitchen offices and across a yard which had once been a garden to
+the building which was indifferently known as the laboratory or the
+dissecting-rooms. The doctor had bought the house from the heirs of a
+celebrated surgeon; and, his own tastes being rather chemical than
+anatomical, had changed the destination of the block at the bottom of
+the garden. It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in
+that part of his friend's quarters; and he eyed the dingy windowless
+structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a distasteful sense of
+strangeness as he crossed the theatre, once crowded with eager students
+and now lying gaunt and silent, the tables laden with chemical
+apparatus, the floor strewn with crates and littered with packing straw,
+and the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola. At the farther
+end, a flight of stairs mounted to a door covered with red baize; and
+through this, Mr. Utterson was at last received into the doctor's
+cabinet. It was a large room, fitted round with glass presses,
+furnished, among other things, with a cheval-glass and a business-table,
+and looking out upon the court by three dusty windows barred with iron.
+The fire burned in the grate; a lamp was set lighted on the chimney
+shelf, for even in the houses the fog began to lie thickly; and there,
+close up to the warmth, sat Dr. Jekyll, looking deadly sick; he did not
+rise to meet his visitor, but held out a cold hand and bade him welcome
+in a changed voice.
+
+"And now," said Mr. Utterson, as soon as Poole had left them, "you have
+heard the news?"
+
+The doctor shuddered. "They were crying it in the square," he said. "I
+heard them in my dining-room."
+
+"One word," said the lawyer. "Carew was my client, but so are you, and I
+want to know what I am doing. You have not been mad enough to hide this
+fellow?"
+
+"Utterson, I swear to God," cried the doctor, "I swear to God I will
+never set eyes on him again. I bind my honour to you that I am done with
+him in this world. It is all at an end. And indeed he does not want my
+help; you do not know him as I do; he is safe, he is quite safe; mark my
+words, he will never more be heard of."
+
+The lawyer listened gloomily; he did not like his friend's feverish
+manner. "You seem pretty sure of him," said he; "and for your sake, I
+hope you may be right. If it came to a trial your name might appear."
+
+"I am quite sure of him," replied Jekyll; "I have grounds for certainty
+that I cannot share with any one. But there is one thing on which you
+may advise me. I have--I have received a letter; and I am at a loss
+whether I should show it to the police. I should like to leave it in
+your hands, Utterson; you would judge wisely, I am sure; I have so great
+a trust in you."
+
+"You fear, I suppose, that it might lead to his detection?" asked the
+lawyer.
+
+"No," said the other. "I cannot say that I care what becomes of Hyde; I
+am quite done with him. I was thinking of my own character, which this
+hateful business has rather exposed."
+
+Utterson ruminated awhile; he was surprised at his friend's selfishness,
+and yet relieved by it. "Well," said he at last, "let me see the
+letter."
+
+The letter was written in an odd, upright hand and signed "Edward Hyde":
+and it signified, briefly enough, that the writer's benefactor, Dr.
+Jekyll, whom he had long so unworthily repaid for a thousand
+generosities, need labour under no alarm for his safety, as he had means
+of escape on which he placed a sure dependence. The lawyer liked this
+letter well enough; it put a better colour on the intimacy than he had
+looked for; and he blamed himself for some of his past suspicions.
+
+"Have you the envelope?" he asked.
+
+"I burned it," replied Jekyll, "before I thought what I was about. But
+it bore no postmark. The note was handed in."
+
+"Shall I keep this and sleep upon it?" asked Utterson.
+
+"I wish you to judge for me entirely," was the reply. "I have lost
+confidence in myself."
+
+"Well, I shall consider," returned the lawyer.--"And now one word more:
+it was Hyde who dictated the terms in your will about that
+disappearance?"
+
+The doctor seemed seized with a qualm of faintness; he shut his mouth
+tight and nodded.
+
+"I knew it," said Utterson. "He meant to murder you. You have had a fine
+escape."
+
+"I have had what is far more to the purpose," returned the doctor
+solemnly: "I have had a lesson--O God, Utterson, what a lesson I have
+had!" And he covered his face for a moment with his hands.
+
+On his way out, the lawyer stopped and had a word or two with Poole. "By
+the by," said he, "there was a letter handed in to-day: what was the
+messenger like?" But Poole was positive nothing had come except by post;
+"and only circulars by that," he added.
+
+This news sent off the visitor with his fears renewed. Plainly the
+letter had come by the laboratory door; possibly indeed, it had been
+written in the cabinet; and if that were so, it must be differently
+judged, and handled with the more caution. The newsboys, as he went,
+were crying themselves hoarse along the footways: "Special edition.
+Shocking murder of an M.P." That was the funeral oration of one friend
+and client; and he could not help a certain apprehension lest the good
+name of another should be sucked down in the eddy of the scandal. It
+was, at least, a ticklish decision that he had to make; and,
+self-reliant as he was by habit, he began to cherish a longing for
+advice. It was not to be had directly; but perhaps, he thought, it might
+be fished for.
+
+Presently after, he sat on one side of his own hearth, with Mr. Guest,
+his head clerk, upon the other, and midway between, at a nicely
+calculated distance from the fire, a bottle of a particular old wine
+that had long dwelt unsunned in the foundations of his house. The fog
+still slept on the wing above the drowned city, where the lamps
+glimmered like carbuncles; and through the muffle and smother of these
+fallen clouds, the procession of the town's life was still rolling on
+through the great arteries with a sound as of a mighty wind. But the
+room was gay with firelight. In the bottle the acids were long ago
+resolved; the imperial dye had softened with time, as the colour grows
+richer in stained windows; and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on
+hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of
+London. Insensibly the lawyer melted. There was no man from whom he kept
+fewer secrets than Mr. Guest; and he was not always sure that he kept as
+many as he meant. Guest had often been on business to the doctor's; he
+knew Poole; he could scarce have failed to hear of Mr. Hyde's
+familiarity about the house; he might draw conclusions: was it not as
+well, then, that he should see a letter which put that mystery to
+rights? and above all since Guest, being a great student and critic of
+handwriting, would consider the step natural and obliging? The clerk,
+besides, was a man of counsel; he would scarce read so strange a
+document without dropping a remark; and by that remark Mr. Utterson
+might shape his future course.
+
+"This is a sad business about Sir Danvers," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir, indeed. It has elicited a great deal of public feeling,"
+returned Guest. "The man, of course, was mad."
+
+"I should like to hear your views on that," replied Utterson. "I have a
+document here in his handwriting; it is between ourselves, for I scarce
+know what to do about it; it is an ugly business at the best. But there
+it is; quite in your way: a murderer's autograph."
+
+Guest's eyes brightened, and he sat down at once and studied it with
+passion. "No, sir," he said; "not mad; but it is an odd hand."
+
+"And by all accounts a very odd writer," added the lawyer.
+
+Just then the servant entered with a note.
+
+"Is that from Dr. Jekyll, sir?" inquired the clerk. "I thought I knew
+the writing. Anything private, Mr. Utterson?"
+
+"Only an invitation to dinner. Why? do you want to see it?"
+
+"One moment. I thank you, sir"; and the clerk laid the two sheets of
+paper alongside and sedulously compared their contents. "Thank you,
+sir," he said at last, returning both; "it's a very interesting
+autograph."
+
+There was a pause, during which Mr. Utterson struggled with himself.
+"Why did you compare them, Guest?" he inquired suddenly.
+
+"Well, sir," returned the clerk, "there's a rather singular resemblance;
+the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped."
+
+"Rather quaint," said Utterson.
+
+"It is, as you say, rather quaint," returned Guest.
+
+"I wouldn't speak of this note, you know," said the master.
+
+"No, sir," said the clerk. "I understand."
+
+But no sooner was Mr. Utterson alone that night than he locked the note
+into his safe, where it reposed from that time forward. "What!" he
+thought. "Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!" And his blood ran cold in
+his veins.
+
+
+
+
+REMARKABLE INCIDENT OF DR. LANYON
+
+
+Time ran on; thousands of pounds were offered in reward, for the death
+of Sir Danvers was resented as a public injury; but Mr. Hyde had
+disappeared out of the ken of the police as though he had never existed.
+Much of his past was unearthed, indeed, and all disreputable: tales came
+out of the man's cruelty, at once so callous and violent, of his vile
+life, of his strange associates, of the hatred that seemed to have
+surrounded his career; but of his present whereabouts, not a whisper.
+From the time he had left the house in Soho on the morning of the
+murder, he was simply blotted out; and gradually, as time drew on, Mr.
+Utterson began to recover from the hotness of his alarm, and to grow
+more at quiet with himself. The death of Sir Danvers was, to his way of
+thinking, more than paid for by the disappearance of Mr. Hyde. Now that
+that evil influence had been withdrawn, a new life began for Dr. Jekyll.
+He came out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became
+once more their familiar guest and entertainer; and whilst he had always
+been known for charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion.
+He was busy, he was much in the open air, he did good; his face seemed
+to open and brighten, as if with an inward consciousness of service; and
+for more than two months the doctor was at peace.
+
+On the 8th of January Utterson had dined at the doctor's with a small
+party; Lanyon had been there; and the face of the host had looked from
+one to the other as in the old days when the trio were inseparable
+friends. On the 12th, and again on the 14th, the door was shut against
+the lawyer. "The doctor was confined to the house," Poole said, "and saw
+no one." On the 15th he tried again, and was again refused; and having
+now been used for the last two months to see his friend almost daily, he
+found this return of solitude to weigh upon his spirits. The fifth night
+he had in Guest to dine with him; and the sixth he betook himself to Dr.
+Lanyon's.
+
+There at least he was not denied admittance; but when he came in, he was
+shocked at the change which had taken place in the doctor's appearance.
+He had his death-warrant written legibly upon his face. The rosy man had
+grown pale; his flesh had fallen away; he was visibly balder and older;
+and yet it was not so much these tokens of a swift physical decay that
+arrested the lawyer's notice, as a look in the eye and quality of manner
+that seemed to testify to some deep-seated terror of the mind. It was
+unlikely that the doctor should fear death; and yet that was what
+Utterson was tempted to suspect. "Yes," he thought; "he is a doctor, he
+must know his own state and that his days are counted; and the knowledge
+is more than he can bear." And yet when Utterson remarked on his
+ill-looks, it was with an air of great firmness that Lanyon declared
+himself a doomed man.
+
+"I have had a shock," he said, "and I shall never recover. It is a
+question of weeks. Well, life has been pleasant; I liked it; yes, sir, I
+used to like it. I sometimes think if we knew all we should be more glad
+to get away."
+
+"Jekyll is ill too," observed Utterson. "Have you seen him?"
+
+But Lanyon's face changed, and he held up a trembling hand. "I wish to
+see or hear no more of Dr. Jekyll," he said in a loud, unsteady voice.
+"I am quite done with that person; and I beg that you will spare me any
+allusion to one whom I regard as dead."
+
+"Tut-tut," said Mr. Utterson; and then, after a considerable pause,
+"Can't I do anything?" he inquired. "We are three very old friends,
+Lanyon; we shall not live to make others."
+
+"Nothing can be done," returned Lanyon; "ask himself."
+
+"He will not see me," said the lawyer.
+
+"I am not surprised at that," was the reply. "Some day, Utterson, after
+I am dead, you may perhaps come to learn the right and wrong of this. I
+cannot tell you. And in the meantime, if you can sit and talk with me of
+other things, for God's sake, stay and do so; but if you cannot keep
+clear of this accursed topic, then, in God's name, go, for I cannot bear
+it."
+
+As soon as he got home, Utterson sat down and wrote to Jekyll,
+complaining of his exclusion from the house, and asking the cause of
+this unhappy break with Lanyon; and the next day brought him a long
+answer, often very pathetically worded, and sometimes darkly mysterious
+in drift. The quarrel with Lanyon was incurable. "I do not blame our old
+friend," Jekyll wrote, "but I share his view that we must never meet. I
+mean from henceforth to lead a life of extreme seclusion; you must not
+be surprised, nor must you doubt my friendship, if my door is often shut
+even to you. You must suffer me to go my own dark way. I have brought on
+myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot name. If I am the chief
+of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also. I could not think that
+this earth contained a place for sufferings and terrors so unmanning;
+and you can but do one thing, Utterson, to lighten this destiny, and
+that is to respect my silence." Utterson was amazed; the dark influence
+of Hyde had been withdrawn, the doctor had returned to his old tasks and
+amities; a week ago, the prospect had smiled with every promise of a
+cheerful and an honoured age; and now in a moment, friendship and peace
+of mind and the whole tenor of his life were wrecked. So great and
+unprepared a change pointed to madness; but in view of Lanyon's manner
+and words, there must lie for it some deeper ground.
+
+A week afterwards Dr. Lanyon took to his bed, and in something less than
+a fortnight he was dead. The night after the funeral, at which he had
+been sadly affected, Utterson locked the door of his business-room, and
+sitting there by the light of a melancholy candle, drew out and set
+before him an envelope addressed by the hand and sealed with the seal of
+his dead friend. "PRIVATE: for the hands of G. J. Utterson ALONE, and in
+case of his predecease _to be destroyed unread_," so it was emphatically
+superscribed; and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents. "I have
+buried one friend to-day," he thought: "what if this should cost me
+another?" And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty, and broke the
+seal. Within there was another enclosure, likewise sealed, and marked
+upon the cover as "not to be opened till the death or disappearance of
+Dr. Henry Jekyll." Utterson could not trust his eyes. Yes, it was
+disappearance; here again, as in the mad will which he had long ago
+restored to its author, here again were the idea of a disappearance and
+the name of Henry Jekyll bracketed. But in the will that idea had sprung
+from the sinister suggestion of the man Hyde; it was set there with a
+purpose all too plain and horrible. Written by the hand of Lanyon, what
+should it mean? A great curiosity came on the trustee, to disregard the
+prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries; but
+professional honour and faith to his dead friend were stringent
+obligations; and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private
+safe.
+
+It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it; and it may
+be doubted if, from that day forth, Utterson desired the society of his
+surviving friend with the same eagerness. He thought of him kindly; but
+his thoughts were disquieted and fearful. He went to call indeed; but he
+was perhaps relieved to be denied admittance; perhaps, in his heart, he
+preferred to speak with Poole upon the doorstep and surrounded by the
+air and sounds of the open city, rather than to be admitted into that
+house of voluntary bondage, and to sit and speak with its inscrutable
+recluse. Poole had, indeed, no very pleasant news to communicate. The
+doctor, it appeared, now more than ever confined himself to the cabinet
+over the laboratory, where he would sometimes even sleep; he was out of
+spirits, he had grown very silent, he did not read; it seemed as if he
+had something on his mind. Utterson became so used to the unvarying
+character of these reports, that he fell off little by little in the
+frequency of his visits.
+
+
+
+
+INCIDENT AT THE WINDOW
+
+
+It chanced on Sunday, when Mr. Utterson was on his usual walk with Mr.
+Enfield, that their way lay once again through the by-street; and that
+when they came in front of the door, both stopped to gaze on it.
+
+"Well," said Enfield, "that story's at an end at least. We shall never
+see more of Mr. Hyde."
+
+"I hope not," said Utterson. "Did I ever tell you that I once saw him,
+and shared your feeling of repulsion?"
+
+"It was impossible to do the one without the other," returned Enfield.
+"And by the way, what an ass you must have thought me, not to know that
+this was a back way to Dr. Jekyll's! It was partly your own fault that I
+found it out, even when I did."
+
+"So you found it out, did you?" said Utterson. "But if that be so, we
+may step into the court and take a look at the windows. To tell you the
+truth, I am uneasy about poor Jekyll; and even outside, I feel as if the
+presence of a friend might do him good."
+
+The court was very cool and a little damp, and full of premature
+twilight, although the sky, high up overhead, was still bright with
+sunset. The middle one of the three windows was half-way open; and
+sitting close beside it, taking the air with an infinite sadness of
+mien, like some disconsolate prisoner, Utterson saw Dr. Jekyll.
+
+"What! Jekyll!" he cried. "I trust you are better."
+
+"I am very low, Utterson," replied the doctor drearily, "very low. It
+will not last long, thank God."
+
+"You stay too much indoors," said the lawyer. "You should be out,
+whipping up the circulation like Mr. Enfield and me. (This is my
+cousin--Mr. Enfield--Dr. Jekyll.) Come now; get your hat and take a
+quick turn with us."
+
+"You are very good," sighed the other. "I should like to very much; but
+no, no, no, it is quite impossible; I dare not. But indeed, Utterson, I
+am very glad to see you; this is really a great pleasure; I would ask
+you and Mr. Enfield up, but the place is really not fit."
+
+"Why then," said the lawyer good-naturedly, "the best thing we can do is
+to stay down here and speak with you from where we are."
+
+"That is just what I was about to venture to propose," returned the
+doctor, with a smile. But the words were hardly uttered, before the
+smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such
+abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentleman
+below. They saw it but for a glimpse, for the window was instantly
+thrust down; but that glimpse had been sufficient, and they turned and
+left the court without a word. In silence, too, the by-street; and it
+was not until they had come into a neighbouring thoroughfare, where even
+upon a Sunday there were still some stirrings of life, that Mr. Utterson
+at last turned and looked at his companion. They were both pale; and
+there was an answering horror in their eyes.
+
+"God forgive us, God forgive us!" said Mr. Utterson.
+
+But Mr. Enfield only nodded his head very seriously, and walked on once
+more in silence.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST NIGHT
+
+
+Mr. Utterson was sitting by his fireside one evening after dinner, when
+he was surprised to receive a visit from Poole.
+
+"Bless me, Poole, what brings you here?" he cried; and then, taking a
+second look at him, "What ails you?" he added, "is the doctor ill?"
+
+"Mr. Utterson," said the man, "there is something wrong."
+
+"Take a seat, and here is a glass of wine for you," said the lawyer.
+"Now, take your time, and tell me plainly what you want."
+
+"You know the doctor's ways, sir," replied Poole, "and how he shuts
+himself up. Well, he's shut up again in the cabinet; and I don't like
+it, sir--I wish I may die if I like it. Mr. Utterson, sir, I'm afraid."
+
+"Now, my good man," said the lawyer, "be explicit. What are you afraid
+of?"
+
+"I've been afraid for about a week," returned Poole, doggedly
+disregarding the question, "and I can bear it no more."
+
+The man's appearance amply bore out his words; his manner was altered
+for the worse; and except for the moment when he had first announced his
+terror, he had not once looked the lawyer in the face. Even now, he sat
+with the glass of wine untasted on his knee, and his eyes directed to a
+corner of the floor. "I can bear it no more," he repeated.
+
+"Come," said the lawyer, "I see you have some good reason, Poole; I see
+there is something seriously amiss. Try to tell me what it is."
+
+"I think there's been foul play," said Poole hoarsely.
+
+"Foul play!" cried the lawyer, a good deal frightened, and rather
+inclined to be irritated in consequence. "What foul play? What does the
+man mean?"
+
+"I daren't say, sir," was the answer; "but will you come along with me
+and see for yourself?"
+
+Mr. Utterson's only answer was to rise and get his hat and greatcoat;
+but he observed with wonder the greatness of the relief that appeared
+upon the butler's face, and perhaps with no less, that the wine was
+still untasted when he set it down to follow.
+
+It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying
+on her back as though the wind had tilted her, and a flying wrack of the
+most diaphanous and lawny texture. The wind made talking difficult, and
+flecked the blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets
+unusually bare of passengers, besides; for Mr. Utterson thought he had
+never seen that part of London so deserted. He could have wished it
+otherwise; never in his life had he been conscious of so sharp a wish to
+see and touch his fellow-creatures; for, struggle as he might, there was
+borne in upon his mind a crushing anticipation of calamity. The square,
+when they got there, was all full of wind and dust, and the thin trees
+in the garden were lashing themselves along the railing. Poole, who had
+kept all the way a pace or two ahead, now pulled up in the middle of the
+pavement, and, in spite of the biting weather, took off his hat and
+mopped his brow with a red pocket-handkerchief. But for all the hurry of
+his coming, these were not the dews of exertion that he wiped away, but
+the moisture of some strangling anguish; for his face was white, and his
+voice, when he spoke, harsh and broken.
+
+"Well, sir," he said, "here we are, and God grant there be nothing
+wrong."
+
+"Amen, Poole," said the lawyer.
+
+Thereupon the servant knocked in a very guarded manner; the door was
+opened on the chain; and a voice asked from within, "Is that you,
+Poole?"
+
+"It's all right," said Poole. "Open the door."
+
+The hall, when they entered it, was brightly lighted up; the fire was
+built high; and about the hearth the whole of the servants, men and
+women, stood huddled together like a flock of sheep. At the sight of Mr.
+Utterson, the housemaid broke into hysterical whimpering; and the cook,
+crying out "Bless God! it's Mr. Utterson," ran forward as if to take him
+in her arms.
+
+"What, what? Are you all here?" said the lawyer peevishly. "Very
+irregular, very unseemly; your master would be far from pleased."
+
+"They're all afraid," said Poole.
+
+Blank silence followed, no one protesting; only the maid lifted up her
+voice and now wept loudly.
+
+"Hold your tongue!" Poole said to her, with a ferocity of accent that
+testified to his own jangled nerves; and indeed, when the girl had so
+suddenly raised the note of her lamentation, they had all started and
+turned towards the inner door with faces of dreadful expectation. "And
+now," continued the butler, addressing the knife-boy, "reach me a
+candle, and we'll get this through hands at once." And then he begged
+Mr. Utterson to follow him, and led the way to the back-garden.
+
+"Now, sir," said he, "you come as gently as you can. I want you to hear,
+and I don't want you to be heard. And see here, sir, if by any chance he
+was to ask you in, don't go."
+
+Mr. Utterson's nerves, at this unlooked-for termination, gave a jerk
+that nearly threw him from his balance; but he re-collected his courage
+and followed the butler into the laboratory building and through the
+surgical theatre, with its lumber of crates and bottles, to the foot of
+the stair. Here Poole motioned him to stand on one side and listen;
+while he himself, setting down the candle and making a great and obvious
+call on his resolution, mounted the steps and knocked with a somewhat
+uncertain hand on the red baize of the cabinet door.
+
+"Mr. Utterson, sir, asking to see you," he called; and, even as he did
+so, once more violently signed to the lawyer to give ear.
+
+A voice answered from within: "Tell him I cannot see any one," it said
+complainingly.
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Poole, with a note of something like triumph in
+his voice; and taking up his candle, he led Mr. Utterson back across the
+yard and into the great kitchen, where the fire was out and the beetles
+were leaping on the floor.
+
+"Sir," he said, looking Mr. Utterson in the eyes, "was that my master's
+voice?"
+
+"It seems much changed," replied the lawyer, very pale, but giving look
+for look.
+
+"Changed? Well, yes, I think so," said the butler. "Have I been twenty
+years in this man's house, to be deceived about his voice? No, sir;
+master's made away with; he was made away with eight days ago, when we
+heard him cry out upon the name of God; and _who's_ in there instead of
+him, and _why_ it stays there, is a thing that cries to Heaven, Mr.
+Utterson!"
+
+"This is a very strange tale, Poole; this is rather a wild tale, my
+man," said Mr. Utterson, biting his finger. "Suppose it were as you
+suppose, supposing Dr. Jekyll to have been--well, murdered, what could
+induce the murderer to stay? That won't hold water; it doesn't commend
+itself to reason."
+
+"Well, Mr. Utterson, you are a hard man to satisfy, but I'll do it yet,"
+said Poole. "All this last week (you must know) him, or it, or whatever
+it is that lives in that cabinet, has been crying night and day for some
+sort of medicine and cannot get it to his mind. It was sometimes his
+way--the master's, that is--to write his orders on a sheet of paper and
+throw it on the stair. We've had nothing else this week back; nothing
+but papers, and a closed door, and the very meals left there to be
+smuggled in when nobody was looking. Well, sir, every day, ay, and
+twice and thrice in the same day, there have been orders and complaints,
+and I have been sent flying to all the wholesale chemists in town. Every
+time I brought the stuff back, there would be another paper telling me
+to return it, because it was not pure, and another order to a different
+firm. This drug is wanted bitter bad, sir, whatever for."
+
+"Have you any of these papers?" asked Mr. Utterson.
+
+Poole felt in his pocket and handed out a crumpled note, which the
+lawyer, bending nearer to the candle, carefully examined. Its contents
+ran thus: "Dr. Jekyll presents his compliments to Messrs. Maw. He
+assures them that their last sample is impure, and quite useless for his
+present purpose. In the year 18--, Dr. J. purchased a somewhat large
+quantity from Messrs. M. He now begs them to search with the most
+sedulous care, and should any of the same quality be left, to forward it
+to him at once. Expense is no consideration. The importance of this to
+Dr. J. can hardly be exaggerated." So far the letter had run composedly
+enough, but here, with a sudden splutter of the pen, the writer's
+emotion had broken loose. "For God's sake," he had added, "find me some
+of the old."
+
+"This is a strange note," said Mr. Utterson; and then sharply, "How do
+you come to have it open?"
+
+"The man at Maw's was main angry, sir, and he threw it back to me like
+so much dirt," returned Poole.
+
+"This is unquestionably the doctor's hand, do you know?" resumed the
+lawyer.
+
+"I thought it looked like it," said the servant rather sulkily; and
+then, with another voice, "But what matters hand-of-write?" he said.
+"I've seen him!"
+
+"Seen him?" repeated Mr. Utterson. "Well?"
+
+"That's it!" said Poole. "It was this way. I came suddenly into the
+theatre from the garden. It seems he had slipped out to look for this
+drug, or whatever it is; for the cabinet door was open, and there he
+was at the far end of the room digging among the crates. He looked up
+when I came in, gave a kind of cry, and whipped upstairs into the
+cabinet. It was but for one minute that I saw him, but the hair stood up
+on my head like quills. Sir, if that was my master, why had he a mask
+upon his face? If it was my master, why did he cry out like a rat, and
+run from me? I have served him long enough. And then ..." the man paused
+and passed his hand over his face.
+
+"These are all very strange circumstances," said Mr. Utterson, "but I
+think I begin to see daylight. Your master, Poole, is plainly seized
+with one of those maladies that both torture and deform the sufferer;
+hence, for aught I know, the alteration of his voice; hence the mask and
+his avoidance of his friends; hence his eagerness to find this drug, by
+means of which the poor soul retains some hope of ultimate recovery--God
+grant that he be not deceived. There is my explanation; it is sad
+enough, Poole, ay, and appalling to consider; but it is plain and
+natural, hangs well together, and delivers us from all exorbitant
+alarms."
+
+"Sir," said the butler, turning to a sort of mottled pallor, "that thing
+was not my master, and there's the truth. My master"--here he looked
+round him and began to whisper--"is a tall, fine build of a man, and
+this was more of a dwarf." Utterson attempted to protest. "O sir," cried
+Poole, "do you think I do not know my master after twenty years? do you
+think I do not know where his head comes to in the cabinet door, where I
+saw him every morning of my life? No, sir, that thing in the mask was
+never Dr. Jekyll--God knows what it was, but it was never Dr. Jekyll;
+and it is the belief of my heart that there was murder done."
+
+"Poole," replied the lawyer, "if you say that, it will become my duty to
+make certain. Much as I desire to spare your master's feelings, much as
+I am puzzled by this note which seems to prove him to be still alive, I
+shall consider it my duty to break in that door."
+
+"Ah, Mr. Utterson, that's talking!" cried the butler.
+
+"And now comes the second question," resumed Utterson: "Who is going to
+do it?"
+
+"Why, you and me, sir," was the undaunted reply.
+
+"That is very well said," returned the lawyer; "and whatever comes of
+it, I shall make it my business to see you are no loser."
+
+"There is an axe in the theatre," continued Poole; "and you might take
+the kitchen poker for yourself."
+
+The lawyer took that rude but weighty instrument into his hand, and
+balanced it. "Do you know, Poole," he said, looking up, "that you and I
+are about to place ourselves in a position of some peril?"
+
+"You may say so, sir, indeed," returned the butler.
+
+"It is well, then, that we should be frank," said the other. "We both
+think more than we have said; let us make a clean breast. This masked
+figure that you saw, did you recognise it?"
+
+"Well, sir, it went so quick, and the creature was so doubled up, that I
+could hardly swear to that," was the answer. "But if you mean, was it
+Mr. Hyde?--why, yes, I think it was! You see, it was much of the same
+bigness; and it had the same quick light way with it; and then who else
+could have got in by the laboratory door? You have not forgot, sir, that
+at the time of the murder he had still the key with him? But that's not
+all. I don't know, Mr. Utterson, if ever you met this Mr. Hyde?"
+
+"Yes," said the lawyer, "I once spoke with him."
+
+"Then you must know as well as the rest of us that there was something
+queer about that gentleman--something that gave a man a turn--I don't
+know rightly how to say it, sir, beyond this: that you felt it in your
+marrow kind of cold and thin."
+
+"I own I felt something of what you describe," said Mr. Utterson.
+
+"Quite so, sir," returned Poole. "Well, when that masked thing like a
+monkey jumped from among the chemicals and whipped into the cabinet, it
+went down my spine like ice. Oh, I know it's not evidence, Mr. Utterson;
+I'm book-learned enough for that; but a man has his feelings, and I give
+you my Bible-word it was Mr. Hyde!"
+
+"Ay, ay," said the lawyer. "My fears incline to the same point. Evil, I
+fear, founded--evil was sure to come--of that connection. Ay, truly, I
+believe you; I believe poor Harry is killed; and I believe his murderer
+(for what purpose, God alone can tell) is still lurking in his victim's
+room. Well, let our name be vengeance. Call Bradshaw."
+
+The footman came at the summons, very white and nervous.
+
+"Pull yourself together, Bradshaw," said the lawyer. "This suspense, I
+know, is telling upon all of you; but it is now our intention to make an
+end of it. Poole, here, and I are going to force our way into the
+cabinet. If all is well, my shoulders are broad enough to bear the
+blame. Meanwhile, lest anything should really be amiss, or any
+malefactor seek to escape by the back, you and the boy must go round the
+corner with a pair of good sticks, and take your post at the laboratory
+door. We give you ten minutes to get to your stations."
+
+As Bradshaw left, the lawyer looked at his watch. "And now, Poole, let
+us get to ours," he said; and taking the poker under his arm, he led the
+way into the yard. The scud had banked over the moon, and it was now
+quite dark. The wind, which only broke in puffs and draughts into that
+deep well of building, tossed the light of the candle to and fro about
+their steps, until they came into the shelter of the theatre, where they
+sat down silently to wait. London hummed solemnly all around; but nearer
+at hand, the stillness was only broken by the sound of a footfall moving
+to and fro along the cabinet floor.
+
+"So it will walk all day, sir," whispered Poole; "ay, and the better
+part of the night. Only when a new sample comes from the chemist,
+there's a bit of a break. Ah, it's an ill-conscience that's such an
+enemy to rest! Ah, sir, there's blood foully shed in every step of it!
+But hark again, a little closer--put your heart in your ears, Mr.
+Utterson, and tell me, is that the doctor's foot?"
+
+The steps fell lightly and oddly, with a certain swing, for all they
+went so slowly; it was different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of
+Henry Jekyll. Utterson sighed. "Is there never anything else?" he asked.
+
+Poole nodded. "Once," he said. "Once I heard it weeping!"
+
+"Weeping? how that?" said the lawyer, conscious of a sudden chill of
+horror.
+
+"Weeping like a woman or a lost soul," said the butler. "I came away
+with that upon my heart that I could have wept too."
+
+But now the ten minutes drew to an end. Poole disinterred the axe from
+under a stack of packing straw; the candle was set upon the nearest
+table to light them to the attack; and they drew near with bated breath
+to where that patient foot was still going up and down, up and down, in
+the quiet of the night.
+
+"Jekyll," cried Utterson, with a loud voice, "I demand to see you." He
+paused a moment, but there came no reply. "I give you fair warning, our
+suspicions are aroused, and I must and shall see you," he resumed; "if
+not by fair means, then by foul--if not of your consent, then by brute
+force!"
+
+"Utterson," said the voice, "for God's sake have mercy!"
+
+"Ah, that's not Jekyll's voice--it's Hyde's!" cried Utterson. "Down with
+the door, Poole."
+
+Poole swung the axe over his shoulder; the blow shook the building, and
+the red baize door leaped against the lock and hinges. A dismal screech,
+as of mere animal terror, rang from the cabinet. Up went the axe again,
+and again the panels crashed and the frame bounded; four times the blow
+fell; but the wood was tough and the fittings were of excellent
+workmanship; and it was not until the fifth, that the lock burst in
+sunder and the wreck of the door fell inwards on the carpet.
+
+The besiegers, appalled by their own riot and the stillness that had
+succeeded, stood back a little and peered in. There lay the cabinet
+before their eyes in the quiet lamplight, a good fire glowing and
+chattering on the hearth, the kettle singing its thin strain, a drawer
+or two open, papers neatly set forth on the business-table, and, nearer
+the fire, the things laid out for tea: the quietest room, you would have
+said, and, but for the glazed presses full of chemicals, the most
+commonplace that night in London.
+
+Right in the midst there lay the body of a man sorely contorted, and
+still twitching. They drew near on tiptoe, turned it on its back, and
+beheld the face of Edward Hyde. He was dressed in clothes far too large
+for him, clothes of the doctor's bigness; the cords of his face still
+moved with a semblance of life, but life was quite gone; and by the
+crushed phial in the hand and the strong smell of kernels that hung upon
+the air, Utterson knew that he was looking on the body of a
+self-destroyer.
+
+"We have come too late," he said sternly, "whether to save or punish.
+Hyde is gone to his account; and it only remains for us to find the body
+of your master."
+
+The far greater proportion of the building was occupied by the theatre,
+which filled almost the whole ground story and was lighted from above,
+and by the cabinet, which formed an upper story at one end and looked
+upon the court. A corridor joined the theatre to the door on the
+by-street; and with this, the cabinet communicated separately by a
+second flight of stairs. There were besides a few dark closets and a
+spacious cellar. All these they now thoroughly examined. Each closet
+needed but a glance, for all were empty, and all, by the dust that fell
+from their doors, had stood long unopened. The cellar, indeed, was
+filled with crazy lumber, mostly dating from the times of the surgeon
+who was Jekyll's predecessor; but even as they opened the door, they
+were advertised of the uselessness of further search, by the fall of a
+perfect mat of cobweb which had for years sealed up the entrance.
+Nowhere was there any trace of Henry Jekyll, dead or alive.
+
+Poole stamped on the flags of the corridor. "He must be buried here," he
+said, hearkening to the sound.
+
+"Or he may have fled," said Utterson, and he turned to examine the door
+in the by-street. It was locked; and lying near by on the flags, they
+found the key, already stained with rust.
+
+"This does not look like use," observed the lawyer.
+
+"Use!" echoed Poole. "Do you not see, sir, it is broken? much as if a
+man had stamped on it."
+
+"Ay," continued Utterson, "and the fractures, too, are rusty." The two
+men looked at each other with a scare. "This is beyond me, Poole," said
+the lawyer. "Let us go back to the cabinet."
+
+They mounted the stair in silence, and, still with an occasional
+awe-struck glance at the dead body, proceeded more thoroughly to examine
+the contents of the cabinet. At one table there were traces of chemical
+work, various measured heaps of some white salt being laid on glass
+saucers, as though for an experiment in which the unhappy man had been
+prevented.
+
+"That is the same drug that I was always bringing him," said Poole; and
+even as he spoke, the kettle with a startling noise boiled over.
+
+This brought them to the fireside, where the easy-chair was drawn cosily
+up, and the tea-things stood ready to the sitter's elbow, the very sugar
+in the cup. There were several books on a shelf; one lay beside the
+tea-things open, and Utterson was amazed to find it a copy of a pious
+work, for which Jekyll had several times expressed a great esteem,
+annotated, in his own hand, with startling blasphemies.
+
+Next, in the course of their review of the chamber, the searchers came
+to the cheval-glass, into whose depths they looked with an involuntary
+horror. But it was so turned as to show them nothing but the rosy glow
+playing on the roof, the fire sparkling in a hundred repetitions along
+the glazed front of the presses, and their own pale and fearful
+countenances stooping to look in.
+
+"This glass have seen some strange things, sir," whispered Poole.
+
+"And surely none stranger than itself," echoed the lawyer in the same
+tones. "For what did Jekyll"--he caught himself up at the word with a
+start, and then conquering the weakness: "what could Jekyll want with
+it?" he said.
+
+"You may say that!" said Poole.
+
+Next they turned to the business-table. On the desk, among the neat
+array of papers, a large envelope was uppermost, and bore, in the
+doctor's hand, the name of Mr. Utterson. The lawyer unsealed it, and
+several enclosures fell to the floor. The first was a will, drawn in the
+same eccentric terms as the one which he had returned six months before,
+to serve as a testament in case of death and as a deed of gift in case
+of disappearance; but, in place of the name of Edward Hyde, the lawyer,
+with indescribable amazement, read the name of Gabriel John Utterson. He
+looked at Poole, and then back at the paper, and last of all at the dead
+malefactor stretched upon the carpet.
+
+"My head goes round," he said. "He has been all these days in
+possession; he had no cause to like me; he must have raged to see
+himself displaced; and he has not destroyed this document."
+
+He caught up the next paper; it was a brief note in the doctor's hand,
+and dated at the top. "O Poole!" the lawyer cried, "he was alive and
+here this day. He cannot have been disposed of in so short a space, he
+must be still alive, he must have fled! And then, why fled? and how?
+and in that case, can we venture to declare this suicide? Oh, we must be
+careful. I foresee that we may yet involve your master in some dire
+catastrophe."
+
+"Why don't you read it, sir?" asked Poole.
+
+"Because I fear," replied the lawyer solemnly. "God grant I have no
+cause for it!" and with that he brought the paper to his eyes and read
+as follows:
+
+   "My dear Utterson,--When this shall fall into your hands, I shall
+   have disappeared, under what circumstances I have not the penetration
+   to foresee, but my instinct and all the circumstances of my nameless
+   situation tell me that the end is sure, and must be early. Go then,
+   and first read the narrative which Lanyon warned me he was to place
+   in your hands; and if you care to hear more, turn to the confession
+   of Your unworthy and unhappy friend,
+
+     "HENRY JEKYLL."
+
+"There was a third enclosure?" asked Utterson.
+
+"Here sir," said Poole, and gave into his hands a considerable packet
+sealed in several places.
+
+The lawyer put it in his pocket. "I would say nothing of this paper. If
+your master has fled or is dead, we may at least save his credit. It is
+now ten; I must go home and read these documents in quiet; but I shall
+be back before midnight, when we shall send for the police."
+
+They went out, locking the door of the theatre behind them; and
+Utterson, once more leaving the servants gathered about the fire in the
+hall, trudged back to his office to read the two narratives in which
+this mystery was now to be explained.
+
+
+
+
+DR. LANYON'S NARRATIVE
+
+
+On the ninth of January, now four days ago, I received by the evening
+delivery a registered envelope, addressed in the hand of my colleague
+and old school-companion, Henry Jekyll. I was a good deal surprised by
+this; for we were by no means in the habit of correspondence; I had seen
+the man, dined with him, indeed, the night before; and I could imagine
+nothing in our intercourse that should justify the formality of
+registration. The contents increased my wonder; for this is how the
+letter ran:--
+
+      "10th December, 18--
+
+   "Dear Lanyon,--You are one of my oldest friends; and although we may
+   have differed at times on scientific questions, I cannot remember, at
+   least on my side, any break in our affection. There was never a day
+   when, if you had said to me, 'Jekyll, my life, my honour, my reason,
+   depend upon you,' I would not have sacrificed my fortune or my left
+   hand to help you. Lanyon, my life, my honour, my reason, are all at
+   your mercy; if you fail me to-night, I am lost. You might suppose,
+   after this preface, that I am going to ask you for something
+   dishonourable to grant. Judge for yourself.
+
+   "I want you to postpone all other engagements for to-night--ay, even
+   if you were summoned to the bedside of an emperor; to take a cab,
+   unless your carriage should be actually at the door; and with this
+   letter in your hand for consultation, to drive straight to my house.
+   Poole, my butler, has his orders; you will find him waiting your
+   arrival with a locksmith. The door of my cabinet is then to be
+   forced; and you are to go in alone; to open the glazed press (letter
+   E) on the left hand, breaking the lock if it be shut; and to draw
+   out, _with all its contents as they stand_, the fourth drawer from
+   the top or (which is the same thing) the third from the bottom. In my
+   extreme distress of mind I have a morbid fear of misdirecting you;
+   but even if I am in error, you may know the right drawer by its
+   contents: some powders, a phial, and a paper book. This drawer I beg
+   of you to carry back with you to Cavendish Square exactly as it
+   stands.
+
+   "That is the first part of the service: now for the second. You
+   should be back, if you set out at once on the receipt of this, long
+   before midnight; but I will leave you that amount of margin, not only
+   in the fear of one of those obstacles that can neither be prevented
+   nor foreseen, but because an hour when your servants are in bed is to
+   be preferred for what will then remain to do. At midnight, then, I
+   have to ask you to be alone in your consulting-room, to admit with
+   your own hand into the house a man who will present himself in my
+   name, and to place in his hands the drawer that you will have brought
+   with you from my cabinet. Then you will have played your part and
+   earned my gratitude completely. Five minutes afterwards, if you
+   insist upon an explanation, you will have understood that these
+   arrangements are of capital importance; and that by the neglect of
+   one of them, fantastic as they must appear, you might have charged
+   your conscience with my death or the shipwreck of my reason.
+
+   "Confident as I am that you will not trifle with this appeal, my
+   heart sinks and my hand trembles at the bare thought of such a
+   possibility. Think of me at this hour, in a strange place, labouring
+   under a blackness of distress that no fancy can exaggerate, and yet
+   well aware that, if you will but punctually serve me, my troubles
+   will roll away like a story that is told. Serve me, my dear Lanyon,
+   and save
+
+    "Your friend,
+
+       "H. J.
+
+   "_P.S._--I had already sealed this up when a fresh terror struck upon
+   my soul. It is possible that the post office may fail me, and this
+   letter not come into your hands until to-morrow morning. In that
+   case, dear Lanyon, do my errand when it shall be most convenient for
+   you in the course of the day; and once more expect my messenger at
+   midnight. It may then already be too late; and if that night passes
+   without event, you will know that you have seen the last of Henry
+   Jekyll."
+
+Upon the reading of this letter I made sure my colleague was insane; but
+till that was proved beyond the possibility of doubt, I felt bound to do
+as he requested. The less I understood of this farrago, the less I was
+in a position to judge of its importance; and an appeal so worded could
+not be set aside without a grave responsibility. I rose accordingly from
+table, got into a hansom, and drove straight to Jekyll's house. The
+butler was awaiting my arrival; he had received by the same post as mine
+a registered letter of instruction, and had sent at once for a locksmith
+and a carpenter. The tradesmen came while we were yet speaking; and we
+moved in a body to old Dr. Denman's surgical theatre, from which (as you
+are doubtless aware) Jekyll's private cabinet is most conveniently
+entered. The door was very strong, the lock excellent; the carpenter
+avowed he would have great trouble and have to do much damage, if force
+were to be used; and the locksmith was near despair. But this last was a
+handy fellow, and after two hours' work the door stood open. The press
+marked E was unlocked; and I took out the drawer, had it filled up with
+straw and tied in a sheet, and returned with it to Cavendish Square.
+
+Here I proceeded to examine its contents. The powders were neatly enough
+made up, but not with the nicety of the dispensing chemist; so that it
+was plain they were of Jekyll's private manufacture; and when I opened
+one of the wrappers, I found what seemed to me a simple, crystalline
+salt of a white colour. The phial, to which I next turned my attention,
+might have been about half-full of a blood-red liquor, which was highly
+pungent to the sense of smell and seemed to me to contain phosphorus and
+some volatile ether. At the other ingredients I could make no guess. The
+book was an ordinary version-book, and contained little but a series of
+dates. These covered a period of many years, but I observed that the
+entries ceased nearly a year ago, and quite abruptly. Here and there a
+brief remark was appended to a date, usually no more than a single word:
+"double" occurring perhaps six times in a total of several hundred
+entries; and once very early in the list, and followed by several marks
+of exclamation, "total failure!!!" All this, though it whetted my
+curiosity, told me little that was definite. Here was a phial of some
+tincture, a paper of some salt, and a record of a series of experiments
+that had led (like too many of Jekyll's investigations) to no end of
+practical usefulness. How could the presence of these articles in my
+house affect either the honour, the sanity, or the life of my flighty
+colleague? If his messenger could go to one place, why could he not go
+to another? And even granting some impediment, why was this gentleman to
+be received by me in secret? The more I reflected, the more convinced I
+grew that I was dealing with a case of cerebral disease; and though I
+dismissed my servants to bed, I loaded an old revolver that I might be
+found in some posture of self-defence.
+
+Twelve o'clock had scarce rung out over London, ere the knocker sounded
+very gently on the door. I went myself at the summons, and found a small
+man crouching against the pillars of the portico.
+
+"Are you come from Dr. Jekyll?" I asked.
+
+He told me "yes" by a constrained gesture; and when I had bidden him
+enter, he did not obey me without a searching backward glance into the
+darkness of the square. There was a policeman not far off, advancing
+with his bull's-eye open; and at the sight I thought my visitor started
+and made greater haste.
+
+These particulars struck me, I confess, disagreeably; and as I followed
+him into the bright light of the consulting-room, I kept my hand ready
+on my weapon. Here, at last, I had a chance of clearly seeing him. I had
+never set eyes on him before, so much was certain. He was small, as I
+have said; I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his
+face, with his remarkable combination of great muscular activity and
+great apparent debility of constitution, and--last but not least--with
+the odd, subjective disturbance caused by his neighbourhood. This bore
+some resemblance to incipient rigor, and was accompanied by a marked
+sinking of the pulse. At the time, I set it down to some idiosyncratic,
+personal distaste, and merely wondered at the acuteness of the symptoms;
+but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in
+the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle
+of hatred.
+
+This person (who had thus, from the first moment of his entrance, struck
+in me what I can only describe as a disgustful curiosity) was dressed in
+a fashion that would have made an ordinary person laughable: his
+clothes, that is to say, although they were of rich and sober fabric,
+were enormously too large for him in every measurement--the trousers
+hanging on his legs and rolled up to keep them from the ground, the
+waist of the coat below his haunches and the collar sprawling wide upon
+his shoulders. Strange to relate, this ludicrous accoutrement was far
+from moving me to laughter. Rather, as there was something abnormal and
+misbegotten in the very essence of the creature that now faced
+me--something seizing, surprising, and revolting--this fresh disparity
+seemed but to fit in with and to reinforce it; so that to my interest in
+the man's nature and character there was added a curiosity as to his
+origin, his life, his fortune and status in the world.
+
+These observations, though they have taken so great a space to be set
+down in, were yet the work of a few seconds. My visitor was, indeed, on
+fire with sombre excitement.
+
+"Have you got it?" he cried. "Have you got it?" And so lively was his
+impatience that he even laid his hand upon my arm and sought to shake
+me.
+
+I put him back, conscious at his touch of a certain icy pang along my
+blood. "Come, sir," said I. "You forget that I have not yet the pleasure
+of your acquaintance. Be seated, if you please." And I showed him an
+example, and sat down myself in my customary seat and with as fair an
+imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient as the lateness of the
+hour, the nature of my pre-occupations, and the horror I had of my
+visitor, would suffer me to muster.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Dr. Lanyon," he replied civilly enough. "What you
+say is very well founded; and my impatience has shown its heels to my
+politeness. I come here at the instance of your colleague, Dr. Henry
+Jekyll, on a piece of business of some moment; and I understood ..." he
+paused and put his hand to his throat, and I could see, in spite of his
+collected manner, that he was wrestling against the approaches of the
+hysteria--"I understood, a drawer...."
+
+But here I took pity on my visitor's suspense, and some perhaps on my
+own growing curiosity.
+
+"There it is, sir," said I, pointing to the drawer, where it lay on the
+floor behind a table and still covered with the sheet.
+
+He sprang to it, and then paused, and laid his hand upon his heart; I
+could hear his teeth grate with the convulsive action of his jaws; and
+his face was so ghastly to see that I grew alarmed both for his life and
+reason.
+
+"Compose yourself," said I.
+
+He turned a dreadful smile to me, and as if with the decision of
+despair, plucked away the sheet. At sight of the contents he uttered one
+loud sob of such immense relief that I sat petrified. And the next
+moment, in a voice that was already fairly well under control, "Have you
+a graduated glass?" he asked.
+
+I rose from my place with something of an effort and gave him what he
+asked.
+
+He thanked me with a smiling nod, measured out a few minims of the red
+tincture and added one of the powders. The mixture, which was at first
+of a reddish hue, began, in proportion as the crystals melted, to
+brighten in colour, to effervesce audibly, and to throw off small fumes
+of vapour. Suddenly and at the same moment, the ebullition ceased and
+the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to
+a watery green. My visitor, who had watched these metamorphoses with a
+keen eye, smiled, set down the glass upon the table, and then turned and
+looked upon me with an air of scrutiny.
+
+"And now," said he, "to settle what remains. Will you be wise? will you
+be guided? will you suffer me to take this glass in my hand and to go
+forth from your house without further parley? or has the greed of
+curiosity too much command of you? Think before you answer, for it shall
+be done as you decide. As you decide, you shall be left as you were
+before, and neither richer nor wiser, unless the sense of service
+rendered to a man in mortal distress may be counted as a kind of riches
+of the soul. Or, if you shall so prefer to choose, a new province of
+knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you,
+here, in this room, upon the instant; and your sight shall be blasted by
+a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan."
+
+"Sir," said I, affecting a coolness that I was far from truly
+possessing, "you speak enigmas, and you will perhaps not wonder that I
+hear you with no very strong impression of belief. But I have gone too
+far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end."
+
+"It is well," replied my visitor. "Lanyon, you remember your vows: what
+follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so
+long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have
+denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your
+superiors--behold!"
+
+He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he
+reeled, staggered, clutched at the table and held on, staring with
+injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked there came, I
+thought, a change--he seemed to swell--his face became suddenly black
+and the features seemed to melt and alter--and the next moment I had
+sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall, my arm raised to
+shield me from that prodigy, my mind submerged in terror.
+
+"O God!" I screamed, and "O God!" again and again; for there before my
+eyes--pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with
+his hands, like a man restored from death--there stood Henry Jekyll!
+
+What he told me in the next hour I cannot bring my mind to set on paper.
+I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard, and my soul sickened at it; and
+yet now when that sight has faded from my eyes, I ask myself if I
+believe it, and I cannot answer. My life is shaken to its roots; sleep
+has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and
+night; I feel that my days are numbered, and that I must die; and yet I
+shall die incredulous. As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to
+me, even with tears of penitence, I cannot, even in memory, dwell on it
+without a start of horror. I will say but one thing, Utterson, and that
+(if you can bring your mind to credit it) will be more than enough. The
+creature who crept into my house that night was, on Jekyll's own
+confession, known by the name of Hyde, and hunted for in every corner of
+the land as the murderer of Carew.
+
+     HASTIE LANYON.
+
+
+
+
+HENRY JEKYLL'S FULL STATEMENT OF THE CASE
+
+
+I was born in the year 18-- to a large fortune, endowed besides with
+excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry, fond of the respect of
+the wise and good among my fellow-men, and thus, as might have been
+supposed, with every guarantee of an honourable and distinguished
+future. And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety
+of disposition such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I
+found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head
+high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public.
+Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I
+reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock
+of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a
+profound duplicity of life. Many a man would have even blazoned such
+irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had
+set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of
+shame. It was thus rather the exacting nature of my aspirations than any
+particular degradation in my faults, that made me what I was, and, with
+even a deeper trench than in the majority of men, severed in me those
+provinces of good and ill which divide and compound man's dual nature.
+In this case, I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that
+hard law of life, which lies at the root of religion and is one of the
+most plentiful springs of distress. Though so profound a double-dealer,
+I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest; I
+was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame,
+than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of
+knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering. And it chanced that the
+direction of my scientific studies, which led wholly towards the mystic
+and the transcendental, reacted and shed a strong light on this
+consciousness of the perennial war among my members. With every day, and
+from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I
+thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I
+have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly
+one, but truly two. I say two, because the state of my own knowledge
+does not pass beyond that point. Others will follow, others will
+outstrip me on the same lines; and I hazard the guess that man will be
+ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and
+independent denizens. I for my part, from the nature of my life,
+advanced infallibly in one direction, and in one direction only. It was
+on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the
+thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that of the two natures
+that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly
+be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both; and from
+an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had
+begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had
+learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved day-dream, on the thought
+of the separation of these elements. If each, I told myself, could but
+be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was
+unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations
+and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk
+steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in
+which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and
+penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of
+mankind that these incongruous fagots were thus bound together--that in
+the agonised womb of consciousness these polar twins should be
+continuously struggling. How, then, were they dissociated?
+
+I was so far in my reflections when, as I have said, a side-light began
+to shine upon the subject from the laboratory table. I began to perceive
+more deeply than it has ever yet been stated, the trembling
+immateriality, the mist-like transience, of this seemingly so solid body
+in which we walk attired. Certain agents I found to have the power to
+shake and to pluck that fleshy vestment, even as a wind might toss the
+curtains of a pavilion. For two good reasons, I will not enter deeply
+into this scientific branch of my confession. First, because I have been
+made to learn that the doom and burthen of our life is bound for ever on
+man's shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but
+returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure. Second,
+because as my narrative will make, alas! too evident, my discoveries
+were incomplete. Enough, then, that I not only recognised my natural
+body for the mere aura and effulgence of certain of the powers that made
+up my spirit, but managed to compound a drug by which these powers
+should be dethroned from their supremacy, and a second form and
+countenance substituted, none the less natural to me because they were
+the expression, and bore the stamp, of lower elements in my soul.
+
+I hesitated long before I put this theory to the test of practice. I
+knew well that I risked death; for any drug that so potently controlled
+and shook the very fortress of identity, might by the least scruple of
+an overdose or at the least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition,
+utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to
+change. But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at
+last overcame the suggestions of alarm. I had long since prepared my
+tincture; I purchased at once, from a firm of wholesale chemists, a
+large quantity of a particular salt which I knew, from my experiments,
+to be the last ingredient required; and late one accursed night, I
+compounded the elements, watched them boil and smoke together in the
+glass, and when the ebullition had subsided, with a strong glow of
+courage drank off the potion.
+
+The most racking pangs succeeded; a grinding in the bones, deadly
+nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour
+of birth or death. Then these agonies began swiftly to subside, and I
+came to myself as if out of a great sickness. There was something
+strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very
+novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body;
+within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered
+sensual images running like a mill-race in my fancy, a solution of the
+bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul.
+I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked,
+tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought,
+in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine. I stretched out my
+hands, exulting in the freshness of these sensations; and in the act I
+was suddenly aware that I had lost in stature.
+
+There was no mirror, at that date, in my room; that which stands beside
+me as I write was brought there later on, and for the very purpose of
+these transformations. The night, however, was far gone into the
+morning--the morning, black as it was, was nearly ripe for the
+conception of the day--the inmates of my house were locked in the most
+rigorous hours of slumber; and I determined, flushed as I was with hope
+and triumph, to venture in my new shape as far as to my bedroom. I
+crossed the yard, wherein the constellations looked down upon me, I
+could have thought, with wonder, the first creature of that sort that
+their unsleeping vigilance had yet disclosed to them; I stole through
+the corridors, a stranger in my own house; and, coming to my room, I saw
+for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde.
+
+I must here speak by theory alone, saying not that which I know, but
+that which I suppose to be most probable. The evil side of my nature, to
+which I had now transferred the stamping efficacy, was less robust and
+less developed than the good which I had just deposed. Again, in the
+course of my life, which had been, after all, nine-tenths a life of
+effort, virtue, and control, it had been much less exercised and much
+less exhausted. And hence, as I think, it came about that Edward Hyde
+was so much smaller, slighter, and younger than Henry Jekyll. Even as
+good shone upon the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and
+plainly on the face of the other. Evil besides (which I must still
+believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that body an imprint
+of deformity and decay. And yet when I looked upon that ugly idol in the
+glass, I was conscious of no repugnance, rather of a leap of welcome.
+This too, was myself. It seemed natural and human. In my eyes it bore a
+livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than
+the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to
+call mine. And in so far I was doubtless right. I have observed that
+when I bore the semblance of Edward Hyde, none could come near to me at
+first without a visible misgiving of the flesh. This, as I take it, was
+because all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good
+and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.
+
+I lingered but a moment at the mirror: the second and conclusive
+experiment had yet to be attempted; it yet remained to be seen if I had
+lost my identity beyond redemption and must flee before daylight from a
+house that was no longer mine; and, hurrying back to my cabinet, I once
+more prepared and drank the cup, once more suffered the pangs of
+dissolution, and came to myself once more with the character, the
+stature, and the face of Henry Jekyll.
+
+That night I had come to the fatal cross roads. Had I approached my
+discovery in a more noble spirit, had I risked the experiment while
+under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been
+otherwise, and from these agonies of death and birth I had come forth an
+angel instead of a fiend. The drug had no discriminating action; it was
+neither diabolical nor divine; it but shook the doors of the
+prison-house of my disposition; and like the captives of Philippi, that
+which stood within ran forth. At that time my virtue slumbered; my
+evil, kept awake by ambition, was alert and swift to seize the occasion;
+and the thing that was projected was Edward Hyde. Hence, although I had
+now two characters as well as two appearances, one was wholly evil, and
+the other was still the old Henry Jekyll, that incongruous compound of
+whose reformation and improvement I had already learned to despair. The
+movement was thus wholly toward the worse.
+
+Even at that time I had not yet conquered my aversion to the dryness of
+a life of study. I would still be merrily disposed at times; and as my
+pleasures were (to say the least) undignified, and I was not only well
+known and highly considered, but growing towards the elderly man, this
+incoherency of my life was daily growing more unwelcome. It was on this
+side that my new power tempted me until I fell in slavery. I had but to
+drink the cup, to doff at once the body of the noted professor, and to
+assume, like a thick cloak, that of Edward Hyde. I smiled at the notion;
+it seemed to me at the time to be humorous; and I made my preparations
+with the most studious care. I took and furnished that house in Soho, to
+which Hyde was tracked by the police; and engaged as housekeeper a
+creature whom I well knew to be silent and unscrupulous. On the other
+side, I announced to my servants that a Mr. Hyde (whom I described) was
+to have full liberty and power about my house in the square; and to
+parry mishaps, I even called and made myself a familiar object, in my
+second character. I next drew up that will to which you so much
+objected; so that if anything befell me in the person of Doctor Jekyll,
+I could enter on that of Edward Hyde without pecuniary loss. And thus
+fortified, as I supposed, on every side, I began to profit by the
+strange immunities of my position.
+
+Men have before hired bravos to transact their crimes, while their own
+person and reputation sat under shelter. I was the first that ever did
+so for his pleasures. I was the first that could thus plod in the public
+eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a
+schoolboy, strip off these leadings and spring headlong into the sea of
+liberty. But for me, in my impenetrable mantle, the safety was complete.
+Think of it--I did not even exist! Let me but escape into my
+laboratory-door, give me but a second or two to mix and swallow the
+draught that I had always standing ready; and whatever he had done,
+Edward Hyde would pass away like the stain of breath upon a mirror; and
+there in his stead, quietly at home, trimming the midnight lamp in his
+study, a man who could afford to laugh at suspicion, would be Henry
+Jekyll.
+
+The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have
+said, undignified; I would scarce use a harder term. But in the hands of
+Edward Hyde they soon began to turn towards the monstrous. When I would
+come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of
+wonder at my vicarious depravity. This familiar that I called out of my
+own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being
+inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centred on
+self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture
+to another; relentless like a man of stone. Henry Jekyll stood at times
+aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation was apart from
+ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was
+Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty. Jekyll was no worse;
+he woke again to his good qualities seemingly unimpaired; he would even
+make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde. And
+thus his conscience slumbered.
+
+Into the details of the infamy at which I thus connived (for even now I
+can scarce grant that I committed it) I have no design of entering; I
+mean but to point out the warnings and the successive steps with which
+my chastisement approached. I met with one accident which, as it brought
+on no consequence, I shall no more than mention. An act of cruelty to a
+child aroused against me the anger of a passer-by, whom I recognised the
+other day in the person of your kinsman; the doctor and the child's
+family joined him; there were moments when I feared for my life; and at
+last, in order to pacify their too just resentment, Edward Hyde had to
+bring them to the door, and pay them in a cheque drawn in the name of
+Henry Jekyll. But this danger was easily eliminated from the future, by
+opening an account at another bank in the name of Edward Hyde himself;
+and when, by sloping my own hand backward, I had supplied my double with
+a signature, I thought I sat beyond the reach of fate.
+
+Some two months before the murder of Sir Danvers, I had been out for one
+of my adventures, had returned at a late hour, and woke the next day in
+bed with somewhat odd sensations. It was in vain I looked about me; in
+vain I saw the decent furniture and tall proportions of my room in the
+square; in vain that I recognised the pattern of the bed-curtains and
+the design of the mahogany frame; something still kept insisting that I
+was not where I was, that I had not wakened where I seemed to be, but in
+the little room in Soho where I was accustomed to sleep in the body of
+Edward Hyde. I smiled to myself, and, in my psychological way, began
+lazily to inquire into the elements of this illusion, occasionally, even
+as I did so, dropping back into a comfortable morning doze. I was still
+so engaged when, in one of my more wakeful moments, my eye fell upon my
+hand. Now the hand of Henry Jekyll (as you have often remarked) was
+professional in shape and size: it was large, firm, white, and comely.
+But the hand which I now saw, clearly enough, in the yellow light of a
+mid-London morning, lying half shut on the bed-clothes, was lean,
+corded, knuckly, of a dusky pallor, and thickly shaded with a swart
+growth of hair. It was the hand of Edward Hyde.
+
+I must have stared upon it for near half a minute, sunk as I was in the
+mere stupidity of wonder, before terror woke up in my breast as sudden
+and startling as the crash of cymbals; and bounding from my bed, I
+rushed to the mirror. At the sight that met my eyes my blood was changed
+into something exquisitely thin and icy. Yes, I had gone to bed Henry
+Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde. How was this to be explained? I
+asked myself; and then, with another bound of terror--how was it to be
+remedied? It was well on in the morning; the servants were up; all my
+drugs were in the cabinet--a long journey, down two pairs of stairs,
+through the back passage, across the open court and through the
+anatomical theatre, from where I was then standing horror-struck. It
+might indeed be possible to cover my face; but of what use was that,
+when I was unable to conceal the alteration in my stature? And then,
+with an overpowering sweetness of relief, it came back upon my mind that
+the servants were already used to the coming and going of my second
+self. I had soon dressed, as well as I was able, in clothes of my own
+size: had soon passed through the house, where Bradshaw stared and drew
+back at seeing Mr. Hyde at such an hour and in such a strange array; and
+ten minutes later Dr. Jekyll had returned to his own shape, and was
+sitting down, with a darkened brow, to make a feint of breakfasting.
+
+Small indeed was my appetite. This inexplicable incident, this reversal
+of my previous experience, seemed, like the Babylonian finger on the
+wall, to be spelling out the letters of my judgment; and I began to
+reflect more seriously than ever before on the issues and possibilities
+of my double existence. That part of me which I had the power of
+projecting had lately been much exercised and nourished; it had seemed
+to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature, as
+though (when I wore that form) I were conscious of a more generous tide
+of blood; and I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged,
+the balance of my nature might be permanently overthrown, the power of
+voluntary change be forfeited, and the character of Edward Hyde become
+irrevocably mine. The power of the drug had not always been equally
+displayed. Once, very early in my career, it had totally failed me;
+since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion to double, and
+once, with infinite risk of death, to treble the amount; and these rare
+uncertainties had cast hitherto the sole shadow on my contentment. Now,
+however, and in the light of that morning's accident, I was led to
+remark that whereas, in the beginning, the difficulty had been to throw
+off the body of Jekyll, it had of late gradually but decidedly
+transferred itself to the other side. All things therefore seemed to
+point to this: that I was slowly losing hold of my original and better
+self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse.
+
+Between these two, I now felt I had to choose. My two natures had memory
+in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared between
+them. Jekyll (who was composite) now with the most sensitive
+apprehensions, now with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the
+pleasures and adventures of Hyde; but Hyde was indifferent to Jekyll, or
+but remembered him as the mountain bandit remembers the cavern in which
+he conceals himself from pursuit. Jekyll had more than a father's
+interest; Hyde had more than a son's indifference. To cast in my lot
+with Jekyll was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly
+indulged, and had of late begun to pamper. To cast it in with Hyde was
+to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow
+and for ever, despised and friendless. The bargain might appear unequal;
+but there was still another consideration in the scales; for while
+Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be
+not even conscious of all that he had lost. Strange as my circumstances
+were, the terms of this debate are as old and commonplace as man; much
+the same inducements and alarms cast the die for any tempted and
+trembling sinner; and it fell out with me, as it falls with so vast a
+majority of my fellows, that I chose the better part, and was found
+wanting in the strength to keep to it.
+
+Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor, surrounded by
+friends and cherishing honest hopes; and bade a resolute farewell to the
+liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping pulses, and
+secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde. I made
+this choice perhaps with some unconscious reservation, for I neither
+gave up the house in Soho, nor destroyed the clothes of Edward Hyde,
+which still lay ready in my cabinet. For two months, however, I was true
+to my determination; for two months I led a life of such severity as I
+had never before attained to, and enjoyed the compensations of an
+approving conscience. But time began at last to obliterate the freshness
+of my alarm; the praises of conscience began to grow into a thing of
+course; I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde
+struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I
+once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught.
+
+I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his
+vice, he is once out of five hundred times affected by the dangers that
+he runs through his brutish, physical insensibility; neither had I, long
+as I had considered my position, made enough allowance for the complete
+moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil, which were the
+leading characters of Edward Hyde. Yet it was by these that I was
+punished. My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring. I was
+conscious, even when I took the draught, of a more unbridled, a more
+furious propensity to ill. It must have been this, I suppose, that
+stirred in my soul that tempest of impatience with which I listened to
+the civilities of my unhappy victim; I declare at least, before God, no
+man morally sane could have been guilty of that crime upon so pitiful a
+provocation; and that I struck in no more reasonable spirit than that in
+which a sick child may break a plaything. But I had voluntarily stripped
+myself of all those balancing instincts, by which even the worst of us
+continues to walk with some degree of steadiness among temptations; and
+in my case, to be tempted, however slightly, was to fall.
+
+Instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged. With a transport of
+glee I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow: and
+it was not till weariness had begun to succeed, that I was suddenly, in
+the top fit of my delirium, struck through the heart by a cold thrill of
+terror. A mist dispersed; I saw my life to be forfeit; and fled from the
+scene of these excesses, at once glorying and trembling, my lust of evil
+gratified and stimulated, my love of life screwed to the topmost peg. I
+ran to the house in Soho, and (to make assurance doubly sure) destroyed
+my papers; thence I set out through the lamplit streets, in the same
+divided ecstasy of mind, gloating on my crime, light-headedly devising
+others in the future, and yet still hastening and still hearkening in my
+wake for the steps of the avenger. Hyde had a song upon his lips as he
+compounded the draught, and as he drank it, pledged the dead man. The
+pangs of transformation had not done tearing him, before Henry Jekyll,
+with streaming tears of gratitude and remorse, had fallen upon his knees
+and lifted his clasped hands to God. The veil of self-indulgence was
+rent from head to foot, I saw my life as a whole: I followed it up from
+the days of childhood, when I had walked with my father's hand, and
+through the self-denying toils of my professional life, to arrive again
+and again, with the same sense of unreality, at the damned horrors of
+the evening. I could have screamed aloud; I sought with tears and
+prayers to smother down the crowd of hideous images and sounds with
+which my memory swarmed against me; and still, between the petitions,
+the ugly face of my iniquity stared into my soul. As the acuteness of
+this remorse began to die away, it was succeeded by a sense of joy. The
+problem of my conduct was solved. Hyde was thenceforth impossible;
+whether I would or not, I was now confined to the better part of my
+existence; and oh how I rejoiced to think it! with what willing humility
+I embraced anew the restrictions of natural life! with what sincere
+renunciation I locked the door by which I had so often gone and come,
+and ground the key under my heel!
+
+The next day came the news that the murder had been overlooked, that the
+guilt of Hyde was patent to the world, and that the victim was a man
+high in public estimation. It was not only a crime, it had been a tragic
+folly. I think I was glad to know it; I think I was glad to have my
+better impulses thus buttressed and guarded by the terrors of the
+scaffold. Jekyll was now my city of refuge; let but Hyde peep out an
+instant, and the hands of all men would be raised to take and slay him.
+
+I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with
+honesty that my resolve was fruitful of some good. You know yourself how
+earnestly in the last months of last year, I laboured to relieve
+suffering; you know that much was done for others, and that the days
+passed quietly, almost happily for myself. Nor can I truly say that I
+wearied of this beneficent and innocent life; I think instead that I
+daily enjoyed it more completely; but I was still cursed with my duality
+of purpose; and as the first edge of my penitence wore off, the lower
+side of me, so long indulged, so recently chained down, began to growl
+for licence. Not that I dreamed of resuscitating Hyde; the bare idea of
+that would startle me to frenzy: no, it was in my own person that I was
+once more tempted to trifle with my conscience; and it was as an
+ordinary secret sinner that I at last fell before the assaults of
+temptation.
+
+There comes an end to all things; the most capacious measure is filled
+at last; and this brief condescension to evil finally destroyed the
+balance of my soul. And yet I was not alarmed; the fall seemed natural,
+like a return to the old days before I had made my discovery. It was a
+fine, clear, January day, wet under foot where the frost had melted, but
+cloudless overhead; and the Regent's Park was full of winter chirrupings
+and sweet with spring odours. I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal
+within me licking the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little
+drowsed, promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin.
+After all, I reflected, I was like my neighbours; and then I smiled,
+comparing myself with other men, comparing my active goodwill with the
+lazy cruelty of their neglect. And at the very moment of that
+vainglorious thought a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most
+deadly shuddering. These passed away, and left me faint; and then, as in
+its turn the faintness subsided, I began to be aware of a change in the
+temper of my thoughts, a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a
+solution of the bonds of obligation. I looked down; my clothes hung
+formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded
+and hairy. I was once more Edward Hyde. A moment before I had been safe
+of all men's respect, wealthy, beloved--the cloth laying for me in the
+dining-room at home; and now I was the common quarry of mankind, hunted,
+houseless, a known murderer, thrall to the gallows.
+
+My reason wavered, but it did not fail me utterly. I have more than once
+observed that, in my second character, my faculties seemed sharpened to
+a point and my spirits more tensely elastic; thus it came about that,
+where Jekyll perhaps might have succumbed, Hyde rose to the importance
+of the moment. My drugs were in one of the presses of my cabinet; how
+was I to reach them? That was the problem that (crushing my temples in
+my hands) I set myself to solve. The laboratory door I had closed. If I
+sought to enter by the house, my own servants would consign me to the
+gallows. I saw I must employ another hand, and thought of Lanyon. How
+was he to be reached? how persuaded? Supposing that I escaped capture in
+the streets, how was I to make my way into his presence? and how should
+I, an unknown and displeasing visitor, prevail on the famous physician
+to rifle the study of his colleague, Dr. Jekyll? Then I remembered that
+of my original character, one part remained to me: I could write my own
+hand; and once I had conceived that kindling spark, the way that I must
+follow became lighted up from end to end.
+
+Thereupon I arranged my clothes as best I could, and summoning a passing
+hansom, drove to a hotel in Portland Street, the name of which I chanced
+to remember. At my appearance (which was indeed comical enough, however
+tragic a fate these garments covered) the driver could not conceal his
+mirth. I gnashed my teeth upon him with a gust of devilish fury; and the
+smile withered from his face--happily for him--yet more happily for
+myself, for in another instant I had certainly dragged him from his
+perch. At the inn, as I entered, I looked about me with so black a
+countenance as made the attendants tremble; not a look did they exchange
+in my presence; but obsequiously took my orders, led me to a private
+room, and brought me wherewithal to write. Hyde in danger of his life
+was a creature new to me: shaken with inordinate anger, strung to the
+pitch of murder, lusting to inflict pain. Yet the creature was astute;
+mastered his fury with a great effort of the will; composed his two
+important letters, one to Lanyon and one to Poole; and that he might
+receive actual evidence of their being posted, sent them out with
+directions that they should be registered.
+
+Thenceforward, he sat all day over the fire in the private room, gnawing
+his nails; there he dined, sitting alone with his fears, the waiter
+visibly quailing before his eye; and then, when the night was fully
+come, he set forth in the corner of a closed cab, and was driven to and
+fro about the streets of the city. He, I say--I cannot say, I. That
+child of Hell had nothing human; nothing lived in him but fear and
+hatred. And when at last, thinking the driver had begun to grow
+suspicious, he discharged the cab and ventured on foot, attired in his
+misfitting clothes, an object marked out for observation, into the midst
+of the nocturnal passengers, these two base passions raged within him
+like a tempest. He walked fast, hunted by his fears, chattering to
+himself, skulking through the less frequented thoroughfares, counting
+the minutes that still divided him from midnight. Once a woman spoke to
+him, offering, I think, a box of lights. He smote her in the face, and
+she fled.
+
+When I came to myself at Lanyon's, the horror of my old friend perhaps
+affected me somewhat: I do not know; it was at least but a drop in the
+sea to the abhorrence with which I looked back upon these hours. A
+change had come over me. It was no longer the fear of the gallows, it
+was the horror of being Hyde that racked me. I received Lanyon's
+condemnation partly in a dream; it was partly in a dream that I came
+home to my own house and got into bed. I slept after the prostration of
+the day, with a stringent and profound slumber which not even the
+nightmares that wrung me could avail to break. I awoke in the morning
+shaken, weakened, but refreshed. I still hated and feared the thought of
+the brute that slept within me, and I had not, of course, forgotten the
+appalling dangers of the day before; but I was once more at home, in my
+own house and close to my drugs; and gratitude for my escape shone so
+strong in my soul that it almost rivalled the brightness of hope.
+
+I was stepping leisurely across the court after breakfast, drinking the
+chill of the air with pleasure, when I was seized again with those
+indescribable sensations that heralded the change; and I had but the
+time to gain the shelter of my cabinet, before I was once again raging
+and freezing with the passions of Hyde. It took on this occasion a
+double dose to recall me to myself; and alas! six hours after, as I sat
+looking sadly in the fire, the pangs returned, and the drug had to be
+re-administered. In short, from that day forth it seemed only by a great
+effort as of gymnastics, and only under the immediate stimulation of the
+drug, that I was able to wear the countenance of Jekyll. At all hours of
+the day and night I would be taken with the premonitory shudder; above
+all, if I slept, or even dozed for a moment in my chair, it was always
+as Hyde that I awakened. Under the strain of this continually impending
+doom and by the sleeplessness to which I now condemned myself, ay, even
+beyond what I had thought possible to man, I became, in my own person, a
+creature eaten up and emptied by fever, languidly weak both in body and
+mind, and solely occupied by one thought: the horror of my other self.
+But when I slept, or when the virtue of the medicine wore off, I would
+leap almost without transition (for the pangs of transformation grew
+daily less marked) into the possession of a fancy brimming with images
+of terror, a soul boiling with causeless hatreds, and a body that seemed
+not strong enough to contain the raging energies of life. The powers of
+Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll. And certainly
+the hate that now divided them was equal on each side. With Jekyll, it
+was a thing of vital instinct. He had now seen the full deformity of
+that creature that shared with him some of the phenomena of
+consciousness, and was co-heir with him to death: and beyond these links
+of community, which in themselves made the most poignant part of his
+distress, he thought of Hyde, for all his energy of life, as of
+something not only hellish but inorganic. This was the shocking thing;
+that the slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices; that the
+amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned; that what was dead, and had no
+shape, should usurp the offices of life. And this again, that that
+insurgent horror was knit to him closer than a wife, closer than an eye;
+lay caged in his flesh, where he heard it mutter and felt it struggle to
+be born; and at every hour of weakness, and in the confidence of
+slumber, prevailed against him, and deposed him out of life. The hatred
+of Hyde for Jekyll was of a different order. His terror of the gallows
+drove him continually to commit temporary suicide, and return to his
+subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he loathed the
+necessity, he loathed the despondency into which Jekyll was now fallen,
+and he resented the dislike with which he was himself regarded. Hence
+the ape-like tricks that he would play me, scrawling in my own hand
+blasphemies on the pages of my books, burning the letters and destroying
+the portrait of my father; and indeed, had it not been for his fear of
+death, he would long ago have ruined himself in order to involve me in
+the ruin. But his love of life is wonderful; I go further: I, who sicken
+and freeze at the mere thought of him, when I recall the abjection and
+passion of this attachment, and when I know how he fears my power to
+cut him off by suicide, I find it in my heart to pity him.
+
+It is useless, and the time awfully fails me, to prolong this
+description; no one has ever suffered such torments, let that suffice;
+and yet even to these, habit brought--no, not alleviation--but a certain
+callousness of soul, a certain acquiescence of despair; and my
+punishment might have gone on for years, but for the last calamity which
+has now fallen, and which has finally severed me from my own face and
+nature. My provision of the salt, which had never been renewed since the
+date of the first experiment, began to run low. I sent out for a fresh
+supply, and mixed the draught; the ebullition followed, and the first
+change of colour, not the second; I drank it and it was without
+efficiency. You will learn from Poole how I have had London ransacked;
+it was in vain; and I am now persuaded that my first supply was impure,
+and that it was that unknown impurity which lent efficacy to the
+draught.
+
+About a week has passed, and I am now finishing this statement under the
+influence of the last of the old powders. This, then, is the last time,
+short of a miracle, that Henry Jekyll can think his own thoughts or see
+his own face (now how sadly altered!) in the glass. Nor must I delay too
+long to bring my writing to an end; for if my narrative has hitherto
+escaped destruction, it has been by a combination of great prudence and
+great good luck. Should the throes of change take me in the act of
+writing it, Hyde will tear it in pieces; but if some time shall have
+elapsed after I have laid it by, his wonderful selfishness and
+circumscription to the moment will probably save it once again from the
+action of his ape-like spite. And indeed the doom that is closing on us
+both has already changed and crushed him. Half an hour from now, when I
+shall again and for ever re-indue that hated personality, I know how I
+shall sit shuddering and weeping in my chair, or continue, with the most
+strained and fearstruck ecstasy of listening, to pace up and down this
+room (my last earthly refuge) and give ear to every sound of menace.
+Will Hyde die upon the scaffold? or will he find the courage to release
+himself at the last moment? God knows; I am careless; this is my true
+hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here
+then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I
+bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.
+
+
+
+
+THRAWN JANET
+
+
+
+
+THRAWN JANET
+
+
+The Reverend Murdoch Soulis was long minister of the moorland parish of
+Balweary, in the vale of Dule. A severe, bleak-faced old man, dreadful
+to his hearers, he dwelt in the last years of his life, without relative
+or servant or any human company, in the small and lonely manse under the
+Hanging Shaw. In spite of the iron composure of his features, his eye
+was wild, scared, and uncertain; and when he dwelt, in private
+admonitions, on the future of the impenitent, it seemed as if his eye
+pierced through the storms of time to the terrors of eternity. Many
+young persons, coming to prepare themselves against the season of the
+Holy Communion, were dreadfully affected by his talk. He had a sermon on
+1st Peter v. and 8th, "The devil as a roaring lion," on the Sunday after
+every seventeenth of August, and he was accustomed to surpass himself
+upon that text both by the appalling nature of the matter and the terror
+of his bearing in the pulpit. The children were frightened into fits,
+and the old looked more than usually oracular, and were, all that day,
+full of those hints that Hamlet deprecated. The manse itself, where it
+stood by the water of Dule among some thick trees, with the Shaw
+overhanging it on the one side, and on the other many cold, moorish
+hill-tops rising towards the sky, had begun, at a very early period of
+Mr. Soulis's ministry, to be avoided in the dusk hours by all who valued
+themselves upon their prudence; and guidmen sitting at the clachan
+alehouse shook their heads together at the thought of passing late by
+that uncanny neighbourhood. There was one spot, to be more particular,
+which was regarded with especial awe. The manse stood between the
+high-road and the water of Dule, with a gable to each; its back was
+towards the kirktown of Balweary, nearly half a mile away; in front of
+it, a bare garden, hedged with thorn, occupied the land between the
+river and the road. The house was two stories high, with two large rooms
+on each. It opened not directly on the garden, but on a causewayed path,
+or passage, giving on the road on the one hand, and closed on the other
+by the tall willows and elders that bordered on the stream. And it was
+this strip of causeway that enjoyed among the young parishioners of
+Balweary so infamous a reputation. The minister walked there often after
+dark, sometimes groaning aloud in the instancy of his unspoken prayers;
+and when he was from home, and the manse door was locked, the more
+daring schoolboys ventured, with beating hearts, to "follow my leader"
+across that legendary spot.
+
+This atmosphere of terror, surrounding, as it did, a man of God of
+spotless character and orthodoxy, was a common cause of wonder and
+subject of inquiry among the few strangers who were led by chance or
+business into that unknown, outlying country. But many even of the
+people of the parish were ignorant of the strange events which had
+marked the first year of Mr. Soulis's ministrations; and among those who
+were better informed, some were naturally reticent, and others shy of
+that particular topic. Now and again, only, one of the older folk would
+warm into courage over his third tumbler, and recount the cause of the
+minister's strange looks and solitary life.
+
+
+Fifty years syne, when Mr. Soulis cam' first into Ba'weary, he was still
+a young man--a callant, the folk said--fu' o' book-learnin' an' grand at
+the exposition, but, as was natural in sae young a man, wi' nae leevin'
+experience in religion. The younger sort were greatly taken wi' his
+gifts an' his gab; but auld, concerned, serious men and women were moved
+even to prayer for the young man, whom they took to be a self-deceiver,
+an' the parish that was like to be sae ill-supplied. It was before the
+days o' the Moderates--weary fa' them; but ill things are like
+guid--they baith come bit by bit, a pickle at a time; an' there were
+folk even then that said the Lord had left the college professors to
+their ain devices, an' the lads that went to study wi' them wad hae done
+mair an' better sittin' in a peat-bog, like their forbears o' the
+persecution, wi' a Bible under their oxter an' a speerit o' prayer in
+their heart. There was nae doubt, onyway, but that Mr. Soulis had been
+ower lang at the college. He was careful an' troubled for mony things
+besides the ae thing needful. He had a feck o' books wi' him--mair than
+had ever been seen before in a' that presbytery; and a sair wark the
+carrier had wi' them, for they were a' like to have smoored in the
+De'il's Hag between this an' Kilmackerlie. They were books o' divinity,
+to be sure, or so they ca'd them; but the serious were of opinion there
+was little service for sae mony, when the hale o' God's Word would gang
+in the neuk o' a plaid. Then he wad sit half the day, an' half the nicht
+forbye, which was scant decent--writin', nae less; an' first, they were
+feared he wad read his sermons; an' syne it proved he was writin' a book
+himsel', which was surely no' flttin' for ane o' his years an' sma'
+experience.
+
+Onyway it behoved him to get an auld, decent wife to keep the manse for
+him an' see to his bit denners; an' he was recommended to an auld
+limmer--Janet M'Clour, they ca'd her--an' sae far left to himsel' as to
+be ower persuaded. There was mony advised him to the contrar, for Janet
+was mair than suspeckit by the best folk in Ba'weary. Lang or that, she
+had had a wean to a dragoon; she hadna come forrit[5] for maybe thretty
+year; an' bairns had seen her mumblin' to hersel' up on Key's Loan in
+the gloamin', whilk was an unco time an' place for a God-fearin' woman.
+Howsoever, it was the laird himsel' that had first tauld the minister o'
+Janet; an' in thae days he wad hae gane a far gate to pleesure the
+laird. When folk tauld him that Janet was sib to the de'il, it was a'
+superstition by his way o' it; an' when they cast up the Bible to him
+an' the witch o' Endor, he wad threep it doun their thrapples that thir
+days were a' gane by, an' the de'il was mercifully restrained.
+
+Weel, when it got about the clachan that Janet M'Clour was to be servant
+at the manse, the folk were fair mad wi' her an' him thegither; an' some
+o' the guid wives had nae better to dae than get round her door-cheeks
+and chairge her wi' a' that was ken't again' her, frae the sodger's
+bairn to John Tamson's twa kye. She was nae great speaker; folk usually
+let her gang her ain gate, an' she let them gang theirs, wi' neither
+Fair-guid-een nor Fair-guid-day: but when she buckled to, she had a
+tongue to deave the miller. Up she got, an' there wasna an auld story in
+Ba'weary but she gart somebody lowp for it that day; they couldna say ae
+thing but she could say twa to it; till, at the hinder end, the
+guidwives up and claught hand o' her, an' clawed the coats aff her back,
+an' pu'd her doun the clachan to the water o' Dule, to see if she were a
+witch or no, soom or droun. The carline skirled till ye could hear her
+at the Hangin' Shaw, an' she focht like ten; there was mony a guidwife
+bure the mark o' her neist day an' mony a lang day after; an' just in
+the hottest o' the collieshangie, wha suld come up (for his sins) but
+the new minister.
+
+"Women," said he (and he had a grand voice), "I charge you in the Lord's
+name to let her go."
+
+Janet ran to him--she was fair wud wi' terror--an' clang to him, an'
+prayed him, for Christ's sake, save her frae the cummers; an' they, for
+their pairt, tauld him a' that was ken't, an' maybe mair.
+
+"Woman," says he to Janet, "is this true?"
+
+"As the Lord sees me," says she, "as the Lord made me, no a word o't.
+Forbye the bairn," says she, "I've been a decent woman a' my days."
+
+"Will you," says Mr. Soulis, "in the name of God, and before me, His
+unworthy minister, renounce the devil and his works?"
+
+Weel, it wad appear that when he askit that, she gave a girn that fairly
+frichtit them that saw her, an' they could hear her teeth play dirl
+thegither in her chafts; but there was naething for't but the ae way or
+the ither; an' Janet lifted up her hand an' renounced the de'il before
+them a'.
+
+"And now," says Mr. Soulis to the guidwives, "home with ye, one and all,
+and pray to God for His forgiveness."
+
+An' he gied Janet his arm, though she had little on her but a sark, an'
+took her up the clachan to her ain door like a leddy o' the land; an'
+her screighin' and laughin' as was a scandal to be heard.
+
+There were mony grave folk lang ower their prayers that nicht; but when
+the morn cam' there was sic a fear fell upon a' Ba'weary that the bairns
+hid theirsels, an' even the men-folk stood an' keekit frae their doors.
+For there was Janet comin' doun the clachan--her or her likeness, nane
+could tell--wi' her neck thrawn, an' her heid on ae side, like a body
+that has been hangit, an' a girn on her face like an unstreakit corp. By
+an' by they got used wi' it, an' even speered at her to ken what was
+wrang; but frae that day forth she couldna speak like a Christian woman,
+but slavered an' played click wi' her teeth like a pair o' shears; an'
+frae that day forth the name o' God cam' never on her lips. Whiles she
+wad try to say it, but it michtna be. Them that kenned best said least;
+but they never gied that Thing the name o' Janet M'Clour; for the auld
+Janet, by their way o't, was in muckle hell that day. But the minister
+was neither to haud nor to bind; he preached about naething but the
+folk's cruelty that had gi'en her a stroke of the palsy; he skelpit the
+bairns that meddled her; an' he had her up to the manse that same nicht,
+an' dwalled there a' his lane wi' her under the Hangin' Shaw.
+
+Weel, time gaed by: an' the idler sort commenced to think mair lichtly
+o' that black business. The minister was weel thocht o'; he was aye late
+at the writing, folk wad see his can'le doon by the Dule water after
+twal' at e'en; an' he seemed pleased wi' himsel' an' upsitten as at
+first, though a' body could see that he was dwining. As for Janet she
+cam' an' she gaed; if she didna speak muckle afore, it was reason she
+should speak less then; she meddled naebody; but she was an eldritch
+thing to see, an' nane wad hae mistrysted wi' her for Ba'weary glebe.
+
+About the end o' July there cam' a spell o' weather, the like o't never
+was in that countryside; it was lown an' het an' heartless; the herds
+couldna win up the Black Hill, the bairns were ower weariet to play; an'
+yet it was gousty too, wi' claps o' het wund that rumm'led in the glens,
+and bits o' shouers that slockened naething. We aye thocht it but to
+thun'er on the morn; but the morn cam', an' the morn's morning, an' it
+was aye the same uncanny weather, sair on folks and bestial. O' a' that
+were the waur, nane suffered like Mr. Soulis; he could neither sleep nor
+eat, he tauld his elders; an' when he wasna writin' at his weary book,
+he wad be stravaguin' ower a' the countryside like a man possessed, when
+a' body else was blithe to keep caller ben the house.
+
+Abune Hangin' Shaw, in the bield o' the Black Hill, there's a bit
+enclosed grund wi' an iron yett; an' it seems, in the auld days, that
+was the kirkyaird o' Ba'weary, and consecrated by the Papists before the
+blessed licht shone upon the kingdom. It was a great howff o' Mr.
+Soulis's, onyway; there he wad sit an' consider his sermons; an' indeed
+it's a bieldy bit. Weel, as he cam' ower the wast end o' the Black Hill
+ae day, he saw first twa, an' syne fower, an' syne seeven corbie craws
+fleein' round an' round abune the auld kirkyaird. They flew laigh an'
+heavy, an' squawked to ither as they gaed; an' it was clear to Mr.
+Soulis that something had put them frae their ordinar'. He wasna easy
+fleyed, an' gaed straucht up to the wa's; an' what suld he find there
+but a man, or the appearance o' a man, sittin' in the inside upon a
+grave. He was of a great stature, an' black as hell, an' his e'en were
+singular to see.[6] Mr. Soulis had heard tell o' black men, mony's the
+time; but there was something unco about this black man that daunted
+him. Het as he was, he took a kind o' cauld grue in the marrow o' his
+banes; but up he spak for a' that; an' says he: "My friend, are you a
+stranger in this place?" The black man answered never a word; he got
+upon his feet, an' begoud to hirsle to the wa' on the far side; but he
+aye lookit at the minister; an' the minister stood an' lookit back; till
+a' in a meenit the black man was ower the wa' an' rinnin' for the bield
+o' the trees. Mr. Soulis, he hardly kenned why, ran after him; but he
+was fair forjeskit wi' his walk an' the het, unhalesome weather; an' rin
+as he likit, he got nae mair than a glisk o' the black man amang the
+birks, till he won doun to the foot o' the hillside, an' there he saw
+him ance mair, gaun hap-step-an'-lowp ower Dule water to the manse.
+
+Mr. Soulis wasna weel pleased that this fearsome gangrel suld mak' sae
+free wi' Ba'weary manse; an' he ran the harder, an', wet shoon, ower the
+burn, an' up the walk; but the deil a black man was there to see. He
+stepped out upon the road, but there was naebody there; he gaed a' ower
+the gairden, but na, nae black man. At the hinder end, an' a bit feared,
+as was but natural, he lifted the hasp an' into the manse; an' there was
+Janet M'Clour before his een, wi' her thrawn craig, an' nane sae pleased
+to see him. An' he aye minded sinsyne, when first he set his een upon
+her, he had the same cauld and deidly grue.
+
+"Janet," says he, "have you seen a black man?"
+
+"A black man?" quo' she. "Save us a'! Ye're no wise, minister. There's
+nae black man in a' Ba'weary."
+
+But she didna speak plain, ye maun understand; but yam-yammered, like a
+powney wi' the bit in its moo.
+
+"Weel," says he, "Janet, if there was nae black man, I have spoken with
+the Accuser of the Brethren."
+
+An' he sat down like ane wi' a fever, an' his teeth chittered in his
+heid.
+
+"Hoots," says she, "think shame to yoursel', minister"; an' gied him a
+drap brandy that she keept aye by her.
+
+Syne Mr. Soulis gaed into his study amang a' his books. It's a lang,
+laigh, mirk chalmer, perishin' cauld in winter, an' no' very dry even in
+the tap o' the simmer, for the manse stands near the burn. Sae doun he
+sat, an' thocht o' a' that had come an' gane since he was in Ba'weary,
+an' his hame, an' the days when he was a bairn an' ran daffin' on the
+braes; an' that black man aye ran in his heid like the owercome o' a
+sang. Aye the mair he thocht, the mair he thocht o' the black man. He
+tried the prayer, an' the words wadna come to him; an' he tried, they
+say, to write at his book, but he couldna mak' nae mair o' that. There
+was whiles he thocht the black man was at his oxter, an' the swat stood
+upon him cauld as well-water; an' there was ither whiles when he cam' to
+himsel' like a christened bairn an' minded naething.
+
+The upshot was that he gaed to the window an' stood glowrin' at Dule
+water. The trees are unco thick, an' the water lies deep an' black under
+the manse; an' there was Janet washin' the cla'es wi' her coats kilted.
+She had her back to the minister, an' he, for his pairt, hardly kenned
+what he was lookin' at. Syne she turned round, an' shawed her face; Mr.
+Soulis had the same cauld grue as twice that day afore, an' it was borne
+in upon him what folk said, that Janet was deid lang syne, an' this was
+a bogle in her clay-cauld flesh. He drew back a pickle and he scanned
+her narrowly. She was tramp-trampin' in the cla'es, croonin' to hersel';
+and eh! Gude guide us, but it was a fearsome face. Whiles she sang
+louder, but there was nae man born o' woman that could tell the words o'
+her sang; an' whiles she lookit side-lang doun, but there was naething
+there for her to look at. There gaed a scunner through the flesh upon
+his banes; an' that was Heeven's advertisement. But Mr. Soulis just
+blamed himsel', he said, to think sae ill o' a puir, auld afflicted wife
+that hadna a freend forbye himsel'; an' he put up a bit prayer for him
+an' her, an' drank a little caller water--for his heart rose again' the
+meat--an' gaed up to his naked bed in the gloamin'.
+
+That was a nicht that has never been forgotten in Ba'weary, the nicht o'
+the seeventeenth o' August, seeventeen hun'er' an' twal'. It had been
+het afore, as I hae said, but that nicht it was better than ever. The
+sun gaed doun amang unco-lookin' clouds; it fell as mirk as the pit; no'
+a star, no' a breath o' wund; ye couldna see your han' afore your face,
+an' even the auld folk cuist the covers frae their beds an' lay pechin'
+for their breath. Wi' a' that he had upon his mind, it was geyan
+unlikely Mr. Soulis wad get muckle sleep. He lay an' he tummled; the
+gude, caller bed that he got into brunt his very banes; whiles he slept,
+an' whiles he waukened; whiles he heard the time o' nicht, an' whiles a
+tyke yowlin' up the muir, as if somebody was deid; whiles he thocht he
+heard bogles claverin' in his lug, an' whiles he saw spunkies in the
+room. He behoved, he judged, to be sick; an' sick he was--little he
+jaloosed the sickness.
+
+At the hinder end he got a clearness in his mind, sat up in his sark on
+the bed-side, an' fell thinkin' ance mair o' the black man an' Janet. He
+couldna weel tell how--maybe it was the cauld to his feet--but it cam'
+in upon him wi' a spate that there was some connection between thir twa,
+an' that either or baith o' them were bogles. An' just at that moment,
+in Janet's room, which was neist to his, there cam' a stramp o' feet as
+if men were wars'lin', an' then a loud bang; an' then a wund gaed
+reishling round the fower quarters o' the house; an' then a' was aince
+mair as seelent as the grave.
+
+Mr. Soulis was feared for neither man nor deevil. He got his tinder-box,
+an' lit a can'le, an' made three steps o't ower to Janet's door. It was
+on the hasp, an' he pushed it open, an' keekit bauldly in. It was a big
+room, as big as the minister's ain, an' plenished wi' grand, auld, solid
+gear, for he had naething else. There was a fower-posted bed wi' auld
+tapestry; an' a braw cabinet o' aik, that was fu' o' the minister's
+divinity books, an' put there to be out o' the gate; an' a wheen duds o'
+Janet's lying here an' there about the floor. But nae Janet could Mr.
+Soulis see; nor ony sign o' a contention. In he gaed (an' there's few
+that wad hae followed him) an' lookit a' round, an' listened. But there
+was naething to be heard, neither inside the manse nor in a' Ba'weary
+parish, an' naething to be seen but the muckle shadows turnin' round the
+can'le. An' then a' at aince, the minister's heart played dunt an' stood
+stock-still; an' a cauld wund blew amang the hairs o' his heid. Whaten a
+weary sicht was that for the puir man's een! For there was Janet hangin'
+frae a nail beside the auld aik cabinet: her heid aye lay on her
+shouther, her een were steekit, the tongue projected frae her mouth, an'
+her heels were twa feet clear abune the floor.
+
+"God forgive us all!" thocht Mr. Soulis; "poor Janet's dead."
+
+He cam' a step nearer to the corp; an' then his heart fair whammled in
+his inside. For, by what cantrip it wad ill beseem a man to judge, she
+was hingin' frae a single nail an' by a single wursted thread for
+darnin' hose.
+
+It's an awfu' thing to be your lane at nicht wi' siccan prodigies o'
+darkness; but Mr. Soulis was strong in the Lord. He turned an' gaed his
+ways oot o' that room, an' lockit the door ahint him; an' step by step,
+doon the stairs, as heavy as leed; an' set doon the can'le on the table
+at the stairfoot. He couldna pray, he couldna think, he was dreepin' wi'
+caul' swat, an' naething could he hear but the dunt-dunt-duntin' o' his
+ain heart. He micht maybe hae stood there an hour, or maybe twa, he
+minded sae little; when a' o' a sudden, he heard a laigh, uncanny steer
+upstairs; a foot gaed to an' fro in the chalmer whaur the corp was
+hingin'; syne the door was opened, though he minded weel that he had
+lockit it; an' syne there was a step upon the landin', an' it seemed to
+him as if the corp was lookin' ower the rail an' doun upon him whaur he
+stood.
+
+He took up the can'le again (for he couldna want the licht), an' as
+saftly as ever he could, gaed straucht out o' the manse an' to the far
+end o' the causeway. It was aye pit-mirk; the flame o' the can'le, when
+he set it on the grund, brunt steedy and clear as in a room; naething
+moved, but the Dule water seepin' an' sabbin' doun the glen, an' yon
+unhaly footstep that cam' ploddin' doun the stairs inside the manse. He
+kenned the foot ower weel, for it was Janet's; an' at ilka step that
+cam' a wee thing nearer, the cauld got deeper in his vitals. He
+commended his soul to Him that made an' keepit him; "and, O Lord," said
+he, "give me strength this night to war against the powers of evil."
+
+By this time the foot was comin' through the passage for the door; he
+could hear a hand skirt alang the wa', as if the fearsome thing was
+feelin' for its way. The saughs tossed an' maned thegither, a lang sigh
+cam' ower the hills, the flame o' the can'le was blawn aboot; an' there
+stood the corp o' Thrawn Janet, wi' her grogram goun an' her black
+mutch, wi' the heid aye upon the shouther, an' the girn still upon the
+face o't--leevin', ye wad hae said--deid, as Mr. Soulis weel
+kenned--upon the threshold o' the manse.
+
+It's a strange thing that the saul o' man should be that thirled into
+his perishable body; but the minister saw that, an' his heart didna
+break.
+
+She didna stand there lang; she began to move again an' cam' slowly
+towards Mr. Soulis whaur he stood under the saughs. A' the life o' his
+body, a' the strength o' his speerit, were glowerin' frae his een. It
+seemed she was gaun to speak, but wanted words, an' made a sign wi' the
+left hand. There cam' a clap o' wund, like a cat's fuff; oot gaed the
+can'le, the saughs skreighed like folk; and Mr. Soulis kenned that, live
+or die, this was the end o't.
+
+"Witch, beldame, devil!" he cried, "I charge you, by the power of God,
+begone--if you be dead, to the grave--if you be damned, to hell."
+
+An' at that moment the Lord's ain hand out o' the Heevens struck the
+Horror whaur it stood; the auld, deid, desecrated corp o' the
+witch-wife, sae lang keepit frae the grave an' hirsled round by de'ils,
+lowed up like a brunstane spunk an' fell in ashes to the grund; the
+thunder followed, peal on dirlin' peal, the rairin' rain upon the back
+o' that; an' Mr. Soulis lowped through the garden hedge, an' ran, wi'
+skelloch upon skelloch, for the clachan.
+
+That same mornin', John Christie saw the Black Man pass the Muckle Cairn
+as it was chappin' six; before eicht, he gaed by the change-house at
+Knockdow; an' no' lang after, Sandy M'Lellan saw him gaun linkin' doun
+the braes frae Kilmackerlie. There's little doubt but it was him that
+dwalled sae lang in Janet's body; but he was awa' at last; an' sinsyne
+the de'il has never fashed us in Ba'weary.
+
+But it was a sair dispensation for the minister; lang, lang he lay
+ravin' in his bed; an' frae that hour to this he was the man ye ken the
+day.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [5] "To come forrit"--to offer oneself as a communicant.
+
+  [6] It was a common belief in Scotland that the devil appeared as a
+    black man. This appears in several witch trials, and I think in
+    Law's "Memorials," that delightful storehouse of the quaint and
+    grisly.
+
+
+
+
+END OF VOL. V
+
+
+PRINTED BY CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.
+
+
+
+
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+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson -
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson -
+Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson
+
+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 Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25)
+
+Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
+
+Other: Andrew Lang
+
+Release Date: December 23, 2009 [EBook #30744]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF STEVENSON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<h4>THE WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON</h3>
+<h4>SWANSTON EDITION</h4>
+<h5>VOLUME V</h5>
+
+<div class="pt3">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p class="noind center"><i>Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five<br />
+Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS<br />
+STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies<br />
+have been printed, of which only Two Thousand<br />
+Copies are for sale.</i></p>
+
+<p class="noind center"><i>This is No. <span style="font-size: 60%;">............</span></i></p>
+<div class="pt05">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img style="border:0; width:482px; height:700px"
+     src="images/image01.jpg"
+     alt="" />
+<p class="f70">8 HOWARD PLACE, EDINBURGH, BIRTHPLACE OF R. L. S. IN 1850</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+<h3>THE WORKS OF</h3>
+<h2>ROBERT LOUIS</h2>
+<h2>STEVENSON</h2>
+
+<div class="pt3">&nbsp;</div>
+<h5>VOLUME FIVE</h5>
+<div class="pt3">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<h5>LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND<br />
+WINDUS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL<br />
+AND COMPANY LIMITED: WILLIAM<br />
+HEINEMANN: AND LONGMANS GREEN<br />
+AND COMPANY MDCCCCXI</h5>
+
+<div class="pt3">&nbsp;</div>
+<h6>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</h6>
+
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+<hr class="art" />
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<table class="nobctr" width="90%" summary="Contents">
+
+<tr> <td class="center" colspan="2"><h4>MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS</h4></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="center" colspan="2"><h4>THE DYNAMITER</h4></td> </tr>
+
+<tr style="font-size: 70%; "> <td class="tc2">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tc2">PAGE</td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Prologue of the Cigar Divan</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page7">7</a></td> </tr>
+
+
+<tr> <td class="center" colspan="2">CHALLONER&rsquo;S ADVENTURE</td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">The Squire of Dames</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page15">15</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Story of the Destroying Angel</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page24">24</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="f85 tc5"><span class="sc">The Squire of Dames</span> (<i>concluded</i>)</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page57">57</a></td> </tr>
+
+
+<tr> <td class="center ptb" colspan="2">SOMERSET&rsquo;S ADVENTURE</td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">The Superfluous Mansion</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page73">73</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Narrative of the Spirited Old Lady</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page78">78</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="f85 tc5"><span class="sc">The Superfluous Mansion</span> (<i>continued</i>)</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page104">104</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Zero&rsquo;s Tale of the Explosive Bomb</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page130">130</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="f85 tc5"><span class="sc">The Superfluous Mansion</span> (<i>continued</i>)</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page139">139</a></td> </tr>
+
+
+<tr> <td class="center ptb" colspan="2">DESBOROUGH&rsquo;S ADVENTURE</td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">The Brown Box</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page149">149</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Story of the Fair Cuban</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page155">155</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="f85 tc5"><span class="sc">The Brown Box</span> (<i>concluded</i>)</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page190">190</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="f85 tc5"><span class="sc">The Superfluous Mansion</span> (<i>concluded</i>)</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page202">202</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Epilogue of the Cigar Divan</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page212">212</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="center ptb" colspan="2"><h4>STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE</h4></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Story of the Door</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page227">227</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Search for Mr. Hyde</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page234">234</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Dr. Jekyll was Quite at Ease</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page243">243</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">The Carew Murder Case</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page246">246</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Incident of the Letter</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page251">251</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page256">256</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Incident at the Window</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page261">261</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">The Last Night</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page263">263</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Dr. Lanyon&rsquo;s Narrative</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page276">276</a></td> </tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="scs tc5">Henry Jekyll&rsquo;s Full Statement of the Case</td>
+     <td class="tc2"><a href="#page284">284</a></td> </tr>
+
+
+<tr> <td class="tc5a"><h4 style="text-align: left;">THRAWN JANET</h4></td>
+     <td class="tc2c"><a href="#page305">305</a></td> </tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"></a>1</span></p>
+
+<div class="pt3">&nbsp;</div>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2>MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DYNAMITER</h3>
+
+<h5>WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH MRS. STEVENSON</h5>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page2"></a>2</span></p>
+<div class="pt3">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3"></a>3</span></p>
+<h5><i>TO</i></h5>
+
+<h5><i>MESSRS. COLE AND COX</i></h5>
+
+<h6><i>POLICE OFFICERS</i></h6>
+
+<p><i>Gentlemen,</i></p>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 4.5em;"><i>In the volume now in your hands, the authors have
+touched upon that ugly devil of crime, with which it is your
+glory to have contended. It were a waste of ink to do so in a
+serious spirit. Let us dedicate our horror to acts of a more
+mingled strain, where crime preserves some features of nobility,
+and where reason and humanity can still relish the temptation.
+Horror, in this case, is due to Mr. Parnell: he sits before
+posterity silent, Mr. Forster&rsquo;s appeal echoing down the ages.
+Horror is due to ourselves, in that we have so long coquetted
+with political crime; not seriously weighing, not acutely
+following it from cause to consequence; but with a generous,
+unfounded heat of sentiment, like the schoolboy with the penny
+tale, applauding what was specious. When it touched ourselves
+(truly in a vile shape), we proved false to these imaginations;
+discovered, in a clap, that crime was no less cruel and
+no less ugly under sounding names; and recoiled from our
+false deities.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But seriousness comes most in place when we are to speak of
+our defenders. Whoever be in the right in this great and
+confused war of politics; whatever elements of greed, whatever
+traits of the bully, dishonour both parties in this inhuman
+contest;&mdash;your side, your part, is at least pure of doubt. Yours
+is the side of the child, of the breeding woman, of individual
+pity and public trust. If our society were the mere kingdom of
+the devil (as indeed it wears some of his colours), it yet embraces
+many precious elements and many innocent persons whom it</i>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page4"></a>4</span>
+<i>is a glory to defend. Courage and devotion, so common in
+the ranks of the police, so little recognised, so meagrely rewarded,
+have at length found their commemoration in an historical act.
+History, which will represent Mr. Parnell sitting silent under
+the appeal of Mr. Forster, and Gordon setting forth upon his
+tragic enterprise, will not forget Mr. Cole carrying the dynamite
+in his defenceless hands, nor Mr. Cox coming coolly to his aid.</i></p>
+
+<p style="padding-left: 6em;"><i>ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.</i></p>
+<p style="padding-left: 6em;"><i>FANNY VAN DE GRIFT STEVENSON.</i></p>
+
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page5"></a>5</span></p>
+<h5><i>A NOTE FOR THE READER</i></h5>
+
+<p><i>It is within the bounds of possibility that you may take up this
+volume, and yet be unacquainted with its predecessor: the
+first series of</i> <span class="sc">New Arabian Nights</span>. <i>The loss is yours&mdash;and
+mine; or, to be more exact, my publishers&rsquo;. But if you
+are thus unlucky, the least I can do is to pass you a hint.
+When you shall find a reference in the following pages to one
+Theophilus Godall of the Bohemian Cigar Divan in Rupert
+Street, Soho, you must be prepared to recognise under his
+features no less a person than Prince Florizel of Bohemia,
+formerly one of the magnates of Europe, now dethroned, exiled,
+impoverished, and embarked in the tobacco trade.</i></p>
+
+<p class="rt"><i>R. L. S.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page6"></a>6</span></p>
+<div class="pt3">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page7"></a>7</span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2>MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS</h2>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<h3>THE DYNAMITER</h3>
+<hr class="art" />
+
+<h4>PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">In</span> the city of encounters, the Bagdad of the West, and,
+to be more precise, on the broad northern pavement of
+Leicester Square, two young men of five- or six-and-twenty
+met after years of separation. The first, who
+was of a very smooth address, and clothed in the best
+fashion, hesitated to recognise the pinched and shabby
+air of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;Paul Somerset!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am indeed Paul Somerset,&rdquo; returned the other,
+&ldquo;or what remains of him after a well-deserved experience
+of poverty and law. But in you, Challoner, I can
+perceive no change; and time may be said, without hyperbole,
+to write no wrinkle on your azure brow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All,&rdquo; replied Challoner, &ldquo;is not gold that glitters.
+But we are here in an ill posture for confidences, and interrupt
+the movement of these ladies. Let us, if you please, find
+a more private corner.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If you will allow me to guide you,&rdquo; replied Somerset,
+&ldquo;I will offer you the best cigar in London.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And taking the arm of his companion, he led him in
+silence and at a brisk pace to the door of a quiet establishment
+in Rupert Street, Soho. The entrance was adorned
+with one of those gigantic Highlanders of wood which have
+almost risen to the standing of antiquities; and across the
+window-glass, which sheltered the usual display of pipes,
+tobacco, and cigars, there ran the gilded legend: &ldquo;Bohemian
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8"></a>8</span>
+Cigar Divan, by T. Godall.&rdquo; The interior of the shop was
+small, but commodious and ornate; the salesman grave,
+smiling, and urbane; and the two young men, each puffing
+a select regalia, had soon taken their places on a sofa of
+mouse-coloured plush, and proceeded to exchange their
+stories.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am now,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;a barrister; but Providence
+and the attorneys have hitherto denied me the opportunity
+to shine. A select society at the Cheshire Cheese
+engaged my evenings; my afternoons, as Mr. Godall could
+testify, have been generally passed in this divan; and my
+mornings, I have taken the precaution to abbreviate by not
+rising before twelve. At this rate, my little patrimony was
+very rapidly and, I am proud to remember, most agreeably
+expended. Since then a gentleman, who has really nothing
+else to recommend him beyond the fact of being my maternal
+uncle, deals me the small sum of ten shillings a week; and
+if you behold me once more revisiting the glimpses of the
+street lamps in my favourite quarter, you will readily divine
+that I have come into a fortune.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I should not have supposed so,&rdquo; replied Challoner.
+&ldquo;But doubtless I met you on the way to your tailors.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a visit that I purpose to delay,&rdquo; returned Somerset,
+with a smile. &ldquo;My fortune has definite limits. It consists,
+or rather this morning it consisted, of one hundred
+pounds.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is certainly odd,&rdquo; said Challoner; &ldquo;yes, certainly
+the coincidence is strange. I am myself reduced
+to the same margin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You!&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;And yet Solomon in all
+his glory&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Such is the fact. I am, dear boy, on my last legs,&rdquo;
+said Challoner. &ldquo;Besides the clothes in which you see
+me, I have scarcely a decent trouser in my wardrobe; and
+if I knew how, I would this instant set about some sort
+of work or commerce. With a hundred pounds for capital,
+a man should push his way.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9"></a>9</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It may be,&rdquo; returned Somerset; &ldquo;but what to do with
+mine is more than I can fancy.&mdash;Mr. Godall,&rdquo; he added,
+addressing the salesman, &ldquo;you are a man who knows the
+world: what can a young fellow of reasonable education do
+with a hundred pounds?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It depends,&rdquo; replied the salesman, withdrawing his
+cheroot. &ldquo;The power of money is an article of faith in
+which I profess myself a sceptic. A hundred pounds will
+with difficulty support you for a year; with somewhat more
+difficulty you may spend it in a night; and without any
+difficulty at all you may lose it in five minutes on the Stock
+Exchange. If you are of that stamp of man that rises, a
+penny would be as useful; if you belong to those that fall,
+a penny would be no more useless. When I was myself
+thrown unexpectedly upon the world, it was my fortune to
+possess an art: I knew a good cigar. Do you know nothing,
+Mr. Somerset?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not even law,&rdquo; was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The answer is worthy of a sage,&rdquo; returned Mr. Godall.&mdash;&ldquo;And
+you, sir,&rdquo; he continued, turning to Challoner, &ldquo;as
+the friend of Mr. Somerset, may I be allowed to address you
+the same question?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; replied Challoner, &ldquo;I play a fair hand at whist.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How many persons are there in London,&rdquo; returned the
+salesman, &ldquo;who have two-and-thirty teeth? Believe me,
+young gentleman, there are more still who play a fair hand
+at whist. Whist, sir, is wide as the world; &rsquo;tis an accomplishment
+like breathing. I once knew a youth who
+announced that he was studying to be Chancellor of England;
+the design was certainly ambitious; but I find it less excessive
+than that of the man who aspires to make a livelihood
+by whist.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said Challoner, &ldquo;I am afraid I shall have to
+fall to be a working man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fall to be a working man?&rdquo; echoed Mr. Godall.
+&ldquo;Suppose a rural dean to be unfrocked, does he fall to be a
+major? suppose a captain were cashiered, would he fall to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"></a>10</span>
+be a puisne judge? The ignorance of your middle class
+surprises me. Outside itself, it thinks the world to lie quite
+ignorant and equal, sunk in a common degradation; but
+to the eye of the observer, all ranks are seen to stand in
+ordered hierarchies, and each adorned with its particular
+aptitudes and knowledge. By the defects of your education
+you are more disqualified to be a working man than to
+be the ruler of an empire. The gulf, sir, is below; and the
+true learned arts&mdash;those which alone are safe from the competition
+of insurgent laymen&mdash;are those which give his title
+to the artisan.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a very pompous fellow,&rdquo; said Challoner in the
+ear of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He is immense,&rdquo; said Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the door of the divan was opened, and a third
+young fellow made his appearance, and rather bashfully
+requested some tobacco. He was younger than the others;
+and, in a somewhat meaningless and altogether English
+way, he was a handsome lad. When he had been served,
+and had lighted his pipe and taken his place upon the sofa,
+he recalled himself to Challoner by the name of Desborough.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Desborough, to be sure,&rdquo; cried Challoner. &ldquo;Well,
+Desborough, and what do you do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The fact is,&rdquo; said Desborough, &ldquo;that I am doing
+nothing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A private fortune, possibly?&rdquo; inquired the other.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, no,&rdquo; replied Desborough, rather sulkily. &ldquo;The
+fact is that I am waiting for something to turn up.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;All in the same boat!&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;And have
+you, too, one hundred pounds?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Worse luck,&rdquo; said Mr. Desborough.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a very pathetic sight, Mr. Godall,&rdquo; said Somerset:
+&ldquo;three futiles.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A character of this crowded age,&rdquo; returned the salesman.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;I deny that the age is crowded;
+I will admit one fact, and one fact only: that I am futile,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"></a>11</span>
+that he is futile, and that we are all three as futile as the
+devil. What am I? I have smattered law, smattered
+letters, smattered geography, smattered mathematics; I
+have even a working knowledge of judicial astrology; and
+here I stand, all London roaring by at the street&rsquo;s end, as
+impotent as any baby. I have a prodigious contempt for
+my maternal uncle; but without him, it is idle to deny it, I
+should simply resolve into my elements like an unstable
+mixture. I begin to perceive that it is necessary to know
+some one thing to the bottom&mdash;were it only literature.
+And yet, sir, the man of the world is a great feature of this
+age; he is possessed of an extraordinary mass and variety
+of knowledge; he is everywhere at home; he has seen life
+in all its phases; and it is impossible but that this great
+habit of existence should bear fruit. I count myself a man
+of the world, accomplished, <i>cap-�-pie</i>. So do you, Challoner.
+And you, Mr. Desborough?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; returned the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then, Mr. Godall, here we stand, three men of the
+world, without a trade to cover us, but planted at the
+strategic centre of the universe (for so you will allow me to
+call Rupert Street), in the midst of the chief mass of people,
+and within earshot of the most continuous chink of money
+on the surface of the globe. Sir, as civilised men, what do
+we do? I will show you. You take in a paper?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I take,&rdquo; said Mr. Godall solemnly, &ldquo;the best paper in
+the world, the <i>Standard</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good,&rdquo; resumed Somerset. &ldquo;I now hold it in my
+hand, the voice of the world, a telephone repeating all men&rsquo;s
+wants. I open it, and where my eye first falls&mdash;well, no,
+not Morrison&rsquo;s Pills&mdash;but here, sure enough, and but a little
+above, I find the joint that I was seeking; here is the weak
+spot in the armour of society. Here is a want, a plaint, an
+offer of substantial gratitude: &rsquo;<i>Two Hundred Pounds Reward</i>.&mdash;The
+above reward will be paid to any person giving
+information as to the identity and whereabouts of a man
+observed yesterday in the neighbourhood of the Green Park.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"></a>12</span>
+He was over six feet in height, with shoulders disproportionately
+broad, close shaved, with black moustaches, and wearing
+a sealskin great-coat.&rsquo; There, gentlemen, our fortune,
+if not made, is founded.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you then propose, dear boy, that we should turn
+detectives?&rdquo; inquired Challoner.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do I propose it? No, sir,&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;It is
+reason, destiny, the plain face of the world, that commands
+and imposes it. Here all our merits tell; our manners,
+habit of the world, powers of conversation, vast stores of
+unconnected knowledge, all that we are and have builds up
+the character of the complete detective. It is, in short, the
+only profession for a gentleman.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The proposition is perhaps excessive,&rdquo; replied Challoner;
+&ldquo;for hitherto I own I have regarded it as of all dirty, sneaking,
+and ungentlemanly trades, the least and lowest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To defend society?&rdquo; asked Somerset; &ldquo;to stake one&rsquo;s
+life for others? to deracinate occult and powerful evil?
+I appeal to Mr. Godall. He, at least, as a philosophic
+looker-on at life, will spit upon such philistine opinions.
+He knows that the policeman, as he is called upon continually
+to face greater odds, and that both worse equipped and
+for a better cause, is in form and essence a more noble hero
+than the soldier. Do you, by any chance, deceive yourself
+into supposing that a general would either ask or expect,
+from the best army ever marshalled, and on the most
+momentous battlefield, the conduct of a common constable
+at Peckham Rye?&rdquo;<a name="FnAnchor_1" href="#Footnote_1"><span class="sp">1</span></a></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I did not understand we were to join the force,&rdquo; said
+Challoner.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nor shall we. These are the hands; but here&mdash;here,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13"></a>13</span>
+sir, is the head,&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;Enough; it is decreed.
+We shall hunt down this miscreant in the sealskin coat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Suppose that we agreed,&rdquo; retorted Challoner, &ldquo;you
+have no plan, no knowledge; you know not where to seek
+for a beginning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Challoner!&rdquo; cried Somerset, &ldquo;is it possible that you
+hold the doctrine of Free Will? And are you devoid of any
+tincture of philosophy, that you should harp on such exploded
+fallacies? Chance, the blind Madonna of the Pagan,
+rules this terrestrial bustle; and in Chance I place my sole
+reliance. Chance has brought us three together; when we
+next separate and go forth our several ways, Chance will
+continually drag before our careless eyes a thousand eloquent
+clues, not to this mystery only, but to the countless
+mysteries by which we live surrounded. Then comes the
+part of the man of the world, of the detective born and bred.
+This clue, which the whole town beholds without comprehension,
+swift as a cat, he leaps upon it, makes it his, follows
+it with craft and passion, and from one trifling circumstance
+divines a world.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Just so,&rdquo; said Challoner; &ldquo;and I am delighted that
+you should recognise these virtues in yourself. But in the
+meanwhile, dear boy, I own myself incapable of joining.
+I was neither born nor bred as a detective, but as a placable
+and very thirsty gentleman; and, for my part, I begin to
+weary for a drink. As for clues and adventures, the only
+adventure that is ever likely to occur to me will be an
+adventure with a bailiff.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now there is the fallacy,&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;There I
+catch the secret of your futility in life. The world teems
+and bubbles with adventure; it besieges you along the
+streets; hands waving out of windows, swindlers coming up
+and swearing they knew you when you were abroad, affable
+and doubtful people of all sorts and conditions begging and
+truckling for your notice. But not you: you turn away,
+you walk your seedy mill round, you must go the dullest way.
+Now here, I beg of you, the next adventure that offers itself,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"></a>14</span>
+embrace it in with both your arms; whatever it looks,
+grimy or romantic, grasp it. I will do the like; the devil
+is in it, but at least we shall have fun; and each in turn we
+shall narrate the story of our fortunes to my philosophic
+friend of the divan, the great Godall, now hearing me with
+inward joy. Come, is it a bargain? Will you, indeed, both
+promise to welcome every chance that offers, to plunge
+boldly into every opening, and, keeping the eye wary and the
+head composed, to study and piece together all that happens?
+Come, promise: let me open to you the doors of the great
+profession of intrigue.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is not much in my way,&rdquo; said Challoner, &ldquo;but, since
+you make a point of it, amen.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind promising,&rdquo; said Desborough, &ldquo;but
+nothing will happen to me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O faithless ones!&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;But at least I
+have your promises; and Godall, I perceive, is transported
+with delight.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I promise myself at least much pleasure from your
+various narratives,&rdquo; said the salesman, with the customary
+calm polish of his manner.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now, gentlemen,&rdquo; concluded Somerset, &ldquo;let us
+separate. I hasten to put myself in fortune&rsquo;s way. Hark
+how, in this quiet corner, London roars like the noise of
+battle; four million destinies are here concentred; and in
+the strong panoply of one hundred pounds, payable to the
+bearer, I am about to plunge into that web.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<hr class="foot" />
+<div class="note">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1" href="#FnAnchor_1"><span class="fn">1</span></a> Hereupon the Arabian author enters on one of his digressions.
+Fearing, apparently, that the somewhat eccentric views of Mr.
+Somerset should throw discredit on a part of truth, he calls upon the
+English people to remember with more gratitude the services of the
+police; to what unobserved and solitary acts of heroism they are
+called; against what odds of numbers and of arms, and for how small
+a reward, either in fame or money: matter, it has appeared to the
+translators, too serious for this place.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page15"></a>15</span></p>
+<h3>CHALLONER&rsquo;S ADVENTURE:</h3>
+
+<h4>THE SQUIRE OF DAMES</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Mr. Edward Challoner</span> had set up lodgings in the suburb
+of Putney, where he enjoyed a parlour and bedroom and the
+sincere esteem of the people of the house. To this remote
+home he found himself, at a very early hour in the morning
+of the next day, condemned to set forth on foot. He was
+a young man of a portly habit; no lover of the exercises of
+the body; bland, sedentary, patient of delay, a prop of
+omnibuses. In happier days he would have chartered a
+cab; but these luxuries were now denied him; and with
+what courage he could muster he addressed himself to walk.</p>
+
+<p>It was then the height of the season and the summer;
+the weather was serene and cloudless; and as he paced
+under the blinded houses and along the vacant streets, the
+chill of the dawn had fled, and some of the warmth and all
+the brightness of the July day already shone upon the city.
+He walked at first in a profound abstraction, bitterly reviewing
+and repenting his performances at whist; but as he
+advanced into the labyrinth of the south-west, his ear was
+gradually mastered by the silence. Street after street
+looked down upon his solitary figure, house after house
+echoed upon his passage with a ghostly jar, shop after shop
+displayed its shuttered front and its commercial legend;
+and meanwhile he steered his course, under day&rsquo;s effulgent
+dome and through this encampment of diurnal sleepers,
+lonely as a ship.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; he reflected, &ldquo;if I were like my scatter-brained
+companion, here were indeed the scene where I might look
+for an adventure. Here, in broad day, the streets are secret
+as in the blackest night of January, and in the midst of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16"></a>16</span>
+some four million sleepers, solitary as the woods of Yucatan.
+If I but raise my voice I could summon up the number of
+an army, and yet the grave is not more silent than this city
+of sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He was still following these quaint and serious musings
+when he came into a street of more mingled ingredients
+than was common in the quarter. Here, on the one hand,
+framed in walls and the green tops of trees, were several
+of those discreet, <i>bijou</i> residences on which propriety is apt
+to look askance. Here, too, were many of the brick-fronted
+barracks of the poor; a plaster cow, perhaps, serving as
+ensign to a dairy, or a ticket announcing the business of the
+mangler. Before one such house, that stood a little separate
+among walled gardens, a cat was playing with a straw, and
+Challoner paused a moment, looking on this sleek and
+solitary creature, who seemed an emblem of the neighbouring
+peace. With the cessation of the sound of his own steps
+the silence fell dead; the house stood smokeless; the blinds
+down, the whole machinery of life arrested; and it seemed
+to Challoner that he should hear the breathing of the
+sleepers.</p>
+
+<p>As he so stood, he was startled by a dull and jarring
+detonation from within. This was followed by a monstrous
+hissing and simmering as from a kettle of the bigness of St.
+Paul&rsquo;s; and at the same time from every chink of door and
+window spurted an ill-smelling vapour. The cat disappeared
+with a cry. Within the lodging-house feet
+pounded on the stairs; the door flew back, emitting clouds
+of smoke; and two men and an elegantly dressed young
+lady tumbled forth into the street and fled without a word.
+The hissing had already ceased, the smoke was melting in
+the air, the whole event had come and gone as in a dream,
+and still Challoner was rooted to the spot. At last his
+reason and his fear awoke together, and with the most unwonted
+energy he fell to running.</p>
+
+<p>Little by little this first dash relaxed, and presently he
+had resumed his sober gait and begun to piece together, out
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17"></a>17</span>
+of the confused report of his senses, some theory of the
+occurrence. But the occasion of the sounds and stench that
+had so suddenly assailed him, and the strange conjunction
+of fugitives whom he had seen to issue from the house, were
+mysteries beyond his plummet. With an obscure awe he
+considered them in his mind, continuing, meanwhile, to
+thread the web of streets, and once more alone in morning
+sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>In his first retreat he had entirely wandered; and now,
+steering vaguely west, it was his luck to light upon an unpretending
+street, which presently widened so as to admit a
+strip of gardens in the midst. Here was quite a stir of birds;
+even at that hour, the shadow of the leaves was grateful;
+instead of the burnt atmosphere of cities, there was something
+brisk and rural in the air; and Challoner paced forward,
+his eyes upon the pavement and his mind running
+upon distant scenes, till he was recalled, upon a sudden, by
+a wall that blocked his further progress. This street, whose
+name I have forgotten, is no thoroughfare.</p>
+
+<p>He was not the first who had wandered there that morning;
+for, as he raised his eyes with an agreeable deliberation,
+they alighted on the figure of a girl, in whom he was struck
+to recognise the third of the incongruous fugitives. She
+had run there, seemingly, blindfold; the wall had checked
+her career; and being entirely wearied, she had sunk upon
+the ground beside the garden railings, soiling her dress
+among the summer dust. Each saw the other in the same
+instant of time; and she, with one wild look, sprang to her
+feet and began to hurry from the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Challoner was doubly startled to meet once more the
+heroine of his adventure and to observe the fear with which
+she shunned him. Pity and alarm, in nearly equal forces,
+contested the possession of his mind; and yet, in spite of
+both, he saw himself condemned to follow in the lady&rsquo;s
+wake. He did so gingerly, as fearing to increase her terrors;
+but, tread as lightly as he might, his footfalls eloquently
+echoed in the empty street. Their sound appeared to strike
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18"></a>18</span>
+in her some strong emotion; for scarce had he begun to
+follow ere she paused. A second time she addressed herself
+to flight; and a second time she paused. Then she turned
+about, and, with doubtful steps and the most attractive
+appearance of timidity, drew near to the young man. He
+on his side continued to advance with similar signals of distress
+and bashfulness. At length, when they were but some
+steps apart, he saw her eyes brim over, and she reached out
+both her hands in eloquent appeal.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you an English gentleman?&rdquo; she cried.</p>
+
+<p>The unhappy Challoner regarded her with consternation.
+He was the spirit of fine courtesy, and would have blushed
+to fail in his devoirs to any lady; but, in the other scale, he
+was a man averse from amorous adventures. He looked
+east and west; but the houses that looked down upon this
+interview remained inexorably shut; and he saw himself,
+though in the full glare of the day&rsquo;s eye, cut off from any
+human intervention. His looks returned at last upon the
+suppliant. He remarked with irritation that she was
+charming both in face and figure, elegantly dressed and
+gloved: a lady undeniable; the picture of distress and innocence;
+weeping and lost in the city of diurnal sleep.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I protest you have no cause to fear
+intrusion; and if I have appeared to follow you, the fault
+is in this street, which has deceived us both.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>An unmistakable relief appeared upon the lady&rsquo;s face.
+&ldquo;I might have guessed it!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Thank you
+a thousand times! But at this hour, in this appalling
+silence, and among all these staring windows, I am lost in
+terrors&mdash;oh, lost in them!&rdquo; she cried, her face blanching
+at the words. &ldquo;I beg you to lend me your arm,&rdquo; she added
+with the loveliest, suppliant inflection. &ldquo;I dare not go
+alone; my nerve is gone&mdash;I had a shock, O what a shock!
+I beg of you to be my escort.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear madam,&rdquo; responded Challoner heavily, &ldquo;my
+arm is at your service.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She took it and clung to it for a moment, struggling
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19"></a>19</span>
+with her sobs; and the next, with feverish hurry, began to
+lead him in the direction of the city. One thing was plain,
+among so much that was obscure: it was plain her fears
+were genuine. Still, as she went, she spied around as if for
+dangers; and now she would shiver like a person in a chill,
+and now clutch his arm in hers. To Challoner her terror
+was at once repugnant and infectious; it gained and
+mastered, while it still offended him; and he wailed in spirit
+and longed for release.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; he said at last, &ldquo;I am, of course, charmed to
+be of use to any lady; but I confess I was bound in a direction
+opposite to that you follow, and a word of explanation&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; she sobbed, &ldquo;not here&mdash;not here!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The blood of Challoner ran cold. He might have
+thought the lady mad; but his memory was charged with
+more perilous stuff; and in view of the detonation, the
+smoke, and the flight of the ill-assorted trio, his mind was
+lost among mysteries. So they continued to thread the
+maze of streets in silence, with the speed of a guilty flight,
+and both thrilling with incommunicable terrors. In time,
+however, and above all by their quick pace of walking, the
+pair began to rise to firmer spirits; the lady ceased to peer
+about the corners; and Challoner, emboldened by the resonant
+tread and distant figure of a constable, returned to
+the charge with more of spirit and directness.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought,&rdquo; he said, in the tone of conversation,
+&ldquo;that I had indistinctly perceived you leaving a villa in the
+company of two gentlemen.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you need not fear to wound me by
+the truth. You saw me flee from a common lodging-house,
+and my companions were not gentlemen. In such a case,
+the best of compliments is to be frank.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought,&rdquo; resumed Challoner, encouraged as much
+as he was surprised by the spirit of her reply, &ldquo;to have perceived,
+besides, a certain odour. A noise, too&mdash;I do not
+know to what I should compare it&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page20"></a>20</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;You do not know the danger
+you invoke. Wait, only wait; and as soon as we have left
+those streets and got beyond the reach of listeners, all shall
+be explained. Meanwhile, avoid the topic. What a sight
+is this sleeping city!&rdquo; she exclaimed; and then, with a most
+thrilling voice, &ldquo;&rsquo;Dear God,&rsquo;&rdquo; she quoted, &ldquo;&rsquo;the very
+houses seem asleep, and all that mighty heart is lying still.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I perceive, madam,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you are a reader.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am more than that,&rdquo; she answered, with a sigh.
+&ldquo;I am a girl condemned to thoughts beyond her age; and
+so untoward is my fate, that this walk upon the arm of a
+stranger is like an interlude of peace.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They had come by this time to the neighbourhood of the
+Victoria Station; and here, at a street corner, the young
+lady paused, withdrew her arm from Challoner&rsquo;s, and looked
+up and down as though in pain or indecision. Then, with
+a lovely change of countenance, and laying her gloved hand
+upon his arm:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What you already think of me,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I tremble
+to conceive; yet I must here condemn myself still further.
+Here I must leave you, and here I beseech you to wait for
+my return. Do not attempt to follow me or spy upon my
+actions. Suspend yet awhile your judgment of a girl as
+innocent as your own sister; and do not, above all, desert
+me. Stranger as you are, I have none else to look to. You
+see me in sorrow and great fear; you are a gentleman,
+courteous and kind; and when I beg for a few minutes&rsquo;
+patience, I make sure beforehand you will not deny me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Challoner grudgingly promised; and the young lady,
+with a grateful eye-shot, vanished round the corner. But
+the force of her appeal had been a little blunted; for the
+young man was not only destitute of sisters, but of any
+female relative nearer than a great-aunt in Wales. Now
+he was alone, besides, the spell that he had hitherto obeyed
+began to weaken; he considered his behaviour with a sneer;
+and plucking up the spirit of revolt, he started in pursuit.
+The reader, if he has ever plied the fascinating trade of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"></a>21</span>
+noctambulist, will not be unaware that, in the neighbourhood
+of the great railway centres, certain early taverns inaugurate
+the business of the day. It was into one of these
+that Challoner, coming round the corner of the block, beheld
+his charming companion disappear. To say he was
+surprised were inexact, for he had long since left that sentiment
+behind him. Acute disgust and disappointment
+seized upon his soul; and with silent oaths he damned this
+commonplace enchantress. She had scarce been gone a
+second ere the swing-doors reopened, and she appeared
+again in company with a young man of mean and slouching
+attire. For some five or six exchanges they conversed
+together with an animated air; then the fellow shouldered
+again into the tap; and the young lady, with something
+swifter than a walk, retraced her steps towards Challoner.
+He saw her coming, a miracle of grace; her ankle, as she
+hurried, flashing from her dress; her movements eloquent
+of speed and youth; and though he still entertained some
+thoughts of flight, they grew miserably fainter as the distance
+lessened. Against mere beauty he was proof: it
+was her unmistakable gentility that now robbed him of the
+courage of his cowardice. With a proved adventuress he
+had acted strictly on his right; with one whom, in spite of
+all, he could not quite deny to be a lady, he found himself
+disarmed. At the very corner from whence he had spied
+upon her interview, she came upon him, still transfixed, and&mdash;&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo;
+she cried, with a bright flush of colour. &ldquo;Ah! Ungenerous!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The sharpness of the attack somewhat restored the
+Squire of Dames to the possession of himself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; he returned, with a fair show of stoutness,
+&ldquo;I do not think that hitherto you can complain of any lack
+of generosity; I have suffered myself to be led over a considerable
+portion of the metropolis; and if I now request
+you to discharge me of my office of protector, you have
+friends at hand who will be glad of the succession.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She stood a moment dumb.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page22"></a>22</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Go! go, and may God help me!
+You have seen me&mdash;me, an innocent girl! fleeing from a
+dire catastrophe and haunted by sinister men; and neither
+pity, curiosity, nor honour move you to await my explanation
+or to help in my distress. Go!&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;I
+am lost indeed.&rdquo; And with a passionate gesture she turned
+and fled along the street.</p>
+
+<p>Challoner observed her retreat and disappear, an almost
+intolerable sense of guilt contending with the profound
+sense that he was being gulled. She was no sooner gone
+than the first of these feelings took the upper hand; he felt,
+if he had done her less than justice, that his conduct was a
+perfect model of the ungracious; the cultured tone of her
+voice, her choice of language, and the elegant decorum of
+her movements, cried out aloud against a harsh construction;
+and between penitence and curiosity he began slowly
+to follow in her wake. At the corner he had her once more
+full in view. Her speed was failing like a stricken bird&rsquo;s.
+Even as he looked, she threw her arm out gropingly, and fell
+and leaned against the wall. At the spectacle, Challoner&rsquo;s
+fortitude gave way. In a few strides he overtook her, and,
+for the first time removing his hat, assured her in the most
+moving terms of his entire respect and firm desire to help
+her. He spoke at first unheeded; but gradually it appeared
+that she began to comprehend his words; she moved a
+little, and drew herself upright; and finally, as with a
+sudden movement of forgiveness, turned on the young man
+a countenance in which reproach and gratitude were
+mingled. &ldquo;Ah, madam,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;use me as you will!&rdquo;
+And once more, but now with a great air of deference, he
+offered her the conduct of his arm. She took it with a sigh
+that struck him to the heart; and they began once more to
+trace the deserted streets. But now her steps, as though
+exhausted by emotion, began to linger on the way; she
+leaned the more heavily upon his arm; and he, like the
+parent bird, stooped fondly above his drooping convoy.
+Her physical distress was not accompanied by any failing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23"></a>23</span>
+of her spirits; and hearing her strike so soon into a playful
+and charming vein of talk, Challoner could not sufficiently
+admire the elasticity of his companion&rsquo;s nature. &ldquo;Let me
+forget,&rdquo; she had said, &ldquo;for one half-hour, let me forget&ldquo;;
+and sure enough, with the very word, her sorrows appeared
+to be forgotten. Before every house she paused, invented
+a name for the proprietor, and sketched his character:
+here lived the old general whom she was to marry on the
+fifth of the next month, there was the mansion of the rich
+widow who had set her heart on Challoner; and though she
+still hung wearily on the young man&rsquo;s arm, her laughter
+sounded low and pleasant in his ears. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; she sighed,
+by way of commentary, &ldquo;in such a life as mine I must seize
+tight hold of any happiness that I can find.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>When they arrived, in this leisurely manner, at the head
+of Grosvenor Place, the gates of the park were opening, and
+the bedraggled company of night-walkers were being at
+last admitted into that paradise of lawns. Challoner and
+his companion followed the movement, and walked for
+awhile in silence in that tatterdemalion crowd; but as one
+after another, weary with the night&rsquo;s patrolling of the city
+pavement, sank upon the benches or wandered into separate
+paths, the vast extent of the park had soon utterly swallowed
+up the last of these intruders; and the pair proceeded on
+their way alone in the grateful quiet of the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they came in sight of a bench, standing very
+open on a mound of turf. The young lady looked about her
+with relief.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;here at last we are secure from
+listeners. Here, then, you shall learn and judge my history.
+I could not bear that we should part, and that you should
+still suppose your kindness squandered upon one who was
+unworthy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon she sat down upon the bench, and motioning
+Challoner to take a place immediately beside her, began in
+the following words, and with the greatest appearance of
+enjoyment, to narrate the story of her life.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page24"></a>24</span></p>
+<h4>STORY OF THE DESTROYING ANGEL</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">My</span> father was a native of England, son of a cadet of a great
+ancient but untitled family; and by some event, fault, or
+misfortune he was driven to flee from the land of his birth
+and to lay aside the name of his ancestors. He sought the
+States; and instead of lingering in effeminate cities, pushed
+at once into the Far West with an exploring party of
+frontiersmen. He was no ordinary traveller; for he was
+not only brave and impetuous by character, but learned in
+many sciences, and above all in botany, which he particularly
+loved. Thus it fell that, before many months, Fremont
+himself, the nominal leader of the troop, courted and
+bowed to his opinion.</p>
+
+<p>They had pushed, as I have said, into the still unknown
+regions of the West. For some time they followed the track
+of Mormon caravans, guiding themselves in that vast and
+melancholy desert by the skeletons of men and animals.
+Then they inclined their route a little to the north, and,
+losing even these dire memorials, came into a country of
+forbidding stillness. I have often heard my father dwell
+upon the features of that ride: rock, cliff, and barren moor
+alternated; the streams were very far between; and neither
+beast nor bird disturbed the solitude. On the fortieth day
+they had already run so short of food that it was judged
+advisable to call a halt and scatter upon all sides to hunt.
+A great fire was built, that its smoke might serve to rally
+them; and each man of the party mounted and struck off
+at a venture into the surrounding desert.</p>
+
+<p>My father rode for many hours with a steep range of
+cliffs upon the one hand, very black and horrible; and upon
+the other an unwatered vale dotted with boulders like the
+site of some subverted city. At length he found the slot
+of a great animal, and from the claw-marks and the hair
+among the brush, judged that he was on the track of a
+cinnamon bear of most unusual size. He quickened the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25"></a>25</span>
+pace of his steed, and, still following the quarry, came at
+last to the division of two watersheds. On the far side the
+country was exceeding intricate and difficult, heaped with
+boulders, and dotted here and there with a few pines, which
+seemed to indicate the neighbourhood of water. Here,
+then, he picketed his horse, and, relying on his trusty rifle,
+advanced alone into that wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, in the great silence that reigned, he was
+aware of the sound of running water to his right; and leaning
+in that direction, was rewarded by a scene of natural
+wonder and human pathos strangely intermixed. The
+stream ran at the bottom of a narrow and winding passage,
+whose wall-like sides of rock were sometimes for miles
+together unscalable by man. The water, when the stream
+was swelled with rains, must have filled it from side to side;
+the sun&rsquo;s rays only plumbed it in the hour of noon; the wind,
+in that narrow and damp funnel, blew tempestuously.
+And yet, in the bottom of this den, immediately below my
+father&rsquo;s eyes as he leaned over the margin of the cliff, a
+party of some half a hundred men, women, and children lay
+scattered uneasily among the rocks. They lay, some upon
+their backs, some prone, and not one stirring; their upturned
+faces seemed all of an extraordinary paleness and emaciation;
+and from time to time, above the washing of the
+stream, a faint sound of moaning mounted to my father&rsquo;s ears.</p>
+
+<p>While he thus looked, an old man got staggering to his
+feet, unwound his blanket, and laid it, with great gentleness,
+on a young girl who sat hard by propped against a rock.
+The girl did not seem to be conscious of the act; and the
+old man, after having looked upon her with the most engaging
+pity, returned to his former bed and lay down again
+uncovered on the turf. But the scene had not passed without
+observation even in that starving camp. From the very
+outskirts of the party, a man with a white beard and seemingly
+of venerable years, rose up on his knees and came
+crawling stealthily among the sleepers towards the girl;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"></a>26</span>
+and judge of my father&rsquo;s indignation, when he beheld this
+cowardly miscreant strip from her both the coverings and
+return with them to his original position. Here he lay down
+for a while below his spoils, and, as my father imagined,
+feigned to be asleep; but presently he had raised himself
+again upon one elbow, looked with sharp scrutiny at his
+companions, and then swiftly carried his hand into his
+bosom and thence to his mouth. By the movement of his
+jaws he must be eating; in that camp of famine he had
+reserved a store of nourishment; and, while his companions
+lay in the stupor of approaching death, secretly restored his
+powers.</p>
+
+<p>My father was so incensed at what he saw that he raised
+his rifle; and but for an accident, he has often declared, he
+would have shot the fellow dead upon the spot. How
+different would then have been my history! But it was not
+to be: even as he raised the barrel, his eye lighted on the
+bear, as it crawled along a ledge some way below him; and
+ceding to the hunter&rsquo;s instinct, it was at the brute, not at the
+man, that he discharged his piece. The bear leaped and
+fell into a pool of the river; the ca�on re-echoed the report;
+and in a moment the camp was afoot. With cries that were
+scarce human, stumbling, falling, and throwing each other
+down, these starving people rushed upon the quarry; and
+before my father, climbing down by the ledge, had time to
+reach the level of the stream, many were already satisfying
+their hunger on the raw flesh, and a fire was being built by
+the more dainty.</p>
+
+<p>His arrival was for some time unremarked. He stood
+in the midst of these tottering and clay-faced marionettes;
+he was surrounded by their cries; but their whole soul was
+fixed on the dead carcase; even those who were too weak to
+move, lay, half-turned over, with their eyes riveted upon the
+bear; and my father, seeing himself stand as though invisible
+in the thick of this dreary hubbub, was seized with
+a desire to weep. A touch upon the arm restrained him.
+Turning about, he found himself face to face with the old
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27"></a>27</span>
+man he had so nearly killed; and yet, at the second glance,
+recognised him for no old man at all, but one in the full
+strength of his years, and of a strong, speaking, and
+intellectual countenance stigmatised by weariness and famine.
+He beckoned my father near the cliff, and there, in the most
+private whisper, begged for brandy. My father looked at
+him with scorn: &ldquo;You remind me,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;of a neglected
+duty. Here is my flask; it contains enough, I trust, to
+revive the women of your party; and I will begin with her
+whom I saw you robbing of her blankets.&rdquo; And with that,
+not heeding his appeals, my father turned his back upon the
+egoist.</p>
+
+<p>The girl still lay reclined against the rock; she lay too
+far sunk in the first stage of death to have observed the
+bustle round her couch; but when my father had raised her
+head, put the flask to her lips, and forced or aided her to
+swallow some drops of the restorative, she opened her
+languid eyes and smiled upon him faintly. Never was
+there a smile of a more touching sweetness; never were eyes
+more deeply violet, more honestly eloquent of the soul! I
+speak with knowledge, for these were the same eyes that
+smiled upon me in the cradle. From her who was to be his
+wife, my father, still jealously watched and followed by the
+man with the grey beard, carried his attentions to all the
+women of the party, and gave the last drainings of his flask
+to those among the men who seemed in the most need.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is there none left? not a drop for me?&rdquo; said the
+man with the beard.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not one drop,&rdquo; replied my father; &ldquo;and if you find
+yourself in want, let me counsel you to put your hand into
+the pocket of your coat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; cried the other, &ldquo;you misjudge me. You think
+me one who clings to life for selfish and commonplace
+considerations. But let me tell you, that were all this
+caravan to perish, the world would but be lightened of a
+weight. These are but human insects, pullulating, thick
+as may-flies, in the slums of European cities, whom I myself
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28"></a>28</span>
+have plucked from degradation and misery, from the dung-heap
+and gin-palace door. And you compare their lives
+with mine!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are then a Mormon missionary?&rdquo; asked my father.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; cried the man, with a strange smile, &ldquo;a Mormon
+missionary if you will! I value not the title. Were
+I no more than that, I could have died without a murmur.
+But with my life as a physician is bound up the knowledge
+of great secrets and the future of man. This it
+was, when we missed the caravan, tried for a short cut and
+wandered to this desolate ravine, that ate into my soul and,
+in five days, has changed my beard from ebony to silver.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you are a physician,&rdquo; mused my father, looking
+on his face, &ldquo;bound by oath to succour man in his distresses.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; returned the Mormon, &ldquo;my name is Grierson:
+you will hear that name again; and you will then understand
+that my duty was not to this caravan of paupers, but to
+mankind at large.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My father turned to the remainder of the party, who
+were now sufficiently revived to hear; told them that he
+would set off at once to bring help from his own party;
+&ldquo;and,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;if you be again reduced to such extremities,
+look round you, and you will see the earth strewn
+with assistance. Here, for instance, growing on the underside
+of fissures in this cliff, you will perceive a yellow moss.
+Trust me, it is both edible and excellent.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; said Dr. Grierson, &ldquo;you know botany!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not I alone,&rdquo; returned my father, lowering his voice;
+&ldquo;for see where these have been scraped away. Am I
+right? Was that your secret store?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My father&rsquo;s comrades, he found, when he returned to
+the signal-fire, had made a good day&rsquo;s hunting. They
+were thus the more easily persuaded to extend assistance
+to the Mormon caravan; and the next day beheld both
+parties on the march for the frontiers of Utah. The distance
+to be traversed was not great; but the nature of
+the country and the difficulty of procuring food extended
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29"></a>29</span>
+the time to nearly three weeks; and my father had thus
+ample leisure to know and appreciate the girl whom he
+had succoured. I will call my mother Lucy. Her family
+name I am not at liberty to mention; it is one you would
+know well. By what series of undeserved calamities this
+innocent flower of maidenhood, lovely, refined by education,
+ennobled by the finest taste, was thus cast among
+the horrors of a Mormon caravan, I must not stay to tell
+you. Let it suffice, that even in these untoward circumstances,
+she found a heart worthy of her own. The ardour
+of attachment which united my father and mother was
+perhaps partly due to the strange manner of their meeting;
+it knew, at least, no bounds, either divine or human;
+my father, for her sake, determined to renounce his ambition
+and abjure his faith; and a week had not passed upon the
+march before he had resigned from his party, accepted the
+Mormon doctrine, and received the promise of my mother&rsquo;s
+hand on the arrival of the party at Salt Lake.</p>
+
+<p>The marriage took place, and I was its only offspring.
+My father prospered exceedingly in his affairs, remained
+faithful to my mother; and, though you may wonder to
+hear it, I believe there were few happier homes in any
+country than that in which I saw the light and grew to
+girlhood. We were, indeed, and in spite of all our wealth,
+avoided as heretics and half-believers by the more precise
+and pious of the faithful: Young himself, that formidable
+tyrant, was known to look askance upon my father&rsquo;s riches;
+but of this I had no guess. I dwelt, indeed, under the
+Mormon system, with perfect innocence and faith. Some
+of our friends had many wives; but such was the custom;
+and why should it surprise me more than marriage itself?
+From time to time one of our rich acquaintances would
+disappear, his family be broken up, his wives and houses
+shared among the elders of the church, and his memory
+only recalled with bated breath and dreadful head-shakings.
+When I had been very still, and my presence perhaps was
+forgotten, some such topic would arise among my elders by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30"></a>30</span>
+the evening fire; I would see them draw the closer together
+and look behind them with scared eyes; and I might gather
+from their whisperings how some one, rich, honoured,
+healthy, and in the prime of his days, some one, perhaps,
+who had taken me on his knees a week before, had in one
+hour been spirited from home and family, and vanished like
+an image from a mirror, leaving not a print behind. It was
+terrible, indeed; but so was death, the universal law. And
+even if the talk should wax still bolder, full of ominous
+silences and nods, and I should hear named in a whisper the
+Destroying Angels, how was a child to understand these
+mysteries? I heard of a Destroying Angel as some more
+happy child might hear in England of a bishop or a rural
+dean, with vague respect and without the wish for further
+information. Life anywhere, in society as in nature,
+rests upon dread foundations; I beheld safe roads, a
+garden blooming in the desert, pious people crowding to
+worship; I was aware of my parents&rsquo; tenderness and all
+the harmless luxuries of my existence; and why should
+I pry beneath this honest seeming surface for the mysteries
+on which it stood?</p>
+
+<p>We dwelt originally in the city; but at an early date
+we moved to a beautiful house in a green dingle, musical
+with splashing water, and surrounded on almost every side
+by twenty miles of poisonous and rocky desert. The
+city was thirty miles away; there was but one road, which
+went no farther than my father&rsquo;s door; the rest were
+bridle-tracks impassable in winter; and we thus dwelt
+in a solitude inconceivable to the European. Our only
+neighbour was Dr. Grierson. To my young eyes, after
+the hair-oiled, chin-bearded elders of the city, and the
+ill-favoured and mentally stunted women of their harems,
+there was something agreeable in the correct manner, the
+fine bearing, the thin white hair and beard, and the piercing
+looks of the old doctor. Yet, though he was almost our
+only visitor, I never wholly overcame a sense of fear in
+his presence; and this disquietude was rather fed by the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31"></a>31</span>
+awful solitude in which he lived and the obscurity that
+hung about his occupations. His house was but a mile
+or two from ours, but very differently placed. It stood
+overlooking the road on the summit of a steep slope, and
+planted close against a range of overhanging bluffs. Nature,
+you would say, had here desired to imitate the works of
+man; for the slope was even, like the glacis of a fort, and
+the cliffs of a constant height, like the ramparts of a city.
+Not even spring could change one feature of that desolate
+scene; and the windows looked down across a plain, snowy
+with alkali, to ranges of cold stone sierras on the north.
+Twice or thrice I remember passing within view of this
+forbidding residence; and seeing it always shuttered,
+smokeless, and deserted, I remarked to my parents that
+some day it would certainly be robbed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, no,&rdquo; said my father, &ldquo;never robbed&ldquo;; and I
+observed a strange conviction in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>At last, and not long before the blow fell on my unhappy
+family, I chanced to see the doctor&rsquo;s house in a new light.
+My father was ill; my mother confined to his bedside; and
+I was suffered to go, under the charge of our driver, to the
+lonely house some twenty miles away, where our packages
+were left for us. The horse cast a shoe; night overtook us
+half-way home; and it was well on for three in the morning
+when the driver and I, alone in a light waggon, came to that
+part of the road which ran below the doctor&rsquo;s house. The
+moon swam clear; the cliffs and mountains in this strong
+light lay utterly deserted; but the house, from its station
+on the top of the long slope and close under the bluff, not
+only shone abroad from every window like a place of festival,
+but from the great chimney at the west end poured forth
+a coil of smoke so thick and so voluminous, that it hung for
+miles along the windless night-air, and its shadow lay far
+abroad in the moonlight upon the glittering alkali. As
+we continued to draw near, besides, a regular and panting
+throb began to divide the silence. First it seemed to me
+like the beating of a heart; and next it put into my mind
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32"></a>32</span>
+the thought of some giant, smothered under mountains,
+and still, with incalculable effort, fetching breath. I had
+heard of the railway, though I had not seen it, and I
+turned to ask the driver if this resembled it. But some
+look in his eye, some pallor, whether of fear or moonlight
+on his face, caused the words to die upon my lips. We
+continued, therefore, to advance in silence, till we were
+close below the lighted house; when suddenly, without
+premonitory rustle, there burst forth a report of such a
+bigness that it shook the earth and set the echoes of the
+mountains thundering from cliff to cliff. A pillar of amber
+flame leaped from the chimney-top and fell in multitudes of
+sparks; and at the same time the lights in the windows
+turned for one instant ruby red and then expired. The
+driver had checked his horse instinctively, and the echoes
+were still rumbling farther off among the mountains, when
+there broke from the now darkened interior a series of
+yells&mdash;whether of man or woman it was impossible to guess&mdash;the
+door flew open, and there ran forth into the moonlight,
+at the top of the long slope, a figure clad in white,
+which began to dance and leap and throw itself down, and
+roll as if in agony, before the house. I could no more
+restrain my cries; the driver laid his lash about the horse&rsquo;s
+flank, and we fled up the rough track at the peril of our
+lives; and did not draw rein till, turning the corner of the
+mountain, we beheld my father&rsquo;s ranch and deep, green
+groves and gardens, sleeping in the tranquil light.</p>
+
+<p>This was the one adventure of my life, until my father
+had climbed to the very topmost point of material prosperity,
+and I myself had reached the age of seventeen.
+I was still innocent and merry like a child; tended my
+garden or ran upon the hills in glad simplicity; gave not
+a thought to coquetry or to material cares; and if my eye
+rested on my own image in a mirror or some sylvan spring,
+it was to seek and recognise the features of my parents.
+But the fears which had long pressed on others were now
+to be laid on my youth. I had thrown myself, one sultry,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33"></a>33</span>
+cloudy afternoon, on a divan; the windows stood open on
+the verandah, where my mother sat with her embroidery;
+and when my father joined her from the garden, their
+conversation, clearly audible to me, was of so startling a
+nature that it held me enthralled where I lay.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The blow has come,&rdquo; my father said, after a long pause.</p>
+
+<p>I could hear my mother start and turn, but in words
+she made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; continued my father, &ldquo;I have received to-day
+a list of all that I possess; of all, I say; of what I have
+lent privately to men whose lips are sealed with terror;
+of what I have buried with my own hand on the bare
+mountain, when there was not a bird in heaven. Does
+the air, then, carry secrets? Are the hills of glass? Do
+the stones we tread upon preserve the footprint to betray
+us? Oh, Lucy, Lucy, that we should have come to such
+a country!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But this,&rdquo; returned my mother, &ldquo;is no very new or
+very threatening event. You are accused of some
+concealment. You will pay more taxes in the future, and
+be mulcted in a fine. It is disquieting, indeed, to find
+our acts so spied upon, and the most private known. But
+is this new? Have we not long feared and suspected every
+blade of grass?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ay, and our shadows!&rdquo; cried my father. &ldquo;But all
+this is nothing. Here is the letter that accompanied the
+list.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I heard my mother turn the pages; and she was some
+time silent.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I see,&rdquo; she said at last; and then, with the tone of
+one reading; &ldquo;&rsquo;From a believer so largely blessed by
+Providence with this world&rsquo;s goods,&rsquo;&rdquo; she continued,
+&ldquo;&rsquo;the Church awaits in confidence some signal mark of
+piety.&rsquo; There lies the sting. Am I not right? These
+are the words you fear?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;These are the words,&rdquo; replied my father. &ldquo;Lucy,
+you remember Priestley? Two days before he disappeared,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34"></a>34</span>
+he carried me to the summit of an isolated butte; we could
+see around us for ten miles; sure, if in any quarter of this
+land a man were safe from spies, it were in such a station;
+but it was in the very ague-fit of terror that he told me, and
+that I heard, his story. He had received a letter such as
+this; and he submitted to my approval an answer in which
+he offered to resign a third of his possessions. I conjured
+him, as he valued life, to raise his offering; and, before we
+parted, he had doubled the amount. Well, two days later
+he was gone&mdash;gone from the chief street of the city in the
+hour of noon&mdash;and gone for ever. O God!&rdquo; cried my
+father, &ldquo;by what art do they thus spirit out of life the
+solid body? What death do they command that leaves no
+traces? that this material structure, these strong arms,
+this skeleton that can resist the grave for centuries, should
+be thus reft in a moment from the world of sense? A
+horror dwells in that thought more awful than mere death.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is there no hope in Grierson?&rdquo; asked my mother.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dismiss the thought,&rdquo; replied my father. &ldquo;He now
+knows all that I can teach, and will do naught to save
+me. His power, besides, is small, his own danger not
+improbably more imminent than mine; for he, too, lives
+apart; he leaves his wives neglected and unwatched; he
+is openly cited for an unbeliever; and unless he buys
+security at a more awful price&mdash;but no; I will not believe
+it: I have no love for him, but I will not believe it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Believe what?&rdquo; asked my mother; and then, with
+a change of note, &ldquo;But oh, what matters it?&rdquo; she cried.
+&ldquo;Abimelech, there is but one way open: we must fly!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is in vain,&rdquo; returned my father. &ldquo;I should but
+involve you in my fate. To leave this land is hopeless:
+we are closed in it as men are closed in life; and there
+is no issue but the grave.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We can but die then,&rdquo; replied my mother. &ldquo;Let
+us at least die together. Let not Asenath<a name="FnAnchor_2" href="#Footnote_2"><span class="sp">2</span></a> and myself
+survive you. Think to what a fate we should be doomed!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35"></a>35</span></p>
+
+<p>My father was unable to resist her tender violence;
+and though I could see he nourished not one spark of hope,
+he consented to desert his whole estate, beyond some
+hundreds of dollars that he had by him at the moment,
+and to flee that night, which promised to be dark and
+cloudy. As soon as the servants were asleep, he was to
+load two mules with provisions; two others were to carry
+my mother and myself; and, striking through the mountains
+by an unfrequented trail, we were to make a fair
+stroke for liberty and life. As soon as they had thus
+decided, I showed myself at the window, and, owning that
+I had heard all, assured them that they could rely on
+my prudence and devotion. I had no fear, indeed, but to
+show myself unworthy of my birth; I held my life in my hand
+without alarm; and when my father, weeping upon my
+neck, had blessed Heaven for the courage of his child, it
+was with a sentiment of pride and some of the joy that
+warriors take in war, that I began to look forward to the
+perils of our flight.</p>
+
+<p>Before midnight, under an obscure and starless heaven,
+we had left far behind us the plantations of the valley,
+and were mounting a certain ca�on in the hills, narrow,
+encumbered with great rocks, and echoing with the roar
+of a tumultuous torrent. Cascade after cascade thundered
+and hung up its flag of whiteness in the night, or
+fanned our faces with the wet wind of its descent. The
+trail was break-neck, and led to famine-guarded deserts;
+it had been long since deserted for more practicable routes;
+and it was now a part of the world untrod from year to year
+by human footing. Judge of our dismay when, turning
+suddenly an angle of the cliffs, we found a bright bonfire
+blazing by itself under an impending rock; and on the
+face of the rock, drawn very rudely with charred wood,
+the great Open Eye which is the emblem of the Mormon
+faith. We looked upon each other in the firelight; my
+mother broke into a passion of tears; but not a word was
+said. The mules were turned about; and leaving that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36"></a>36</span>
+great eye to guard the lonely ca�on, we retraced our steps
+in silence. Day had not yet broken ere we were once more
+at home, condemned beyond reprieve.</p>
+
+<p>What answer my father sent I was not told; but two
+days later, a little before sundown, I saw a plain,
+honest-looking man ride slowly up the road in a great pother of
+dust. He was clad in homespun, with a broad straw hat;
+wore a patriarchal beard; and had an air of a simple rustic
+farmer, that was, in my eyes, very reassuring. He was,
+indeed, a very honest man and pious Mormon; with no
+liking for his errand, though neither he nor any one in Utah
+dared to disobey; and it was with every mark of diffidence
+that he had had himself announced as Mr. Aspinwall, and
+entered the room where our unhappy family was gathered.
+My mother and me he awkwardly enough dismissed; and
+as soon as he was alone with my father laid before him a
+blank signature of President Young&rsquo;s, and offered him a
+choice of services: either to set out as a missionary to the
+tribes about the White Sea, or to join the next day, with
+a party of Destroying Angels, in the massacre of sixty
+German immigrants. The last, of course, my father
+could not entertain, and the first he regarded as a pretext:
+even if he could consent to leave his wife defenceless,
+and to collect fresh victims for the tyranny under
+which he was himself oppressed, he felt sure he would
+never be suffered to return. He refused both; and
+Aspinwall, he said, betrayed sincere emotion, part
+religious, as the spectacle of such disobedience, but part
+human, in pity for my father and his family. He besought
+him to reconsider his decision; and at length, finding he
+could not prevail, gave him till the moon rose to settle
+his affairs, and say farewell to wife and daughter. &ldquo;For,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;then, at the latest, you must ride with me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I dare not dwell upon the hours that followed: they
+fled all too fast; and presently the moon out-topped the
+eastern range, and my father and Mr. Aspinwall set forth,
+side by side, on their nocturnal journey. My mother, though
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37"></a>37</span>
+still bearing an heroic countenance, had hastened to shut
+herself in her apartment, thenceforward solitary; and I,
+alone in the dark house, and consumed by grief and
+apprehension, made haste to saddle my Indian pony, to ride up
+to the corner of the mountain, and to enjoy one farewell
+sight of my departing father. The two men had set forth
+at a deliberate pace; nor was I long behind them, when I
+reached the point of view. I was the more amazed to see no
+moving creature in the landscape. The moon, as the
+saying is, shone bright as day; and nowhere, under the
+whole arch of night, was there a growing tree, a bush, a
+farm, a patch of tillage, or any evidence of man, but one.
+From the corner where I stood, a rugged bastion of the
+line of bluffs concealed the doctor&rsquo;s house; and across
+the top of that projection the soft night wind carried and
+unwound about the hills a coil of sable smoke. What fuel
+could produce a vapour so sluggish to dissipate in that dry
+air, or what furnace pour it forth so copiously, I was unable
+to conceive; but I knew well enough that it came from the
+doctor&rsquo;s chimney; I saw well enough that my father had
+already disappeared; and in despite of reason, I connected
+in my mind the loss of that dear protector with the ribbon of
+foul smoke that trailed along the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Days passed, and still my mother and I waited in
+vain for news; a week went by, a second followed, but
+we heard no word of the father and husband. As smoke
+dissipates, as the image glides from the mirror, so in the
+ten or twenty minutes that I had spent in getting my
+horse and following upon his trail, had that strong and
+brave man vanished out of life. Hope, if any hope we
+had, fled with every hour; the worst was now certain
+for my father, the worst was to be dreaded for his defenceless
+family. Without weakness, with a desperate calm
+at which I marvel when I look back upon it, the widow and
+the orphan awaited the event. On the last day of the third
+week we rose in the morning to find ourselves alone in the
+house, alone, so far as we searched, on the estate; all our
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38"></a>38</span>
+attendants, with one accord, had fled, and as we knew them
+to be gratefully devoted, we drew the darkest intimations
+from their flight. The day passed, indeed, without event;
+but in the fall of the evening we were called at last into the
+verandah by the approaching clink of horse&rsquo;s hoofs.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor, mounted on an Indian pony, rode into the
+garden, dismounted, and saluted us. He seemed much
+more bent, and his hair more silvery than ever; but his
+demeanour was composed, serious, and not unkind.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I am come upon a weighty errand;
+and I would have you recognise it as an effect of kindness
+in the President, that he should send as his ambassador
+your only neighbour and your husband&rsquo;s oldest friend in Utah.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said my mother, &ldquo;I have but one concern,
+one thought. You know well what it is. Speak: my
+husband?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; returned the doctor, taking a chair on the
+verandah, &ldquo;if you were a silly child my position would
+now be painfully embarrassing. You are, on the other
+hand, a woman of great intelligence and fortitude: you
+have, by my forethought, been allowed three weeks to
+draw your own conclusions and to accept the inevitable.
+Further words from me are, I conceive, superfluous.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My mother was as pale as death, and trembled like a
+reed; I gave her my hand, and she kept it in the folds
+of her dress and wrung it till I could have cried aloud.
+&ldquo;Then, sir,&rdquo; said she at last, &ldquo;you speak to deaf ears. If
+this be indeed so, what have I to do with errands? what
+do I ask of Heaven but to die?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;command yourself. I bid
+you dismiss all thoughts of your late husband, and bring
+a clear mind to bear upon your own future and the fate
+of that young girl.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You bid me dismiss&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began my mother. &ldquo;Then
+you know!&rdquo; she cried.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; replied the doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page39"></a>39</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You know?&rdquo; broke out the poor woman. &ldquo;Then
+it was you who did the deed! I tear off the mask, and
+with dread and loathing see you as you are&mdash;you, whom
+the poor fugitive beholds in nightmares, and awakes raving&mdash;you,
+the Destroying Angel!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, madam, and what then?&rdquo; returned the doctor.
+&ldquo;Have not my fate and yours been similar? Are we
+not both immured in this strong prison of Utah? Have
+you not tried to flee, and did not the Open Eye confront
+you in the ca�on? Who can escape the watch of that
+unsleeping eye of Utah? Not I, at least. Horrible tasks
+have, indeed, been laid upon me; and the most ungrateful
+was the last; but had I refused my offices, would that
+have spared your husband? You know well it would not.
+I, too, had perished along with him; nor would I have
+been able to alleviate his last moments, nor could I to-day
+have stood between his family and the hand of Brigham Young.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; cried I, &ldquo;and could you purchase life by such
+concessions?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Young lady,&rdquo; answered the doctor, &ldquo;I both could
+and did; and you will live to thank me for that baseness.
+You have a spirit, Asenath, that it pleases me to recognise.
+But we waste time. Mr. Fonblanque&rsquo;s estate reverts, as
+you doubtless imagine, to the church; but some part of it
+has been reserved for him who is to marry the family;
+and that person, I should perhaps tell you without more
+delay, is no other than myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At this odious proposal my mother and I cried out
+aloud, and clung together like lost souls.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is as I supposed,&rdquo; resumed the doctor, with the
+same measured utterance. &ldquo;You recoil from this
+arrangement. Do you expect me to convince you? You know
+very well that I have never held the Mormon view of
+women. Absorbed in the most arduous studies, I have
+left the slatterns whom they call my wives to scratch and
+quarrel among themselves; of me, they have had nothing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40"></a>40</span>
+but my purse; such was not the union I desired, even if I
+had the leisure to pursue it. No, you need not, madam,
+and my old friend&mdash;&rdquo; and here the doctor rose and bowed
+with something of gallantry&mdash;&ldquo;you need not apprehend
+my importunities. On the contrary, I am rejoiced to read
+in you a Roman spirit; and if I am obliged to bid you follow
+me at once, and that in the name, not of my wish, but of
+my orders, I hope it will be found that we are of a common
+mind.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So, bidding us dress for the road, he took a lamp (for
+the night had now fallen) and set off to the stable to prepare
+our horses.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What does it mean?&mdash;what will become of us?&rdquo; I
+cried.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not that, at least,&rdquo; replied my mother, shuddering.
+&ldquo;So far we can trust him. I seem to read among his words
+a certain tragic promise. Asenath, if I leave you, if I die,
+you will not forget your miserable parents?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon we fell to cross-purposes: I beseeching her
+to explain her words; she putting me by, and continuing
+to recommend the doctor for a friend. &ldquo;The doctor!&rdquo; I
+cried at last; &ldquo;the man who killed my father?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;let us be just. I do believe, before
+Heaven, he played the friendliest part. And he alone,
+Asenath, can protect you in this land of death.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At this the doctor returned, leading our two horses;
+and when we were all in the saddle, he bade me ride on
+before, as he had matter to discuss with Mrs. Fonblanque.
+They came at a foot&rsquo;s-pace, eagerly conversing in a whisper;
+and presently after the moon rose and showed them looking
+eagerly into each other&rsquo;s faces as they went, my mother
+laying her hand upon the doctor&rsquo;s arm, and the doctor
+himself, against his usual custom, making vigorous gestures
+of protest or asseveration.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the track which ascended the talus of
+the mountain to his door, the doctor overtook me at a
+trot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page41"></a>41</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we shall dismount; and as your
+mother prefers to be alone, you and I shall walk together
+to my house.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I see her again?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I give you my word,&rdquo; he said, and helped me to alight.
+&ldquo;We leave the horses here,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;There are no
+thieves in this stone wilderness.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The track mounted gradually, keeping the house in
+view. The windows were once more bright; the chimney
+once more vomited smoke; but the most absolute silence
+reigned, and, but for the figure of my mother very slowly
+following in our wake, I felt convinced there was no human
+soul within a range of miles. At the thought, I looked
+upon the doctor, gravely walking by my side, with his
+bowed shoulders and white hair, and then once more at his
+house, lit up and pouring smoke like some industrious
+factory. And then my curiosity broke forth. &ldquo;In
+Heaven&rsquo;s name,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;what do you make in this
+inhuman desert?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me with a peculiar smile, and answered
+with an evasion:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is not the first time,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that you have
+seen my furnaces alight. One morning, in the small hours,
+I saw you driving past; a delicate experiment miscarried;
+and I cannot acquit myself of having startled either your
+driver or the horse that drew you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried I, beholding again in fancy the antics
+of the figure, &ldquo;could that be you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was I,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but do not fancy that I was
+mad. I was in agony. I had been scalded cruelly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We were now near the house, which, unlike the ordinary
+houses of the country, was built of hewn stone and very
+solid. Stone, too, was its foundation, stone its background.
+Not a blade of grass sprouted among the broken mineral
+about the walls, not a flower adorned the windows. Over the
+door, by way of sole adornment, the Mormon Eye was rudely
+sculptured; I had been brought up to view that emblem
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42"></a>42</span>
+from my childhood; but since the night of our escape, it
+had acquired a new significance, and set me shrinking. The
+smoke rolled voluminously from the chimney-top, its
+edges ruddy with the fire; and from the far corner of the
+building, near the ground, angry puffs of steam shone
+snow-white in the moon and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor opened the door and paused upon the
+threshold. &ldquo;You ask me what I make here,&rdquo; he observed:
+&ldquo;Two things: Life and Death.&rdquo; And he motioned me
+to enter.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I shall await my mother,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Child,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;look at me: am I not old and
+broken? Of us two, which is the stronger, the young
+maiden or the withered man?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I bowed and, passing by him, entered a vestibule or
+kitchen, lit by a good fire and a shaded reading-lamp.
+It was furnished only with a dresser, a rude table, and
+some wooden benches; and on one of these the doctor
+motioned me to take a seat; and passing by another
+door into the interior of the house, he left me to myself.
+Presently I heard the jar of iron from the far end of the
+building; and this was followed by the same throbbing
+noise that had startled me in the valley, but now so near
+at hand as to be menacing by loudness, and even to shake
+the house with every recurrence of the stroke. I had scarce
+time to master my alarm when the doctor returned, and
+almost in the same moment my mother appeared upon the
+threshold. But how am I to describe to you the peace and
+ravishment of that face? Years seemed to have passed
+over her head during that brief ride, and left her younger
+and fairer; her eyes shone, her smile went to my heart; she
+seemed no more a woman, but the angel of ecstatic tenderness.
+I ran to her in a kind of terror; but she shrank a
+little back and laid her finger on her lips, with something
+arch and yet unearthly. To the doctor, on the contrary,
+she reached out her hand as to a friend and helper; and so
+strange was the scene that I forgot to be offended.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43"></a>43</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lucy,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;all is prepared. Will you
+go alone, or shall your daughter follow us?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let Asenath come,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;dear Asenath!
+At this hour when I am purified of fear and sorrow, and
+already survive myself and my affections, it is for your
+sake, and not for mine, that I desire her presence. Were
+she shut out, dear friend, it is to be feared she might
+misjudge your kindness.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mother,&rdquo; I cried wildly, &ldquo;mother, what is this?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But my mother, with her radiant smile, said only
+&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; as though I were a child again, and tossing
+in some fever-fit; and the doctor bade me be silent and
+trouble her no more. &ldquo;You have made a choice,&rdquo; he
+continued, addressing my mother, &ldquo;that has often strangely
+tempted me. The two extremes: all, or else nothing;
+never, or this very hour upon the clock&mdash;these have been
+my incongruous desires. But to accept the middle term,
+to be content with a half-gift, to flicker awhile and to burn
+out&mdash;never for an hour, never since I was born, has satisfied
+the appetite of my ambition.&rdquo; He looked upon my mother
+fixedly, much of admiration and some touch of envy in his
+eyes; then, with a profound sigh, he led the way into the
+inner room.</p>
+
+<p>It was very long. From end to end it was lit up by
+many lamps, which by the changeful colour of their light,
+and by the incessant snapping sounds with which they
+burned, I have since divined to be electric. At the extreme
+end an open door gave us a glimpse into what must have
+been a lean-to shed beside the chimney; and this, in strong
+contrast to the room, was painted with a red reverberation
+as from furnace-doors. The walls were lined with books
+and glazed cases, the tables crowded with the implements of
+chemical research; great glass accumulators glittered in
+the light; and through a hole in the gable near the shed door
+a heavy driving-belt entered the apartment and ran overhead
+upon steel pulleys, with clumsy activity and many
+ghostly and fluttering sounds. In one corner I perceived a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44"></a>44</span>
+chair resting upon crystal feet, and curiously wreathed with
+wire. To this my mother advanced with a decisive swiftness.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is this it?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor bowed in silence.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Asenath,&rdquo; said my mother, &ldquo;in this sad end of my
+life I have found one helper. Look upon him: it is Doctor
+Grierson. Be not, O my daughter, be not ungrateful
+to that friend!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She sat upon the chair, and took in her hands the globes
+that terminated the arms.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Am I right?&rdquo; she asked, and looked upon the doctor
+with such a radiancy of face that I trembled for her reason.
+Once more the doctor bowed, but this time leaning hard
+against the wall. He must have touched a spring. The
+least shock agitated my mother where she sat; the least
+passing jar appeared to cross her features; and she sank
+back in the chair like one resigned to weariness. I was at
+her knees that moment; but her hands fell loosely in my
+grasp; her face, still beatified with the same touching smile,
+sank forward on her bosom: her spirit had for ever fled.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know how long may have elapsed before,
+raising for a moment my tearful face, I met the doctor&rsquo;s
+eyes. They rested upon mine with such a depth of scrutiny,
+pity, and interest, that even from the freshness of my sorrow
+I was startled into attention.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Enough,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to lamentation. Your mother
+went to death as to a bridal, dying where her husband died.
+It is time, Asenath, to think of the survivors. Follow me
+to the next room.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I followed him, like a person in a dream; he made
+me sit by the fire, he gave me wine to drink; and then,
+pacing the stone floor, he thus began to address me:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are now, my child, alone in the world, and under
+the immediate watch of Brigham Young. It would be
+your lot, in ordinary circumstances, to become the fiftieth
+bride of some ignoble elder, or by particular fortune, as
+fortune is counted in this land, to find favour in the eyes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45"></a>45</span>
+of the President himself. Such a fate for a girl like you
+were worse than death; better to die as your mother died
+than to sink daily deeper in the mire of this pit of woman&rsquo;s
+degradation. But is escape conceivable? Your father
+tried; and you beheld yourself with what security his
+jailers acted, and how a dumb drawing on a rock was counted
+a sufficient sentry over the avenues of freedom. Where
+your father failed, will you be wiser or more fortunate?
+or are you, too, helpless in the toils?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I had followed his words with changing emotion, but
+now I believed I understood.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I see,&rdquo; I cried; &ldquo;you judge me rightly. I must
+follow where my parents led; and oh! I am not only
+willing, I am eager!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the doctor, &ldquo;not death for you. The
+flawed vessel we may break, but not the perfect. No,
+your mother cherished a different hope, and so do I. I
+see,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;the girl develop to the completed woman,
+the plan reach fulfilment, the promise&mdash;ay, outdone! I
+could not bear to arrest so lively, so comely a process.
+It was your mother&rsquo;s thought,&rdquo; he added, with a change
+of tone, &ldquo;that I should marry you myself.&rdquo; I fear I
+must have shown a perfect horror of aversion from this
+fate, for he made haste to quiet me. &ldquo;Reassure yourself,
+Asenath,&rdquo; he resumed. &ldquo;Old as I am, I have not
+forgotten the tumultuous fancies of youth. I have passed
+my days, indeed, in laboratories; but in all my vigils I
+have not forgotten the tune of a young pulse. Age asks
+with timidity to be spared intolerable pain; youth, taking
+fortune by the beard, demands joy like a right. These
+things I have not forgotten; none, rather, has more keenly
+felt, none more jealously considered them; I have but
+postponed them to their day. See, then: you stand
+without support; the only friend left to you, this old
+investigator, old in cunning, young in sympathy. Answer
+me but one question: Are you free from the entanglement
+of what the world calls love? Do you still command your
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46"></a>46</span>
+heart and purposes? or are you fallen in some bond-slavery
+of the eye and ear?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I answered him in broken words; my heart, I think
+I must have told him, lay with my dead parents.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is enough,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It has been my fate to
+be called on often, too often, for those services of which
+we spoke to-night; none in Utah could carry them so
+well to a conclusion; hence there has fallen into my hands
+a certain share of influence which I now lay at your service,
+partly for the sake of my dead friends, your parents; partly
+for the interest I bear you in your own right. I shall send
+you to England, to the great city of London, there to await
+the bridegroom I have selected. He shall be a son of mine,
+a young man suitable in age, and not grossly deficient in
+that quality of beauty that your years demand. Since your
+heart is free, you may well pledge me the sole promise that
+I ask in return for much expense and still more danger:
+to await the arrival of that bridegroom with the delicacy
+of a wife.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I sat awhile stunned. The doctor&rsquo;s marriages, I
+remembered to have heard, had been unfruitful; and this
+added perplexity to my distress. But I was alone, as he
+had said, alone in that dark land; the thought of escape,
+of any equal marriage, was already enough to revive in
+me some dawn of hope; and, in what words I know not,
+I accepted the proposal.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed more moved by my consent than I could
+reasonably have looked for. &ldquo;You shall see,&rdquo; he cried;
+&ldquo;you shall judge for yourself.&rdquo; And hurrying to the
+next room he returned with a small portrait somewhat
+coarsely done in oils. It showed a man in the dress of
+nearly forty years before, young indeed, but still recognisable
+to be the doctor. &ldquo;Do you like it?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;That
+is myself when I was young. My&mdash;my boy will be like that,
+like, but nobler; with such health as angels might condescend
+to envy; and a man of mind, Asenath, of commanding
+mind. That should be a man, I think; that should
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47"></a>47</span>
+be one among ten thousand. A man like that&mdash;one to
+combine the passions of youth with the restraint, the force,
+the dignity of age&mdash;one to fill all the parts and faculties,
+one to be man&rsquo;s epitome&mdash;say, will that not satisfy the
+needs of an ambitious girl? Say, is not that enough?&rdquo; And
+as he held the picture close before my eyes, his hand shook.</p>
+
+<p>I told him briefly I would ask no better, for I was
+transpierced with this display of fatherly emotion; but
+even as I said the words, the most insolent revolt surged
+through my arteries. I held him in horror, him, his portrait,
+and his son; and had there been any choice but death or
+a Mormon marriage, I declare before Heaven I had embraced it.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and I had rightly counted
+on your spirit. Eat, then, for you have far to go.&rdquo; So
+saying, he set meat before me; and while I was endeavouring
+to obey, he left the room and returned with an armful
+of coarse raiment. &ldquo;There,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is your disguise.
+I leave you to your toilet.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The clothes had probably belonged to a somewhat
+lubberly boy of fifteen; and they hung about me like a
+sack, and cruelly hampered my movements. But what
+filled me with uncontrollable shudderings was the problem
+of their origin and the fate of the lad to whom they
+had belonged. I had scarcely effected the exchange when
+the doctor returned, opened a back window, helped me
+out into the narrow space between the house and the
+overhanging bluffs, and showed me a ladder of iron foot-holds
+mortised in the rock. &ldquo;Mount,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;swiftly.
+When you are at the summit, walk, so far as you are able,
+in the shadow of the smoke. The smoke will bring you,
+sooner or later, to a ca�on; follow that down, and you
+will find a man with two horses. Him you will implicitly
+obey. And remember, silence! That machinery which
+I now put in motion for your service may by one word be
+turned against you. Go; Heaven prosper you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The ascent was easy. Arrived at the top of the cliff,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"></a>48</span>
+I saw before me on the other side a vast and gradual
+declivity of stone, lying bare to the moon and the
+surrounding mountains. Nowhere was any vantage or
+concealment; and knowing how these deserts were beset with
+spies, I made haste to veil my movements under the blowing
+trail of smoke. Sometimes it swam high, rising on the
+night wind, and I had no more substantial curtain than its
+moon-thrown shadow; sometimes again it crawled upon
+the earth, and I would walk in it, no higher than to my
+shoulders, like some mountain fog. But, one way or
+another, the smoke of that ill-omened furnace protected
+the first steps of my escape, and led me unobserved to the
+ca�on.</p>
+
+<p>There, sure enough, I found a taciturn and sombre
+man beside a pair of saddle-horses; and thenceforward,
+all night long, we wandered in silence by the most occult
+and dangerous paths among the mountains. A little
+before the dayspring we took refuge in a wet and gusty
+cavern at the bottom of a gorge; lay there all day concealed;
+and the next night, before the glow had faded out of the
+west, resumed our wanderings. About noon we stopped
+again, in a lawn upon a little river, where was a screen
+of bushes; and here my guide, handing me a bundle from
+his pack, bade me change my dress once more. The bundle
+contained clothing of my own, taken from our house, with
+such necessaries as a comb and soap. I made my toilet by
+the mirror of a quiet pool; and as I was so doing and
+smiling with some complacency to see myself restored to
+my own image, the mountains rang with a scream of far
+more than human piercingness; and where I still stood
+astonished, there sprang up and swiftly increased a storm
+of the most awful and earth-rending sounds. Shall I own
+to you that I fell upon my face and shrieked? And yet
+this was but the overland train winding among the near
+mountains: the very means of my salvation: the strong
+wings that were to carry me from Utah!</p>
+
+<p>When I was dressed the guide gave me a bag, which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49"></a>49</span>
+contained, he said, both money and papers; and, telling
+me that I was already over the borders in the territory
+of Wyoming, bade me follow the stream until I reached
+the railway station, half a mile below. &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; he added,
+&ldquo;is your ticket as far as Council Bluffs. The East express
+will pass in a few hours.&rdquo; With that, he took both horses
+and, without further words or any salutation, rode off by
+the way that we had come.</p>
+
+<p>Three hours afterwards, I was seated on the end platform
+of the train as it swept eastward through the gorges
+and thundered in tunnels of the mountains. The change
+of scene, the sense of escape, the still throbbing terror
+of pursuit&mdash;above all the astounding magic of my new
+conveyance, kept me from any logical or melancholy
+thought. I had gone to the doctor&rsquo;s house two nights
+before prepared to die, prepared for worse than death;
+what had passed, terrible although it was, looked almost
+bright compared to my anticipations; and it was not till
+I had slept a full night in the flying palace car that I awoke
+to the sense of my irreparable loss and to some reasonable
+alarm about the future. In this mood I examined the
+contents of the bag. It was well supplied with gold; it
+contained tickets and complete directions for my journey
+as far as Liverpool, and a long letter from the doctor,
+supplying me with a fictitious name and story, recommending
+the most guarded silence, and bidding me to await
+faithfully the coming of his son. All then had been arranged
+beforehand: he had counted upon my consent, and, what
+was tenfold worse, upon my mother&rsquo;s voluntary death.
+My horror of my only friend, my aversion for this son who
+was to marry me, my revolt against the whole current and
+conditions of my life, were now complete. I was sitting
+stupefied by my distress and helplessness, when, to my joy,
+a very pleasant lady offered me her conversation. I
+clutched at the relief; and I was soon glibly telling her
+the story in the doctor&rsquo;s letter: how I was a Miss Gould,
+of Nevada City, going to England to an uncle, what money
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50"></a>50</span>
+I had, what family, my age, and so forth, until I had
+exhausted my instructions, and, as the lady still continued
+to ply me with questions, began to embroider on my own
+account. This soon carried one of my inexperience beyond
+her depth; and I had already remarked a shadow on the
+lady&rsquo;s face, when a gentleman drew near and very civilly
+addressed me:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Gould, I believe?&rdquo; said he; and then, excusing
+himself to the lady by the authority of my guardian,
+drew me to the fore platform of the Pullman car. &ldquo;Miss
+Gould,&rdquo; he said in my ear, &ldquo;is it possible that you suppose
+yourself in safety? Let me completely undeceive
+you. One more such indiscretion and you return to Utah.
+And, in the meanwhile, if this woman should again address
+you, you are to reply with these words:&lsquo;Madam, I do not
+like you, and I will be obliged if you will suffer me to
+choose my own associates.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Alas, I had to do as I was bid; this lady, to whom
+I already felt myself drawn with the strongest cords of
+sympathy, I dismissed with insult; and thenceforward,
+through all that day I sat in silence, gazing on the bare
+plains and swallowing my tears. Let that suffice: it was
+the pattern of my journey. Whether on the train, at
+the hotels, or on board the ocean steamer, I never exchanged
+a friendly word with any fellow-traveller but I was certain
+to be interrupted. In every place, on every side, the most
+unlikely persons, man or woman, rich or poor, became
+protectors to forward me upon my journey or spies to
+observe and regulate my conduct. Thus I crossed the
+States, thus passed the ocean, the Mormon Eye still following
+my movements; and when at length a cab had set me
+down before that London lodging-house from which you saw
+me flee this morning, I had already ceased to struggle and
+ceased to hope.</p>
+
+<p>The landlady, like every one else through all that
+journey, was expecting my arrival. A fire was lighted
+in my room, which looked upon the garden; there were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51"></a>51</span>
+books on the table, clothes in the drawers; and there (I
+had almost said with contentment, and certainly with
+resignation) I saw month follow month over my head. At
+times my landlady took me for a walk or an excursion,
+but she would never suffer me to leave the house alone;
+and I, seeing that she also lived under the shadow of that
+widespread Mormon terror, felt too much pity to resist.
+To the child born on Mormon soil, as to the man who
+accepts the engagements of a secret order, no escape is
+possible; so I had clearly read, and I was thankful even
+for this respite. Meanwhile, I tried honestly to prepare
+my mind for my approaching nuptials. The day drew
+near when my bridegroom was to visit me, and gratitude
+and fear alike obliged me to consent. A son of Dr.
+Grierson&rsquo;s be he what he pleased, must still be young,
+and it was even probable he should be handsome; on
+more than that I felt I dared not reckon; and in moulding
+my mind towards consent I dwelt the more carefully
+on these physical attractions which I felt I might expect,
+and averted my eyes from moral or intellectual considerations.
+We have a great power upon our spirits; and as
+time passed I worked myself into a frame of acquiescence,
+nay, and I began to grow impatient for the hour. At
+night sleep forsook me; I sat all day by the fire, absorbed
+in dreams, conjuring up the features of my husband, and
+anticipating in fancy the touch of his hand and the sound
+of his voice. In the dead level and solitude of my
+existence, this was the one eastern window and the one door
+of hope. At last I had so cultivated and prepared my
+will, that I began to be besieged with fears upon the other
+side. How if it was I that did not please? How if this
+unseen lover should turn from me with disaffection? And
+now I spent hours before the glass, studying and judging
+my attractions, and was never weary of changing my dress
+or ordering my hair.</p>
+
+<p>When the day came I was long about my toilet; but at
+last, with a sort of hopeful desperation, I had to own that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52"></a>52</span>
+I could do no more, and must now stand or fall by nature.
+My occupation ended, I fell a prey to the most sickening
+impatience, mingled with alarms; giving ear to the swelling
+rumour of the streets, and at each change of sound or silence,
+starting, shrinking, and colouring to the brow. Love is not to
+be prepared, I know, without some knowledge of the object;
+and yet, when the cab at last rattled to the door, and I heard
+my visitor mount the stairs, such was the tumult of hopes
+in my poor bosom that love itself might have been proud
+to own their parentage. The door opened, and it was Dr.
+Grierson that appeared. I believe I must have screamed
+aloud, and I know, at least, that I fell fainting to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>When I came to myself he was standing over me, counting
+my pulse. &ldquo;I have startled you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A
+difficulty unforeseen&mdash;the impossibility of obtaining a
+certain drug in its full purity&mdash;has forced me to resort to
+London unprepared. I regret that I should have shown
+myself once more without those poor attractions which
+are much, perhaps, to you, but to me are no more considerable
+than rain that falls into the sea. Youth is but a
+state, as passing as that syncope from which you are but
+just awakened, and, if there be truth in science, as easy
+to recall; for I find, Asenath, that I must now take you
+for my confidant. Since my first years I have devoted
+every hour and act of life to one ambitious task; and
+the time of my success is at hand. In these new countries,
+where I was so long content to stay, I collected indispensable
+ingredients; I have fortified myself on every side
+from the possibility of error; what was a dream now takes
+the substance of reality; and when I offered you a son
+of mine I did so in a figure. That son&mdash;that husband,
+Asenath, is myself&mdash;not as you now behold me, but restored
+to the first energy of youth. You think me mad?
+It is the customary attitude of ignorance. I will not
+argue; I will leave facts to speak. When you behold me
+purified, invigorated, renewed, restamped in the original
+image&mdash;when you recognise in me (what I shall be) the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53"></a>53</span>
+first perfect expression of the powers of mankind&mdash;I shall
+be able to laugh with a better grace at your passing and
+natural incredulity. To what can you aspire&mdash;fame,
+riches, power, the charm of youth, the dear-bought wisdom
+of age&mdash;that I shall not be able to afford you in perfection?
+Do not deceive yourself. I already excel you in every
+human gift but one: when that gift also has been restored
+to me you will recognise your master.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon, consulting his watch, he told me he must
+now leave me to myself; and bidding me consult reason,
+and not girlish fancies, he withdrew. I had not the courage
+to move; the night fell, and found me still where he had
+laid me during my faint, my face buried in my hands,
+my soul drowned in the darkest apprehensions. Late
+in the evening he returned, carrying a candle, and, with
+a certain irritable tremor, bade me rise and sup. &ldquo;Is it
+possible,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;that I have been deceived in your
+courage? A cowardly girl is no fit mate for me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I flung myself before him on my knees, and with floods
+of tears besought him to release me from this engagement,
+assuring him that my cowardice was abject, and that in
+every point of intellect and character I was his hopeless
+and derisible inferior.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, certainly,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I know you better
+than yourself; and I am well enough acquainted with
+human nature to understand this scene. It is addressed
+to me,&rdquo; he added with a smile, &ldquo;in my character of the
+still untransformed. But do not alarm yourself about
+the future. Let me but attain my end, and not you only,
+Asenath, but every woman on the face of the earth becomes
+my willing slave.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon he obliged me to rise and eat; sat down
+with me to table; helped and entertained me with the
+attentions of a fashionable host; and it was not till a late
+hour that, bidding me courteously good-night, he once
+more left me alone to my misery.</p>
+
+<p>In all this talk of an elixir and the restoration of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54"></a>54</span>
+youth, I scarce knew from which hypothesis I should the
+more eagerly recoil. If his hopes reposed on any base
+of fact, if, indeed, by some abhorrent miracle, he should
+discard his age, death were my only refuge from that most
+unnatural, that most ungodly union. If, on the other
+hand, these dreams were merely lunatic, the madness of a
+life waxed suddenly acute, my pity would become a load
+almost as heavy to bear as my revolt against the marriage.
+So passed the night, in alternations of rebellion and
+despair, of hate and pity; and with the next morning I was
+only to comprehend more fully my enslaved position.
+For though he appeared with a very tranquil countenance,
+he had no sooner observed the marks of grief upon my
+brow than an answering darkness gathered on his own.
+&ldquo;Asenath,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you owe me much already; with one
+finger I still hold you suspended over death; my life is
+full of labour and anxiety; and I choose,&rdquo; said he, with a
+remarkable accent of command, &ldquo;that you shall greet me
+with a pleasant face.&rdquo; He never needed to repeat the
+recommendation: from that day forward I was always
+ready to receive him with apparent cheerfulness; and he
+rewarded me with a good deal of his company, and almost
+more than I could bear of his confidence. He had set up
+a laboratory in the back part of the house, where he toiled
+day and night at his elixir, and he would come thence
+to visit me in my parlour: now with passing humours of
+discouragement; now, and far more often, radiant with
+hope. It was impossible to see so much of him, and not
+to recognise that the sands of his life were running low;
+and yet all the time he would be laying out vast fields of
+future, and planning, with all the confidence of youth, the
+most unbounded schemes of pleasure and ambition. How
+I replied I know not; but I found a voice and words to
+answer, even while I wept and raged to hear him.</p>
+
+<p>A week ago the doctor entered my room with the marks
+of great exhilaration contending with pitiful bodily
+weakness. &ldquo;Asenath,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I have now obtained the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55"></a>55</span>
+last ingredient. In one week from now the perilous moment
+of the last projection will draw nigh. You have once
+before assisted, although unconsciously, at the failure
+of a similar experiment. It was the elixir which so
+terribly exploded one night when you were passing my house;
+and it is idle to deny that the conduct of so delicate a
+process, among the million jars and trepidations of so great
+a city, presents a certain element of danger. From this
+point of view, I cannot but regret the perfect stillness
+of my house among the deserts; but, on the other hand,
+I have succeeded in proving that the singularly unstable
+equilibrium of the elixir, at the moment of projection, is
+due rather to the impurity than to the nature of the
+ingredients; and as all are now of an equal and exquisite nicety,
+I have little fear for the result. In a week then from to-day,
+my dear Asenath, this period of trial will be ended.&rdquo; And
+he smiled upon me in a manner unusually paternal.</p>
+
+<p>I smiled back with my lips, but at my heart there raged
+the blackest and most unbridled terror. What if he failed?
+And oh, tenfold worse! what if he succeeded? What
+detested and unnatural changeling would appear before
+me to claim my hand? And could there, I asked myself
+with a dreadful sinking, be any truth in his boasts of an
+assured victory over my reluctance? I knew him, indeed,
+to be masterful, to lead my life at a sign. Suppose, then,
+this experiment to succeed; suppose him to return to me,
+hideously restored, like a vampire in a legend; and suppose
+that, by some devilish fascination.... My head turned; all
+former fears deserted me; and I felt I could embrace the
+worst in preference to this.</p>
+
+<p>My mind was instantly made up. The doctor&rsquo;s presence
+in London was justified by the affairs of the Mormon
+polity. Often, in our conversation, he would gloat over
+the details of that great organisation, which he feared even
+while yet he wielded it; and would remind me that, even
+in the humming labyrinth of London, we were still visible
+to that unsleeping eye in Utah. His visitors, indeed, who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56"></a>56</span>
+were of every sort, from the missionary to the destroying
+angel, and seemed to belong to every rank of life, had, up
+to that moment, filled me with unmixed repulsion and
+alarm. I knew that if my secret were to reach the ear of
+any leader my fate were sealed beyond redemption; and
+yet in my present pass of horror and despair, it was to these
+very men that I turned for help. I waylaid upon the stair
+one of the Mormon missionaries, a man of a low class, but
+not inaccessible to pity; told him I scarce remember what
+elaborate fable to explain my application; and by his
+intermediacy entered into correspondence with my father&rsquo;s
+family. They recognised my claim for help, and on this
+very day I was to begin my escape.</p>
+
+<p>Last night I sat up fully dressed, awaiting the result
+of the doctor&rsquo;s labours, and prepared against the worst.
+The nights at this season and in this northern latitude
+are short; and I had soon the company of the returning
+daylight. The silence in and around the house was only
+broken by the movements of the doctor in the laboratory;
+to these I listened, watch in hand, awaiting the hour of
+my escape, and yet consumed by anxiety about the strange
+experiment that was going forward overhead. Indeed,
+now that I was conscious of some protection for myself, my
+sympathies had turned more directly to the doctor&rsquo;s side;
+I caught myself even praying for his success; and when
+some hours ago a low, peculiar cry reached my ears from
+the laboratory, I could no longer control my impatience,
+but mounted the stairs and opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor was standing in the middle of the room;
+in his hand a large, round-bellied, crystal flask, some three
+parts full of a bright amber-coloured liquid; on his face
+a rapture of gratitude and joy unspeakable. As he saw
+me he raised the flask at arm&rsquo;s-length. &ldquo;Victory!&rdquo; he
+cried. &ldquo;Victory, Asenath!&rdquo; And then&mdash;whether the
+flask escaped his trembling fingers, or whether the
+explosion was spontaneous, I cannot tell&mdash;enough that we
+were thrown, I against the door-post, the doctor into the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57"></a>57</span>
+corner of the room; enough that we were shaken to the
+soul by the same explosion that must have startled you
+upon the street; and that, in the brief space of an
+indistinguishable instant, there remained nothing of the labours
+of the doctor&rsquo;s lifetime but a few shards of broken crystal
+and those voluminous and ill-smelling vapours that pursued
+me in my flight.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="foot" />
+<div class="note">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2" href="#FnAnchor_2"><span class="fn">2</span></a> In this name the accent falls upon the <i>e</i>; the <i>s</i> is sibilant.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<h4>THE SQUIRE OF DAMES (<i>concluded</i>)</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">What</span> with the lady&rsquo;s animated manner and dramatic
+conduct of her voice, Challoner had thrilled to every
+incident with genuine emotion. His fancy, which was not
+perhaps of a very lively character, applauded both the
+matter and the style; but the more judicial functions
+of his mind refused assent. It was an excellent story;
+and it might be true, but he believed it was not. Miss
+Fonblanque was a lady, and it was doubtless possible for
+a lady to wander from the truth; but how was a gentleman
+to tell her so? His spirits for some time had been
+sinking, but they now fell to zero; and long after her voice
+had died away he still sat with a troubled and averted
+countenance, and could find no form of words to thank her
+for her narrative. His mind, indeed, was empty of everything
+beyond a dull longing for escape. From this pause,
+which grew the more embarrassing with every second, he
+was roused by the sudden laughter of the lady. His vanity
+was alarmed; he turned and faced her; their eyes met;
+and he caught from hers a spark of such frank merriment
+as put him instantly at ease.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You certainly,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;appear to bear your
+calamities with excellent spirit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do I not?&rdquo; she cried, and fell once more into delicious
+laughter. But from this access she more speedily recovered.
+&ldquo;This is all very well,&rdquo; said she, nodding at him gravely,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58"></a>58</span>
+&ldquo;but I am still in a most distressing situation, from which,
+if you deny me your help, I shall find it difficult indeed
+to free myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At this mention of help Challoner fell back to his
+original gloom.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My sympathies are much engaged with you,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;and I should be delighted, I am sure. But our
+position is most unusual; and circumstances over which
+I have, I can assure you, no control, deprive me of the
+power&mdash;the pleasure&mdash;&mdash;Unless, indeed,&rdquo; he added, somewhat
+brightening at the thought, &ldquo;I were to recommend
+you to the care of the police?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She laid her hand upon his arm and looked hard into
+his eyes; and he saw with wonder that, for the first time
+since the moment of their meeting, every trace of colour
+had faded from her cheek.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do so,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and&mdash;weigh my words well&mdash;you
+kill me as certainly as with a knife.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;God bless me!&rdquo; exclaimed Challoner.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I can see you disbelieve my story,
+and make light of the perils that surround me; but who
+are you to judge? My family share my apprehensions;
+they help me in secret; and you saw yourself by what
+an emissary, and in what a place, they have chosen to supply
+me with the funds for my escape. I admit that you are
+brave and clever, and have impressed me most favourably;
+but how are you to prefer your opinion before that of my
+uncle, an ex-minister of State, a man with the ear of the
+Queen, and of a long political experience? If I am mad,
+is he? And you must allow me, besides, a special claim
+upon your help. Strange as you may think my story, you
+know that much of it is true; and if you who heard the explosion,
+and saw the Mormon at Victoria, refuse to credit
+and assist me, to whom am I to turn?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He gave you money then?&rdquo; asked Challoner, who
+had been dwelling singly on that fact.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I begin to interest you,&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;But, frankly,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59"></a>59</span>
+you are condemned to help me. If the service I had to
+ask of you were serious, were suspicious, were even unusual,
+I should say no more. But what is it? To take a pleasure
+trip (for which, if you will suffer me, I propose to pay) and
+to carry from one lady to another a sum of money! What
+can be more simple?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is the sum,&rdquo; asked Challoner, &ldquo;considerable?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She produced a packet from her bosom; and observing
+that she had not yet found time to make the count,
+tore open the cover and spread upon her knees a considerable
+number of Bank of England notes. It took some time
+to make the reckoning, for the notes were of every degree
+of value; but at last, and counting a few loose sovereigns,
+she made out the sum to be a little under �710 sterling.
+The sight of so much money worked an immediate revolution
+in the mind of Challoner.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you propose, madam,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;to intrust
+that money to a perfect stranger?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said she, with a charming smile, &ldquo;but I no
+longer regard you as a stranger.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said Challoner, &ldquo;I perceive I must make
+you a confession. Although of a very good family&mdash;through
+my mother, indeed, a lineal descendant of the patriot Bruce&mdash;I
+dare not conceal from you that my affairs are deeply,
+very deeply, involved. I am in debt; my pockets are
+practically empty; and, in short, I am fallen to that state
+when a considerable sum of money would prove to many
+men an irresistible temptation.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you not see,&rdquo; returned the young lady, &ldquo;that by
+these words you have removed my last hesitation? Take
+them.&rdquo; And she thrust the notes into the young man&rsquo;s
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>He sat so long, holding them, like a baby at the font,
+that Miss Fonblanque once more bubbled into laughter.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pray,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;hesitate no further; put them in
+your pocket; and to relieve our position of any shadow
+of embarrassment, tell me by what name I am to address
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60"></a>60</span>
+my knight-errant, for I find myself reduced to the awkwardness
+of the pronoun.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Had borrowing been in question, the wisdom of our
+ancestors had come lightly to the young man&rsquo;s aid; but
+upon what pretext could he refuse so generous a trust?
+Upon none, he saw, that was not unpardonably wounding;
+and the bright eyes and the high spirits of his companion
+had already made a breach in the rampart of
+Challoner&rsquo;s caution. The whole thing, he reasoned,
+might be a mere mystification, which it were the height
+of solemn folly to resent. On the other hand, the explosion,
+the interview at the public-house, and the very
+money in his hands, seemed to prove beyond denial the
+existence of some serious danger; and if that were so,
+could he desert her? There was a choice of risks: the
+risk of behaving with extraordinary incivility and unhandsomeness
+to a lady, and the risk of going on a fool&rsquo;s errand.
+The story seemed false; but then the money was undeniable.
+The whole circumstances were questionable and obscure;
+but the lady was charming, and had the speech and manners
+of society. While he still hung in the wind, a recollection
+returned upon his mind with some of the dignity of prophecy.
+Had he not promised Somerset to break with the
+traditions of the commonplace, and to accept the first
+adventure offered? Well, here was the adventure.</p>
+
+<p>He thrust the money into his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My name is Challoner,&rdquo; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Challoner,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;you have come very
+generously to my aid when all was against me. Though
+I am myself a very humble person, my family commands
+great interest; and I do not think you will repent this
+handsome action.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Challoner flushed with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I imagine that, perhaps, a consulship,&rdquo; she added,
+her eyes dwelling on him with a judicial admiration, &ldquo;a consulship
+in some great town or capital&mdash;or else&mdash;&mdash;But we
+waste time; let us set about the work of my delivery.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page61"></a>61</span></p>
+
+<p>She took his arm with a frank confidence that went
+to his heart; and once more laying by all serious thoughts,
+she entertained him, as they crossed the park, with her
+agreeable gaiety of mind. Near the Marble Arch they
+found a hansom, which rapidly conveyed them to the
+terminus at Euston Square; and here, in the hotel, they
+sat down to an excellent breakfast. The young lady&rsquo;s
+first step was to call for writing materials, and write, upon
+one corner of the table, a hasty note; still, as she did so,
+glancing with smiles at her companion. &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said
+she, &ldquo;here is the letter which will introduce you to my
+cousin.&rdquo; She began to fold the paper. &ldquo;My cousin,
+although I have never seen her, has the character of a very
+charming woman and a recognised beauty; of that I know
+nothing, but at least she has been very kind to me; so has
+my lord her father; so have you&mdash;kinder than all&mdash;kinder
+than I can bear to think of.&rdquo; She said this with unusual
+emotion; and, at the same time, sealed the envelope.
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I have shut my letter! It is not quite
+courteous; and yet, as between friends, it is perhaps better
+so. I introduce you, after all, into a family secret; and
+though you and I are already old comrades, you are still
+unknown to my uncle. You go, then, to this address,
+Richard Street, Glasgow; go, please, as soon as you arrive;
+and give this letter with your own hands into those of
+Miss Fonblanque, for that is the name by which she is to
+pass. When we next meet, you will tell me what you
+think of her,&rdquo; she added, with a touch of the provocative.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said Challoner, almost tenderly, &ldquo;she can be
+nothing to me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You do not know,&rdquo; replied the young lady, with a
+sigh. &ldquo;By the by, I had forgotten&mdash;it is very childish,
+and I am almost ashamed to mention it&mdash;but when you
+see Miss Fonblanque, you will have to make yourself a
+little ridiculous; and I am sure the part in no way suits
+you. We had agreed upon a watchword. You will have
+to address an earl&rsquo;s daughter in these words:&lsquo;<i>Nigger</i>,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62"></a>62</span>
+<i>nigger, never die</i>&rsquo;; but reassure yourself,&rdquo; she added,
+laughing, &ldquo;for the fair patrician will at once finish the
+quotation. Come now, say your lesson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Nigger, nigger, never die,&rsquo;&rdquo; repeated Challoner,
+with undisguised reluctance.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fonblanque went into fits of laughter. &ldquo;Excellent,&rdquo;
+said she, &ldquo;it will be the most humorous scene!&rdquo;
+And she laughed again.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what will be the counterword?&rdquo; asked Challoner
+stiffly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will not tell you till the last moment,&rdquo; said she;
+&ldquo;for I perceive you are growing too imperious.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast over, she accompanied the young man to
+the platform, bought him the <i>Graphic</i>, the <i>Athen�um</i>,
+and a paper-cutter, and stood on the step conversing till
+the whistle sounded. Then she put her head into the
+carriage. &ldquo;<i>Black face and shining eye!</i>&rdquo; she whispered,
+and instantly leaped down upon the platform, with a
+trill of gay and musical laughter. As the train steamed out
+of the great arch of glass, the sound of that laughter still
+rang in the young man&rsquo;s ears.</p>
+
+<p>Challoner&rsquo;s position was too unusual to be long welcome
+to his mind. He found himself projected the whole
+length of England, on a mission beset with obscure and
+ridiculous circumstances, and yet, by the trust he had
+accepted, irrevocably bound to persevere. How easy
+it appeared, in the retrospect, to have refused the whole
+proposal, returned the money, and gone forth again upon
+his own affairs, a free and happy man! And it was now
+impossible: the enchantress who had held him with her
+eye had now disappeared, taking his honour in pledge;
+and as she had failed to leave him an address, he was denied
+even the inglorious safety of retreat. To use the paper-knife,
+or even to read the periodicals with which she had
+presented him, was to renew the bitterness of his remorse;
+and as he was alone in the compartment, he passed the day
+staring at the landscape in impotent repentance, and long
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63"></a>63</span>
+before he was landed on the platform of St. Enoch&rsquo;s, had
+fallen to the lowest and coldest zones of self-contempt.</p>
+
+<p>As he was hungry, and elegant in his habits, he would
+have preferred to dine and to remove the stains of travel;
+but the words of the young lady, and his own impatient
+eagerness, would suffer no delay. In the late, luminous,
+and lamp-starred dusk of the summer evening he accordingly
+set forward with brisk steps.</p>
+
+<p>The street to which he was directed had first seen the
+day in the character of a row of small suburban villas on
+a hillside; but the extension of the city had, long since and
+on every hand, surrounded it with miles of streets. From
+the top of the hill a range of very tall buildings, densely
+inhabited by the poorest classes of the population and
+variegated by drying-poles from every second window,
+overplumbed the villas and their little gardens like a sea-board
+cliff. But still, under the grime of years of city
+smoke, these antiquated cottages, with their venetian blinds
+and rural porticoes, retained a somewhat melancholy savour
+of the past.</p>
+
+<p>The street, when Challoner entered it, was perfectly
+deserted. From hard by, indeed, the sound of a thousand
+footfalls filled the ear; but in Richard Street itself there
+was neither light nor sound of human habitation. The
+appearance of the neighbourhood weighed heavily on the
+mind of the young man; once more, as in the streets of
+London, he was impressed by the sense of city deserts;
+and as he approached the number indicated, and somewhat
+falteringly rang the bell, his heart sank within him.</p>
+
+<p>The bell was ancient, like the house; it had a thin
+and garrulous note; and it was some time before it ceased
+to sound from the rear quarters of the building. Following
+upon this an inner door was stealthily opened, and
+careful and catlike steps drew near along the hall. Challoner,
+supposing he was to be instantly admitted, produced
+his letter and, as well as he was able, prepared a smiling
+face. To his indescribable surprise, however, the footsteps
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64"></a>64</span>
+ceased, and then, after a pause and with the like stealthiness,
+withdrew once more, and died away in the interior of the
+house. A second time the young man rang violently at
+the bell; a second time, to his keen hearkening, a certain
+bustle of discreet footing moved upon the hollow boards
+of the old villa; and again the faint-hearted garrison only
+drew near to retreat. The cup of the visitor&rsquo;s endurance
+was now full to overflowing; and, committing the whole
+family of Fonblanque to every mood and shade of condemnation,
+he turned upon his heel and redescended the steps. Perhaps
+the mover in the house was watching from a window,
+and plucked up courage at the sight of this desistance;
+or perhaps, where he lurked trembling in the back parts
+of the villa, reason in its own right had conquered his
+alarms. Challoner, at least, had scarce set foot upon
+the pavement when he was arrested by the sound of the
+withdrawal of an inner bolt; one followed another, rattling
+in their sockets; the key turned harshly in the lock; the
+door opened; and there appeared upon the threshold a
+man of a very stalwart figure in his shirt sleeves. He was
+a person neither of great manly beauty nor of a refined
+exterior; he was not the man, in ordinary moods, to attract
+the eyes of the observer; but as he now stood in the doorway
+he was marked so legibly with the extreme passion of
+terror that Challoner stood wonder-struck. For a fraction
+of a minute they gazed upon each other in silence; and then
+the man of the house, with ashen lips and gasping voice,
+inquired the business of his visitor. Challoner replied, in
+tones from which he strove to banish his surprise, that
+he was the bearer of a letter to a certain Miss Fonblanque.
+At this name, as at a talisman, the man fell back and
+impatiently invited him to enter; and no sooner had the
+adventurer crossed the threshold than the door was closed
+behind him and his retreat cut off.</p>
+
+<p>It was already long past eight at night; and though
+the late twilight of the north still lingered in the streets,
+in the passage it was already groping dark. The man
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65"></a>65</span>
+led Challoner directly to a parlour looking on the garden
+to the back. Here he had apparently been supping;
+for by the light of a tallow dip, the table was seen to be
+covered with a napkin, and set out with a quart of bottled
+ale and the heel of a Gouda cheese. The room, on the
+other hand, was furnished with faded solidity, and the walls
+were lined with scholarly and costly volumes in glazed
+cases. The house must have been taken furnished; for it
+had no congruity with this man of the shirt sleeves and the
+mean supper. As for the earl&rsquo;s daughter, the earl and the
+visionary consulships in foreign cities, they had long ago
+begun to fade in Challoner&rsquo;s imagination. Like Dr. Grierson
+and the Mormon angels, they were plainly woven of the
+stuff of dreams. Not an illusion remained to the knight-errant;
+not a hope was left him but to be speedily relieved
+from this disreputable business.</p>
+
+<p>The man had continued to regard his visitor with undisguised
+anxiety, and began once more to press him for
+his errand.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am here,&rdquo; said Challoner, &ldquo;simply to do a service
+between two ladies; and I must ask you, without further
+delay, to summon Miss Fonblanque, into whose hands
+alone I am authorised to deliver the letter that I bear.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A growing wonder began to mingle on the man&rsquo;s face
+with the lines of solicitude. &ldquo;I am Miss Fonblanque,&rdquo;
+he said; and then, perceiving the effect of this communication,
+&ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;what are you staring at?
+I tell you I am Miss Fonblanque.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the speaker wore a chin-beard of considerable
+length, and the remainder of his face was blue with shaving,
+Challoner could only suppose himself the subject of a jest.
+He was no longer under the spell of the young lady&rsquo;s presence;
+and with men, and above all with his inferiors, he
+was capable of some display of spirit.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said he, pretty roundly, &ldquo;I have put myself
+to great inconvenience for persons of whom I know too
+little, and I begin to be weary of the business. Either you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66"></a>66</span>
+shall immediately summon Miss Fonblanque, or I leave this
+house and put myself under the direction of the police.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is horrible!&rdquo; exclaimed the man. &ldquo;I declare
+before Heaven I am the person meant, but how shall I
+convince you? It must have been Clara, I perceive, that
+sent you on this errand&mdash;a madwoman, who jests with
+the most deadly interests; and here we are, incapable,
+perhaps, of an agreement, and Heaven knows what may
+depend on our delay!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He spoke with a really startling earnestness; and at
+the same time there flashed upon the mind of Challoner
+the ridiculous jingle which was to serve as password.
+&ldquo;This may, perhaps, assist you,&rdquo; he said; and then, with
+some embarrassment: &ldquo;&rsquo;Nigger, nigger, never die.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A light of relief broke upon the troubled countenance
+of the man with the chin-beard. &ldquo;&rsquo;Black face and shining
+eye&rsquo;&mdash;give me the letter,&rdquo; he panted, in one gasp.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Challoner, though still with some reluctance,
+&ldquo;I suppose I must regard you as the proper recipient;
+and though I may justly complain of the spirit in which
+I have been treated, I am only too glad to be done with all
+responsibility. Here it is,&rdquo; and he produced the envelope.</p>
+
+<p>The man leaped upon it like a beast, and with hands
+that trembled in a manner painful to behold, tore it open
+and unfolded the letter. As he read, terror seemed to mount
+upon him to the pitch of nightmare. He struck one hand
+upon his brow, while with the other, as if unconsciously,
+he crumpled the paper to a ball. &ldquo;My gracious powers!&rdquo;
+he cried; and then, dashing to the window, which stood
+open on the garden, he clapped forth his head and shoulders
+and whistled long and shrill. Challoner fell back into a
+corner, and resolutely grasping his staff, prepared for the
+most desperate events; but the thoughts of the man with
+the chin-beard were far removed from violence. Turning
+again into the room, and once more beholding his visitor,
+whom he appeared to have forgotten, he fairly danced with
+trepidation. &ldquo;Impossible!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Oh, quite impossible!
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67"></a>67</span>
+O Lord, I have lost my head.&rdquo; And then, once
+more striking his hand upon his brow, &ldquo;The money!&rdquo;
+he exclaimed. &ldquo;Give me the money.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My good friend,&rdquo; replied Challoner, &ldquo;this is a very
+painful exhibition; and until I see you reasonably master
+of yourself, I decline to proceed with any business.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are quite right,&rdquo; said the man. &ldquo;I am of a
+very nervous habit; a long course of the dumb ague has
+undermined my constitution. But I know you have money;
+it may be still the saving of me; and oh, dear young gentleman,
+in pity&rsquo;s name be expeditious!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Challoner, sincerely uneasy as he was, could scarce
+refrain from laughter; but he was himself in a hurry to
+be gone, and without more delay produced the money.
+&ldquo;You will find the sum, I trust, correct,&rdquo; he observed;
+&ldquo;and let me ask you to give me a receipt.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But the man heeded him not. He seized the money,
+and disregarding the sovereigns that rolled loose upon
+the floor, thrust the bundle of notes into his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A receipt,&rdquo; repeated Challoner, with some asperity.
+&ldquo;I insist on a receipt.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Receipt?&rdquo; repeated the man, a little wildly. &ldquo;A
+receipt? Immediately! Await me here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Challoner, in reply, begged the gentleman to lose no
+unnecessary time, as he was himself desirous of catching
+a particular train.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, by God, and so am I!&rdquo; exclaimed the man with
+the chin-beard; and with that he was gone out of the
+room, and had rattled upstairs, four at a time, to the
+upper story of the villa.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is certainly a most amazing business,&rdquo; thought
+Challoner; &ldquo;certainly a most disquieting affair; and I
+cannot conceal from myself that I have become mixed up
+with either lunatics or malefactors. I may truly thank
+my stars that I am so nearly and so creditably done with
+it.&rdquo; Thus thinking, and perhaps remembering the episode
+of the whistle, he turned to the open window. The garden
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68"></a>68</span>
+was still faintly clear; he could distinguish the stairs and
+terraces with which the small domain had been adorned
+by former owners, and the blackened bushes and dead
+trees that had once afforded shelter to the country birds;
+beyond these he saw the strong retaining wall, some thirty
+feet in height, which enclosed the garden to the back; and
+again above that, the pile of dingy buildings rearing its
+frontage high into the night. A peculiar object lying
+stretched upon the lawn for some time baffled his eyesight;
+but at length he had made it out to be a long ladder, or
+series of ladders bound into one; and he was still wondering
+of what service so great an instrument could be in such a
+scant enclosure, when he was recalled to himself by the
+noise of some one running violently down the stairs. This
+was followed by the sudden, clamorous banging of the
+house door; and that again, by rapid and retreating footsteps
+in the street.</p>
+
+<p>Challoner sprang into the passage. He ran from room
+to room, upstairs and downstairs; and in that old dingy
+and worm-eaten house, he found himself alone. Only
+in one apartment looking to the front were there any traces
+of the late inhabitant: a bed that had been recently slept
+in and not made, a chest of drawers disordered by a hasty
+search and on the floor a roll of crumpled paper. This he
+picked up. The light in this upper story looking to the front
+was considerably brighter than in the parlour; and he was
+able to make out that the paper bore the mark of the hotel
+at Euston, and even, by peering closely, to decipher the
+following lines in a very elegant and careful female hand:</p>
+
+<div class="quote">
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="sc">Dear M&rsquo;Guire</span>,&mdash;It is certain your retreat is known. We have
+just had another failure, clockwork thirty hours too soon, with the
+usual humiliating result. Zero is quite disheartened. We are all
+scattered, and I could find no one but the <i>solemn ass</i> who brings you
+this and the money. I would love to see your meeting.&mdash;Ever yours,</p>
+
+<p class="rt sc">&ldquo;Shining Eye.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Challoner was stricken to the heart. He perceived
+by what facility, by what unmanly fear of ridicule, he
+had been brought down to be the gull of this intriguer;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69"></a>69</span>
+and his wrath flowed forth in almost equal measure against
+himself, against the woman, and against Somerset, whose
+idle counsels had impelled him to embark on that adventure.
+At the same time a great and troubled curiosity, and a
+certain chill of fear, possessed his spirits. The conduct
+of the man with the chin-beard, the terms of the letter, and
+the explosion of the early morning, fitted together like parts
+in some obscure and mischievous imbroglio. Evil was
+certainly afoot; evil, secrecy, terror, and falsehood were
+the conditions and the passions of the people among whom
+he had begun to move, like a blind puppet; and he who
+began as a puppet, his experience told him, was often
+doomed to perish as a victim.</p>
+
+<p>From the stupor of deep thought into which he had
+glided with the letter in his hand, he was awakened by the
+clatter of the bell. He glanced from the window; and
+conceive his horror and surprise when he beheld, clustered
+on the steps, in the front garden and on the pavement of
+the street, a formidable posse of police! He started to the
+full possession of his powers and courage. Escape, and
+escape at any cost, was the one idea that possessed him.
+Swiftly and silently he redescended the creaking stairs;
+he was already in the passage when a second and more
+imperious summons from the door awoke the echoes of
+the empty house; nor had the bell ceased to jangle before
+he had bestridden the window-sill of the parlour and was
+lowering himself into the garden. His coat was hooked
+upon the iron flower-basket; for a moment he hung dependent
+heels and head below; and then, with the noise of
+rending cloth and followed by several pots, he dropped
+upon the sod. Once more the bell was rung, and now
+with furious and repeated peals. The desperate Challoner
+turned his eyes on every side. They fell upon the ladder,
+and he ran to it, and with strenuous but unavailing effort
+sought to raise it from the ground. Suddenly the weight,
+which was thus resisting his whole strength, began to lighten
+in his hands; the ladder, like a thing of life, reared its bulk
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"></a>70</span>
+from off the sod; and Challoner, leaping back with a cry
+of almost superstitious terror, beheld the whole structure
+mount, foot by foot, against the face of the retaining-wall.
+At the same time, two heads were dimly visible above the
+parapet, and he was hailed by a guarded whistle. Something
+in its modulation recalled, like an echo, the whistle
+of the man with the chin-beard.</p>
+
+<p>Had he chanced upon a means of escape prepared beforehand
+by those very miscreants, whose messenger and gull
+he had become? Was this, indeed, a means of safety, or
+but the starting-point of further complication and disaster?
+He paused not to reflect. Scarce was the ladder reared
+to its full length than he had sprung already on the rounds;
+hand over hand, swift as an ape, he scaled the tottering
+stairway. Strong arms received, embraced, and helped
+him; he was lifted and set once more upon the earth;
+and with the spasm of his alarm yet unsubsided, found
+himself, in the company of two rough-looking men, in the
+paved back-yard of one of the tall houses that crowned the
+summit of the hill. Meanwhile, from below, the note of
+the bell had been succeeded by the sound of vigorous and
+redoubling blows.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you all out?&rdquo; asked one of his companions;
+and as soon as he had babbled an answer in the affirmative,
+the rope was cut from the top round, and the ladder
+thrust roughly back into the garden, where it fell and broke
+with clattering reverberations. Its fall was hailed with
+many broken cries; for the whole of Richard Street was now
+in high emotion, the people crowding to the windows or
+clambering on the garden walls. The same man who had
+already addressed Challoner seized him by the arm; whisked
+him through the basement of the house and across the street
+upon the other side; and before the unfortunate adventurer
+had time to realise his situation, a door was opened, and he
+was thrust into a low and dark compartment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Bedad,&rdquo; observed his guide, &ldquo;there was no time to
+lose. Is M&rsquo;Guire gone, or was it you that whistled?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71"></a>71</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;M&rsquo;Guire is gone,&rdquo; said Challoner.</p>
+
+<p>The guide now struck a light. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;this will
+never do. You dare not go upon the streets in such a figure.
+Wait quietly here and I will bring you something decent.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With that the man was gone, and Challoner, his
+attention thus rudely awakened, began ruefully to consider
+the havoc that had been worked in his attire. His
+hat was gone; his trousers were cruelly ripped; and the
+best part of one tail of his very elegant frock-coat had been
+left hanging from the iron crockets of the window. He
+had scarce had time to measure these disasters when his
+host re-entered the apartment and proceeded, without a
+word, to envelop the refined and urbane Challoner in a long
+ulster of the cheapest material and of a pattern so gross
+and vulgar that his spirit sickened at the sight. This
+calumnious disguise was crowned and completed by a soft
+felt hat of the Tyrolese design and several sizes too small.
+At another moment Challoner would simply have refused
+to issue forth upon the world thus travestied; but the
+desire to escape from Glasgow was now too strongly and too
+exclusively impressed upon his mind. With one haggard
+glance at the spotted tails of his new coat, he inquired what
+was to pay for this accoutrement. The man assured him
+that the whole expense was easily met from funds in his
+possession, and begged him, instead of wasting time, to
+make his best speed out of the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>The young man was not loath to take the hint. True
+to his usual courtesy, he thanked the speaker and complimented
+him upon his taste in greatcoats; and leaving the
+man somewhat abashed by these remarks and the manner
+of their delivery, he hurried forth into the lamp-lit city.
+The last train was gone ere, after many deviations, he had
+reached the terminus. Attired as he was he dared not
+present himself at any reputable inn; and he felt keenly
+that the unassuming dignity of his demeanour would serve
+to attract attention, perhaps mirth, and possibly suspicion,
+in any humbler hostelry. He was thus condemned to pass
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72"></a>72</span>
+the solemn and uneventful hours of a whole night in pacing
+the streets of Glasgow; supperless; a figure of fun for all
+beholders; waiting the dawn, with hope indeed, but with
+unconquerable shrinkings; and above all things, filled
+with a profound sense of the folly and weakness of his conduct.
+It may be conceived with what curses he assailed
+the memory of the fair narrator of Hyde Park; her parting
+laughter rang in his ears all night with damning mockery
+and iteration; and when he could spare a thought from
+this chief artificer of his confusion, it was to expend his
+wrath on Somerset and the career of the amateur detective.
+With the coming of the day, he found in a shy milk-shop
+the means to appease his hunger. There were still many
+hours to wait before the departure of the south express;
+these he passed wandering with indescribable fatigue in
+the obscurer by-streets of the city; and at length slipped
+quietly into the station and took his place in the darkest
+corner of a third-class carriage. Here, all day long, he
+jolted on the bare boards, distressed by heat and continually
+reawakened from uneasy slumbers. By the half return
+ticket in his purse, he was entitled to make the journey on
+the easy cushions and with the ample space of the first-class;
+but alas! in his absurd attire, he durst not, for decency,
+commingle with his equals; and this small annoyance,
+coming last in such a series of disasters, cut him to the heart.</p>
+
+<p>That night, when, in his Putney lodging, he reviewed
+the expense, anxiety, and weariness of his adventure;
+when he beheld the ruins of his last good trousers and his
+last presentable coat; and above all, when his eye by any
+chance alighted on the Tyrolese hat or the degrading ulster,
+his heart would overflow with bitterness, and it was only by
+a serious call on his philosophy that he maintained the
+dignity of his demeanour.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"></a>73</span></p>
+<h3>SOMERSET&rsquo;S ADVENTURE</h3>
+
+<h4>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Mr. Paul Somerset</span> was a young gentleman of a lively
+and fiery imagination, with very small capacity for action.
+He was one who lived exclusively in dreams and in the
+future: the creature of his own theories, and an actor in
+his own romances. From the cigar divan he proceeded to
+parade the streets, still heated with the fire of his eloquence,
+and scouting upon every side for the offer of some fortunate
+adventure. In the continual stream of passers-by, on the
+sealed fronts of houses, on the posters that covered the
+hoardings, and in every lineament and throb of the great
+city, he saw a mysterious and hopeful hieroglyph. But
+although the elements of adventure were streaming by him
+as thick as drops of water in the Thames, it was in vain
+that, now with a beseeching, now with something of a
+braggadocio air, he courted and provoked the notice of
+the passengers; in vain that, putting fortune to the touch,
+he even thrust himself into the way and came into direct
+collision with those of the more promising demeanour.
+Persons brimful of secrets, persons pining for affection,
+persons perishing for lack of help or counsel, he was sure
+he could perceive on every side; but by some contrariety
+of fortune, each passed upon his way without remarking
+the young gentleman, and went farther (surely to fare
+worse!) in quest of the confidant, the friend, or the adviser.
+To thousands he must have turned an appealing countenance,
+and yet not one regarded him.</p>
+
+<p>A light dinner, eaten to the accompaniment of his
+impetuous aspirations, broke in upon the series of his
+attempts on fortune; and when he returned to the task,
+the lamps were already lighted, and the nocturnal crowd
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74"></a>74</span>
+was dense upon the pavement. Before a certain restaurant,
+whose name will readily occur to any student of
+our Babylon, people were already packed so closely that
+passage had grown difficult; and Somerset, standing in
+the kennel, watched, with a hope that was beginning to
+grow somewhat weary, the faces and the manners of the
+crowd. Suddenly he was startled by a gentle touch upon
+the shoulder, and facing about, he was aware of a very
+plain and elegant brougham, drawn by a pair of powerful
+horses, and driven by a man in sober livery. There were
+no arms upon the panel; the window was open, but the
+interior was obscure; the driver yawned behind his palm;
+and the young man was already beginning to suppose
+himself the dupe of his own fancy, when a hand, no larger
+than a child&rsquo;s and smoothly gloved in white, appeared in a
+corner of the window and privily beckoned him to approach.
+He did so, and looked in. The carriage was occupied by
+a single small and very dainty figure, swathed head and
+shoulders in impenetrable folds of white lace; and a voice,
+speaking low and silvery, addressed him in these words:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Open the door and get in.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It must be,&rdquo; thought the young man, with an almost
+unbearable thrill, &ldquo;it must be that duchess at last!&rdquo;
+Yet, although the moment was one to which he had long
+looked forward, it was with a certain share of alarm that he
+opened the door, and, mounting into the brougham, took
+his seat beside the lady of the lace. Whether or no she had
+touched a spring, or given some other signal, the young man
+had hardly closed the door before the carriage, with considerable
+swiftness, and with a very luxurious and easy movement
+on its springs, turned and began to drive towards the west.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset, as I have written, was not unprepared; it
+had long been his particular pleasure to rehearse his conduct
+in the most unlikely situations; and this, among
+others, of the patrician ravisher, was one he had familiarly
+studied. Strange as it may seem, however, he could find
+no apposite remark; and as the lady, on her side, vouchsafed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75"></a>75</span>
+no further sign, they continued to drive in silence
+through the streets. Except for alternate flashes from
+the passing lamps, the carriage was plunged in obscurity;
+and beyond the fact that the fittings were luxurious,
+and that the lady was singularly small and slender in
+person and, all but one gloved hand, still swathed in her
+costly veil, the young man could decipher no detail of an
+inspiring nature. The suspense began to grow unbearable.
+Twice he cleared his throat, and twice the whole resources
+of the language failed him. In similar scenes, when he had
+forecast them on the theatre of fancy, his presence of mind
+had always been complete, his eloquence remarkable; and
+at this disparity between the rehearsal and the performance,
+he began to be seized with a panic of apprehension. Here,
+on the very threshold of adventure, suppose him ignominiously
+to fail; suppose that after ten, twenty, or sixty
+seconds of still uninterrupted silence, the lady should touch
+the check-string and re-deposit him, weighed and found
+wanting, on the common street! Thousands of persons
+of no mind at all, he reasoned, would be found more equal
+to the part; could, that very instant, by some decisive step,
+prove the lady&rsquo;s choice to have been well inspired, and put
+a stop to this intolerable silence.</p>
+
+<p>His eye, at this point, lighted on the hand. It was
+better to fall by desperate councils than to continue as
+he was; and with one tremulous swoop he pounced on
+the gloved fingers and drew them to himself. One overt
+step, it had appeared to him, would dissolve the spell of
+his embarrassment; in act, he found it otherwise: he found
+himself no less incapable of speech or further progress;
+and, with the lady&rsquo;s hand in his, sat helpless. But worse
+was in store. A peculiar quivering began to agitate the
+form of his companion; the hand that lay unresistingly in
+Somerset&rsquo;s trembled as with ague; and presently there broke
+forth, in the shadow of the carriage, the bubbling and musical
+sound of laughter, resisted but triumphant. The young man
+dropped his prize; had it been possible, he would have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76"></a>76</span>
+bounded from the carriage. The lady, meanwhile, lying back
+upon the cushions, passed on from trill to trill of the most
+heartfelt, high-pitched, clear, and fairy-sounding merriment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You must not be offended,&rdquo; she said at last, catching
+an opportunity between two paroxysms. &ldquo;If you
+have been mistaken in the warmth of your attentions,
+the fault is solely mine; it does not flow from your presumption,
+but from my eccentric manner of recruiting
+friends; and, believe me, I am the last person in the world
+to think the worse of a young man for showing spirit. As
+for to-night, it is my intention to entertain you to a little
+supper; and if I shall continue to be as much pleased with
+your manners as I was taken with your face, I may perhaps
+end by making you an advantageous offer.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset sought in vain to find some form of answer,
+but his discomfiture had been too recent and complete.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; returned the lady, &ldquo;we must have no display
+of temper; that is for me the one disqualifying fault;
+and as I perceive we are drawing near our destination,
+I shall ask you to descend and offer me your arm.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, at that very moment the carriage drew up
+before a stately and severe mansion in a spacious square;
+and Somerset, who was possessed of an excellent temper,
+with the best grace in the world assisted the lady to
+alight. The door was opened by an old woman of a grim
+appearance, who ushered the pair into a dining-room somewhat
+dimly lighted, but already laid for supper, and occupied
+by a prodigious company of large and valuable cats. Here,
+as soon as they were alone, the lady divested herself of the
+lace in which she was enfolded; and Somerset was relieved
+to find, that although still bearing the traces of great beauty,
+and still distinguished by the fire and colour of her eye, her
+hair was of silvery whiteness and her face lined with years.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now, <i>mon preux</i>,&rdquo; said the old lady, nodding
+at him with a quaint gaiety, &ldquo;you perceive that I am no
+longer in my first youth. You will soon find that I am all
+the better company for that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77"></a>77</span></p>
+
+<p>As she spoke, the maid re-entered the apartment
+with a light but tasteful supper. They sat down, accordingly,
+to table, the cats with savage pantomime surrounding
+the old lady&rsquo;s chair; and what with the excellence
+of the meal and the gaiety of his entertainer, Somerset
+was soon completely at his ease. When they had well
+eaten and drunk, the old lady leaned back in her chair,
+and taking a cat upon her lap, subjected her guest to a
+prolonged but evidently mirthful scrutiny.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I fear, madam,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;that my manners
+have not risen to the height of your preconceived opinion.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear young man,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;you were never
+more mistaken in your life. I find you charming, and
+you may very well have lighted on a fairy godmother.
+I am not one of those who are given to change their opinions,
+and short of substantial demerit, those who have once
+gained my favour continue to enjoy it; but I have a singular
+swiftness of decision, read my fellow men and women with
+a glance, and have acted throughout life on first impressions.
+Yours, as I tell you, has been favourable; and if, as I suppose,
+you are a young fellow of somewhat idle habits, I think it
+not improbable that we may strike a bargain.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, madam,&rdquo; returned Somerset, &ldquo;you have divined
+my situation. I am a man of birth, parts, and breeding;
+excellent company, or at least so I find myself; but by
+a peculiar iniquity of fate, destitute alike of trade or money.
+I was, indeed, this evening upon the quest of an adventure,
+resolved to close with any offer of interest, emolument,
+or pleasure; and your summons, which I profess I am still
+at some loss to understand, jumped naturally with the inclination
+of my mind. Call it, if you will, impudence; I am
+here, at least, prepared for any proposition you can find it in
+your heart to make, and resolutely determined to accept.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You express yourself very well,&rdquo; replied the old
+lady, &ldquo;and are certainly a droll and curious young man.
+I should not care to affirm that you were sane, for I have
+never found any one entirely so besides myself; but at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"></a>78</span>
+least the nature of your madness entertains me, and I will
+reward you with some description of my character and life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon the old lady, still fondling the cat upon her
+lap, proceeded to narrate the following particulars.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<h4>NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">I was</span> the eldest daughter of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe,
+who held a valuable living in the diocese of Bath
+and Wells. Our family, a very large one, was noted for
+a sprightly and incisive wit, and came of a good old stock
+where beauty was an heirloom. In Christian grace of
+character we were unhappily deficient. From my earliest
+years I saw and deplored the defects of those relatives whose
+age and position should have enabled them to conquer my
+esteem; and while I was yet a child, my father married a
+second wife, in whom (strange to say) the Fanshawe failings
+were exaggerated to a monstrous and almost laughable
+degree. Whatever may be said against me, it cannot be
+denied I was a pattern daughter; but it was in vain that,
+with the most touching patience, I submitted to my stepmother&rsquo;s
+demands; and from the hour she entered my
+father&rsquo;s house, I may say that I met with nothing but
+injustice and ingratitude.</p>
+
+<p>I stood not alone, however, in the sweetness of my
+disposition; for one other of the family besides myself
+was free from any violence of character. Before I had
+reached the age of sixteen, this cousin, John by name,
+had conceived for me a sincere but silent passion; and
+although the poor lad was too timid to hint at the nature
+of his feelings, I had soon divined and begun to share
+them. For some days I pondered on the odd situation
+created for me by the bashfulness of my admirer; and
+at length, perceiving that he begun, in his distress, rather
+to avoid than seek my company, I determined to take
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"></a>79</span>
+the matter into my own hands. Finding him alone in
+a retired part of the rectory garden, I told him that I had
+divined his amiable secret; that I knew with what disfavour
+our union was sure to be regarded; and that, under the circumstances,
+I was prepared to flee with him at once. Poor
+John was literally paralysed with joy; such was the force
+of his emotions, that he could find no words in which to thank
+me; and that I, seeing him thus helpless, was obliged to
+arrange, myself, the details of our flight, and of the stolen
+marriage which was immediately to crown it. John had
+been at that time projecting a visit to the metropolis. In
+this I bade him persevere, and promised on the following
+day to join him at the Tavistock Hotel.</p>
+
+<p>True, on my side, to every detail of our arrangement,
+I arose, on the day in question, before the servants, packed
+a few necessaries in a bag, took with me the little money
+I possessed, and bade farewell for ever to the rectory. I
+walked with good spirits to a town some thirty miles from
+home; and was set down the next morning in this great
+city of London. As I walked from the coach-office to the
+hotel, I could not help exulting in the pleasant change that
+had befallen me; beholding, meanwhile, with innocent
+delight, the traffic of the streets, and depicting, in all the
+colours of fancy, the reception that awaited me from John.
+But alas! when I inquired for Mr. Fanshawe, the porter
+assured me there was no such gentleman among the guests.
+By what channel our secret had leaked out, or what pressure
+had been brought to bear on the too facile John, I could
+never fathom. Enough that my family had triumphed;
+that I found myself alone in London, tender in years,
+smarting under the most sensible mortification, and by
+every sentiment of pride and self-respect debarred for ever
+from my father&rsquo;s house.</p>
+
+<p>I rose under the blow, and found lodgings in the neighbourhood
+of Euston Road, where, for the first time in my
+life, I tasted the joys of independence. Three days afterwards,
+an advertisement in <i>The Times</i> directed me to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80"></a>80</span>
+office of a solicitor whom I knew to be in my father&rsquo;s confidence.
+There I was given the promise of a very moderate
+allowance, and a distinct intimation that I must never look
+to be received at home. I could not but resent so cruel
+a desertion, and I told the lawyer it was a meeting I desired
+as little as themselves. He smiled at my courageous spirit,
+paid me the first quarter of my income, and gave me the
+remainder of my personal effects, which had been sent to
+me, under his care, in a couple of rather ponderous boxes.
+With these I returned in triumph to my lodgings, more
+content with my position than I should have thought possible
+a week before, and fully determined to make the best
+of the future.</p>
+
+<p>All went well for several months; and, indeed, it was
+my own fault alone that ended this pleasant and secluded
+episode of life. I have, I must confess, the fatal trick
+of spoiling my inferiors. My landlady, to whom I had
+as usual been overkind, impertinently called me in fault
+for some particular too small to mention; and I, annoyed
+that I had allowed her the freedom upon which she thus
+presumed, ordered her to leave my presence. She stood
+a moment dumb, and then, recalling her self-possession,
+&ldquo;Your bill,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;shall be ready this evening, and
+to-morrow, madam, you shall leave my house. See,&rdquo;
+she added, &ldquo;that you are able to pay what you owe me;
+for If I do not receive the uttermost farthing, no box of
+yours shall pass my threshold.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I was confounded at her audacity, but, as a whole
+quarter&rsquo;s income was due to me, not otherwise affected
+by the threat. That afternoon, as I left the solicitor&rsquo;s
+door, carrying in one hand, and done up in a paper parcel,
+the whole amount of my fortune, there befell me one of
+those decisive incidents that sometimes shape a life. The
+lawyer&rsquo;s office was situated in a street that opened at the
+upper end upon the Strand and was closed at the lower,
+at the time of which I speak, by a row of iron railings looking
+on the Thames. Down this street, then, I beheld my stepmother
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"></a>81</span>
+advancing to meet me, and doubtless bound to the
+very house I had just left. She was attended by a maid
+whose face was new to me; but her own was too clearly
+printed on my memory; and the sight of it, even from a
+distance, filled me with generous indignation. Flight was
+impossible. There was nothing left but to retreat against
+the railing, and with my back turned to the street, pretend
+to be admiring the barges on the river or the chimneys of
+transpontine London.</p>
+
+<p>I was still so standing, and had not yet fully mastered
+the turbulence of my emotions, when a voice at my elbow
+addressed me with a trivial question. It was the maid
+whom my stepmother, with characteristic hardness, had
+left to await her on the street, while she transacted her
+business with the family solicitor. The girl did not know
+who I was; the opportunity was too golden to be lost; and
+I was soon hearing the latest news of my father&rsquo;s rectory
+and parish. It did not surprise me to find that she detested
+her employers; and yet the terms in which she spoke of
+them were hard to bear, hard to let pass unchallenged.
+I heard them, however, without dissent, for my self-command
+is wonderful; and we might have parted as we met, had she
+not proceeded, in an evil hour, to criticise the rector&rsquo;s
+missing daughter, and with the most shocking perversions
+to narrate the story of her flight. My nature is so essentially
+generous that I can never pause to reason. I flung
+up my hand sharply, by way, as well as I remember, of
+indignant protest; and, in the act, the packet slipped from
+my fingers, glanced between the railings, and fell and sunk
+in the river. I stood a moment petrified, and then, struck
+by the drollery of the incident, gave way to peals of laughter.
+I was still laughing when my stepmother reappeared, and
+the maid, who doubtless considered me insane, ran off to
+join her; nor had I yet recovered my gravity when I presented
+myself before the lawyer to solicit a fresh advance.
+His answer made me serious enough, for it was a flat refusal;
+and it was not until I had besought him even with tears,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"></a>82</span>
+that he consented to lend me ten pounds from his own
+pocket. &ldquo;I am a poor man,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and you must
+look for nothing further at my hands.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The landlady met me at the door. &ldquo;Here, madam,&rdquo;
+said she, with a curtsey insolently low, &ldquo;here is my bill.
+Would it inconvenience you to settle it at once?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You shall be paid, madam,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;in the morning,
+in the proper course.&rdquo; And I took the paper with a very
+high air, but inwardly quaking.</p>
+
+<p>I had no sooner looked at it than I perceived myself to
+be lost. I had been short of money and had allowed my
+debt to mount; and it had now reached the sum, which
+I shall never forget, of twelve pounds thirteen and fourpence
+halfpenny. All evening I sat by the fire considering
+my situation. I could not pay the bill; my landlady
+would not suffer me to remove my boxes; and without
+either baggage or money, how was I to find another lodging?
+For three months, unless I could invent some remedy, I
+was condemned to be without a roof and without a penny.
+It can surprise no one that I decided on immediate flight;
+but even here I was confronted by a difficulty, for I had
+no sooner packed my boxes than I found I was not strong
+enough to move, far less to carry them.</p>
+
+<p>In this strait I did not hesitate a moment, but throwing
+on a shawl and bonnet, and covering my face with a thick
+veil, I betook myself to that great bazaar of dangerous and
+smiling chances, the pavement of the city. It was already
+late at night, and the weather being wet and windy, there
+were few abroad besides policemen. These, on my present
+mission, I had wit enough to know for enemies; and wherever
+I perceived their moving lanterns, I made haste to turn
+aside and choose another thoroughfare. A few miserable
+women still walked the pavement; here and there were
+young fellows returning drunk, or ruffians of the lowest class
+lurking in the mouths of alleys; but of any one to whom
+I might appeal in my distress, I began almost to despair.</p>
+
+<p>At last, at the corner of a street, I ran into the arms
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"></a>83</span>
+of one who was evidently a gentleman, and who, in all
+his appointments, from his furred greatcoat to the fine
+cigar which he was smoking, comfortably breathed of
+wealth. Much as my face has changed from its original
+beauty, I still retain (or so I tell myself) some traces of
+the youthful lightness of my figure. Even veiled as I then
+was, I could perceive the gentleman was struck by my
+appearance; and this emboldened me for my adventure.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said I, with a quickly beating heart, &ldquo;sir, are
+you one in whom a lady can confide?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, my dear,&rdquo; said he, removing his cigar, &ldquo;that
+depends on circumstances. If you will raise your veil&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; I interrupted, &ldquo;let there be no mistake. I
+ask you, as a gentleman, to serve me, but I offer no reward.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is frank,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;but hardly tempting. And
+what, may I inquire, is the nature of the service?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But I knew well enough it was not my interest to tell
+him on so short an interview. &ldquo;If you will accompany
+me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;to a house not far from here, you can see for
+yourself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me awhile with hesitating eyes; and
+then, tossing away his cigar, which was not yet a quarter
+smoked, &ldquo;Here goes!&rdquo; said he, and with perfect politeness
+offered me his arm. I was wise enough to take it;
+to prolong our walk as far as possible, by more than one
+excursion from the shortest line; and to beguile the way
+with that sort of conversation which should prove to him
+indubitably from what station in society I sprang. By
+the time we reached the door of my lodging, I felt sure I
+had confirmed his interest, and might venture, before I
+turned the pass-key, to beseech him to moderate his voice
+and to tread softly. He promised to obey me; and I
+admitted him into the passage, and thence into my sitting-room,
+which was fortunately next the door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said he, when with trembling fingers I
+had lighted a candle, &ldquo;what is the meaning of all this?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wish you,&rdquo; said I, speaking with great difficulty,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84"></a>84</span>
+&ldquo;to help me out with these boxes&mdash;and I wish nobody
+to know.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He took up the candle. &ldquo;And I wish to see your face,&rdquo;
+said he.</p>
+
+<p>I turned back my veil without a word, and looked
+at him with every appearance of resolve that I could
+summon up. For some time he gazed into my face, still
+holding up the candle. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he at last, &ldquo;and
+where do you wish them taken?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I knew that I had gained my point; and it was with
+a tremor in my voice that I replied. &ldquo;I had thought
+we might carry them between us to the corner of Euston
+Road,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;where, even at this late hour, we may
+still find a cab.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very good,&rdquo; was his reply; and he immediately
+hoisted the heavier of my trunks upon his shoulder, and
+taking one handle of the second, signed to me to help
+him at the other end. In this order we made good our
+retreat from the house, and without the least adventure,
+drew pretty near to the corner of Euston Road. Before
+a house, where there was a light still burning, my companion
+paused. &ldquo;Let us here,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;set down our
+boxes, while we go forward to the end of the street in
+quest of a cab. By doing so, we can still keep an eye
+upon their safety; and we avoid the very extraordinary
+figure we should otherwise present&mdash;a young man, a young
+lady, and a mass of baggage, standing castaway at midnight
+on the streets of London.&rdquo; So it was done, and the
+event proved him to be wise; for long before there was any
+word of a cab, a policeman appeared upon the scene, turned
+upon us the full glare of his lantern, and hung suspiciously
+behind us in a doorway.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There seem to be no cabs about, policeman,&rdquo; said
+my champion, with affected cheerfulness. But the constable&rsquo;s
+answer was ungracious; and as for the offer of a
+cigar, with which this rebuff was most unwisely followed
+up, he refused it point-blank, and without the least civility.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85"></a>85</span>
+The young gentleman looked at me with a warning grimace,
+and there we continued to stand, on the edge of the pavement,
+in the beating rain, and with the policeman still
+silently watching our movements from the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>At last, and after a delay that seemed interminable,
+a four-wheeler appeared lumbering along in the mud,
+and was instantly hailed by my companion. &ldquo;Just pull
+up here, will you?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;We have some baggage
+up the street.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And now came the hitch of our adventure; for when
+the policeman, still closely following us, beheld my two
+boxes lying in the rain, he arose from mere suspicion to
+a kind of certitude of something evil. The light in the house
+had been extinguished; the whole frontage of the street
+was dark; there was nothing to explain the presence of
+these unguarded trunks; and no two innocent people were
+ever, I believe, detected in such questionable circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where have these things come from?&rdquo; asked the
+policeman, flashing his light full into my champion&rsquo;s face.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, from that house of course,&rdquo; replied the young
+gentleman, hastily shouldering a trunk.</p>
+
+<p>The policeman whistled and turned to look at the
+dark windows; he then took a step towards the door, as
+though to knock, a course which had infallibly proved
+our ruin; but seeing us already hurrying down the street
+under our double burthen, thought better or worse of it,
+and followed in our wake.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; whispered my companion, &ldquo;tell
+me where to drive to.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Anywhere,&rdquo; I replied, with anguish. &ldquo;I have no
+idea. Anywhere you like.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thus it fell that, when the boxes had been stowed
+and I had already entered the cab, my deliverer called
+out in clear tones the address of the house in which we are
+now seated. The policeman, I could see, was staggered.
+This neighbourhood, so retired, so aristocratic, was far from
+what he had expected. For all that, he took the number
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86"></a>86</span>
+of the cab, and spoke for a few seconds and with a decided
+manner, in the cabman&rsquo;s ear.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What can he have said?&rdquo; I gasped, as soon as the
+cab had rolled away.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can very well imagine,&rdquo; replied my champion;
+&ldquo;and I can assure you that you are now condemned to go
+where I have said; for, should we attempt to change our
+destination by the way, the jarvey will drive us straight to
+a police-office. Let me compliment you on your nerves,&rdquo;
+he added. &ldquo;I have had, I believe, the most horrible fright
+of my existence.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But my nerves, which he so much misjudged, were
+in so strange a disarray that speech was now become impossible;
+and we made the drive thenceforward in unbroken
+silence. When we arrived before the door of our
+destination, the young gentleman alighted, opened it with
+a pass-key like one who was at home, bade the driver carry
+the trunks into the hall, and dismissed him with a handsome
+fee. He then led me into this dining-room, looking nearly
+as you behold it, but with certain marks of bachelor occupancy,
+and hastened to pour out a glass of wine, which he
+insisted on my drinking. As soon as I could find my voice,
+&ldquo;In God&rsquo;s name,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;where am I?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He told me I was in his house, where I was very welcome,
+and had no more urgent business than to rest myself and
+recover my spirits. As he spoke he offered me another glass
+of wine, of which, indeed, I stood in great want, for I was
+faint, and inclined to be hysterical. Then he sat down
+beside the fire, lit another cigar, and for some time observed
+me curiously in silence.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that you have somewhat restored
+yourself, will you be kind enough to tell me in
+what sort of crime I have become a partner? Are you
+murderer, smuggler, thief, or only the harmless and domestic
+moonlight flitter?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I had been already shocked by his lighting a cigar
+without permission, for I had not forgotten the one he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"></a>87</span>
+threw away on our first meeting; and now, at these explicit
+insults, I resolved at once to reconquer his esteem. The
+judgment of the world I have consistently despised, but
+I had already begun to set a certain value on the good
+opinion of my entertainer. Beginning with a note of
+pathos, but soon brightening into my habitual vivacity
+and humour, I rapidly narrated the circumstances of my
+birth, my flight, and subsequent misfortunes. He heard
+me to an end in silence, gravely smoking. &ldquo;Miss Fanshawe,&rdquo;
+said he, when I had done, &ldquo;you are a very comical
+and most enchanting creature; and I can see nothing
+for it but that I should return to-morrow morning and
+satisfy your landlady&rsquo;s demands.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You strangely misinterpret my confidence,&rdquo; was my
+reply; &ldquo;and if you had at all appreciated my character,
+you would understand that I can take no money at your
+hands.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your landlady will doubtless not be so particular,&rdquo;
+he returned; &ldquo;nor do I at all despair of persuading even
+your unconquerable self. I desire you to examine me
+with critical indulgence. My name is Henry Luxmore,
+Lord Southwark&rsquo;s second son. I possess nine thousand
+a year, the house in which we are now sitting and seven
+others in the best neighbourhoods in town. I do not
+believe I am repulsive to the eye, and as for my character,
+you have seen me under trial. I think you simply the
+most original of created things; I need not tell you what
+you know very well, that you are ravishingly pretty; and
+I have nothing more to add, except that foolish as it may
+appear, I am already head over heels in love with you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am prepared to be misjudged; but
+while I continue to accept your hospitality, that fact alone
+should be enough to protect me from insult.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon me,&rdquo; said he: &ldquo;I offer you marriage.&rdquo; And
+leaning back in his chair he replaced his cigar between
+his lips.</p>
+
+<p>I own I was confounded by an offer, not only so unprepared,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88"></a>88</span>
+but couched in terms so singular. But he
+knew very well how to obtain his purposes, for he was
+not only handsome in person, but his very coolness had
+a charm; and to make a long story short, a fortnight later
+I became the wife of the Honourable Henry Luxmore.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly twenty years I now led a life of almost
+perfect quiet. My Henry had his weaknesses; I was
+twice driven to flee from his roof, but not for long; for
+though he was easily over-excited, his nature was placable
+below the surface, and, with all his faults, I loved
+him tenderly. At last he was taken from me; and such
+is the power of self-deception, and so strange are the whims
+of the dying, he actually assured me, with his latest breath,
+that he forgave the violence of my temper!</p>
+
+<p>There was but one pledge of the marriage, my daughter
+Clara. She had, indeed, inherited a shadow of her father&rsquo;s
+failing; but in all things else, unless my partial eyes deceived
+me, she derived her qualities from me, and might be
+called my moral image. On my side, whatever else I may
+have done amiss, as a mother I was above reproach. Here,
+then, was surely every promise for the future; here, at last,
+was a relation in which I might hope to taste repose. But
+it was not to be. You will hardly credit me when I inform
+you that she ran away from home; yet such was the case.
+Some whim about oppressed nationalities&mdash;Ireland, Poland,
+and the like&mdash;has turned her brain; and if you should anywhere
+encounter a young lady (I must say of remarkable
+attractions) answering to the name of Luxmore, Lake,
+or Fonblanque (for I am told she uses these indifferently,
+as well as many others), tell her, from me, that I forgive
+her cruelty, and though I will never more behold her face,
+I am at any time prepared to make her a liberal allowance.</p>
+
+<p>On the death of Mr. Luxmore I sought oblivion in the
+details of business. I believe I have mentioned that
+seven mansions, besides this, formed part of Mr. Luxmore&rsquo;s
+property: I have found them seven white elephants. The
+greed of tenants, the dishonesty of solicitors, and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"></a>89</span>
+incapacity that sits upon the bench, have combined together
+to make these houses the burthen of my life. I had no
+sooner, indeed, begun to look into these matters for myself,
+than I discovered so many injustices and met with so much
+studied incivility, that I was plunged into a long series of
+lawsuits, some of which are pending to this day. You must
+have heard my name already; I am the Mrs. Luxmore of
+the Law Reports: a strange destiny, indeed, for one born
+with an almost cowardly desire for peace! But I am of
+the stamp of those who, when they have once begun a task,
+will rather die than leave their duty unfulfilled. I have
+met with every obstacle: insolence and ingratitude from
+my own lawyers; in my adversaries, that fault of obstinacy
+which is to me perhaps the most distasteful in the calendar;
+from the bench, civility indeed&mdash;always, I must allow,
+civility&mdash;but never a spark of independence, never that knowledge
+of the law and love of justice which we have a right to
+look for in a judge, the most august of human officers. And
+still, against all these odds, I have undissuadably persevered.</p>
+
+<p>It was after the loss of one of my innumerable cases
+(a subject on which I will not dwell) that it occurred to
+me to make a melancholy pilgrimage to my various houses.
+Four were at that time tenantless and closed, like pillars
+of salt, commemorating the corruption of the age and the
+decline of private virtue. Three were occupied by persons
+who had wearied me by every conceivable unjust demand
+and legal subterfuge&mdash;persons whom, at that very hour,
+I was moving heaven and earth to turn into the streets.
+This was perhaps the sadder spectacle of the two; and my
+heart grew hot within me to behold them occupying, in
+my very teeth, and with an insolent ostentation, these
+handsome structures which were as much mine as the
+flesh upon my body.</p>
+
+<p>One more house remained for me to visit, that in which
+we now are. I had let it (for at that period I lodged in a
+hotel, the life that I have always preferred) to a Colonel
+Geraldine, a gentleman attached to Prince Florizel of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90"></a>90</span>
+Bohemia, whom you must certainly have heard of; and I
+had supposed, from the character and position of my tenant,
+that here, at least, I was safe against annoyance. What
+was my surprise to find this house also shuttered and
+apparently deserted! I will not deny that I was offended;
+I conceived that a house, like a yacht, was better to be kept
+in commission; and I promised myself to bring the matter
+before my solicitor the following morning. Meanwhile
+the sight recalled my fancy naturally to the past; and,
+yielding to the tender influence of sentiment, I sat down
+opposite the door upon the garden parapet. It was August
+and a sultry afternoon, but that spot is sheltered, as you
+may observe by daylight, under the branches of a spreading
+chestnut; the square, too, was deserted; there was a
+sound of distant music in the air; and all combined to plunge
+me into that most agreeable of states, which is neither
+happiness nor sorrow, but shares the poignancy of both.</p>
+
+<p>From this I was recalled by the arrival of a large van,
+very handsomely appointed, drawn by valuable horses,
+mounted by several men of an appearance more than
+decent, and bearing on its panels, instead of a trader&rsquo;s
+name, a coat of arms too modest to be deciphered from
+where I sat. It drew up before my house, the door of which
+was immediately opened by one of the men. His companions&mdash;I
+counted seven of them in all&mdash;proceeded, with
+disciplined activity, to take from the van and carry into
+the house a variety of hampers, bottle-baskets, and boxes,
+such as are designed for plate and napery. The windows
+of the dining-room were thrown widely open, as though to
+air it; and I saw some of those within laying the table for
+a meal. Plainly, I concluded, my tenant was about to
+return; and while still determined to submit to no aggression
+on my rights, I was gratified by the number and discipline
+of his attendants, and the quiet profusion that
+appeared to reign in his establishment. I was still so
+thinking when, to my extreme surprise, the windows and
+shutters of the dining-room were once more closed; the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91"></a>91</span>
+men began to reappear from the interior and resume their
+stations on the van; the last closed the door behind his
+exit; the van drove away; and the house was once more
+left to itself, looking blindly on the square with shuttered
+windows, as though the whole affair had been a vision.</p>
+
+<p>It was no vision, however; for, as I rose to my feet and
+thus brought my eyes a little nearer to the level of the
+fanlight over the door, I saw that, though the day had
+still some hours to run, the hall lamps had been lighted
+and left burning. Plainly, then, guests were expected,
+and were not expected before night. For whom, I
+asked myself with indignation, were such secret preparations
+likely to be made? Although no prude, I am a woman
+of decided views upon morality; if my house, to which my
+husband had brought me, was to serve in the character of a
+<i>petite maison</i>, I saw myself forced, however unwillingly,
+into a new course of litigation; and, determined to return
+and know the worst, I hastened to my hotel for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>I was at my post by ten. The night was clear and
+quiet; the moon rode very high and put the lamps to
+shame; and the shadow below the chestnut was black
+as ink. Here, then, I ensconced myself on the low parapet,
+with my back against the railings, face to face with the
+moonlit front of my old home, and ruminating gently on the
+past. Time fled; eleven struck on all the city clocks; and
+presently after I was aware of the approach of a gentleman
+of stately and agreeable demeanour. He was smoking as
+he walked; his light paletot, which was open, did not conceal
+his evening clothes; and he bore himself with a serious grace
+that immediately awakened my attention. Before the door
+of this house he took a pass-key from his pocket, quietly
+admitted himself, and disappeared into the lamp-lit hall.</p>
+
+<p>He was scarcely gone when I observed another and a
+much younger man approaching hastily from the opposite
+side of the square. Considering the season of the
+year and the genial mildness of the night, he was somewhat
+closely muffled up; and as he came, for all his hurry,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92"></a>92</span>
+he kept looking nervously behind him. Arrived before my
+door, he halted and set one foot upon the step, as though
+about to enter; then, with a sudden change, he turned and
+began to hurry away; halted a second time, as if in painful
+indecision; and lastly, with a violent gesture, wheeled
+about, returned straight to the door, and rapped upon
+the knocker. He was almost immediately admitted by
+the first arrival.</p>
+
+<p>My curiosity was now broad awake. I made myself
+as small as I could in the very densest of the shadow, and
+waited for the sequel. Nor had I long to wait. From
+the same side of the square a second young man made
+his appearance, walking slowly and softly, and like the
+first, muffled to the nose. Before the house he paused;
+looked all about him with a swift and comprehensive
+glance; and seeing the square lie empty in the moon and
+lamp-light, leaned far across the area railings and appeared
+to listen to what was passing in the house. From the
+dining-room there came the report of a champagne cork,
+and following upon that, the sound of rich and manly
+laughter. The listener took heart of grace, produced a key,
+unlocked the area gate, shut it noiselessly behind him, and
+descended the stair. Just when his head had reached the
+level of the pavement, he turned half round and once more
+raked the square with a suspicious eyeshot. The mufflings
+had fallen lower round his neck; the moon shone full upon
+him; and I was startled to observe the pallor and passionate
+agitation of his face.</p>
+
+<p>I could remain no longer passive. Persuaded that
+something deadly was afoot, I crossed the roadway and
+drew near the area railings. There was no one below;
+the man must therefore have entered the house, with
+what purpose I dreaded to imagine. I have at no part
+of my career lacked courage; and now, finding the area
+gate was merely laid-to, I pushed it gently open and descended
+the stairs. The kitchen door of the house, like
+the area gate, was closed but not fastened. It flashed upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93"></a>93</span>
+me that the criminal was thus preparing his escape; and
+the thought, as it confirmed the worst of my suspicions,
+lent me new resolve. I entered the house; and being now
+quite reckless of my life, I shut and locked the door.</p>
+
+<p>From the dining-room above I could hear the pleasant
+tones of a voice in easy conversation. On the ground
+floor all was not only profoundly silent, but the darkness
+seemed to weigh upon my eyes. Here, then, I stood
+for some time, having thrust myself uncalled into the utmost
+peril, and being destitute of any power to help or interfere.
+Nor will I deny that fear had begun already to assail me,
+when I became aware, all at once and as though by some
+immediate but silent incandescence, of a certain glimmering
+of light upon the passage floor. Towards this I groped my
+way with infinite precaution; and having come at length
+as far as the angle of the corridor, beheld the door of the
+butler&rsquo;s pantry standing just ajar and a narrow thread of
+brightness falling from the chink. Creeping still closer, I
+put my eye to the aperture. The man sat within upon a
+chair, listening, I could see, with the most rapt attention.
+On a table before him he had laid a watch, a pair
+of steel revolvers, and a bull&rsquo;s-eye lantern. For one second
+many contradictory theories and projects whirled together
+in my head; the next, I had slammed the door and turned
+the key upon the malefactor. Surprised at my own decision,
+I stood and panted, leaning on the wall. From within the
+pantry not a sound was to be heard; the man, whatever he
+was, had accepted his fate without a struggle, and now, as I
+hugged myself to fancy, sat frozen with terror and looking
+for the worst to follow. I promised myself that he should
+not be disappointed; and the better to complete my task,
+I turned to ascend the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>The situation, as I groped my way to the first floor,
+appealed to me suddenly by my strong sense of humour.
+Here was I, the owner of the house, burglariously present
+in its walls; and there, in the dining-room, were two
+gentlemen, unknown to me, seated complacently at supper,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94"></a>94</span>
+and only saved by my promptitude from some surprising
+or deadly interruption. It were strange if I could not
+manage to extract the matter of amusement from so
+unusual a situation.</p>
+
+<p>Behind this dining-room there is a small apartment
+intended for a library. It was to this that I cautiously
+groped my way; and you will see how fortune had exactly
+served me. The weather, I have said, was sultry: in order
+to ventilate the dining-room and yet preserve the uninhabited
+appearance of the mansion to the front, the
+window of the library had been widely opened and the door
+of communication between the two apartments left ajar.
+To this interval I now applied my eye.</p>
+
+<p>Wax tapers, set in silver candlesticks, shed their chastened
+brightness on the damask of the tablecloth and the
+remains of a cold collation of the rarest delicacy. The two
+gentlemen had finished supper, and were now trifling with
+cigars and maraschino; while in a silver spirit-lamp, coffee
+of the most captivating fragrance was preparing in the
+fashion of the East. The elder of the two, he who had first
+arrived, was placed directly facing me; the other was set
+on his left hand. Both, like the man in the butler&rsquo;s pantry,
+seemed to be intently listening; and on the face of the
+second I thought I could perceive the marks of fear. Oddly
+enough, however, when they came to speak, the parts were
+found to be reversed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I assure you,&rdquo; said the elder gentleman, &ldquo;I not only
+heard the slamming of a door, but the sound of very guarded
+footsteps.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your highness was certainly deceived,&rdquo; replied the
+other. &ldquo;I am endowed with the acutest hearing, and I can
+swear that not a mouse has rustled.&rdquo; Yet the pallor and
+contraction of his features were in total discord with the
+tenor of his words.</p>
+
+<p>His highness (whom, of course, I readily divined to be
+Prince Florizel) looked at his companion for the least
+fraction of a second; and though nothing shook the easy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95"></a>95</span>
+quiet of his attitude, I could see that he was far from being
+duped. &ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; said he: &ldquo;let us dismiss the topic.
+And now, sir, that I have very freely explained the sentiments
+by which I am directed, let me ask you, according to
+your promise, to imitate my frankness.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have heard you,&rdquo; replied the other, &ldquo;with great
+interest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;With singular patience,&rdquo; said the prince politely.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ay, your highness, and with unlooked-for sympathy,&rdquo;
+returned the young man. &ldquo;I know not how to tell the
+change that has befallen me. You have, I must suppose, a
+charm, to which even your enemies are subject.&rdquo; He
+looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and visibly blanched.
+&ldquo;So late!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Your highness&mdash;God knows I am
+now speaking from the heart&mdash;before it be too late, leave
+this house!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The prince glanced once more at his companion, and
+then very deliberately shook the ash from his cigar. &ldquo;That
+is a strange remark,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;and <i>� propos de bottes</i>, I
+never continue a cigar when once the ash is fallen; the spell
+breaks, the soul of the flavour flies away, and there remains
+but the dead body of tobacco; and I make it a rule to throw
+away that husk and choose another.&rdquo; He suited the action
+to the words.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do not trifle with my appeal,&rdquo; resumed the young man,
+in tones that trembled with emotion. &ldquo;It is made at the
+price of my honour and to the peril of my life. Go&mdash;go
+now! lose not a moment; and if you have any kindness for a
+young man, miserably deceived indeed, but not devoid of
+better sentiments, look not behind you as you leave.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the prince, &ldquo;I am here upon your honour; I
+assure you upon mine that I shall continue to rely upon that
+safeguard. The coffee is ready; I must again trouble you,
+I fear.&rdquo; And with a courteous movement of the hand, he
+seemed to invite his companion to pour out the coffee.</p>
+
+<p>The unhappy young man rose from his seat. &ldquo;I appeal
+to you,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;by every holy sentiment, in mercy to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96"></a>96</span>
+me, if not in pity to yourself, begone before it is too
+late.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; replied the prince, &ldquo;I am not readily accessible
+to fear; and if there is one defect to which I must plead
+guilty, it is that of a curious disposition. You go the wrong
+way about to make me leave this house, in which I play the
+part of your entertainer; and, suffer me to add, young man,
+if any peril threaten us, it was of your contriving, not of
+mine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas, you do not know to what you condemn me,&rdquo; cried
+the other. &ldquo;But I at least will have no hand in it.&rdquo; With
+these words he carried his hand to his pocket, hastily swallowed
+the contents of a phial, and, with the very act, reeled
+back and fell across his chair upon the floor. The prince left
+his place and came and stood above him, where he lay convulsed
+upon the carpet. &ldquo;Poor moth!&rdquo; I heard his highness
+murmur. &ldquo;Alas, poor moth! must we again inquire
+which is the more fatal&mdash;weakness or wickedness? And
+can a sympathy with ideas, surely not ignoble in themselves,
+conduct a man to this dishonourable death?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>By this time I had pushed the door open and walked into
+the room. &ldquo;Your highness,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;this is no time for
+moralising; with a little promptness we may save this
+creature&rsquo;s life; and as for the other, he need cause you no
+concern, for I have him safely under lock and key.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The prince had turned about upon my entrance, and
+regarded me certainly with no alarm, but with a profundity
+of wonder which almost robbed me of my self-possession.
+&ldquo;My dear madam,&rdquo; he cried at last, &ldquo;and who the devil are
+you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I was already on the floor beside the dying man. I had,
+of course, no idea with what drug he had attempted his life,
+and I was forced to try him with a variety of antidotes.
+Here were both oil and vinegar, for the prince had done the
+young man the honour of compounding for him one of his
+celebrated salads; and of each of these I administered from
+a quarter to half a pint, with no apparent efficacy. I next
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97"></a>97</span>
+plied him with the hot coffee, of which there may have been
+near upon a quart.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you no milk?&rdquo; I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I fear, madam, that milk has been omitted,&rdquo; returned
+the prince.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Salt, then,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;salt is a revulsive. Pass the salt.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And possibly the mustard?&rdquo; asked his highness, as he
+offered me the contents of the various salt-cellars poured
+together on a plate.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; cried I, &ldquo;the thought is excellent! Mix me
+about half a pint of mustard, drinkably dilute.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Whether it was the salt or the mustard, or the mere
+combination of so many subversive agents, as soon as the
+last had been poured over his throat, the young sufferer
+obtained relief.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There!&rdquo; I exclaimed, with natural triumph, &ldquo;I have
+saved a life!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And yet, madam,&rdquo; returned the prince, &ldquo;your mercy
+may be cruelly disguised. Where the honour is lost, it is,
+at least, superfluous to prolong the life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If you had led a life as changeable as mine, your highness,&rdquo;
+I replied, &ldquo;you would hold a very different opinion.
+For my part, and after whatever extremity of misfortune or
+disgrace, I should still count to-morrow worth a trial.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You speak as a lady, madam,&rdquo; said the prince; &ldquo;and
+for such you speak the truth. But to men there is permitted
+such a field of licence, and the good behaviour asked
+of them is at once so easy and so little, that to fail in that is
+to fall beyond the reach of pardon. But will you suffer me
+to repeat a question, put to you at first, I am afraid, with
+some defect of courtesy; and to ask you once more, who
+you are and how I have the honour of your company?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am the proprietor of the house in which we stand,&rdquo;
+said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And still I am at fault,&rdquo; returned the prince.</p>
+
+<p>But at that moment the timepiece on the mantelshelf
+began to strike the hour of twelve; and the young man,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98"></a>98</span>
+raising himself upon one elbow, with an expression of
+despair and horror that I have never seen excelled, cried
+lamentably: &ldquo;Midnight? oh, just God!&rdquo; We stood
+frozen to our places, while the tingling hammer of the timepiece
+measured the remaining strokes; nor had we yet
+stirred, so tragic had been the tones of the young man, when
+the various bells of London began in turn to declare the
+hour. The timepiece was inaudible beyond the walls of the
+chamber where we stood; but the second pulsation of Big
+Ben had scarcely throbbed into the night, before a sharp
+detonation rang about the house. The prince sprang for
+the door by which I had entered; but quick as he was, I yet
+contrived to intercept him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you armed?&rdquo; I cried.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; replied he. &ldquo;You remind me appositely;
+I will take the poker.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The man below,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;has two revolvers. Would
+you confront him at such odds?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He paused, as though staggered in his purpose. &ldquo;And
+yet, madam,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we cannot continue to remain in
+ignorance of what has passed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No!&rdquo; cried I. &ldquo;And who proposes it? I am as
+curious as yourself, but let us rather send for the police; or,
+if your highness dreads a scandal, for some of your own
+servants.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, madam,&rdquo; he replied, smiling, &ldquo;for so brave a
+lady, you surprise me. Would you have me, then, send
+others where I fear to go myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are perfectly right,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and I was entirely
+wrong. Go, in God&rsquo;s name, and I will hold the candle!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Together, therefore, we descended to the lower story, he
+carrying the poker, I the light; and together we approached
+and opened the door of the butler&rsquo;s pantry. In some sort,
+I believe, I was prepared for the spectacle that met our eyes;
+I was prepared, that is, to find the villain dead, but the rude
+details of such a violent suicide I was unable to endure.
+The prince, unshaken by horror as he had remained unshaken
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99"></a>99</span>
+by alarm, assisted me with the most respectful gallantry to
+regain the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>There we found our patient, still, indeed, deadly pale,
+but vastly recovered and already seated on a chair. He
+held out both his hands with a most pitiful gesture of interrogation.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He is dead,&rdquo; said the prince.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; cried the young man, &ldquo;and it should be I!
+What do I do, thus lingering on the stage I have disgraced,
+while he, my sure comrade, blameworthy indeed for much,
+but yet the soul of fidelity, has judged and slain himself for
+an involuntary fault? Ah, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and you too,
+madam, without whose cruel help I should be now beyond
+the reach of my accusing conscience, you behold in me the
+victim equally of my own faults and virtues. I was born a
+hater of injustice; from my most tender years my blood
+boiled against Heaven when I beheld the sick, and against
+men when I witnessed the sorrows of the poor; the pauper&rsquo;s
+crust stuck in my throat when I sat down to eat my dainties,
+and the cripple child has set me weeping. What was there
+in that but what was noble? and yet observe to what a fall
+these thoughts have led me! Year after year this passion
+for the lost besieged me closer. What hope was there in
+kings? what hope in these well-feathered classes that now
+roll in money? I had observed the course of history; I
+knew the burgess, our ruler of to-day, to be base, cowardly,
+and dull; I saw him, in every age, combine to pull down
+that which was immediately above and to prey upon those
+that were below; his dulness, I knew, would ultimately
+bring about his ruin; I knew his days were numbered, and
+yet how was I to wait? how was I to let the poor child
+shiver in the rain? The better days, indeed, were coming,
+but the child would die before that. Alas, your highness, in
+surely no ungenerous impatience I enrolled myself among
+the enemies of this unjust and doomed society; in surely no
+unnatural desire to keep the fires of my philanthropy alight,
+I bound myself by an irrevocable oath.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page100"></a>100</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That oath is all my history. To give freedom to
+posterity, I had forsworn my own. I must attend upon
+every signal; and soon my father complained of my irregular
+hours and turned me from his house. I was engaged in
+betrothal to an honest girl; from her also I had to part, for
+she was too shrewd to credit my inventions and too innocent
+to be intrusted with the truth. Behold me, then, alone with
+conspirators! Alas! as the years went on, my illusions
+left me. Surrounded as I was by the fervent disciples and
+apologists of revolution, I beheld them daily advance in
+confidence and desperation; I beheld myself, upon the other
+hand, and with an almost equal regularity, decline in faith.
+I had sacrificed all to further that cause in which I still
+believed; and daily I began to grow in doubts if we were
+advancing it indeed. Horrible was the society with which
+we warred, but our own means were not less horrible.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will not dwell upon my sufferings; I will not pause
+to tell you how, when I beheld young men still free and
+happy, married, fathers of children, cheerfully toiling at
+their work, my heart reproached me with the greatness and
+vanity of my unhappy sacrifice. I will not describe to you
+how, worn by poverty, poor lodging, scanty food, and an
+unquiet conscience, my health began to fail, and in the long
+nights, as I wandered bedless in the rainy streets, the most
+cruel sufferings of the body were added to the tortures of my
+mind. These things are not personal to me; they are
+common to all unfortunates in my position. An oath, so
+light a thing to swear, so grave a thing to break: an oath,
+taken in the heat of youth, repented with what sobbings
+of the heart, but yet in vain repented, as the years go on:
+an oath, that was once the very utterance of the truth of
+God, but that falls to be the symbol of a meaningless and
+empty slavery; such is the yoke that many young men joyfully
+assume, and under whose dead weight they live to
+suffer worse than death.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is not that I was patient. I have begged to be released;
+but I knew too much, and I was still refused. I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101"></a>101</span>
+have fled; ay, and for the time successfully. I reached
+Paris. I found a lodging in the Rue St. Jacques, almost
+opposite the Val de Gr�ce. My room was mean and bare,
+but the sun looked into it towards evening; it commanded
+a peep of a green garden; a bird hung by a neighbour&rsquo;s
+window and made the morning beautiful; and I, who was
+sick, might lie in bed and rest myself: I, who was in full
+revolt against the principles that I had served, was now no
+longer at the beck of the council, and was no longer charged
+with shameful and revolting tasks. Oh! what an interval
+of peace was that! I still dream, at times, that I can hear
+the note of my neighbour&rsquo;s bird.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My money was running out, and it became necessary
+that I should find employment. Scarcely had I been three
+days upon the search, ere I thought that I was being followed.
+I made certain of the features of the man, which
+were quite strange to me, and turned into a small caf�,
+where I whiled away an hour, pretending to read the papers,
+but inwardly convulsed with terror. When I came forth
+again into the street, it was quite empty, and I breathed
+again; but alas, I had not turned three corners, when I once
+more observed the human hound pursuing me. Not an hour
+was to be lost; timely submission might yet preserve a life
+which otherwise was forfeit and dishonoured; and I fled,
+with what speed you may conceive, to the Paris agency of
+the society I served.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My submission was accepted. I took up once more
+the hated burthen of that life; once more I was at the call
+of men whom I despised and hated, while yet I envied and
+admired them. They at least were whole-hearted in the
+things they purposed; but I, who had once been such as
+they, had fallen from the brightness of my faith, and now
+laboured, like a hireling, for the wages of a loathed existence.
+Ay, sir, to that I was condemned; I obeyed to continue to
+live, and lived but to obey.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The last charge that was laid upon me was the one
+which has to-night so tragically ended. Boldly telling who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102"></a>102</span>
+I was, I was to request from your highness, on behalf of my
+society, a private audience, where it was designed to murder
+you. If one thing remained to me of my old convictions,
+it was the hate of kings; and when this task was offered me,
+I took it gladly. Alas, sir, you triumphed. As we supped,
+you gained upon my heart. Your character, your talents,
+your designs for our unhappy country, all had been misrepresented.
+I began to forget you were a prince; I began,
+all too feelingly, to remember that you were a man. As I
+saw the hour approach, I suffered agonies untold; and when,
+at last, we heard the slamming of the door which announced
+in my unwilling ears the arrival of the partner of my crime,
+you will bear me out with what instancy I besought you to
+depart. You would not, alas! and what could I? Kill
+you, I could not; my heart revolted, my hand turned back
+from such a deed. Yet it was impossible that I should suffer
+you to stay; for when the hour struck and my companion
+came, true to his appointment, and he, at least, true to our
+design, I could neither suffer you to be killed nor yet him to
+be arrested. From such a tragic passage, death, and death
+alone, could save me; and it is no fault of mine if I continue
+to exist.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you, madam,&rdquo; continued the young man, addressing
+himself more directly to myself, &ldquo;were doubtless
+born to save the prince and to confound our purposes. My
+life you have prolonged; and by turning the key on my
+companion, you have made me the author of his death.
+He heard the hour strike; he was impotent to help; and
+thinking himself forfeit to honour, thinking that I should
+fall alone upon his highness and perish for lack of his support,
+he has turned his pistol on himself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; said Prince Florizel: &ldquo;it was in no
+ungenerous spirit that you brought these burthens on yourself;
+and when I see you so nobly to blame, so tragically
+punished, I stand like one reproved. For is it not strange,
+madam, that you and I, by practising accepted and inconsiderable
+virtues, and commonplace but still unpardonable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103"></a>103</span>
+faults, should stand here, in the sight of God, with what we
+call clean hands and quiet consciences; while this poor
+youth, for an error that I could almost envy him, should be
+sunk beyond the reach of hope?</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; resumed the prince, turning to the young man,
+&ldquo;I cannot help you; my help would but unchain the
+thunderbolt that overhangs you; and I can but leave you
+free.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And, sir,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;as this house belongs to me, I will
+ask you to have the kindness to remove the body. You
+and your conspirators, it appears to me, can hardly in civility
+do less.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It shall be done,&rdquo; said the young man, with a dismal
+accent.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you, dear madam,&rdquo; said the prince, &ldquo;you, to
+whom I owe my life, how can I serve you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your highness,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;to be very plain, this is my
+favourite house, being not only a valuable property, but
+endeared to me by various associations. I have endless
+troubles with tenants of the ordinary class; and at first
+applauded my good fortune when I found one of the station
+of your Master of the Horse. I now begin to think otherwise;
+dangers set a siege about great personages; and I do
+not wish my tenement to share these risks. Procure me
+the resiliation of the lease, and I shall feel myself your
+debtor.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I must tell you, madam,&rdquo; replied his highness, &ldquo;that
+Colonel Geraldine is but a cloak for myself; and I should
+be sorry indeed to think myself so unacceptable a tenant.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your highness,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I have conceived a sincere
+admiration for your character; but on the subject of house
+property I cannot allow the interference of my feelings. I
+will, however, to prove to you that there is nothing personal
+in my request, here solemnly engage my word that I will
+never put another tenant in this house.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said Florizel, &ldquo;you plead your cause too
+charmingly to be refused.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page104"></a>104</span></p>
+
+<p>Thereupon we all three withdrew. The young man,
+still reeling in his walk, departed by himself to seek the
+assistance of his fellow-conspirators; and the prince, with
+the most attentive gallantry, lent me his escort to the door
+of my hotel. The next day the lease was cancelled; nor
+from that hour to this, though sometimes regretting my
+engagement, have I suffered a tenant in this house.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<h4>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (<i>continued</i>)</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">As</span> soon as the old lady had finished her relation, Somerset
+made haste to offer her his compliments.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;your story is not only entertaining
+but instructive; and you have told it with infinite
+vivacity. I was much affected towards the end, as I held
+at one time very liberal opinions, and should certainly have
+joined a secret society if I had been able to find one. But
+the whole tale came home to me; and I was the better able
+to feel for you in your various perplexities, as I am myself of
+somewhat hasty temper.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not understand you,&rdquo; said Mrs. Luxmore, with
+some marks of irritation. &ldquo;You must have strangely misinterpreted
+what I have told you. You fill me with surprise.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset, alarmed by the old lady&rsquo;s change of tone and
+manner, hurried to recant.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear Mrs. Luxmore,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you certainly misconstrue
+my remark. As a man of somewhat fiery humour,
+my conscience repeatedly pricked me when I heard what you
+had suffered at the hands of persons similarly constituted.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very well indeed,&rdquo; replied the old lady; &ldquo;and a
+very proper spirit. I regret that I have met with it so
+rarely.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But in all this,&rdquo; resumed the young man, &ldquo;I perceive
+nothing that concerns myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page105"></a>105</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am about to come to that,&rdquo; she returned. &ldquo;And
+you have already before you, in the pledge I gave Prince
+Florizel, one of the elements of the affair. I am a woman
+of the nomadic sort, and when I have no case before the
+courts I make it a habit to visit continental spas: not that
+I have ever been ill; but then I am no longer young, and I
+am always happy in a crowd. Well, to come more shortly
+to the point, I am now on the wing for Evian; this incubus
+of a house, which I must leave behind and dare not let,
+hangs heavily upon my hands; and I propose to rid myself
+of that concern, and do you a very good turn into the bargain,
+by lending you the mansion, with all its fittings, as it
+stands. The idea was sudden; it appealed to me as
+humorous; and I am sure it will cause my relatives, if they
+should ever hear of it, the keenest possible chagrin. Here,
+then, is the key; and when you return at two to-morrow
+afternoon, you will find neither me nor my cats to disturb
+you in your new possession.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the old lady arose, as if to dismiss her visitor;
+but Somerset, looking somewhat blankly on the key, began
+to protest.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear Mrs. Luxmore,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;this is a most unusual
+proposal. You know nothing of me, beyond the fact that
+I displayed both impudence and timidity. I may be the
+worst kind of scoundrel; I may sell your furniture&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may blow up the house with gunpowder, for what
+I care!&rdquo; cried Mrs. Luxmore. &ldquo;It is in vain to reason.
+Such is the force of my character that, when I have one idea
+clearly in my head, I do not care two straws for any side
+consideration. It amuses me to do it, and let that suffice.
+On your side, you may do what you please&mdash;let apartments,
+or keep a private hotel; on mine, I promise you a full
+month&rsquo;s warning before I return, and I never fail religiously
+to keep my promises.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The young man was about to renew his protest, when
+he observed a sudden and significant change in the old
+lady&rsquo;s countenance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page106"></a>106</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If I thought you capable of disrespect!&rdquo; she cried.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said Somerset, with the extreme fervour of
+asseveration, &ldquo;madam, I accept. I beg you to understand
+that I accept with joy and gratitude.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, well,&rdquo; returned Mrs. Luxmore, &ldquo;if I am mistaken,
+let it pass. And now, since all is comfortably settled, I wish
+you a good-night.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon, as if to leave him no room for repentance,
+she hurried Somerset out of the front door, and left him
+standing, key in hand, upon the pavement.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, about the hour appointed, the young man
+found his way to the square, which I will here call Golden
+Square, though that was not its name. What to expect,
+he knew not; for a man may live in dreams, and yet be unprepared
+for their realisation. It was already with a
+certain pang of surprise that he beheld the mansion, standing
+in the eye of day, a solid among solids. The key, upon
+trial, readily opened the front door; he entered that great
+house, a privileged burglar; and, escorted by the echoes of
+desertion, rapidly reviewed the empty chambers. Cats,
+servant, old lady, the very marks of habitation, like writing
+on a slate, had been in these few hours obliterated. He
+wandered from floor to floor, and found the house of great
+extent; the kitchen offices commodious and well appointed;
+the rooms many and large; and the drawing-room, in
+particular, an apartment of princely size and tasteful decoration.
+Although the day without was warm, genial, and
+sunny, with a ruffling wind from the quarter of Torquay, a
+chill, as it were, of suspended animation, inhabited the house.
+Dust and shadows met the eye; and but for the ominous
+procession of the echoes, and the rumour of the wind among
+the garden trees, the ear of the young man was stretched in
+vain.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the dining-room, that pleasant library, referred
+to by the old lady in her tale, looked upon the flat roofs and
+netted cupolas of the kitchen quarters; and on a second
+visit, this room appeared to greet him with a smiling countenance.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107"></a>107</span>
+He might as well, he thought, avoid the expense
+of lodging: the library fitted with an iron bedstead which
+he had remarked, in one of the upper chambers, would serve
+his purpose for the night; while in the dining-room, which
+was large, airy, and lightsome, looking on the square and
+garden, he might very agreeably pass his days, cook his
+meals, and study to bring himself to some proficiency in
+that art of painting which he had recently determined to
+adopt. It did not take him long to make the change: he
+had soon returned to the mansion with his modest kit; and
+the cabman who brought him was readily induced, by the
+young man&rsquo;s pleasant manner and a small gratuity, to assist
+him in the installation of the iron bed. By six in the evening,
+when Somerset went forth to dine, he was able to look
+back upon the mansion with a sense of pride and property.
+Four-square it stood, of an imposing frontage, and flanked
+on either side by family hatchments. His eye, from where
+he stood whistling in the key, with his back to the garden
+railings, reposed on every feature of reality; and yet his own
+possession seemed as flimsy as a dream.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of a few days, the genteel inhabitants of
+the square began to remark the customs of their neighbour.
+The sight of a young gentleman discussing a clay pipe, about
+four o&rsquo;clock of the afternoon, in the drawing-room balcony
+of so discreet a mansion; and perhaps still more, his periodical
+excursion to a decent tavern in the neighbourhood, and
+his unabashed return, nursing the full tankard: had presently
+raised to a high pitch the interest and indignation of
+the liveried servants of the square. The disfavour of some
+of these gentlemen at first proceeded to the length of insult;
+but Somerset knew how to be affable with any class of men;
+and a few rude words merrily accepted, and a few glasses
+amicably shared, gained for him the right of toleration.</p>
+
+<p>The young man had embraced the art of Raphael, partly
+from a notion of its ease, partly from an inborn distrust of
+offices. He scorned to bear the yoke of any regular schooling;
+and proceeded to turn one half of the dining-room into
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108"></a>108</span>
+a studio for the reproduction of still life. There he amassed
+a variety of objects, indiscriminately chosen from the kitchen,
+the drawing-room, and the back garden; and there spent
+his days in smiling assiduity. Meantime, the great bulk
+of empty building overhead lay, like a load, upon his imagination.
+To hold so great a stake and to do nothing,
+argued some defect of energy; and he at length determined
+to act upon the hint given by Mrs. Luxmore herself, and to
+stick, with wafers, in the window of the dining-room, a
+small hand-bill announcing furnished lodgings. At half-past
+six of a fine July morning, he affixed the bill, and went
+forth into the square to study the result. It seemed, to his
+eye, promising and unpretentious; and he returned to the
+drawing-room balcony to consider, over a studious pipe, the
+knotty problem of how much he was to charge.</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon he somewhat relaxed in his devotion to the
+art of painting. Indeed, from that time forth, he would
+spend the best part of the day in the front balcony, like the
+attentive angler poring on his float; and the better to support
+the tedium, he would frequently console himself with
+his clay pipe. On several occasions passers-by appeared
+to be arrested by the ticket, and on several others ladies and
+gentlemen drove to the very doorstep by the carriageful;
+but it appeared there was something repulsive in the appearance
+of the house; for, with one accord, they would cast
+but one look upward, and hastily resume their onward progress,
+or direct the driver to proceed. Somerset had thus
+the mortification of actually meeting the eye of a large
+number of lodging-seekers; and though he hastened to
+withdraw his pipe, and to compose his features to an air of
+invitation, he was never rewarded by so much as an inquiry.
+&ldquo;Can there,&rdquo; he thought, &ldquo;be anything repellent in myself?&rdquo;
+But a candid examination in one of the pier-glasses
+of the drawing-room led him to dismiss the fear.</p>
+
+<p>Something, however, was amiss. His vast and accurate
+calculations on the fly-leaves of books, or on the backs of
+playbills, appeared to have been an idle sacrifice of time.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109"></a>109</span>
+By these, he had variously computed the weekly takings
+of the house, from sums as modest as five-and-twenty-shillings,
+up to the more majestic figure of a hundred pounds;
+and yet, in despite of the very elements of arithmetic, here
+he was making literally nothing.</p>
+
+<p>This incongruity impressed him deeply and occupied his
+thoughtful leisure on the balcony; and at last it seemed to
+him that he had detected the error of his method. &ldquo;This,&rdquo;
+he reflected, &ldquo;is an age of generous display: the age of the
+sandwich-man, of Griffiths, of Pears&rsquo; legendary soap, and of
+Eno&rsquo;s fruit salt which, by sheer brass and notoriety, and the
+most disgusting pictures I ever remember to have seen, has
+overlaid that comforter of my childhood, Lamplough&rsquo;s
+pyretic saline. Lamplough was genteel, Eno was omnipresent;
+Lamplough was trite, Eno original and abominably
+vulgar; and here have I, a man of some pretensions to knowledge
+of the world, contented myself with half a sheet of
+note-paper, a few cold words which do not directly address
+the imagination, and the adornment (if adornment it may
+be called) of four red wafers! Am I, then, to sink with
+Lamplough, or to soar with Eno? Am I to adopt that
+modesty which is doubtless becoming in a duke? or to take
+hold of the red facts of life with the emphasis of the tradesman
+and the poet?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Pursuant upon these meditations, he procured several
+sheets of the very largest size of drawing-paper; and laying
+forth his paints, proceeded to compose an ensign that might
+attract the eye and at the same time, in his own phrase,
+directly address the imagination of the passenger. Something
+taking in the way of colour, a good, savoury choice of
+words, and a realistic design setting forth the life a lodger
+might expect to lead within the walls of that palace of delight:
+these, he perceived, must be the elements of his advertisement.
+It was possible, upon the one hand, to depict
+the sober pleasures of domestic life, the evening fire, blond-headed
+urchins, and the hissing urn; but on the other, it
+was possible (and he almost felt as if it were more suited
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110"></a>110</span>
+to his muse) to set forth the charms of an existence somewhat
+wider in its range, or, boldly say, the paradise of the
+Mohammedan. So long did the artist waver between these
+two views, that, before he arrived at a conclusion, he had
+finally conceived and completed both designs. With the
+proverbially tender heart of the parent, he found himself
+unable to sacrifice either of these offspring of his art; and
+decided to expose them on alternate days. &ldquo;In this way,&rdquo;
+he thought, &ldquo;I shall address myself indifferently to all
+classes of the world.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The tossing of a penny decided the only remaining point;
+and the more imaginative canvas received the suffrages of
+fortune and appeared first in the window of the mansion.
+It was of a high fancy, the legend eloquently writ, the scheme
+of colour taking and bold; and but for the imperfection of
+the artist&rsquo;s drawing, it might have been taken for a model
+of its kind. As it was, however, when viewed from his
+favourite point against the garden railings, and with some
+touch of distance, it caused a pleasurable rising of the artist&rsquo;s
+heart. &ldquo;I have thrown away,&rdquo; he ejaculated, &ldquo;an invaluable
+motive; and this shall be the subject of my first
+Academy picture.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The fate of neither of these works was equal to its merit.
+A crowd would certainly, from time to time, collect before
+the area-railings; but they came to jeer and not to speculate;
+and those who pushed their inquiries further, were too
+plainly animated by the spirit of derision. The racier of
+the two cartoons displayed, indeed, no symptom of attractive
+merit; and though it had a certain share of that success
+called scandalous, failed utterly of its effect. On the day,
+however, of the second appearance of the companion work,
+a real inquirer did actually present himself before the eyes of
+Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>This was a gentlemanly man, with some marks of recent
+merriment, and his voice under inadequate control.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I beg your pardon,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but what is the meaning
+of your extraordinary bill?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page111"></a>111</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I beg yours,&rdquo; returned Somerset hotly. &ldquo;Its meaning
+is sufficiently explicit.&rdquo; And being now, from dire
+experience, fearful of ridicule, he was preparing to close
+the door, when the gentleman thrust his cane into the
+aperture.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not so fast, I beg of you,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;If you really let
+apartments, here is a possible tenant at your door; and
+nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see the
+accommodation and to learn your terms.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>His heart joyously beating, Somerset admitted the
+visitor, showed him over the various apartments, and, with
+some return of his persuasive eloquence, expounded their
+attractions. The gentleman was particularly pleased by the
+elegant proportions of the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;would suit me very well. What, may
+I ask, would be your terms a week, for this floor and the one
+above it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I was thinking,&rdquo; returned Somerset, &ldquo;of a hundred
+pounds.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Surely not,&rdquo; exclaimed the gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; returned Somerset, &ldquo;fifty.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman regarded him with an air of some amazement.
+&ldquo;You seem to be strangely elastic in your demands,&rdquo;
+said he. &ldquo;What if I were to proceed on your own
+principle of division, and offer twenty-five?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Done!&rdquo; cried Somerset; and then, overcome by a
+sudden embarrassment, &ldquo;you see,&rdquo; he added apologetically,
+&ldquo;it is all found money for me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Really?&rdquo; said the stranger, looking at him all the
+while with growing wonder. &ldquo;Without extras, then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&mdash;I suppose so,&rdquo; stammered the keeper of the lodging-house.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Service included?&rdquo; pursued the gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Service?&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;Do you mean that you
+expect me to empty your slops?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman regarded him with a very friendly interest.
+&ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;if you take my advice,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112"></a>112</span>
+you will give up this business.&rdquo; And thereupon he resumed
+his hat and took himself away.</p>
+
+<p>This smarting disappointment produced a strong effect
+on the artist of the cartoons; and he began with shame to
+eat up his rosier illusions. First one and then the other of
+his great works was condemned, withdrawn from exhibition,
+and relegated, as a mere wall-picture, to the decoration of
+the dining-room. Their place was taken by a replica of the
+original watered announcement, to which, in particularly
+large letters, he had added the pithy rubric: &ldquo;<i>No service.</i>&rdquo;
+Meanwhile he had fallen into something as nearly bordering
+on low spirits as was consistent with his disposition; depressed,
+at once by the failure of his scheme, the laughable
+turn of his late interview, and the judicial blindness of the
+public to the merit of the twin cartoons.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps a week had passed before he was again startled
+by the note of the knocker. A gentleman of a somewhat
+foreign and somewhat military air, yet closely shaven and
+wearing a soft hat, desired in the politest terms to visit the
+apartments. He had (he explained) a friend, a gentleman
+in tender health, desirous of a sedate and solitary life, apart
+from interruptions and the noises of the common lodging-house.
+&ldquo;The unusual clause,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;in your
+announcement, particularly struck me.&lsquo;This,&rsquo; I said,
+&rsquo;is the place for Mr. Jones.&rsquo; You are yourself, sir, a professional
+gentleman?&rdquo; concluded the visitor, looking keenly
+in Somerset&rsquo;s face.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am an artist,&rdquo; replied the young man lightly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And these,&rdquo; observed the other, taking a side glance
+through the open door of the dining-room, which they were
+then passing, &ldquo;these are some of your works. Very remarkable.&rdquo;
+And he again and still more sharply peered
+into the countenance of the young man.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset, unable to suppress a blush, made the more
+haste to lead his visitor upstairs and to display the apartments.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Excellent,&rdquo; observed the stranger, as he looked from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113"></a>113</span>
+one of the back windows. &ldquo;Is that a mews behind, sir?
+Very good. Well, sir: see here. My friend will take your
+drawing-room floor; he will sleep in the back drawing-room;
+his nurse, an excellent Irish widow, will attend on all his
+wants and occupy a garret; he will pay you the round sum
+of ten dollars a week; and you, on your part, will engage
+to receive no other lodger? I think that fair.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset had scarcely words in which to clothe his
+gratitude and joy.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Agreed,&rdquo; said the other; &ldquo;and to spare you trouble,
+my friend will bring some men with him to make the
+changes. You will find him a retiring inmate, sir; receives
+but few, and rarely leaves the house except at
+night.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Since I have been in this house,&rdquo; returned Somerset,
+&ldquo;I have myself, unless it were to fetch beer, rarely gone
+abroad except in the evening. But a man,&rdquo; he added,
+&ldquo;must have some amusement.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>An hour was then agreed on; the gentleman departed;
+and Somerset sat down to compute in English money the
+value of the figure named. The result of this investigation
+filled him with amazement and disgust; but it was now too
+late; nothing remained but to endure; and he awaited the
+arrival of his tenant, still trying, by various arithmetical
+expedients, to obtain a more favourable quotation for the
+dollar. With the approach of dusk, however, his impatience
+drove him once more to the front balcony. The night fell,
+mild and airless; the lamps shone around the central darkness
+of the garden; and through the tall grove of trees that
+intervened, many warmly illuminated windows on the
+farther side of the square told their tale of white napery,
+choice wine, and genial hospitality. The stars were already
+thickening overhead, when the young man&rsquo;s eyes alighted
+on a procession of three four-wheelers, coasting round the
+garden railing and bound for the Superfluous Mansion.
+They were laden with formidable boxes; moved in a military
+order, one following another; and, by the extreme
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114"></a>114</span>
+slowness of their advance, inspired Somerset with the most
+serious ideas of his tenant&rsquo;s malady.</p>
+
+<p>By the time he had the door open, the cabs had drawn
+up beside the pavement; and from the two first, there had
+alighted the military gentleman of the morning and two
+very stalwart porters. These proceeded instantly to take
+possession of the house; with their own hands, and firmly
+rejecting Somerset&rsquo;s assistance, they carried in the various
+crates and boxes; with their own hands dismounted and
+transferred to the back drawing-room the bed in which the
+tenant was to sleep; and it was not until the bustle of arrival
+had subsided, and the arrangements were complete, that
+there descended, from the third of the three vehicles, a
+gentleman of great stature and broad shoulders, leaning on
+the shoulder of a woman in a widow&rsquo;s dress, and himself
+covered by a long cloak and muffled in a coloured comforter.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset had but a glimpse of him in passing; he was
+soon shut into the back drawing-room; the other men
+departed; silence redescended on the house; and had not
+the nurse appeared a little before half-past ten, and, with
+a strong brogue, asked if there were a decent public-house
+in the neighbourhood, Somerset might have still supposed
+himself to be alone in the Superfluous Mansion.</p>
+
+<p>Day followed day; and still the young man had never
+come by speech or sight of his mysterious lodger. The
+doors of the drawing-room flat were never open; and although
+Somerset could hear him moving to and fro, the
+tall man had never quitted the privacy of his apartments.
+Visitors, indeed, arrived; sometimes in the dusk, sometimes
+at intempestuous hours of night or morning; men, for the
+most part; some meanly attired, some decently; some
+loud, some cringing; and yet all, in the eyes of Somerset,
+displeasing. A certain air of fear and secrecy was common
+to them all; they were all voluble, he thought, and ill at
+ease; even the military gentleman proved, on a closer inspection,
+to be no gentleman at all; and as for the doctor
+who attended the sick man, his manners were not suggestive
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115"></a>115</span>
+of a university career. The nurse, again, was scarcely a
+desirable house-fellow. Since her arrival, the fall of whisky
+in the young man&rsquo;s private bottle was much accelerated;
+and though never communicative, she was at times unpleasantly
+familiar. When asked about the patient&rsquo;s
+health, she would dolorously shake her head, and declare
+that the poor gentleman was in a pitiful condition.</p>
+
+<p>Yet somehow Somerset had early begun to entertain
+the notion that his complaint was other than bodily. The
+ill-looking birds that gathered to the house, the strange
+noises that sounded from the drawing-room in the dead
+hours of night, the careless attendance and intemperate
+habits of the nurse, the entire absence of correspondence,
+the entire seclusion of Mr. Jones himself, whose face, up
+to that hour, he could not have sworn to in a court of justice&mdash;all
+weighed unpleasantly upon the young man&rsquo;s mind.
+A sense of something evil, irregular and underhand, haunted
+and depressed him; and this uneasy sentiment was the
+more firmly rooted in his mind, when, in the fulness of time,
+he had an opportunity of observing the features of his tenant.
+It fell in this way. The young landlord was awakened
+about four in the morning by a noise in the hall. Leaping
+to his feet, and opening the door of the library, he saw the
+tall man, candle in hand, in earnest conversation with the
+gentleman who had taken the rooms. The faces of both
+were strongly illuminated; and in that of his tenant Somerset
+could perceive none of the marks of disease, but every
+sign of health, energy, and resolution. While he was still
+looking, the visitor took his departure; and the invalid,
+having carefully fastened the front door, sprang upstairs
+without a trace of lassitude.</p>
+
+<p>That night upon his pillow, Somerset began to kindle
+once more into the hot fit of the detective fever; and the
+next morning resumed the practice of his art with careless
+hand and an abstracted mind. The day was destined to
+be fertile in surprises; nor had he long been seated at the
+easel ere the first of these occurred. A cab laden with baggage
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116"></a>116</span>
+drew up before the door; and Mrs. Luxmore in person
+rapidly mounted the steps and began to pound upon the
+knocker. Somerset hastened to attend the summons.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; she said, with the utmost gaiety,
+&ldquo;here I come dropping from the moon. I am delighted
+to find you faithful; and I have no doubt you will be equally
+pleased to be restored to liberty.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset could find no words, whether of protest or
+welcome; and the spirited old lady pushed briskly by him,
+and paused on the threshold of the dining-room. The sight
+that met her eyes was one well calculated to inspire astonishment.
+The mantelpiece was arrayed with saucepans and
+empty bottles; on the fire some chops were frying; the
+floor was littered from end to end with books, clothes,
+walking-canes, and the materials of the painter&rsquo;s craft;
+but what far outstripped the other wonders of the place
+was the corner which had been arranged for the study of
+still-life. This formed a sort of rockery; conspicuous upon
+which, according to the principles of the art of composition,
+a cabbage was relieved against a copper kettle, and both
+contrasted with the mail of a boiled lobster.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My gracious goodness!&rdquo; cried the lady of the house;
+and then, turning in wrath on the young man, &ldquo;From what
+rank in life are you sprung?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;You have
+the exterior of a gentleman; but from the astonishing
+evidences before me, I should say you can only be a green-grocer&rsquo;s
+man. Pray, gather up your vegetables, and let
+me see no more of you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; babbled Somerset, &ldquo;you promised me a
+month&rsquo;s warning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That was under a misapprehension,&rdquo; returned the
+old lady. &ldquo;I now give you warning to leave at
+once.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said the young man, &ldquo;I wish I could; and
+indeed, as far as I am concerned, it might be done. But
+then, my lodger!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your lodger?&rdquo; echoed Mrs. Luxmore.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page117"></a>117</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My lodger: why should I deny it?&rdquo; returned Somerset.
+&ldquo;He is only by the week.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The old lady sat down upon a chair. &ldquo;You have a lodger?&mdash;you?&rdquo;
+she cried. &ldquo;And pray, how did you get him?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By advertisement,&rdquo; replied the young man. &ldquo;O
+madam, I have not lived unobservantly. I adopted&ldquo;&mdash;his
+eyes involuntarily shifted to the cartoons&mdash;&ldquo;I adopted
+every method.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes had followed his; for the first time in Somerset&rsquo;s
+experience, she produced a double eyeglass; and as
+soon as the full merit of the works had flashed upon her,
+she gave way to peal after peal of her trilling and soprano
+laughter.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I think you are perfectly delicious!&rdquo; she cried.
+&ldquo;I do hope you had them in the window. M&rsquo;Pherson,&rdquo;
+she continued, crying to her maid, who had been all this
+time grimly waiting in the hall, &ldquo;I lunch with Mr. Somerset.
+Take the cellar key and bring some wine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In this gay humour she continued throughout the
+luncheon; presented Somerset with a couple of dozen of
+wine, which she made M&rsquo;Pherson bring up from the cellar&mdash;&ldquo;as
+a present, my dear,&rdquo; she said, with another burst of
+tearful merriment, &ldquo;for your charming pictures, which you
+must be sure to leave me when you go&ldquo;; and finally, protesting
+that she dared not spoil the absurdest houseful of
+madmen in the whole of London, departed (as she vaguely
+phrased it) for the continent of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>She was no sooner gone than Somerset encountered in
+the corridor the Irish nurse; sober, to all appearance, and
+yet a prey to singularly strong emotion. It was made to
+appear, from her account, that Mr. Jones had already
+suffered acutely in his health from Mrs. Luxmore&rsquo;s visit,
+and that nothing short of a full explanation could allay the
+invalid&rsquo;s uneasiness. Somerset, somewhat staring, told
+what he thought fit of the affair.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is that all?&rdquo; cried the woman. &ldquo;As God sees you,
+is that all?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page118"></a>118</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My good woman,&rdquo; said the young man, &ldquo;I have no
+idea what you can be driving at. Suppose the lady were
+my friend&rsquo;s wife, suppose she were my fairy godmother,
+suppose she were the Queen of Portugal; and how should
+that affect yourself or Mr. Jones?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Blessed Mary!&rdquo; cried the nurse, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s he that will
+be glad to hear it!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And immediately she fled upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset, on his part, returned to the dining-room, and,
+with a very thoughtful brow and ruminating many theories,
+disposed of the remainder of the bottle. It was port; and
+port is a wine, sole among its equals and superiors, that can
+in some degree support the competition of tobacco. Sipping,
+smoking, and theorising, Somerset moved on from
+suspicion to suspicion, from resolve to resolve, still growing
+braver and rosier as the bottle ebbed. He was a sceptic,
+none prouder of the name; he had no horror at command,
+whether for crimes or vices, but beheld and embraced the
+world, with an immoral approbation, the frequent consequence
+of youth and health. At the same time, he felt
+convinced that he dwelt under the same roof with secret
+malefactors; and the unregenerate instinct of the chase
+impelled him to severity. The bottle had run low; the
+summer sun had finally withdrawn; and at the same
+moment, night and the pangs of hunger recalled him from
+his dreams.</p>
+
+<p>He went forth, and dined in the Criterion: a dinner in
+consonance, not so much with his purse, as with the admirable
+wine he had discussed. What with one thing and
+another, it was long past midnight when he returned home.
+A cab was at the door; and entering the hall, Somerset
+found himself face to face with one of the most regular of
+the few who visited Mr. Jones: a man of powerful figure,
+strong lineaments, and a chin-beard in the American fashion.
+This person was carrying on one shoulder a black portmanteau,
+seemingly of considerable weight. That he should
+find a visitor removing baggage in the dead of night, recalled
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119"></a>119</span>
+some odd stories to the young man&rsquo;s memory; he
+had heard of lodgers who thus gradually drained away, not
+only their own effects, but the very furniture and fittings
+of the house that sheltered them; and now, in a mood
+between pleasantry and suspicion, and aping the manner
+of a drunkard, he roughly bumped against the man with the
+chin-beard and knocked the portmanteau from his shoulder
+to the floor. With a face struck suddenly as white as paper,
+the man with the chin-beard called lamentably on the name
+of his Maker, and fell in a mere heap on the mat at the foot
+of the stairs. At the same time, though only for a single
+instant, the heads of the sick lodger and the Irish nurse
+popped out like rabbits over the banisters of the first floor;
+and on both the same scare and pallor were apparent.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of this incredible emotion turned Somerset to
+stone, and he continued speechless, while the man gathered
+himself together, and, with the help of the hand-rail and
+audibly thanking God, scrambled once more upon his feet.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What in Heaven&rsquo;s name ails you?&rdquo; gasped the young
+man as soon as he could find words and utterance.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you a drop of brandy?&rdquo; returned the other.
+&ldquo;I am sick.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset administered two drams, one after the other,
+to the man with the chin-beard; who then, somewhat restored,
+began to confound himself in apologies for what he
+called his miserable nervousness, the result, he said, of a
+long course of dumb ague; and having taken leave with a
+hand that still sweated and trembled, he gingerly resumed
+his burthen and departed.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset retired to bed but not to sleep. What, he
+asked himself, had been the contents of the black portmanteau?
+Stolen goods? the carcass of one murdered?
+or&mdash;and at the thought he sat upright in bed&mdash;an infernal
+machine? He took a solemn vow that he would set these
+doubts at rest; and, with the next morning, installed himself
+beside the dining-room window, vigilant with eye and
+ear, to await and profit by the earliest opportunity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page120"></a>120</span></p>
+
+<p>The hours went heavily by. Within the house there
+was no circumstance of novelty; unless it might be that
+the nurse more frequently made little journeys round the
+corner of the square, and before afternoon was somewhat
+loose of speech and gait. A little after six, however, there
+came round the corner of the gardens a very handsome and
+elegantly dressed young woman, who paused a little way
+off, and for some time, and with frequent sighs, contemplated
+the front of the Superfluous Mansion. It was not
+the first time that she had thus stood afar and looked upon
+it, like our common parents at the gates of Eden; and the
+young man had already had occasion to remark the lively
+slimness of her carriage, and had already been the butt of
+a chance arrow from her eye. He hailed her coming, then,
+with pleasant feelings, and moved a little nearer to the
+window to enjoy the sight. What was his surprise, however,
+when, as if with a sensible effort, she drew near,
+mounted the steps, and tapped discreetly at the door! He
+made haste to get before the Irish nurse, who was not improbably
+asleep, and had the satisfaction to receive this
+gracious visitor in person.</p>
+
+<p>She inquired for Mr. Jones; and then, without transition,
+asked the young man if he were the person of the house
+(and at the words, he thought he could perceive her to be
+smiling), &ldquo;because,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;if you are, I should like
+to see some of the other rooms.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset told her he was under an engagement to receive
+no other lodgers; but she assured him that would
+be no matter, as these were friends of Mr. Jones&rsquo;s. &ldquo;And,&rdquo;
+she continued, moving suddenly to the dining-room door,
+&ldquo;let us begin here.&rdquo; Somerset was too late to prevent her
+entering, and perhaps lacked the courage to essay. &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo;
+she cried, &ldquo;how changed it is!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; cried the young man, &ldquo;since your entrance,
+it is I who have the right to say so.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She received this inane compliment with a demure and
+conscious droop of the eyelids, and gracefully steering her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121"></a>121</span>
+dress among the mingled litter, now with a smile, now with
+a sigh, reviewed the wonders of the two apartments. She
+gazed upon the cartoons with sparkling eyes, and a heightened
+colour, and, in a somewhat breathless voice, expressed a
+high opinion of their merits. She praised the effective
+disposition of the rockery, and in the bedroom, of which
+Somerset had vainly endeavoured to defend the entry, she
+fairly broke forth in admiration. &ldquo;How simple and
+manly!&rdquo; she cried: &ldquo;none of that effeminacy of neatness,
+which is so detestable in a man!&rdquo; Hard upon this, telling
+him, before he had time to reply, that she very well knew
+her way, and would trouble him no further, she took her
+leave with an engaging smile, and ascended the staircase
+alone.</p>
+
+<p>For more than an hour the young lady remained closeted
+with Mr. Jones; and at the end of that time, the night being
+now come completely, they left the house in company.
+This was the first time since the arrival of his lodger that
+Somerset had found himself alone with the Irish widow;
+and without the loss of any more time than was required
+by decency, he stepped to the foot of the stairs and hailed
+her by her name. She came instantly, wreathed in weak
+smiles and with a nodding head; and when the young man
+politely offered to introduce her to the treasures of his art,
+she swore that nothing could afford her greater pleasure,
+for, though she had never crossed the threshold, she had
+frequently observed his beautiful pictures through the door.
+On entering the dining-room, the sight of a bottle and two
+glasses prepared her to be a gentle critic; and as soon as
+the pictures had been viewed and praised, she was easily
+persuaded to join the painter in a single glass. &ldquo;Here,&rdquo;
+she said, &ldquo;are my respects; and a pleasure it is, in this
+horrible house, to see a gentleman like yourself, so affable
+and free, and a very nice painter, I am sure.&rdquo; One glass
+so agreeably prefaced, was sure to lead to the acceptance
+of a second; at the third, Somerset was free to cease from
+the affectation of keeping her company; and as for the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page122"></a>122</span>
+fourth, she asked it of her own accord. &ldquo;For indeed,&rdquo;
+said she, &ldquo;what with all these clocks and chemicals, without
+a drop of the creature life would be impossible entirely.
+And you seen yourself that even M&rsquo;Guire was glad to beg
+for it. And even himself, when he is downhearted with all
+these cruel disappointments, though as temperate a man
+as any child, will be sometimes crying for a glass of it. And
+I&rsquo;ll thank you for a thimbleful to settle what I got.&rdquo; Soon
+after, she began with tears to narrate the deathbed dispositions
+and lament the trifling assets of her husband.
+Then she declared she heard &ldquo;the master&rdquo; calling her,
+rose to her feet, made but one lurch of it into the still-life
+rockery, and with her head upon the lobster, fell into
+stertorous slumbers.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset mounted at once to the first story, and opened
+the door of the drawing-room, which was brilliantly lit by
+several lamps. It was a great apartment; looking on the
+square with three tall windows, and joined by a pair of
+ample folding-doors to the next room; elegant in proportion,
+papered in sea-green, furnished in velvet of a delicate blue,
+and adorned with a majestic mantelpiece of variously tinted
+marbles. Such was the room that Somerset remembered;
+that which he now beheld was changed in almost every
+feature: the furniture covered with a figured chintz; the
+walls hung with a rhubarb-coloured paper, and diversified
+by the curtained recesses for no less than seven windows.
+It seemed to himself that he must have entered, without
+observing the transition, into the adjoining house. Presently
+from these more specious changes, his eye condescended
+to the many curious objects with which the floor
+was littered. Here were the locks of dismounted pistols;
+clocks and clockwork in every stage of demolition, some
+still busily ticking, some reduced to their dainty elements;
+a great company of carboys, jars, and bottles; a carpenter&rsquo;s
+bench and a laboratory-table.</p>
+
+<p>The back drawing-room, to which Somerset proceeded,
+had likewise undergone a change. It was transformed to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123"></a>123</span>
+the exact appearance of a common lodging-house bedroom;
+a bed with green curtains occupied one corner; and the
+window was blocked by the regulation table and mirror.
+The door of a small closet here attracted the young man&rsquo;s
+attention; and striking a vesta, he opened it and entered.
+On a table, several wigs and beards were lying spread;
+about the walls hung an incongruous display of suits and
+overcoats; and conspicuous among the last the young man
+observed a large overall of the most costly sealskin. In a
+flash his mind reverted to the advertisement in the <i>Standard</i>
+newspaper. The great height of his lodger, the disproportionate
+breadth of his shoulders, and the strange particulars
+of his instalment, all pointed to the same conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>The vesta had now burned to his fingers; and taking
+the coat upon his arm, Somerset hastily returned to the
+lighted drawing-room. There, with a mixture of fear and
+admiration, he pored upon its goodly proportions and the
+regularity and softness of the pile. The sight of a large
+pier-glass put another fancy in his head. He donned the
+fur coat; and standing before the mirror in an attitude
+suggestive of a Russian prince, he thrust his hands into the
+ample pockets. There his fingers encountered a folded
+journal. He drew it out, and recognised the type and
+paper of the <i>Standard;</i> and at the same instant his eyes
+alighted on the offer of two hundred pounds. Plainly then,
+his lodger, now no longer mysterious, had laid aside his coat
+on the very day of the appearance of the advertisement.</p>
+
+<p>He was thus standing, the tell-tale coat upon his back,
+the incriminating paper in his hand, when the door opened
+and the tall lodger, with a firm but somewhat pallid face,
+stepped into the room and closed the door again behind him.
+For some time the two looked upon each other in perfect
+silence; then Mr. Jones moved forward to the table, took
+a seat, and, still without once changing the direction of his
+eyes, addressed the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is for me the blood
+money is offered. And now what will you do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page124"></a>124</span></p>
+
+<p>It was a question to which Somerset was far from being
+able to reply. Taken as he was at unawares, masquerading
+in the man&rsquo;s own coat, and surrounded by a whole arsenal
+of diabolical explosives, the keeper of the lodging-house
+was silenced.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; resumed the other, &ldquo;I am he. I am that man,
+whom with impotent hate and fear they still hunt from
+den to den, from disguise to disguise. Yet, my landlord,
+you have it in your power, if you be poor, to lay the basis
+of your fortune; if you be unknown, to capture honour at
+one snatch. You have hocussed an innocent widow; and
+I find you here in my apartment, for whose use I pay you
+in stamped money, searching my wardrobe, and your hand&mdash;shame,
+sir!&mdash;your hand in my very pocket. You can
+now complete the cycle of your ignominious acts, by what
+will be at once the simplest, the safest, and the most remunerative.&rdquo;
+The speaker paused as if to emphasise his
+words; and then, with a great change of tone and manner,
+thus resumed: &ldquo;And yet, sir, when I look upon your face,
+I feel certain that I cannot be deceived: certain that in
+spite of all, I have the honour and pleasure of speaking to a
+gentleman. Take off my coat, sir&mdash;which but cumbers you.
+Divest yourself of this confusion: that which is but thought
+upon, thank God, need be no burthen to the conscience;
+we have all harboured guilty thoughts; and if it flashed
+into your mind to sell my flesh and blood, my anguish in
+the dock, and the sweat of my death agony&mdash;it was a
+thought, dear sir, you were as incapable of acting on, as I
+of any further question of your honour.&rdquo; At these words
+the speaker, with a very open, smiling countenance, like
+a forgiving father, offered Somerset his hand.</p>
+
+<p>It was not in the young man&rsquo;s nature to refuse forgiveness
+or dissect generosity. He instantly, and almost
+without thought, accepted the proffered grasp.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; resumed the lodger, &ldquo;now that I hold
+in mine your loyal hand, I lay by my apprehensions, I dismiss
+suspicion, I go further&mdash;by an effort of will, I banish
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125"></a>125</span>
+the memory of what is past. How you came here, I care
+not: enough that you are here&mdash;as my guest. Sit ye down;
+and let us, with your good permission, improve acquaintance
+over a glass of excellent whisky.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So speaking, he produced glasses and a bottle; and the
+pair pledged each other in silence.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Confess,&rdquo; observed the smiling host, &ldquo;you were
+surprised at the appearance of the room.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I was indeed,&rdquo; said Somerset; &ldquo;nor can I imagine
+the purpose of these changes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;These,&rdquo; replied the conspirator, &ldquo;are the devices by
+which I continue to exist. Conceive me now, accused
+before one of your unjust tribunals; conceive the various
+witnesses appearing, and the singular variety of their reports!
+One will have visited me in this drawing-room as
+it originally stood; a second finds it as it is to-night; and
+to-morrow or next day, all may have been changed. If you
+love romance (as artists do), few lives are more romantic
+than that of the obscure individual now addressing you.
+Obscure yet famous. Mine is an anonymous, infernal glory.
+By infamous means, I work towards my bright purpose.
+I found the liberty and peace of a poor country desperately
+abused; the future smiles upon that land; yet, in the meantime,
+I lead the existence of a hunted brute, work towards
+appalling ends, and practise hell&rsquo;s dexterities.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset, glass in hand, contemplated the strange
+fanatic before him, and listened to his heated rhapsody,
+with indescribable bewilderment. He looked him in the
+face with curious particularity; saw there the marks of
+education; and wondered the more profoundly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; he said&mdash;&ldquo;for I know not whether I should
+still address you as Mr. Jones&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jones, Breitman, Higginbotham, Pumpernickel,
+Daviot, Henderland, by all or any of these you may address
+me,&rdquo; said the plotter; &ldquo;for all I have at some time borne.
+Yet that which I most prize, that which is most feared,
+hated, and obeyed, is not a name to be found in your directories;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126"></a>126</span>
+it is not a name current in post-offices or banks;
+and indeed, like the celebrated clan M&rsquo;Gregor, I may justly
+describe myself as being nameless by day. But,&rdquo; he continued,
+rising to his feet, &ldquo;by night, and among my desperate
+followers, I am the redoubted Zero.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset was unacquainted with the name; but he
+politely expressed surprise and gratification. &ldquo;I am to
+understand,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;that, under this alias, you
+follow the profession of a dynamiter?&rdquo;<a name="FnAnchor_3" href="#Footnote_3"><span class="sp">3</span></a></p>
+
+<p>The plotter had resumed his seat and now replenished
+the glasses.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In this dark period of time, a star&mdash;the
+star of dynamite&mdash;has risen for the oppressed; and
+among those who practise its use, so thick beset with dangers
+and attended by such incredible difficulties and disappointments,
+few have been more assiduous, and not many&mdash;&rdquo;
+He paused, and a shade of embarrassment appeared upon
+his face&mdash;&ldquo;not many have been more successful than
+myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can imagine,&rdquo; observed Somerset, &ldquo;that, from the
+sweeping consequences looked for, the career is not devoid
+of interest. You have, besides, some of the entertainment
+of the game of hide-and-seek. But it would
+still seem to me&mdash;I speak as a layman&mdash;that nothing
+could be simpler or safer than to deposit an infernal
+machine and retire to an adjacent county to await the
+painful consequences.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You speak, indeed,&rdquo; returned the plotter, with some
+evidence of warmth, &ldquo;you speak, indeed, most ignorantly.
+Do you make nothing, then, of such a peril as we share this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127"></a>127</span>
+moment? Do you think it nothing to occupy a house like
+this one, mined, menaced, and, in a word, literally tottering
+to its fall?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; ejaculated Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And when you speak of ease,&rdquo; pursued Zero, &ldquo;in this
+age of scientific studies, you fill me with surprise. Are you
+not aware that chemicals are proverbially fickle as woman,
+and clockwork as capricious as the very devil? Do you
+see upon my brow these furrows of anxiety? do you observe
+the silver threads that mingle with my hair? Clockwork,
+clockwork has stamped them on my brow&mdash;chemicals have
+sprinkled them upon my locks! No, Mr. Somerset,&rdquo; he
+resumed, after a moment&rsquo;s pause, his voice still quivering
+with sensibility, &ldquo;you must not suppose the dynamiter&rsquo;s
+life to be all gold. On the contrary: you cannot picture
+to yourself the bloodshot vigils and the staggering disappointments
+of a life like mine. I have toiled (let us say)
+for months, up early and down late; my bag is ready, my
+clock set; a daring agent has hurried with white face to
+deposit the instrument of ruin; we await the fall of England,
+the massacre of thousands, the yell of fear and execration;
+and lo! a snap like that of a child&rsquo;s pistol, an offensive smell,
+and the entire loss of so much time and plant! If,&rdquo; he
+concluded musingly, &ldquo;we had been merely able to recover
+the lost bags, I believe, with but a touch or two, I could
+have remedied the peccant engine. But what with the loss
+of plant and the almost insuperable scientific difficulties
+of the task, our friends in France are almost ready to desert
+the chosen medium. They propose, instead, to break up
+the drainage system of cities and sweep off whole populations
+with the devastating typhoid pestilence: a tempting and
+a scientific project: a process, indiscriminate indeed, but
+of idyllical simplicity. I recognise its elegance; but, sir,
+I have something of the poet in my nature; something,
+possibly, of the tribune. And, for my small part, I shall
+remain devoted to that more emphatic, more striking, and
+(if you please) more popular method of the explosive bomb.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128"></a>128</span>
+Yes,&rdquo; he cried, with unshaken hope, &ldquo;I will still continue
+and, I feel it in my bosom, I shall yet succeed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Two things I remark,&rdquo; said Somerset. &ldquo;The first
+somewhat staggers me. Have you, then&mdash;in all this course
+of life, which you have sketched so vividly&mdash;have you not
+once succeeded?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon me,&rdquo; said Zero. &ldquo;I have had one success.
+You behold in me the author of the outrage of Red Lion
+Court.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But if I remember right,&rdquo; objected Somerset, &ldquo;the
+thing was a <i>fiasco</i>. A scavenger&rsquo;s barrow and some copies
+of the <i>Weekly Budget</i>&mdash;these were the only victims.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You will pardon me again,&rdquo; returned Zero, with
+positive asperity: &ldquo;a child was injured.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And that fitly brings me to my second point,&rdquo; said
+Somerset. &ldquo;For I observed you to employ the word&lsquo;indiscriminate.&rsquo;
+Now, surely, a scavenger&rsquo;s barrow and a
+child (if child there were) represent the very acme and top
+pin-point of indiscriminate and, pardon me, of ineffectual
+reprisal.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did I employ the word?&rdquo; asked Zero. &ldquo;Well, I
+will not defend it. But for efficiency, you touch on graver
+matters; and before entering upon so vast a subject, permit
+me once more to fill our glasses. Disputation is dry
+work,&rdquo; he added, with a charming gaiety of manner.</p>
+
+<p>Once more accordingly the pair pledged each other in
+a stalwart grog; and Zero, leaning back with an air of some
+complacency, proceeded more largely to develop his opinions.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The indiscriminate?&rdquo; he began. &ldquo;War, my dear
+sir, is indiscriminate. War spares not the child; it spares
+not the barrow of the harmless scavenger. No more,&rdquo;
+he concluded, beaming, &ldquo;no more do I. Whatever may
+strike fear, whatever may confound or paralyse the activities
+of the guilty nation, barrow or child, imperial Parliament
+or excursion steamer, is welcome to my simple plans. You
+are not,&rdquo; he inquired, with a shade of sympathetic interest,
+&ldquo;you are not, I trust, a believer?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page129"></a>129</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir, I believe in nothing,&rdquo; said the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are then,&rdquo; replied Zero, &ldquo;in a position to grasp
+my argument. We agree that humanity is the object, the
+glorious triumph of humanity; and being pledged to labour
+for that end, and face to face with the banded opposition of
+kings, parliaments, churches, and the members of the force,
+who am I&mdash;who are we, dear sir&mdash;to affect a nicety about
+the tools employed? You might, perhaps, expect us to
+attack the Queen, the sinister Gladstone, the rigid Derby,
+or the dexterous Granville; but there you would be in error.
+Our appeal is to the body of the people; it is these that we
+would touch and interest. Now, sir, have you observed the
+English housemaid?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I should think I had,&rdquo; cried Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;From a man of taste and a votary of art, I had expected
+it,&rdquo; returned the conspirator politely. &ldquo;A type apart; a
+very charming figure; and thoroughly adapted to our ends.
+The neat cap, the clean print, the comely person, the engaging
+manner; her position between classes, parents in
+one, employers in another; the probability that she will
+have at least one sweetheart, whose feelings we shall address:&mdash;yes,
+I have a leaning&mdash;call it, if you will, a weakness&mdash;for
+the housemaid. Not that I would be understood
+to despise the nurse. For the child is a very interesting
+feature: I have long since marked out the child as the sensitive
+point in society.&rdquo; He wagged his head, with a wise,
+pensive smile. &ldquo;And talking, sir, of children and of the
+perils of our trade, let me now narrate to you a little incident
+of an explosive bomb, that fell out some weeks ago under my
+own observation. It fell out thus.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And Zero leaning back in his chair narrated the following
+simple tale.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="foot" />
+<div class="note">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3" href="#FnAnchor_3"><span class="fn">3</span></a> The Arabian author of the original has here a long passage conceived
+in a style too oriental for the English reader. We subjoin a
+specimen, and it seems doubtful whether it should be printed as prose
+or verse: &ldquo;Any writard who writes dynamitard shall find in me a
+never-resting fightard&ldquo;; and he goes on (if we correctly gather his
+meaning) to object to such elegant and obviously correct spellings
+as lamp-lightard, corn-dealard, apple-filchard (clearly justified by the
+parallel&mdash;pilchard), and opera-dan�ard. &ldquo;Dynamitist,&rdquo; he adds,
+&ldquo;I could understand.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page130"></a>130</span></p>
+<h4>ZERO&rsquo;S TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE BOMB<a name="FnAnchor_4" href="#Footnote_4"><span class="sp">4</span></a></h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">I dined</span> by appointment with one of our most trusted
+agents, in a private chamber at St. James&rsquo;s Hall. You have
+seen the man: it was M&rsquo;Guire, the most chivalrous of
+creatures, but not himself expert in our contrivances.
+Hence the necessity of our meeting; for I need not remind
+you what enormous issues depend upon the nice adjustment
+of the engine. I set our little petard for half an hour, the
+scene of action being hard by; and, the better to avert miscarriage,
+employed a device, a recent invention of my own,
+by which the opening of the Gladstone bag in which the
+bomb was carried should instantly determine the explosion.
+M&rsquo;Guire was somewhat dashed by this arrangement, which
+was new to him: and pointed out, with excellent, clear good
+sense, that should he be arrested, it would probably involve
+him in the fall of our opponents. But I was not to be
+moved, made a strong appeal to his patriotism, gave him a
+good glass of whisky, and despatched him on his glorious
+errand.</p>
+
+<p>Our objective was the effigy of Shakespeare in Leicester
+Square: a spot, I think, admirably chosen; not only for
+the sake of the dramatist, still very foolishly claimed as a
+glory by the English race, in spite of his disgusting political
+opinions; but from the fact that the seats in the immediate
+neighbourhood are often thronged by children, errand-boys,
+unfortunate young ladies of the poorer class, and infirm
+old men&mdash;all classes making a direct appeal to public pity,
+and therefore suitable with our designs. As M&rsquo;Guire drew
+near, his heart was inflamed by the most noble sentiment of
+triumph. Never had he seen the garden so crowded;
+children, still stumbling in the impotence of youth, ran to
+and fro, shouting and playing, round the pedestal; an old,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131"></a>131</span>
+sick pensioner sat upon the nearest bench, a medal on his
+breast, a stick with which he walked (for he was disabled by
+wounds) reclining on his knee. Guilty England would thus
+be stabbed in the most delicate quarters; the moment had,
+indeed, been well selected; and M&rsquo;Guire, with a radiant prevision
+of the event, drew merrily nearer. Suddenly his eye
+alighted on the burly form of a policeman, standing hard by
+the effigy in an attitude of watch. My bold companion
+paused; he looked about him closely; here and there, at
+different points of the enclosure, other men stood or loitered,
+affecting an abstraction, feigning to gaze upon the shrubs,
+feigning to talk, feigning to be weary and to rest upon the
+benches. M&rsquo;Guire was no child in these affairs; he instantly
+divined one of the plots of the Machiavellian Gladstone.</p>
+
+<p>A chief difficulty with which we have to deal is a certain
+nervousness in the subaltern branches of the corps; as the
+hour of some design draws near, these chicken-souled conspirators
+appear to suffer some revulsion of intent; and frequently
+despatch to the authorities, not indeed specific
+denunciations, but vague anonymous warnings. But for
+this purely accidental circumstance, England had long ago
+been an historical expression. On the receipt of such a
+letter, the Government lays a trap for its adversaries, and
+surrounds the threatened spot with hirelings. My blood
+sometimes boils in my veins, when I consider the case of
+those who sell themselves for money in such a cause. True,
+thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we patriots receive
+a very comfortable stipend; I myself, of course, touch
+a salary which puts me quite beyond the reach of any
+peddling, mercenary thoughts; M&rsquo;Guire, again, ere he
+joined our ranks, was on the brink of starving, and now,
+thank God! receives a decent income. That is as it should
+be; the patriot must not be diverted from his task by any
+base consideration; and the distinction between our position
+and that of the police is too obvious to be stated.</p>
+
+<p>Plainly, however, our Leicester Square design had been
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132"></a>132</span>
+divulged; the Government had craftily filled the place with
+minions; even the pensioner was not improbably a hireling
+in disguise; and our emissary, without other aid or protection
+than the simple apparatus in his bag, found himself
+confronted by force; brutal force; that strong hand which
+was a character of the ages of oppression. Should he
+venture to deposit the machine, it was almost certain that
+he would be observed and arrested; a cry would arise; and
+there was just a fear that the police might not be present in
+sufficient force to protect him from the savagery of the mob.
+The scheme must be delayed. He stood with his bag on
+his arm, pretending to survey the front of the Alhambra,
+when there flashed into his mind a thought to appal the
+bravest. The machine was set; at the appointed hour, it
+must explode; and how, in the interval, was he to be rid
+of it?</p>
+
+<p>Put yourself, I beseech you, into the body of that patriot.
+There he was, friendless and helpless; a man in the very
+flower of life, for he is not yet forty; with long years of
+happiness before him; and now condemned, in one moment,
+to a cruel and revolting death by dynamite! The square,
+he said, went round him like a thaumatrope; he saw the
+Alhambra leap into the air like a balloon; and reeled against
+the railing. It is probable he fainted.</p>
+
+<p>When he came to himself, a constable had him by the
+arm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My God!&rdquo; he cried.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You seem to be unwell, sir,&rdquo; said the hireling.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I feel better now,&rdquo; cried poor M&rsquo;Guire: and with uneven
+steps, for the pavement of the square seemed to lurch
+and reel under his footing, he fled from the scene of this disaster.
+Fled? Alas, from what was he fleeing? Did he
+not carry that from which he fled, along with him? and had
+he the wings of the eagle, had he the swiftness of the ocean
+winds, could he have been rapt into the uttermost quarters
+of the earth, how should he escape the ruin that he carried?
+We have heard of living men who have been fettered to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133"></a>133</span>
+dead; the grievance, soberly considered, is no more than
+sentimental; the case is but a flea-bite to that of him who
+should be linked, like poor M&rsquo;Guire, to an explosive bomb.</p>
+
+<p>A thought struck him in Green Street, like a dart
+through his liver: suppose it were the hour already. He
+stopped as though he had been shot, and plucked his watch
+out. There was a howling in his ears, as loud as a winter
+tempest; his sight was now obscured as if by a cloud, now,
+as by a lightning flash, would show him the very dust upon
+the street. But so brief were these intervals of vision, and
+so violently did the watch vibrate in his hands, that it was
+impossible to distinguish the numbers on the dial. He
+covered his eyes for a few seconds; and in that space, it
+seemed to him that he had fallen to be a man of ninety.
+When he looked again, the watch-plate had grown legible:
+he had twenty minutes. Twenty minutes, and no
+plan!</p>
+
+<p>Green Street, at that time, was very empty; and he now
+observed a little girl of about six drawing near to him and,
+as she came, kicking in front of her, as children will, a piece
+of wood. She sang, too; and something in her accent recalling
+him to the past produced a sudden clearness in his
+mind. Here was a God-sent opportunity!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;would you like a present of a
+pretty bag?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The child cried aloud with joy and put out her hands to
+take it. She had looked first at the bag, like a true child;
+but most unfortunately, before she had yet received the
+fatal gift, her eyes fell directly on M&rsquo;Guire; and no sooner
+had she seen the poor gentleman&rsquo;s face than she screamed
+out and leaped backward, as though she had seen the devil.
+Almost at the same moment a woman appeared upon the
+threshold of a neighbouring shop, and called upon the child
+in anger. &ldquo;Come here, colleen,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and don&rsquo;t be
+plaguing the poor old gentleman!&rdquo; With that she re-entered
+the house, and the child followed her, sobbing aloud.</p>
+
+<p>With the loss of this hope M&rsquo;Guire&rsquo;s reason swooned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134"></a>134</span>
+within him. When next he awoke to consciousness, he was
+standing before St. Martin&rsquo;s-in-the-Fields, wavering like a
+drunken man; the passers-by regarded him with eyes in
+which he read, as in a glass, an image of the terror and
+horror that dwelt within his own.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am afraid you are very ill, sir,&rdquo; observed a woman,
+stopping and gazing hard in his face. &ldquo;Can I do anything
+to help you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ill?&rdquo; said M&rsquo;Guire. &ldquo;O God!&rdquo; And then, recovering
+some shadow of his self-command, &ldquo;Chronic, madam,&rdquo;
+said he: &ldquo;a long course of the dumb ague. But since you
+are so compassionate&mdash;an errand that I lack the strength
+to carry out,&rdquo; he gasped&mdash;&ldquo;this bag to Portman Square.
+O compassionate woman, as you hope to be saved, as you
+are a mother, in the name of your babes that wait to welcome
+you at home, oh, take this bag to Portman Square!
+I have a mother, too,&rdquo; he added, with a broken voice.
+&ldquo;Number 19 Portman Square.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I suppose he had expressed himself with too much
+energy of voice; for the woman was plainly taken with a
+certain fear of him. &ldquo;Poor gentleman!&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;If I
+were you, I would go home.&rdquo; And she left him standing
+there in his distress.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Home!&rdquo; thought M&rsquo;Guire, &ldquo;what a derision!&rdquo;
+What home was there for him, the victim of philanthropy?
+He thought of his old mother, of his happy youth; of the
+hideous, rending pang of the explosion; of the possibility
+that he might not be killed, that he might be cruelly mangled,
+crippled for life, condemned to life-long pains, blinded perhaps,
+and almost surely deafened. Ah, you spoke lightly
+of the dynamiter&rsquo;s peril; but even waiving death, have you
+realised what it is for a fine, brave young man of forty, to be
+smitten suddenly with deafness, cut off from all the music
+of life, and from the voice of friendship and love? How
+little do we realise the sufferings of others! Even your
+brutal Government, in the heyday of its lust for cruelty,
+though it scruples not to hound the patriot with spies, to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135"></a>135</span>
+pack the corrupt jury, to bribe the hangman, and to erect
+the infamous gallows, would hesitate to inflict so horrible
+a doom: not, I am well aware, from virtue, not from
+philanthropy, but with the fear before it of the withering
+scorn of the good.</p>
+
+<p>But I wander from M&rsquo;Guire. From this dread glance
+into the past and future, his thoughts returned at a bound
+upon the present. How had he wandered there? and how
+long&mdash;O heavens! how long had he been about it? He
+pulled out his watch; and found that but three
+minutes had elapsed. It seemed too bright a thing to be
+believed. He glanced at the church clock; and sure
+enough, it marked an hour four minutes in advance of the
+watch.</p>
+
+<p>Of all that he endured, M&rsquo;Guire declares that pang was
+the most desolate. Till then, he had had one friend, one
+counsellor, in whom he plenarily trusted; by whose advertisement
+he numbered the minutes that remained to
+him of life; on whose sure testimony he could tell when the
+time was come to risk the last adventure, to cast the bag
+away from him, and take to flight. And now in what was
+he to place reliance? His watch was slow; it might be
+losing time; if so, in what degree? What limit could he
+set to its derangement? and how much was it possible for
+a watch to lose in thirty minutes? Five? ten? fifteen?
+It might be so; already, it seemed years since he had left
+St. James&rsquo;s Hall on this so promising enterprise; at any
+moment, then, the blow was to be looked for.</p>
+
+<p>In the face of this new distress, the wild disorder of his
+pulses settled down; and a broken weariness succeeded,
+as though he had lived for centuries and for centuries been
+dead. The buildings and the people in the street became
+incredibly small, and far-away, and bright; London
+sounded in his ears stilly, like a whisper; and the rattle of
+the cab that nearly charged him down was like a sound from
+Africa. Meanwhile, he was conscious of a strange abstraction
+from himself; and heard and felt his footfalls on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136"></a>136</span>
+the ground, as those of a very old, small, debile, and tragically
+fortuned man, whom he sincerely pitied.</p>
+
+<p>As he was thus moving forward past the National
+Gallery, in a medium, it seemed, of greater rarity and quiet
+than ordinary air, there slipped into his mind the recollection
+of a certain entry in Whitcomb Street hard by, where
+he might perhaps lay down his tragic cargo unremarked.
+Thither, then, he bent his steps, seeming, as he went, to
+float above the pavement; and there, in the mouth of the
+entry, he found a man in a sleeved waistcoat, gravely chewing
+a straw. He passed him by, and twice patrolled the
+entry, scouting for the barest chance; but the man had
+faced about and continued to observe him curiously.</p>
+
+<p>Another hope was gone. M&rsquo;Guire re-issued from the
+entry, still followed by the wondering eyes of the man in
+the sleeved waistcoat. He once more consulted his watch:
+there were but fourteen minutes left to him. At that, it
+seemed as if a sudden, genial heat were spread about his
+brain; for a second or two, he saw the world as red as blood;
+and thereafter entered into a complete possession of himself,
+with an incredible cheerfulness of spirits, prompting him to
+sing and chuckle as he walked. And yet this mirth seemed
+to belong to things external; and within, like a black and
+leaden-heavy kernel, he was conscious of the weight upon
+his soul.</p>
+
+<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td>
+<div class="poemr">
+
+<p>&ldquo;I care for nobody, no, not I,</p>
+<p class="i05">And nobody cares for me,&rdquo;</p>
+
+</div>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<p class="noind">he sang, and laughed at the appropriate burthen, so that
+the passengers stared upon him on the street. And still the
+warmth seemed to increase and to become more genial.
+What was life? he considered, and what he, M&rsquo;Guire?
+What even Erin, our green Erin? All seemed so incalculably
+little that he smiled as he looked down upon it. He
+would have given years, had he possessed them, for a glass
+of spirits; but time failed, and he must deny himself this
+last indulgence.</p>
+
+<p>At the corner of the Haymarket, he very jauntily hailed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137"></a>137</span>
+a hansom cab; jumped in; bade the fellow drive him to a
+part of the Embankment, which he named; and as soon as
+the vehicle was in motion, concealed the bag as completely
+as he could under the vantage of the apron, and once more
+drew out his watch. So he rode for five interminable
+minutes, his heart in his mouth at every jolt, scarce able to
+possess his terrors, yet fearing to wake the attention of the
+driver by too obvious a change of plan, and willing, if possible,
+to leave him time to forget the Gladstone bag.</p>
+
+<p>At length, at the head of some stairs on the Embankment,
+he hailed; the cab was stopped; and he alighted&mdash;with
+how glad a heart! He thrust his hand into his pocket.
+All was now over; he had saved his life; nor that alone, but
+he had engineered a striking act of dynamite; for what
+could be more pictorial, what more effective, than the explosion
+of a hansom cab, as it sped rapidly along the streets
+of London? He felt in one pocket; then in another. The
+most crushing seizure of despair descended on his soul;
+and, struck into abject dumbness, he stared upon the driver.
+He had not one penny.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hillo,&rdquo; said the driver, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t seem well.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lost my money,&rdquo; said M&rsquo;Guire, in tones so faint and
+strange that they surprised his hearing.</p>
+
+<p>The man looked through the trap. &ldquo;I dessay,&rdquo; said he:
+&ldquo;you&rsquo;ve left your bag.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>M&rsquo;Guire half unconsciously fetched it out; and looking
+on that black continent at arm&rsquo;s length, withered inwardly
+and felt his features sharpen as with mortal sickness.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is not mine,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Your last fare must have
+left it. You had better take it to the station.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now look here,&rdquo; returned the cabman: &ldquo;are you off
+your chump? or am I?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then, I&rsquo;ll tell you what,&rdquo; exclaimed M&rsquo;Guire:
+&ldquo;you take it for your fare!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I dessay,&rdquo; replied the driver. &ldquo;Anything else?
+What&rsquo;s <i>in</i> your bag? Open it, and let me see.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; returned M&rsquo;Guire. &ldquo;O no, not that. It&rsquo;s
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138"></a>138</span>
+a surprise; it&rsquo;s prepared expressly: a surprise for honest
+cabmen.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, you don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said the man, alighting from his perch,
+and coming very close to the unhappy patriot. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re
+either going to pay my fare, or get in again and drive to the
+office.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was at this supreme hour of his distress, that M&rsquo;Guire
+spied the stout figure of one Godall, a tobacconist of Rupert
+Street, drawing near along the Embankment. The man
+was not unknown to him; he had bought of his wares, and
+heard him quoted for the soul of liberality; and such was
+now the nearness of his peril, that even at such a straw of
+hope he clutched with gratitude.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Thank God!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Here comes a friend of
+mine. I&rsquo;ll borrow.&rdquo; And he dashed to meet the tradesman.
+&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;Mr. Godall, I have dealt with you&mdash;you
+doubtless know my face&mdash;calamities for which I
+cannot blame myself have overwhelmed me. Oh, sir, for
+the love of innocence, for the sake of the bonds of humanity,
+and as you hope for mercy at the throne of grace, lend me
+two-and-six!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not recognise your face,&rdquo; replied Mr. Godall;
+&ldquo;but I remember the cut of your beard, which I have the
+misfortune to dislike. Here, sir, is a sovereign; which I
+very willingly advance to you, on the single condition that
+you shave your chin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>M&rsquo;Guire grasped the coin without a word; cast it to the
+cabman, calling out to him to keep the change; bounded
+down the steps, flung the bag far forth into the river, and
+fell headlong after it. He was plucked from a watery grave,
+it is believed, by the hands of Mr. Godall. Even as he was
+being hoisted dripping to the shore, a dull and choked explosion
+shook the solid masonry of the Embankment, and
+far out in the river a momentary fountain rose and disappeared.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="foot" />
+<div class="note">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4" href="#FnAnchor_4"><span class="fn">4</span></a> The Arabian author, with that quaint particularity of touch
+which our translation usually pr�termits, here registers a somewhat
+interesting detail. Zero pronounced the word &ldquo;boom&ldquo;; and the
+reader, if but for the nonce, will possibly consent to follow him.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page139"></a>139</span></p>
+<h4>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (<i>continued</i>)</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Somerset</span> in vain strove to attach a meaning to these words.
+He had, in the meanwhile, applied himself assiduously to
+the flagon; the plotter began to melt in twain, and seemed
+to expand and hover on his seat; and with a vague sense of
+nightmare, the young man rose unsteadily to his feet, and,
+refusing the proffer of a third grog, insisted that the hour
+was late and he must positively get to bed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; observed Zero, &ldquo;I find you very temperate.
+But I will not be oppressive. Suffice it that we are now fast
+friends; and, my dear landlord, <i>au revoir</i>!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So saying the plotter once more shook hands; and with
+the politest ceremonies, and some necessary guidance, conducted
+the bewildered young gentleman to the top of the
+stair.</p>
+
+<p>Precisely how he got to bed was a point on which Somerset
+remained in utter darkness; but the next morning
+when, at a blow, he started broad awake, there fell upon his
+mind a perfect hurricane of horror and wonder. That he
+should have suffered himself to be led into the semblance
+of intimacy with such a man as his abominable lodger, appeared,
+in the cold light of day, a mystery of human weakness.
+True, he was caught in a situation that might have
+tested the aplomb of Talleyrand. That was perhaps a
+palliation; but it was no excuse. For so wholesale a
+capitulation of principle, for such a fall into criminal
+familiarity, no excuse indeed was possible; nor any remedy,
+but to withdraw at once from the relation.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was dressed, he hurried upstairs, determined
+on a rupture. Zero hailed him with the warmth of
+an old friend.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come in,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;dear Mr. Somerset! Come in,
+sit down, and, without ceremony, join me at my morning
+meal.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;you must permit me first to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140"></a>140</span>
+disengage my honour. Last night, I was surprised into a
+certain appearance of complicity; but once for all, let me
+inform you that I regard you and your machinations with
+unmingled horror and disgust, and I will leave no stone unturned
+to crush your vile conspiracy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; replied Zero, with an air of some complacency,
+&ldquo;I am well accustomed to these human weaknesses.
+Disgust? I have felt it myself; it speedily wears
+off. I think none the worse, I think the more of you, for
+this engaging frankness. And in the meanwhile, what are
+you to do? You find yourself, if I interpret rightly, in very
+much the same situation as Charles the Second (possibly
+the least degraded of your British sovereigns) when he was
+taken into the confidence of the thief. To denounce me is
+out of the question; and what else can you attempt? No,
+dear Mr. Somerset, your hands are tied; and you find yourself
+condemned, under pain of behaving like a cad, to be
+that same charming and intellectual companion who delighted
+me last night.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At least,&rdquo; cried Somerset, &ldquo;I can, and do, order you
+to leave this house.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; cried the plotter, &ldquo;but there I fail to follow you.
+You may, if you please, enact the part of Judas; but if, as
+I suppose, you recoil from that extremity of meanness, I
+am, on my side, far too intelligent to leave these lodgings,
+in which I please myself exceedingly, and from which you
+lack the power to drive me. No, no, dear sir; here I am,
+and here I propose to stay.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I repeat,&rdquo; cried Somerset, beside himself with a sense
+of his own weakness, &ldquo;I repeat that I give you warning.
+I am master of this house; and I emphatically give you
+warning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A week&rsquo;s warning?&rdquo; said the imperturbable conspirator.
+&ldquo;Very well: we will talk of it a week from now.
+That is arranged; and, in the meanwhile, I observe my
+breakfast growing cold. Do, dear Mr. Somerset, since you
+find yourself condemned, for a week at least, to the society
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141"></a>141</span>
+of a very interesting character, display some of that open
+favour, some of that interest in life&rsquo;s obscurer sides, which
+stamp the character of the true artist. Hang me, if you will,
+to-morrow; but to-day show yourself divested of the scruple
+of the burgess, and sit down pleasantly to share my meal.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Man!&rdquo; cried Somerset, &ldquo;do you understand my sentiments?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; replied Zero; &ldquo;and I respect them!
+Would you be outdone in such a contest? will you alone
+be partial? and in this nineteenth century, cannot two
+gentlemen of education agree to differ on a point of politics?
+Come, sir: all your hard words have left me smiling; judge
+then, which of us is the philosopher!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset was a young man of a very tolerant disposition
+and by nature easily amenable to sophistry. He threw up
+his hands with a gesture of despair, and took the seat to
+which the conspirator invited him. The meal was excellent;
+the host not only affable, but primed with curious
+information. He seemed, indeed, like one who had too long
+endured the torture of silence, to exult in the most wholesale
+disclosures. The interest of what he had to tell was great;
+his character, besides, developed step by step; and Somerset,
+as the time fled, not only outgrew some of the discomfort
+of his false position, but began to regard the conspirator
+with a familiarity that verged upon contempt. In any
+circumstances, he had a singular inability to leave the society
+in which he found himself; company, even if distasteful,
+held him captive like a limed sparrow; and on this occasion,
+he suffered hour to follow hour, was easily persuaded to sit
+down once more to table, and did not even attempt to
+withdraw till, on the approach of evening, Zero, with many
+apologies, dismissed his guest. His fellow-conspirators,
+the dynamiter handsomely explained, as they were unacquainted
+with the sterling qualities of the young man,
+would be alarmed at the sight of a strange face.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was alone, Somerset fell back upon the
+humour of the morning. He raged at the thought of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142"></a>142</span>
+facility; he paced the dining-room, forming the sternest
+resolutions for the future; he wrung the hand which had
+been dishonoured by the touch of an assassin; and among
+all these whirling thoughts, there flashed in from time to
+time, and ever with a chill of fear, the thought of the confounded
+ingredients with which the house was stored. A
+powder magazine seemed a secure smoking-room alongside
+of the Superfluous Mansion.</p>
+
+<p>He sought refuge in flight, in locomotion, in the flowing
+bowl. As long as the bars were open, he travelled from one
+to another, seeking light, safety, and the companionship of
+human faces; when these resources failed him, he fell back
+on the belated baked-potato man; and at length, still pacing
+the streets, he was goaded to fraternise with the police.
+Alas, with what a sense of guilt he conversed with these
+guardians of the law; how gladly had he wept upon their
+ample bosoms; and how the secret fluttered to his lips and
+was still denied an exit! Fatigue began at last to triumph
+over remorse; and about the hour of the first milkman, he
+returned to the door of the mansion; looked at it with a
+horrid expectation, as though it should have burst that
+instant into flames; drew out his key, and when his foot
+already rested on the steps, once more lost heart and fled for
+repose to the grisly shelter of a coffee-shop.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the stroke of noon when he awoke. Dismally
+searching in his pockets, he found himself reduced to half-a-crown;
+and, when he had paid the price of his distasteful
+couch, saw himself obliged to return to the Superfluous
+Mansion. He sneaked into the hall and stole on tiptoe to
+the cupboard where he kept his money. Yet half a minute,
+he told himself, and he would be free for days from his
+obseding lodger, and might decide at leisure on the course
+he should pursue. But fate had otherwise designed: there
+came a tap at the door and Zero entered.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have I caught you?&rdquo; he cried, with innocent gaiety.
+&ldquo;Dear fellow, I was growing quite impatient.&rdquo; And on the
+speaker&rsquo;s somewhat stolid face there came a glow of genuine
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143"></a>143</span>
+affection. &ldquo;I am so long unused to have a friend,&rdquo; he continued,
+&ldquo;that I begin to be afraid I may prove jealous.&rdquo;
+And he wrung the hand of his landlord.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset was, of all men, least fit to deal with such a
+greeting. To reject these kind advances was beyond his
+strength. That he could not return cordiality for cordiality
+was already almost more than he could carry. That inequality
+between kind sentiments which, to generous characters,
+will always seem to be a sort of guilt, oppressed him
+to the ground; and he stammered vague and lying words.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is all right,&rdquo; cried Zero&mdash;&ldquo;that is as it should be&mdash;say
+no more! I had a vague alarm; I feared you had
+deserted me; but I now own that fear to have been unworthy,
+and apologise. To doubt of your forgiveness were
+to repeat my sin. Come, then; dinner waits; join me again
+and tell me your adventures of the night.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Kindness still sealed the lips of Somerset; and he
+suffered himself once more to be set down to table with his
+innocent and criminal acquaintance. Once more the plotter
+plunged up to the neck in damaging disclosures: now it
+would be the name and biography of an individual, now the
+address of some important centre, that rose, as if by accident,
+upon his lips; and each word was like another turn
+of the thumbscrew to his unhappy guest. Finally, the
+course of Zero&rsquo;s bland monologue led him to the young lady
+of two days ago; that young lady, who had flashed on
+Somerset for so brief a while but with so conquering a charm;
+and whose engaging grace, communicative eyes, and admirable
+conduct of the sweeping skirt, remained imprinted on
+his memory.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You saw her?&rdquo; said Zero. &ldquo;Beautiful, is she not?
+She, too, is one of ours: a true enthusiast: nervous, perhaps,
+in presence of the chemicals; but in matters of intrigue
+the very soul of skill and daring. Lake, Fonblanque,
+de Marly, Valdevia, such are some of the names that she
+employs; her true name&mdash;but there, perhaps, I go too far.
+Suffice it, that it is to her I owe my present lodging, and,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144"></a>144</span>
+dear Somerset, the pleasure of your acquaintance. It
+appears she knew the house. You see, dear fellow, I make
+no concealment: all that you can care to hear, I tell you
+openly.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; cried the wretched Somerset, &ldquo;hold
+your tongue! You cannot imagine how you torture me!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A shade of serious discomposure crossed the open countenance
+of Zero.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There are times,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;when I begin to fancy that
+you do not like me. Why, why, dear Somerset, this lack of
+cordiality? I am depressed; the touchstone of my life
+draws near; and if I fail&ldquo;&mdash;he gloomily nodded&mdash;&ldquo;from
+all the height of my ambitious schemes, I fall, dear boy, into
+contempt. These are grave thoughts, and you may judge
+my need of your delightful company. Innocent prattler,
+you relieve the weight of my concerns. And yet ... and
+yet....&rdquo; The speaker pushed away his plate, and rose
+from table. &ldquo;Follow me,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;follow me. My mood
+is on; I must have air, I must behold the plain of battle.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he led the way hurriedly to the top flat of the
+mansion, and thence, by ladder and trap, to a certain leaded
+platform, sheltered at one end by a great stalk of chimneys
+and occupying the actual summit of the roof. On both
+sides, it bordered, without parapet or rail, on the incline of
+slates; and, northward above all, commanded an extensive
+view of housetops, and, rising through the smoke, the distant
+spires of churches.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; cried Zero, &ldquo;you behold this field of city, rich,
+crowded, laughing with the spoil of continents; but soon,
+how soon, to be laid low! Some day, some night, from this
+coign of vantage, you shall perhaps be startled by the detonation
+of the judgment gun&mdash;not sharp and empty like
+the crack of cannon, but deep-mouthed and unctuously
+solemn. Instantly thereafter, you shall behold the flames
+break forth. Ay,&rdquo; he cried, stretching forth his hand, &ldquo;ay,
+that will be a day of retribution. Then shall the pallid
+constable flee side by side with the detected thief. Blaze!&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145"></a>145</span>
+he cried, &ldquo;blaze, derided city! Fall, flatulent monarchy,
+fall like Dagon!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With these words his foot slipped upon the lead; and
+but for Somerset&rsquo;s quickness, he had been instantly precipitated
+into space. Pale as a sheet, and limp as a pocket-handkerchief,
+he was dragged from the edge of downfall by
+one arm; helped, or rather carried, down the ladder; and
+deposited in safety on the attic landing. Here he began to
+come to himself, wiped his brow, and at length, seizing
+Somerset&rsquo;s hand in both of his, began to utter his acknowledgments.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This seals it,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Ours is a life and death connection.
+You have plucked me from the jaws of death;
+and if I were before attracted by your character, judge now
+of the ardour of my gratitude and love! But I perceive
+I am still greatly shaken. Lend me, I beseech you, lend me
+your arm as far as my apartment.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A dram of spirits restored the plotter to something of his
+customary self-possession; and he was standing, glass in
+hand and genially convalescent, when his eye was attracted
+by the dejection of the unfortunate young man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good Heavens, dear Somerset,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;what ails
+you? Let me offer you a touch of spirits.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But Somerset had fallen below the reach of this material
+comfort.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let me be,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am lost; you have caught
+me in the toils. Up to this moment, I have lived all my life
+in the most reckless manner, and done exactly what I
+pleased, with the most perfect innocence. And now&mdash;what
+am I? Are you so blind and wooden that you do not
+see the loathing you inspire me with? Is it possible you
+can suppose me willing to continue to exist upon such terms?
+To think,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;that a young man, guilty of no fault
+on earth but amiability, should find himself involved in such
+a damned imbroglio!&rdquo; And, placing his knuckles in his
+eyes, Somerset rolled upon the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My God,&rdquo; said Zero, &ldquo;is this possible? And I so
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146"></a>146</span>
+filled with tenderness and interest! Can it be, dear Somerset,
+that you are under the empire of these outworn scruples?
+or that you judge a patriot by the morality of the religious
+tract? I thought you were a good agnostic.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Jones,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;it is in vain to argue. I
+boast myself a total disbeliever not only in revealed religion,
+but in the data, method, and conclusions of the whole of
+ethics. Well! what matters it? what signifies a form of
+words? I regard you as a reptile, whom I would rejoice,
+whom I long, to stamp under my heel. You would blow
+up others? Well then, understand: I want, with every
+circumstance of infamy and agony, to blow up you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Somerset, Somerset!&rdquo; said Zero, turning very pale,
+&ldquo;this is wrong; this is very wrong. You pain, you wound
+me, Somerset.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Give me a match!&rdquo; cried Somerset wildly. &ldquo;Let me
+set fire to this incomparable monster! Let me perish with
+him in his fall!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; cried Zero, clutching hold of the
+young man, &ldquo;for God&rsquo;s sake command yourself! We
+stand upon the brink; death yawns around us; a man&mdash;a
+stranger in this foreign land&mdash;one whom you have called
+your friend&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; cried Somerset, &ldquo;you are no friend, no
+friend of mine. I look on you with loathing, like a toad:
+my flesh creeps with physical repulsion; my soul revolts
+against the sight of you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Zero burst into tears. &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he sobbed, &ldquo;this snaps
+the last link that bound me to humanity. My friend disowns&mdash;he
+insults me. I am indeed accurst.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset stood for an instant staggered by this sudden
+change of front. The next moment, with a despairing
+gesture, he fled from the room and from the house. The
+first dash of his escape carried him hard upon half way to
+the next police-office; but presently began to droop; and
+before he reached the house of lawful intervention, he fell
+once more among doubtful counsels. Was he an agnostic?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147"></a>147</span>
+had he a right to act? Away with such nonsense, and let
+Zero perish! ran his thoughts. And then again: had he
+not promised, had he not shaken hands and broken bread?
+and that with open eyes? and if so, how could he take action,
+and not forfeit honour? But honour? what was honour?
+A figment, which, in the hot pursuit of crime, he ought to
+dash aside. Ay, but crime? A figment, too, which his
+enfranchised intellect discarded. All day, he wandered
+in the parks, a prey to whirling thoughts; all night, patrolled
+the city; and at the peep of day he sat down by the wayside
+in the neighbourhood of Peckham and bitterly wept. His
+gods had fallen. He who had chosen the broad, daylit,
+unencumbered paths of universal scepticism, found himself
+still the bondslave of honour. He who had accepted life
+from a point of view as lofty as the predatory eagle&rsquo;s,
+though with no design to prey; he who had clearly recognised
+the common moral basis of war, of commercial competition,
+and of crime; he who was prepared to help the
+escaping murderer or to embrace the impenitent thief,
+found, to the overthrow of all his logic, that he objected to
+the use of dynamite. The dawn crept among the sleeping
+villas and over the smokeless fields of city; and still the
+unfortunate sceptic sobbed over his fall from consistency.</p>
+
+<p>At length he rose and took the rising sun to witness.
+&ldquo;There is no question as to fact,&rdquo; he cried; &ldquo;right and
+wrong are but figments and the shadow of a word; but for
+all that, there are certain things that I cannot do, and there
+are certain others that I will not stand.&rdquo; Thereupon he
+decided to return, to make one last effort of persuasion, and,
+if he could not prevail on Zero to desist from his infernal
+trade, throw delicacy to the winds, give the plotter an hour&rsquo;s
+start, and denounce him to the police. Fast as he went,
+being winged by this resolution, it was already well on in
+the morning when he came in sight of the Superfluous
+Mansion. Tripping down the steps, was the young lady of
+the various aliases; and he was surprised to see upon her
+countenance the marks of anger and concern.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page148"></a>148</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; he began, yielding to impulse and with no
+clear knowledge of what he was to add.</p>
+
+<p>But at the sound of his voice she seemed to experience
+a shock of fear or horror; started back; lowered her veil
+with a sudden movement; and fled, without turning, from
+the square.</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, we step aside a moment from following the
+fortunes of Somerset, and proceed to relate the strange
+and romantic episode of <span class="sc">The Brown Box</span>.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page149"></a>149</span></p>
+<h3>DESBOROUGH&rsquo;S ADVENTURE</h3>
+
+<h4>THE BROWN BOX</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Mr. Harry Desborough</span> lodged in the fine and grave
+old quarter of Bloomsbury, roared about on every side by
+the high tides of London, but itself rejoicing in romantic
+silences and city peace. It was in Queen Square that he
+had pitched his tent, next door to the Children&rsquo;s Hospital,
+on your left hand as you go north: Queen Square, sacred
+to humane and liberal arts, whence homes were made
+beautiful, where the poor were taught, where the sparrows
+were plentiful and loud, and where groups of patient little
+ones would hover all day long before the hospital, if by
+chance they might kiss their hand or speak a word to their
+sick brother at the window. Desborough&rsquo;s room was on
+the first floor and fronted to the square; but he enjoyed
+besides, a right by which he often profited, to sit and smoke
+upon a terrace at the back, which looked down upon a fine
+forest of back gardens, and was in turn commanded by the
+windows of an empty room.</p>
+
+<p>On the afternoon of a warm day, Desborough sauntered
+forth upon this terrace, somewhat out of hope and heart,
+for he had been now some weeks on the vain quest of situations,
+and prepared for melancholy and tobacco. Here,
+at least, he told himself that he would be alone; for, like
+most youths who are neither rich, nor witty, nor successful,
+he rather shunned than courted the society of other men.
+Even as he expressed the thought, his eye alighted on the
+window of the room that looked upon the terrace; and,
+to his surprise and annoyance, he beheld it curtained with
+a silken hanging. It was like his luck, he thought; his
+privacy was gone, he could no longer brood and sigh unwatched,
+he could no longer suffer his discouragement to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150"></a>150</span>
+find a vent in words or soothe himself with sentimental
+whistling; and in the irritation of the moment, he struck
+his pipe upon the rail with unnecessary force. It was an
+old, sweet, seasoned briar-root, glossy and dark with long
+employment, and justly dear to his fancy. What, then,
+was his chagrin, when the head snapped from the stem,
+leaped airily in space, and fell and disappeared among the
+lilacs of the garden?</p>
+
+<p>He threw himself savagely into the garden chair, pulled
+out the story-paper which he had brought with him to read,
+tore off a fragment of the last sheet, which contains only the
+answers to correspondents, and set himself to roll a cigarette.
+He was no master of the art; again and again, the paper
+broke between his fingers and the tobacco showered upon
+the ground; and he was already on the point of angry
+resignation, when the window swung slowly inward, the
+silken curtain was thrust aside, and a lady somewhat
+strangely attired stepped forth upon the terrace.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Se�orito,&rdquo; said she, and there was a rich thrill in her
+voice, like an organ note, &ldquo;Se�orito, you are in difficulties.
+Suffer me to come to your assistance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With the words, she took the paper and tobacco from
+his unresisting hands; and with a facility that, in Desborough&rsquo;s
+eyes, seemed magical, rolled and presented him
+a cigarette. He took it, still seated, still without a word;
+staring with all his eyes upon that apparition. Her face
+was warm and rich in colour; in shape, it was that piquant
+triangle, so innocently sly, so saucily attractive, so rare in
+our more northern climates; her eyes were large, starry,
+and visited by changing lights; her hair was partly covered
+by a lace mantilla, through which her arms, bare to the
+shoulder, gleamed white; her figure, full and soft in all the
+womanly contours, was yet alive and active, light with
+excess of life, and slender by grace of some divine proportion.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You do not like my cigarrito, Se�or?&rdquo; she asked.
+&ldquo;Yet it is better made than yours.&rdquo; At that she laughed,
+and her laughter trilled in his ear like music; but the next
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151"></a>151</span>
+moment her face fell. &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;It is my
+manner that repels you. I am too constrained, too cold.
+I am not,&rdquo; she added, with a more engaging air, &ldquo;I am not
+the simple English maiden I appear.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; murmured Harry, filled with inexpressible
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In my own dear land,&rdquo; she pursued, &ldquo;things are
+differently ordered. There, I must own, a girl is bound
+by many and rigorous restrictions; little is permitted her;
+she learns to be distant, she learns to appear forbidding.
+But here, in free England&mdash;oh, glorious liberty!&rdquo; she cried,
+and threw up her arms with a gesture of inimitable grace&mdash;&ldquo;here
+there are no fetters; here the woman may dare to be
+herself entirely, and the men, the chivalrous men&mdash;is it
+not written on the very shield of your nation, <i>honi soit</i>?
+Ah, it is hard for me to learn, hard for me to dare to be
+myself. You must not judge me yet awhile; I shall end
+by conquering this stiffness, I shall end by growing English.
+Do I speak the language well?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Perfectly&mdash;oh, perfectly!&rdquo; said Harry, with a fervency
+of conviction worthy of a graver subject.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, then,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I shall soon learn; English
+blood ran in my father&rsquo;s veins; and I have had the advantage
+of some training in your expressive tongue. If I speak
+already without accent, with my thorough English appearance,
+there is nothing left to change except my manners.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no,&rdquo; said Desborough. &ldquo;Oh, pray not! I&mdash;madam&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am,&rdquo; interrupted the lady, &ldquo;the Se�orita Teresa
+Valdevia. The evening air grows chill. Adios, Se�orito.&rdquo;
+And before Harry could stammer out a word, she had disappeared
+into her room.</p>
+
+<p>He stood transfixed, the cigarette still unlighted in his
+hand. His thoughts had soared above tobacco, and still
+recalled and beautified the image of his new acquaintance.
+Her voice re-echoed in his memory; her eyes, of which he
+could not tell the colour, haunted his soul. The clouds had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152"></a>152</span>
+risen at her coming, and he beheld a new-created world.
+What she was, he could not fancy, but he adored her. Her
+age, he durst not estimate; fearing to find her older than
+himself, and thinking sacrilege to couple that fair favour
+with the thought of mortal changes. As for her character,
+beauty, to the young, is always good. So the poor lad
+lingered late upon the terrace, stealing timid glances at the
+curtained window, sighing to the gold laburnums, rapt into
+the country of romance; and when at length he entered
+and sat down to dine, on cold boiled mutton and a pint of
+ale, he feasted on the food of gods.</p>
+
+<p>Next day when he returned to the terrace, the window
+was a little ajar and he enjoyed a view of the lady&rsquo;s shoulder,
+as she sat patiently sewing and all unconscious of his presence.
+On the next, he had scarce appeared when the
+window opened, and the Se�orita tripped forth into the
+sunlight, in a morning disorder, delicately neat, and yet
+somehow foreign, tropical, and strange. In one hand she
+held a packet.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will you try,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;some of my father&rsquo;s tobacco&mdash;from
+dear Cuba? There, as I suppose you know, all
+smoke, ladies as well as gentlemen. So you need not fear
+to annoy me. The fragrance will remind me of home. My
+home, Se�or, was by the sea.&rdquo; And as she uttered these
+few words, Desborough, for the first time in his life, realised
+the poetry of the great deep. &ldquo;Awake or asleep, I dream
+of it; dear home, dear Cuba!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But some day,&rdquo; said Desborough, with an inward
+pang, &ldquo;some day you will return!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Never!&rdquo; she cried; &ldquo;ah, never, in Heaven&rsquo;s name!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you then resident for life in England?&rdquo; he inquired,
+with a strange lightening of spirit.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You ask too much, for you ask more than I know,&rdquo;
+she answered sadly; and then, resuming her gaiety of
+manner: &ldquo;But you have not tried my Cuban tobacco,&rdquo;
+she said.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Se�orita,&rdquo; said he, shyly abashed by some shadow
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153"></a>153</span>
+of coquetry in her manner, &ldquo;whatever comes to me&mdash;you&mdash;I
+mean,&rdquo; he concluded, deeply flushing, &ldquo;that I have no
+doubt the tobacco is delightful.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, Se�or,&rdquo; she said, with almost mournful gravity,
+&ldquo;you seemed so simple and good, and already you are
+trying to pay compliments&mdash;and besides,&rdquo; she added,
+brightening, with a quick upward glance, into a smile,
+&ldquo;you do it so badly! English gentlemen, I used to hear,
+could be fast friends, respectful, honest friends; could be
+companions, comforters, if the need arose, or champions,
+and yet never encroach. Do not seek to please me by copying
+the graces of my countrymen. Be yourself: the frank,
+kindly, honest English gentleman that I have heard of
+since my childhood and still longed to meet.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Harry, much bewildered, and far from clear as to the
+manners of the Cuban gentlemen, strenuously disclaimed
+the thought of plagiarism.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your national seriousness of bearing best becomes
+you, Se�or,&rdquo; said the lady. &ldquo;See!&rdquo; marking a line with
+her dainty, slippered foot, &ldquo;thus far it shall be common
+ground; there, at my window-sill, begins the scientific
+frontier. If you choose, you may drive me to my forts;
+but if, on the other hand, we are to be real English friends,
+I may join you here when I am not too sad; or, when I am
+yet more graciously inclined, you may draw your chair
+beside the window and teach me English customs, while I
+work. You will find me an apt scholar, for my heart is in
+the task.&rdquo; She laid her hand lightly upon Harry&rsquo;s arm,
+and looked into his eyes. &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I
+am emboldened to believe that I have already caught something
+of your English aplomb? Do you not perceive a
+change, Se�or? Slight, perhaps, but still a change? Is
+my deportment not more open, more free, more like that
+of the dear&lsquo;British Miss,&rsquo; than when you saw me first?&rdquo;
+She gave a radiant smile; withdrew her hand from Harry&rsquo;s
+arm; and before the young man could formulate in words
+the eloquent emotions that ran riot through his brain&mdash;with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154"></a>154</span>
+an &ldquo;Adios, Se�or: good-night, my English friend,&rdquo;
+she vanished from his sight behind the curtain.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, Harry consumed an ounce of tobacco
+in vain upon the neutral terrace; neither sight nor sound
+rewarded him, and the dinner-hour summoned him at length
+from the scene of disappointment. On the next, it rained;
+but nothing, neither business nor weather, neither prospective
+poverty nor present hardship, could now divert
+the young man from the service of his lady; and wrapt in
+a long ulster, with the collar raised, he took his stand
+against the balustrade, awaiting fortune, the picture of
+damp and discomfort to the eye, but glowing inwardly
+with tender and delightful ardours. Presently the window
+opened; and the fair Cuban, with a smile imperfectly dissembled,
+appeared upon the sill.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come here,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;here, beside my window. The
+small verandah gives a belt of shelter.&rdquo; And she graciously
+handed him a folding-chair.</p>
+
+<p>As he sat down, visibly aglow with shyness and delight,
+a certain bulkiness in his pocket reminded him that he was
+not come empty-handed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have taken the liberty,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;of bringing you
+a little book. I thought of you, when I observed it on the
+stall, because I saw it was in Spanish. The man assured
+me it was by one of the best authors, and quite proper.&rdquo;
+As he spoke, he placed the little volume in her hand. Her
+eyes fell as she turned the pages, and a flush rose and
+died again upon her cheeks, as deep as it was fleeting.
+&ldquo;You are angry,&rdquo; he cried in agony. &ldquo;I have presumed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, Se�or, it is not that,&rdquo; returned the lady. &ldquo;I&ldquo;&mdash;and
+a flood of colour once more mounted to her brow&mdash;&ldquo;I
+am confused and ashamed because I have deceived you.
+Spanish,&rdquo; she began, and paused&mdash;&ldquo;Spanish is of course
+my native tongue,&rdquo; she resumed, as though suddenly taking
+courage; &ldquo;and this should certainly put the highest value
+on your thoughtful present; but alas, sir, of what use is it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155"></a>155</span>
+to me? And how shall I confess to you the truth&mdash;the
+humiliating truth&mdash;that I cannot read?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>As Harry&rsquo;s eyes met hers in undisguised amazement,
+the fair Cuban seemed to shrink before his gaze. &ldquo;Read?&rdquo;
+repeated Harry. &ldquo;You!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She pushed the window still more widely open with a
+large and noble gesture. &ldquo;Enter, Se�or,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;The
+time has come to which I have long looked forward, not
+without alarm; when I must either fear to lose your friendship,
+or tell you without disguise the story of my life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was with a sentiment bordering on devotion that
+Harry passed the window. A semi-barbarous delight in
+form and colour had presided over the studied disorder
+of the room in which he found himself. It was filled with
+dainty stuffs, furs and rugs and scarves of brilliant hues,
+and set with elegant and curious trifles&mdash;fans on the mantelshelf,
+an antique lamp upon a bracket, and on the table a
+silver-mounted bowl of cocoa-nut about half full of unset
+jewels. The fair Cuban, herself a gem of colour and the fit
+masterpiece for that rich frame, motioned Harry to a seat,
+and, sinking herself into another, thus began her history.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<h4>STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">I am</span> not what I seem. My father drew his descent, on
+the one hand, from grandees of Spain, and on the other,
+through the maternal line, from the patriot Bruce. My
+mother, too, was the descendant of a line of kings; but,
+alas! these kings were African. She was fair as the day:
+fairer than I, for I inherited a darker stain of blood from
+the veins of my European father; her mind was noble, her
+manners queenly and accomplished; and seeing her more
+than the equal of her neighbours and surrounded by the
+most considerate affection and respect, I grew up to adore
+her, and when the time came, received her last sigh upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156"></a>156</span>
+my lips, still ignorant that she was a slave and alas! my
+father&rsquo;s mistress. Her death, which befell me in my sixteenth
+year, was the first sorrow I had known: it left our
+home bereaved of its attractions, cast a shade of melancholy
+on my youth, and wrought in my father a tragic and durable
+change. Months went by: with the elasticity of my years,
+I regained some of the simple mirth that had before distinguished
+me; the plantation smiled with fresh crops;
+the negroes on the estate had already forgotten my mother
+and transferred their simple obedience to myself; but still
+the cloud only darkened on the brows of Se�or Valdevia.
+His absences from home had been frequent even in the old
+days, for he did business in precious gems in the city of
+Havana; they now became almost continuous; and when
+he returned, it was but for the night and with the manner
+of a man crushed down by adverse fortune.</p>
+
+<p>The place where I was born and passed my days was
+an isle set in the Caribbean Sea, some half-hour&rsquo;s rowing
+from the coasts of Cuba. It was steep, rugged, and, except
+for my father&rsquo;s family and plantation, uninhabited
+and left to nature. The house, a low building surrounded
+by spacious verandahs, stood upon a rise of ground and
+looked across the sea to Cuba. The breezes blew about
+it gratefully, fanned us as we lay swinging in our silken
+hammocks, and tossed the boughs and flowers of the
+magnolia. Behind and to the left, the quarter of the negroes
+and the waving fields of the plantation covered an eighth
+part of the surface of the isle. On the right and closely
+bordering on the garden, lay a vast and deadly swamp,
+densely covered with wood, breathing fever, dotted with
+profound sloughs, and inhabited by poisonous oysters,
+man-eating crabs, snakes, alligators, and sickly fishes.
+Into the recesses of that jungle none could penetrate but
+those of African descent; an invisible, unconquerable foe
+lay there in wait for the European; and the air was death.</p>
+
+<p>One morning (from which I must date the beginning
+of my ruinous misfortune) I left my room a little after day,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157"></a>157</span>
+for in that warm climate all are early risers, and found not
+a servant to attend upon my wants. I made the circuit of
+the house, still calling; and my surprise had almost changed
+into alarm, when, coming at last into a large verandahed
+court, I found it thronged with negroes. Even then, even
+when I was amongst them, not one turned or paid the least
+regard to my arrival. They had eyes and ears for but one
+person: a woman, richly and tastefully attired; of elegant
+carriage, and a musical speech; not so much old in years,
+as worn and marred by self-indulgence: her face, which
+was still attractive, stamped with the most cruel passions,
+her eye burning with the greed of evil. It was not from
+her appearance, I believe, but from some emanation of her
+soul, that I recoiled in a kind of fainting terror; as we hear
+of plants that blight and snakes that fascinate, the woman
+shocked and daunted me. But I was of a brave nature;
+trod the weakness down; and forcing my way through the
+slaves, who fell back before me in embarrassment, as though
+in the presence of rival mistresses, I asked, in imperious
+tones: &ldquo;Who is this person?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A slave girl, to whom I had been kind, whispered in
+my ear to have a care, for that was Madam Mendizabal;
+but the name was new to me.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile the woman, applying a pair of glasses
+to her eyes, studied me with insolent particularity from
+head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Young woman,&rdquo; said she at last, &ldquo;I have had a great
+experience in refractory servants, and take a pride in breaking
+them. You really tempt me; and if I had not other
+affairs, and these of more importance, on my hand, I should
+certainly buy you at your father&rsquo;s sale.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; I began, but my voice failed me.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is it possible that you do not know your position?&rdquo;
+she returned, with a hateful laugh. &ldquo;How comical!
+Positively, I must buy her. Accomplishments, I suppose?&rdquo;
+she added, turning to the servants.</p>
+
+<p>Several assured her that the young mistress had been
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158"></a>158</span>
+brought up like any lady, for so it seemed in their inexperience.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She would do very well for my place of business in
+Havana,&rdquo; said Se�ora Mendizabal, once more studying
+me through her glasses; &ldquo;and I should take a pleasure,&rdquo;
+she pursued, more directly addressing myself, &ldquo;in bringing
+you acquainted with a whip.&rdquo; And she smiled at me
+with a savoury lust of cruelty upon her face.</p>
+
+<p>At this, I found expression. Calling by name upon
+the servants, I bade them turn this woman from the house,
+fetch her to the boat, and set her back upon the mainland.
+But with one voice they protested that they durst not obey,
+coming close about me, pleading and beseeching me to be
+more wise; and when I insisted, rising higher in passion
+and speaking of this foul intruder in the terms she had
+deserved, they fell back from me as from one who had
+blasphemed. A superstitious reverence plainly encircled
+the stranger; I could read it in their changed demeanour,
+and in the paleness that prevailed upon the natural colour
+of their faces; and their fear perhaps reacted on myself.
+I looked again at Madam Mendizabal. She stood perfectly
+composed, watching my face through her glasses with a
+smile of scorn; and at the sight of her assured superiority
+to all my threats, a cry broke from my lips, a cry of rage,
+fear, and despair, and I fled from the verandah and the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>I ran I knew not where, but it was towards the beach.
+As I went, my head whirled; so strange, so sudden, were
+these events and insults. Who was she? what, in Heaven&rsquo;s
+name, the power she wielded over my obedient negroes?
+Why had she addressed me as a slave? why spoken of my
+father&rsquo;s sale? To all these tumultuary questions I could
+find no answer; and, in the turmoil of my mind, nothing
+was plain except the hateful, leering image of the
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>I was still running, mad with fear and anger, when I
+saw my father coming to meet me from the landing-place;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159"></a>159</span>
+and, with a cry that I thought would have killed me, leaped
+into his arms and broke into a passion of sobs and tears
+upon his bosom. He made me sit down below a tall palmetto
+that grew not far off; comforted me, but with some
+abstraction in his voice; and, as soon as I regained the
+least command upon my feelings, asked me, not without
+harshness, what this grief betokened. I was surprised by
+his tone into a still greater measure of composure; and in
+firm tones, though still interrupted by sobs, I told him
+there was a stranger in the island, at which I thought he
+started and turned pale; that the servants would not obey
+me; that the stranger&rsquo;s name was Madam Mendizabal, and,
+at that, he seemed to me both troubled and relieved; that
+she had insulted me, treated me as a slave (and here my
+father&rsquo;s brow began to darken), threatened to buy me at
+a sale, and questioned my own servants before my face;
+and that, at last, finding myself quite helpless and exposed
+to these intolerable liberties, I had fled from the house in
+terror, indignation, and amazement.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Teresa,&rdquo; said my father, with singular gravity of voice,
+&ldquo;I must make to-day a call upon your courage; much
+must be told you, there is much that you must do to help
+me; and my daughter must prove herself a woman by her
+spirit. As for this Mendizabal, what shall I say? or how
+am I to tell you what she is? Twenty years ago, she was
+the loveliest of slaves; to-day she is what you see her&mdash;prematurely
+old, disgraced by the practice of every vice
+and every nefarious industry, but free, rich, married, they
+say, to some reputable man, whom may Heaven assist!
+and exercising among her ancient mates, the slaves of Cuba,
+an influence as unbounded as its reason is mysterious.
+Horrible rites, it is supposed, cement her empire: the rites
+of Hoodoo. Be that as it may, I would have you dismiss
+the thought of this incomparable witch; it is not from her
+that danger threatens us; and into her hands, I make bold
+to promise, you shall never fall.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Father!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;Fall? Was there any truth,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160"></a>160</span>
+then, in her words? Am I&mdash;O father, tell me plain; I can
+bear anything but this suspense.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will tell you,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;with merciful bluntness.
+Your mother was a slave; it was my design, so soon as I
+had saved a competence, to sail to the free land of Britain,
+where the law would suffer me to marry her: a design too
+long procrastinated; for death, at the last moment, intervened.
+You will now understand the heaviness with which
+your mother&rsquo;s memory hangs about my neck.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I cried out aloud, in pity for my parents; and, in seeking
+to console the survivor, I forgot myself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It matters not,&rdquo; resumed my father. &ldquo;What I have
+left undone can never be repaired, and I must bear the
+penalty of my remorse. But, Teresa, with so cutting a
+reminder of the evils of delay, I set myself at once to do
+what was still possible: to liberate yourself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I began to break forth in thanks, but he checked me
+with a sombre roughness.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your mother&rsquo;s illness,&rdquo; he resumed, &ldquo;had engaged
+too great a portion of my time; my business in the city
+had lain too long at the mercy of ignorant underlings; my
+head, my taste, my unequalled knowledge of the more
+precious stones, that art by which I can distinguish, even
+on the darkest night, a sapphire from a ruby and tell at a
+glance in what quarter of the earth a gem was disinterred&mdash;all
+these had been too long absent from the conduct of
+affairs. Teresa, I was insolvent.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What matters that?&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;What matters
+poverty, if we be left together with our love and sacred
+memories?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You do not comprehend,&rdquo; he said gloomily. &ldquo;Slave
+as you are, young&mdash;alas! scarce more than child!&mdash;accomplished,
+beautiful with the most touching beauty, innocent
+as an angel&mdash;all these qualities that should disarm the very
+wolves and crocodiles, are, in the eyes of those to whom
+I stand indebted, commodities to buy and sell. You are
+a chattel; a marketable thing; and worth&mdash;heavens, that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161"></a>161</span>
+I should say such words!&mdash;worth money. Do you begin
+to see? If I were to give you freedom, I should defraud
+my creditors; the manumission would be certainly annulled;
+you would be still a slave, and I a criminal.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I caught his hand in mine, kissed it, and moaned in
+pity for myself, in sympathy for my father.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How I have toiled,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;how I have dared
+and striven to repair my losses, Heaven has beheld and
+will remember. Its blessing was denied to my endeavours,
+or, as I please myself by thinking, but delayed to descend
+upon my daughter&rsquo;s head. At length, all hope was at an
+end; I was ruined beyond retrieve; a heavy debt fell due
+upon the morrow, which I could not meet; I should be
+declared a bankrupt, and my goods, my lands, my jewels
+that I so much loved, my slaves whom I have spoiled and
+rendered happy, and oh! tenfold worse, you, my beloved
+daughter, would be sold and pass into the hands of ignorant
+and greedy traffickers. Too long, I saw, had I accepted
+and profited by this great crime of slavery; but was my
+daughter, my innocent, unsullied daughter, was <i>she</i> to pay
+the price? I cried out&mdash;no!&mdash;I took Heaven to witness
+my temptation; I caught up this bag and fled. Close upon
+my track are the pursuers; perhaps to-night, perhaps to-morrow,
+they will land upon this isle, sacred to the memory
+of the dear soul that bore you, to consign your father to an
+ignominious prison, and yourself to slavery and dishonour.
+We have not many hours before us. Off the north coast
+of our isle, by strange good fortune, an English yacht has
+for some days been hovering. It belongs to Sir George
+Greville, whom I slightly know, to whom ere now I have
+rendered unusual services, and who will not refuse to help
+in our escape. Or if he did, if his gratitude were in default,
+I have the power to force him. For what does it mean
+my child&mdash;what means this Englishman, who hangs for
+years upon the shores of Cuba, and returns from every trip
+with new and valuable gems?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He may have found a mine,&rdquo; I hazarded.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page162"></a>162</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So he declares,&rdquo; returned my father; &ldquo;but the
+strange gift I have received from nature easily transpierced
+the fable. He brought me diamonds only, which I bought,
+at first, in innocence; at a second glance, I started; for of
+these stones, my child, some had first seen the day in Africa,
+some in Brazil; while others, from their peculiar water and
+rude workmanship, I divined to be the spoil of ancient
+temples. Thus put upon the scent, I made inquiries: Oh,
+he is cunning, but I was cunninger than he. He visited,
+I found, the shop of every jeweller in town; to one he came
+with rubies, to one with emeralds, to one with precious
+beryl; to all, with this same story of the mine. But in
+what mine, what rich epitome of the earth&rsquo;s surface, were
+there conjoined the rubies of Ispahan, the pearls of Coromandel,
+and the diamonds of Golconda? No, child, that
+man, for all his yacht and title, that man must fear and must
+obey me. To-night, then, as soon as it is dark, we must
+take our way through the swamp by the path which I shall
+presently show you; thence, across the highlands of the
+isle, a track is blazed, which shall conduct us to the haven
+on the north; and close by the yacht is riding. Should
+my pursuers come before the hour at which I look to see
+them, they will still arrive too late; a trusty man attends
+on the mainland; as soon as they appear, we shall behold,
+if it be dark, the redness of a fire&mdash;if it be day, a pillar of
+smoke, on the opposing headland; and thus warned, we
+shall have time to put the swamp between ourselves and
+danger. Meantime, I would conceal this bag; I would,
+before all things, be seen to arrive at the house with empty
+hands; a babbling slave might else undo us. For see!&rdquo;
+he added; and holding up the bag, which he had already
+shown me, he poured into my lap a shower of unmounted
+jewels, brighter than flowers, of every size and colour, and
+catching, as they fell, upon a million dainty facets, the
+ardour of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>I could not restrain a cry of admiration.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Even in your ignorant eyes,&rdquo; pursued my father,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163"></a>163</span>
+&ldquo;they command respect. Yet what are they but pebbles,
+passive to the tool, cold as death? Ingrate!&rdquo; he cried.
+&ldquo;Each one of these&mdash;miracles of nature&rsquo;s patience, conceived
+out of the dust in centuries of microscopical activity,
+each one is, for you and me, a year of life, liberty, and
+mutual affection. How, then, should I cherish them! and
+why do I delay to place them beyond reach! Teresa,
+follow me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He rose to his feet, and led me to the borders of the
+great jungle, where they overhung, in a wall of poisonous
+and dusky foliage, the declivity of the hill on which my
+father&rsquo;s house stood planted. For some while he skirted,
+with attentive eyes, the margin of the thicket. Then,
+seeming to recognise some mark, for his countenance became
+immediately lightened of a load of thought, he paused
+and addressed me. &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is the entrance of
+the secret path that I have mentioned, and here you shall
+await me. I but pass some hundreds of yards into the
+swamp to bury my poor treasure; as soon as that is safe
+I will return.&rdquo; It was in vain that I sought to dissuade
+him, urging the dangers of the place; in vain that I begged
+to be allowed to follow, pleading the black blood that I now
+knew to circulate in my veins: to all my appeals he turned
+a deaf ear, and, bending back a portion of the screen of
+bushes, disappeared into the pestilential silence of the
+swamp.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of a full hour, the bushes were once more
+thrust aside; and my father stepped from out the thicket,
+and paused, and almost staggered in the first shock of the
+blinding sunlight. His face was of a singular dusky red;
+and yet, for all the heat of the tropical noon, he did not
+seem to sweat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are tired,&rdquo; I cried, springing to meet him. &ldquo;You
+are ill.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am tired,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;the air in that jungle stifles
+one; my eyes, besides, have grown accustomed to its gloom,
+and the strong sunshine pierces them like knives. A
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164"></a>164</span>
+moment, Teresa, give me but a moment. All shall yet be
+well. I have buried the hoard under a cypress, immediately
+beyond the bayou, on the left-hand margin of the
+path; beautiful, bright things, they now lie whelmed in
+slime; you shall find them there, if needful. But come,
+let us to the house; it is time to eat against our journey of
+the night; to eat and then to sleep, my poor Teresa: then
+to sleep.&rdquo; And he looked upon me out of bloodshot eyes,
+shaking his head as if in pity.</p>
+
+<p>We went hurriedly, for he kept murmuring that he had
+been gone too long and that the servants might suspect;
+passed through the airy stretch of the verandah; and came
+at length into the grateful twilight of the shuttered house.
+The meal was spread; the house servants, already informed
+by the boatmen of the master&rsquo;s return, were all back at
+their posts, and terrified, as I could see, to face me. My
+father still murmuring of haste with weary and feverish
+pertinacity, I hurried at once to take my place at table;
+but I had no sooner left his arm than he paused and thrust
+forth both his hands with a strange gesture of groping.
+&ldquo;How is this?&rdquo; he cried, in a sharp, unhuman voice. &ldquo;Am
+I blind?&rdquo; I ran to him and tried to lead him to the table;
+but he resisted and stood stiffly where he was, opening and
+shutting his jaws, as if in a painful effort after breath. Then
+suddenly he raised both hands to his temples, cried out,
+&ldquo;My head, my head!&rdquo; and reeled and fell against the wall.</p>
+
+<p>I knew too well what it must be. I turned and begged
+the servants to relieve him. But they, with one accord,
+denied the possibility of hope; the master had gone into
+the swamp, they said, the master must die; all help was
+idle. Why should I dwell upon his sufferings? I had him
+carried to a bed, and watched beside him. He lay still,
+and at times ground his teeth, and talked at times unintelligibly,
+only that one word of hurry, hurry, coming distinctly
+to my ears, and telling me that, even in the last
+struggle with the powers of death, his mind was still tortured
+by his daughter&rsquo;s peril. The sun had gone down, the darkness
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165"></a>165</span>
+had fallen, when I perceived that I was alone on this
+unhappy earth. What thoughts had I of flight, of safety,
+of the impending dangers of my situation? Beside the body
+of my last friend, I had forgotten all except the natural
+pangs of my bereavement.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was some four hours above the eastern line
+when I was recalled to a knowledge of the things of earth
+by the entrance of the slave-girl to whom I have already
+referred. The poor soul was indeed devotedly attached
+to me; and it was with streaming tears that she broke to
+me the import of her coming. With the first light of dawn
+a boat had reached our landing-place, and set on shore upon
+our isle (till now so fortunate) a party of officers bearing a
+warrant to arrest my father&rsquo;s person, and a man of a gross
+body and low manners, who declared the island, the plantation,
+and all its human chattels, to be now his own. &ldquo;I
+think,&rdquo; said my slave-girl, &ldquo;he must be a politician or some
+very powerful sorcerer; for Madam Mendizabal had no
+sooner seen them coming than she took to the woods.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fool,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;it was the officer she feared; and at
+any rate why does that beldam still dare to pollute the
+island with her presence? And oh, Cora,&rdquo; I exclaimed,
+remembering my grief, &ldquo;what matter all these troubles
+to an orphan?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mistress,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I must remind you of two things.
+Never speak as you do now of Madam Mendizabal; or never
+to a person of colour; for she is the most powerful woman
+in this world, and her real name even, if one durst pronounce
+it, were a spell to raise the dead. And whatever you do,
+speak no more of her to your unhappy Cora; for though
+it is possible she may be afraid of the police (and indeed I
+think that I have heard she is in hiding), and though I know
+that you will laugh and not believe, yet it is true, and
+proved, and known that she hears every word that people
+utter in this whole, vast world; and your poor Cora is
+already deep enough in her black books. She looks at me,
+mistress, till my blood turns ice. That is the first I had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166"></a>166</span>
+to say; and now for the second; do, pray, for Heaven&rsquo;s
+sake, bear in mind that you are no longer the poor Se�or&rsquo;s
+daughter. He is gone, dear gentleman; and now you are
+no more than a common slave-girl like myself. The man
+to whom you belong calls for you; oh, my dear mistress,
+go at once! With your youth and beauty, you may still,
+if you are winning and obedient, secure yourself an easy
+life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>For the moment I looked on the creature with the
+indignation you may conceive; the next, it was gone: she
+did but speak after her kind, as the bird sings or cattle
+bellow. &ldquo;Go,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Go, Cora. I thank you for your
+kind intentions. Leave me alone one moment with my
+dead father; and tell this man that I will come at once.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>She went; and I, turning to the bed of death, addressed
+to those deaf ears the last appeal and defence of my beleaguered
+innocence. &ldquo;Father,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;it was your last
+thought, even in the pangs of dissolution, that your daughter
+should escape disgrace. Here, at your side, I swear to you
+that purpose shall be carried out; by what means, I know
+not; by crime, if need be; and Heaven forgive both you
+and me and our oppressors, and Heaven help my helplessness!&rdquo;
+Thereupon I felt strengthened as by long repose;
+stepped to the mirror, ay, even in that chamber of the dead;
+hastily arranged my hair, refreshed my tear-worn eyes,
+breathed a dumb farewell to the originator of my days and
+sorrows; and, composing my features to a smile, went forth
+to meet my master.</p>
+
+<p>He was in a great, hot bustle, reviewing that house,
+once ours, to which he had but now succeeded; a corpulent,
+sanguine man of middle age, sensual, vulgar, humorous,
+and, if I judged rightly, not ill-disposed by nature. But
+the sparkle that came into his eye as he observed me enter
+warned me to expect the worse.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is this your late mistress?&rdquo; he inquired of the slaves;
+and, when he had learnt it was so, instantly dismissed them.
+&ldquo;Now, my dear,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I am a plain man: none of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page167"></a>167</span>
+your damned Spaniards, but a true blue, hard-working,
+honest Englishman. My name is Caulder.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir,&rdquo; said I, and curtsied very smartly as
+I had seen the servants.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;this is better than I had expected;
+and if you choose to be dutiful in the station to which it
+has pleased God to call you, you will find me a very kind
+old fellow. I like your looks,&rdquo; he added, calling me by my
+name, which he scandalously mispronounced. &ldquo;Is your
+hair all your own?&rdquo; he then inquired with a certain sharpness,
+and coming up to me, as though I were a horse, he
+grossly satisfied his doubts. I was all one flame from head
+to foot, but I contained my righteous anger and submitted.
+&ldquo;That is very well,&rdquo; he continued, chucking me good-humouredly
+under the chin. &ldquo;You will have no cause to
+regret coming to old Caulder, eh? But that is by the way.
+What is more to the point is this: your late master was a
+most dishonest rogue and levanted with some valuable
+property that belonged of rights to me. Now, considering
+your relation to him, I regard you as the likeliest person to
+know what has become of it; and I warn you, before you
+answer, that my whole future kindness will depend upon
+your honesty. I am an honest man myself, and expect
+the same in my servants.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you mean the jewels?&rdquo; said I, sinking my voice
+into a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is just precisely what I do,&rdquo; said he, and chuckled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hush?&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;And why hush? I am on
+my own place, I would have you to know, and surrounded
+by my own lawful servants.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are the officers gone?&rdquo; I asked; and, oh! how my
+hopes hung upon the answer!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They are,&rdquo; said he, looking somewhat disconcerted.
+&ldquo;Why do you ask?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wish you had kept them,&rdquo; I answered, solemnly
+enough, although my heart at that same moment leaped
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page168"></a>168</span>
+with exultation. &ldquo;Master, I must not conceal from you
+the truth. The servants on this estate are in a dangerous
+condition, and mutiny has long been brewing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;I never saw a milder-looking lot
+of niggers in my life.&rdquo; But for all that he turned somewhat
+pale.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did they tell you,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;that Madam Mendizabal
+is on the island? that, since her coming, they obey
+none but her? that if, this morning, they have received you
+with even decent civility, it was only by her orders&mdash;issued
+with what after-thought I leave you to consider?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam Jezebel?&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Well, she is a dangerous
+devil; the police are after her, besides, for a whole
+series of murders; but after all, what then? To be sure,
+she has a great influence with you coloured folk. But
+what in fortune&rsquo;s name can be her errand here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The jewels,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Ah, sir, had you seen that
+treasure, sapphire and emerald and opal, and the golden
+topaz, and rubies, red as the sunset&mdash;of what incalculable
+worth, of what unequalled beauty to the eye!&mdash;had you
+seen it, as I have, and alas! as <i>she</i> has&mdash;you would understand
+and tremble at your danger.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She has seen them!&rdquo; he cried, and I could see by his
+face that my audacity was justified by its success.</p>
+
+<p>I caught his hand in mine. &ldquo;My master,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I
+am now yours; it is my duty, it should be my pleasure,
+to defend your interests and life. Hear my advice then;
+and, I conjure you, be guided by my prudence. Follow
+me privily; let none see where we are going; I will lead
+you to the place where the treasure has been buried; that
+once disinterred, let us make straight for the boat, escape
+to the mainland, and not return to this dangerous isle without
+the countenance of soldiers.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>What free man in a free land would have credited so
+sudden a devotion? But this oppressor, through the very
+arts and sophistries he had abused, to quiet the rebellion
+of his conscience and to convince himself that slavery was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169"></a>169</span>
+natural, fell like a child into the trap I laid for him. He
+praised and thanked me; told me I had all the qualities
+he valued in a servant; and when he had questioned me
+further as to the nature and value of the treasure, and I had
+once more artfully inflamed his greed, bade me, without
+delay, proceed to carry out my plan of action.</p>
+
+<p>From a shed in the garden I took a pick and shovel;
+and thence, by devious paths among the magnolias, led
+my master to the entrance of the swamp. I walked first,
+carrying, as I was now in duty bound, the tools, and glancing
+continually behind me, lest we should be spied upon and
+followed. When we were come as far as the beginning of
+the path, it flashed into my mind I had forgotten meat;
+and leaving Mr. Caulder in the shadow of a tree, I returned
+alone to the house for a basket of provisions. Were they
+for him? I asked myself. And a voice within me answered,
+No. While we were face to face, while I still saw before my
+eyes the man to whom I belonged as the hand belongs to
+the body, my indignation held me bravely up. But now
+that I was alone, I conceived a sickness at myself and my
+designs that I could scarce endure; I longed to throw myself
+at his feet, avow my intended treachery, and warn him
+from that pestilential swamp, to which I was decoying him
+to die; but my vow to my dead father, my duty to my
+innocent youth, prevailed upon these scruples; and though
+my face was pale and must have reflected the horror that
+oppressed my spirits, it was with a firm step that I returned
+to the borders of the swamp, and with smiling lips that I
+bade him rise and follow me.</p>
+
+<p>The path on which we now entered was cut, like a tunnel,
+through the living jungle. On either hand and overhead,
+the mass of foliage was continuously joined; the day
+sparingly filtered through the depth of superimpending
+wood; and the air was hot like steam, and heady with
+vegetable odours, and lay like a load upon the lungs and
+brain. Underfoot, a great depth of mould received our
+silent footprints; on each side, mimosas, as tall as a man,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170"></a>170</span>
+shrank from my passing skirts with a continuous hissing
+rustle; and, but for these sentient vegetables, all in that
+den of pestilence was motionless and noiseless.</p>
+
+<p>We had gone but a little way in, when Mr. Caulder was
+seized with sudden nausea, and must sit down a moment
+on the path. My heart yearned, as I beheld him; and I
+seriously begged the doomed mortal to return upon his
+steps. What were a few jewels in the scales with life? I
+asked. But no, he said; that witch Madam Jezebel would
+find them out; he was an honest man, and would not stand
+to be defrauded, and so forth, panting the while, like a sick
+dog. Presently he got to his feet again, protesting he had
+conquered his uneasiness; but as we again began to go
+forward, I saw in his changed countenance the first approaches
+of death.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you look pale, deathly pale; your
+pallor fills me with dread. Your eyes are bloodshot; they
+are red like the rubies that we seek.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wench,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;look before you; look at your steps.
+I declare to Heaven, if you annoy me once again by looking
+back, I shall remind you of the change in your position.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A little after, I observed a worm upon the ground, and
+told, in a whisper, that its touch was death. Presently
+a great green serpent, vivid as the grass in spring, wound
+rapidly across the path; and once again I paused and
+looked back at my companion with a horror in my eyes.
+&ldquo;The coffin snake,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the snake that dogs its victim
+like a hound.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But he was not to be dissuaded. &ldquo;I am an old traveller,&rdquo;
+said he. &ldquo;This is a foul jungle indeed; but we shall soon
+be at an end.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ay,&rdquo; said I, looking at him with a strange smile,
+&ldquo;what end?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon he laughed again and again, but not very
+heartily; and then, perceiving that the path began to
+widen and grow higher, &ldquo;There!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;What did
+I tell you? We are past the worst.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page171"></a>171</span></p>
+
+<p>Indeed, we had now come to the bayou, which was in
+that place very narrow and bridged across by a fallen
+trunk; but on either hand we could see it broaden out,
+under a cavern of great arms of trees and hanging creepers:
+sluggish, putrid, of a horrible and sickly stench, floated
+on by the flat heads of alligators, and its banks alive with
+scarlet crabs.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If we fall from that unsteady bridge,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;see,
+where the caiman lies ready to devour us! If, by the least
+divergence from the path, we should be snared in a morass,
+see, where those myriads of scarlet vermin scour the border
+of the thicket! Once helpless, how they would swarm
+together to the assault! What could man do against a
+thousand of such mailed assailants? And what a death
+were that, to perish alive under their claws!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you mad, girl?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;I bid you be silent
+and lead on.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Again I looked upon him, half relenting; and at that
+he raised the stick that was in his hand and cruelly struck
+me on the face. &ldquo;Lead on!&rdquo; he cried again. &ldquo;Must I
+be all day, catching my death in this vile slough, and all
+for a prating slave-girl?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I took the blow in silence, I took it smiling; but the
+blood welled back upon my heart. Something, I know
+not what, fell at that moment with a dull plunge in the
+waters of the lagoon, and I told myself it was my pity that
+had fallen.</p>
+
+<p>On the farther side, to which we now hastily scrambled,
+the wood was not so dense, the web of creepers not so
+solidly convolved. It was possible, here and there, to mark
+a patch of somewhat brighter daylight, or to distinguish,
+through the lighter web of parasites, the proportions of
+some soaring tree. The cypress on the left stood very
+visibly forth, upon the edge of such a clearing; the path
+in that place widened broadly; and there was a patch of
+open ground, beset with horrible ant-heaps, thick with
+their artificers. I laid down the tools and basket by the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172"></a>172</span>
+cypress root, where they were instantly blackened over
+with the crawling ants; and looked once more in the face
+of my unconscious victim. Mosquitoes and foul flies wove
+so close a veil between us that his features were obscured;
+and the sound of their flight was like the turning of a mighty
+wheel.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;is the spot. I cannot dig, for I have
+not learned to use such instruments; but, for your own
+sake, I beseech you to be swift in what you do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He had sunk once more upon the ground, panting like
+a fish; and I saw rising in his face the same dusky flush
+that had mantled on my father&rsquo;s. &ldquo;I feel ill,&rdquo; he gasped,
+&ldquo;horribly ill; the swamp turns around me; the drone of
+these carrion flies confounds me. Have you not wine?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I gave him a glass, and he drank greedily. &ldquo;It is for
+you to think,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if you should further persevere.
+The swamp has an ill name.&rdquo; And at the word I ominously
+nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Give me the pick,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Where are the jewels
+buried?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I told him vaguely; and in the sweltering heat and
+closeness, and dim twilight of the jungle, he began to wield
+the pickaxe, swinging it overhead with the vigour of a
+healthy man. At first, there broke forth upon him a strong
+sweat, that made his face to shine, and in which the greedy
+insects settled thickly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To sweat in such a place,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;O master, is
+this wise? Fever is drunk in through open pores.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; he screamed, pausing with the
+pick buried in the soil. &ldquo;Do you seek to drive me mad?
+Do you think I do not understand the danger that I run?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is all I want,&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;I only wish you to be
+swift.&rdquo; And then, my mind flitting to my father&rsquo;s deathbed,
+I began to murmur, scarce above my breath, the same
+vain repetition of words, &ldquo;Hurry, hurry, hurry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Presently, to my surprise, the treasure-seeker took
+them up; and while he still wielded the pick, but now with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173"></a>173</span>
+staggering and uncertain blows, repeated to himself, as it
+were the burthen of a song, &ldquo;Hurry, hurry, hurry&ldquo;; and
+then again, &ldquo;There is no time to lose; the marsh has an
+ill name, ill name&ldquo;; and then back to &ldquo;Hurry, hurry,
+hurry,&rdquo; with a dreadful mechanical, hurried, and yet
+wearied utterance, as a sick man rolls upon his pillow. The
+sweat had disappeared; he was now dry, but, all that I
+could see of him, of the same dull brick-red. Presently
+his pick unearthed the bag of jewels; but he did not observe
+it, and continued hewing at the soil.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;there is the treasure.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to waken from a dream. &ldquo;Where?&rdquo; he
+cried; and then, seeing it before his eyes, &ldquo;Can this be
+possible?&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I must be light-headed. Girl,&rdquo;
+he cried suddenly, with the same screaming tone of voice
+that I had once before observed, &ldquo;what is wrong? is this
+swamp accursed?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a grave,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;You will not go out
+alive; and as for me, my life is in God&rsquo;s hands.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He fell upon the ground like a man struck by a blow,
+but whether from the effect of my words, or from sudden
+seizure of the malady, I cannot tell. Pretty soon he raised
+his head. &ldquo;You have brought me here to die,&rdquo; he said;
+&ldquo;at the risk of your own days, you have condemned me.
+Why?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To save my honour,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Bear me out that
+I have warned you. Greed of these pebbles, and not I,
+has been your undoer.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He took out his revolver and handed it to me. &ldquo;You
+see,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I could have killed you even yet. But I
+am dying, as you say; nothing could save me; and my
+bill is long enough already. Dear me, dear me,&rdquo; he said,
+looking in my face with a curious, puzzled, and pathetic
+look, like a dull child at school, &ldquo;if there be a judgment
+afterwards, my bill is long enough.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At that, I broke into a passion of weeping, crawled at
+his feet, kissed his hands, begged his forgiveness, put the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174"></a>174</span>
+pistol back into his grasp, and besought him to avenge his
+death; for indeed, if with my life I could have bought back
+his, I had not balanced at the cost. But he was determined,
+the poor soul, that I should yet more bitterly regret my
+act.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have nothing to forgive,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Dear Heaven,
+what a thing is an old fool! I thought, upon my word,
+you had taken quite a fancy to me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He was seized, at the same time, with a dreadful, swimming
+dizziness, clung to me like a child, and called upon
+the name of some woman. Presently this spasm, which I
+watched with choking tears, lessened and died away; and
+he came again to the full possession of his mind. &ldquo;I must
+write my will,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Get out my pocket-book.&rdquo; I
+did so, and he wrote hurriedly on one page with a pencil.
+&ldquo;Do not let my son know,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;he is a cruel dog, is
+my son Philip; do not let him know how you have paid
+me out&ldquo;; and then all of a sudden, &ldquo;God,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;I
+am blind,&rdquo; and clapped both hands before his eyes; and
+then again, and in a groaning whisper, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t leave me
+to the crabs!&rdquo; I swore I would be true to him so long as
+a pulse stirred; and I redeemed my promise. I sat there
+and watched him, as I had watched my father; but with
+what different, with what appalling thoughts! Through
+the long afternoon, he gradually sank. All that while, I
+fought an uphill battle to shield him from the swarms of
+ants and the clouds of mosquitoes: the prisoner of my
+crime. The night fell, the roar of insects instantly redoubled
+in the dark arcades of the swamp; and still I was
+not sure that he had breathed his last. At length, the flesh
+of his hand, which I yet held in mine, grew chill between
+my fingers, and I knew that I was free.</p>
+
+<p>I took his pocket-book and the revolver, being resolved
+rather to die than to be captured, and, laden besides with
+the basket and the bag of gems, set forward towards the
+north. The swamp, at that hour of the night, was filled
+with a continuous din: animals and insects of all kinds
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175"></a>175</span>
+and all inimical to life, contributing their parts. Yet in
+the midst of this turmoil of sound, I walked as though my
+eyes were bandaged, beholding nothing. The soil sank
+under my foot, with a horrid, slippery consistence, as
+though I were walking among toads; the touch of the
+thick wall of foliage, by which alone I guided myself,
+affrighted me like the touch of serpents; the darkness
+checked my breathing like a gag; indeed, I have never
+suffered such extremes of fear as during that nocturnal
+walk, nor have I ever known a more sensible relief than
+when I found the path beginning to mount and to grow
+firmer under foot, and saw, although still some way in front
+of me, the silver brightness of the moon.</p>
+
+<p>Presently I had crossed the last of the jungle, and come
+forth amongst noble and lofty woods, clean rock, the clean,
+dry dust, the aromatic smell of mountain plants that had
+been baked all day in sunlight, and the expressive silence
+of the night. My negro blood had carried me unhurt across
+that reeking and pestiferous morass; by mere good fortune,
+I had escaped the crawling and stinging vermin with which
+it was alive; and I had now before me the easier portion of
+my enterprise, to cross the isle and to make good my arrival
+at the haven and my acceptance on the English yacht. It
+was impossible by night to follow such a track as my father
+had described; and I was casting about for any landmark
+and, in my ignorance, vainly consulting the disposition of
+the stars, when there fell upon my ear, from somewhere
+far in front, the sound of many voices hurriedly singing.</p>
+
+<p>I scarce knew upon what grounds I acted; but I shaped
+my steps in the direction of that sound; and in a quarter
+of an hour&rsquo;s walking, came unperceived to the margin of
+an open glade. It was lighted by the strong moon and by
+the flames of a fire. In the midst there stood a little low
+and rude building, surmounted by a cross: a chapel, as I
+then remembered to have heard, long since desecrated and
+given over to the rites of Hoodoo. Hard by the steps of
+entrance was a black mass, continually agitated and stirring
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176"></a>176</span>
+to and fro as if with inarticulate life; and this I presently
+perceived to be a heap of cocks, hares, dogs, and other birds
+and animals, still struggling, but helplessly tethered and
+cruelly tossed one upon another. Both the fire and the
+chapel were surrounded by a ring of kneeling Africans,
+both men and women. Now they would raise their palms
+half closed to Heaven, with a peculiar, passionate gesture
+of supplication; now they would bow their heads and
+spread their hands before them on the ground. As the
+double movement passed and repassed along the line, the
+heads kept rising and falling, like waves upon the sea; and
+still, as if in time to these gesticulations, the hurried chant
+continued. I stood spell-bound, knowing that my life
+depended by a hair, knowing that I had stumbled on a
+celebration of the rites of Hoodoo.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the door of the chapel opened and there came
+forth a tall negro, entirely nude, and bearing in his hand
+the sacrificial knife. He was followed by an apparition
+still more strange and shocking: Madam Mendizabal,
+naked also, and carrying in both hands, and raised to the
+level of her face, an open basket of wicker. It was filled
+with coiling snakes; and these, as she stood there with the
+uplifted basket, shot through the osier grating and curled
+about her arms. At the sight of this, the fervour of the
+crowd seemed to swell suddenly higher; and the chant rose
+in pitch and grew more irregular in time and accent. Then,
+at a sign from the tall negro, where he stood, motionless
+and smiling, in the moon- and fire-light, the singing died
+away, and there began the second stage of this barbarous
+and bloody celebration. From different parts of the ring,
+one after another, man or woman, ran forth into the midst;
+ducked, with that same gesture of the thrown-up hand,
+before the priestess and her snakes; and, with various adjurations,
+uttered aloud the blackest wishes of the heart.
+Death and disease were the favours usually invoked: the
+death or the disease of enemies or rivals; some calling down
+these plagues upon the nearest of their own blood, and one,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page177"></a>177</span>
+to whom I swear I had been never less than kind, invoking
+them upon myself. At each petition, the tall negro, still
+smiling, picked up some bird or animal from the heaving
+mass upon his left, slew it with the knife, and tossed its
+body on the ground. At length, it seemed, it reached the
+turn of the high priestess. She set down the basket on the
+steps, moved into the centre of the ring, grovelled in the
+dust before the reptiles, and still grovelling lifted up her
+voice, between speech and singing, and with so great, with
+so insane a fervour of excitement, as struck a sort of horror
+through my blood.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Power,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;whose name we do not utter;
+power that is neither good nor evil, but below them both;
+stronger than good, greater than evil&mdash;all my life long I
+have adored and served thee. Who has shed blood upon
+thine altars? whose voice is broken with the singing of thy
+praises? whose limbs are faint before their age with leaping
+in thy revels? Who has slain the child of her body? I,&rdquo;
+she cried, &ldquo;I, Metamnbogu! By my own name, I name
+myself. I tear away the veil. I would be served or perish.
+Hear me, slime of the fat swamp, blackness of the thunder,
+venom of the serpent&rsquo;s udder&mdash;hear or slay me! I would
+have two things, O shapeless one, O horror of emptiness&mdash;two
+things, or die! The blood of my white-faced husband;
+oh! give me that; he is the enemy of Hoodoo; give me
+blood! And yet another, O racer of the blind winds, O
+germinator in the ruins of the dead, O root of life, root of
+corruption! I grow old, I grow hideous; I am known, I
+am hunted for my life: let thy servant then lay by this outworn
+body; let thy chief priestess turn again to the blossom
+of her days, and be a girl once more, and the desired of all
+men, even as in the past! And, O lord and master, as I
+here ask a marvel not yet wrought since we were torn from
+the old land, have I not prepared the sacrifice in which thy
+soul delighteth&mdash;the kid without the horns?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Even as she uttered the words, there was a great rumour
+of joy through all the circle of worshippers; it rose, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178"></a>178</span>
+fell, and rose again; and swelled at last into rapture, when
+the tall negro, who had stepped an instant into the chapel,
+reappeared before the door, carrying in his arms the body
+of the slave-girl, Cora. I know not if I saw what followed.
+When next my mind awoke to a clear knowledge, Cora was
+laid upon the steps before the serpents; the negro with the
+knife stood over her; the knife rose; and at this I screamed
+out in my great horror, bidding them, in God&rsquo;s name, to
+pause.</p>
+
+<p>A stillness fell upon the mob of cannibals. A moment
+more, and they must have thrown off this stupor, and I
+infallibly have perished. But Heaven had designed to
+save me. The silence of these wretched men was not yet
+broken, when there arose, in the empty night, a sound louder
+than the roar of any European tempest, swifter to travel
+than the wings of any Eastern wind. Blackness engulfed
+the world: blackness, stabbed across from every side by
+intricate and blinding lightning. Almost in the same
+second, at one world-swallowing stride, the heart of the
+tornado reached the clearing. I heard an agonising crash,
+and the light of my reason was overwhelmed.</p>
+
+<p>When I recovered consciousness, the day was come. I
+was unhurt; the trees close about me had not lost a bough;
+and I might have thought at first that the tornado was a
+feature in a dream. It was otherwise indeed; for when I
+looked abroad, I perceived I had escaped destruction by a
+hand&rsquo;s-breadth. Right through the forest, which here
+covered hill and dale, the storm had ploughed a lane of ruin.
+On either hand, the trees waved uninjured in the air of the
+morning; but in the forthright course of its advance, the
+hurricane had left no trophy standing. Everything in
+that line, tree, man, or animal, the desecrated chapel and
+the votaries of Hoodoo, had been subverted and destroyed
+in that brief spasm of anger of the powers of air. Everything
+but a yard or two beyond the line of its passage,
+humble flower, lofty tree, and the poor vulnerable maid
+who now knelt to pay her gratitude to Heaven, awoke
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179"></a>179</span>
+unharmed in the crystal purity and peace of the new
+day.</p>
+
+<p>To move by the path of the tornado was a thing impossible
+to man, so wildly were the wrecks of the tall forest piled
+together by that fugitive convulsion. I crossed it indeed;
+with such labour and patience, with so many dangerous
+slips and falls, as left me, at the farther side, bankrupt alike
+of strength and courage. There I sat down awhile to recruit
+my forces; and as I ate (how should I bless the kindliness
+of Heaven!), my eye, flitting to and fro in the colonnade
+of the great trees, alighted on a trunk that had been
+blazed. Yes, by the directing hand of Providence, I had
+been conducted to the very track I was to follow. With
+what a light heart I now set forth, and walking with how
+glad a step traversed the uplands of the isle!</p>
+
+<p>It was hard upon the hour of noon when I came, all
+tattered and wayworn, to the summit of a steep descent,
+and looked below me on the sea. About all the coast, the
+surf, roused by the tornado of the night, beat with a particular
+fury and made a fringe of snow. Close at my feet
+I saw a haven, set in precipitous and palm-crowned bluffs
+of rock. Just outside, a ship was heaving on the surge,
+so trimly sparred, so glossily painted, so elegant and <i>point-device</i>
+in every feature, that my heart was seized with admiration.
+The English colours blew from her masthead;
+and, from my high station, I caught glimpses of her snowy
+planking, as she rolled on the uneven deep, and saw the sun
+glitter on the brass of her deck furniture. There, then,
+was my ship of refuge; and of all my difficulties only one
+remained: to get on board of her.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later, I issued at last out of the woods on
+the margin of a cove, into whose jaws the tossing and blue
+billows entered, and along whose shores they broke with a
+surprising loudness. A wooded promontory hid the yacht;
+and I had walked some distance round the beach, in what
+appeared to be a virgin solitude, when my eye fell on a boat,
+drawn into a natural harbour, where it rocked in safety,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180"></a>180</span>
+but deserted. I looked about for those who should have
+manned her; and presently, in the immediate entrance
+of the wood, spied the red embers of a fire and, stretched
+around in various attitudes, a party of slumbering mariners.
+To these I drew near: most were black, a few white; but
+all were dressed with the conspicuous decency of yachtsmen;
+and one, from his peaked cap and glittering buttons,
+I rightly divined to be an officer. Him, then, I touched
+upon the shoulder. He started up; the sharpness of his
+movement woke the rest; and they all stared upon me in
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you want?&rdquo; inquired the officer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To go on board the yacht,&rdquo; I answered.</p>
+
+<p>I thought they all seemed disconcerted at this; and
+the officer, with something of sharpness, asked me who I
+was. Now I had determined to conceal my name until I
+met Sir George; and the first name that rose to my lips
+was that of the Se�ora Mendizabal. At the word, there
+went a shock about the little party of seamen; the negroes
+stared at me with indescribable eagerness, the whites themselves
+with something of a scared surprise; and instantly
+the spirit of mischief prompted me to add: &ldquo;And if the
+name is new to your ears, call me Metamnbogu.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I had never seen an effect so wonderful. The negroes
+threw their hands into the air, with the same gesture I
+remarked the night before about the Hoodoo camp-fire;
+first one, and then another, ran forward and kneeled down
+and kissed the skirts of my torn dress; and when the white
+officer broke out swearing and calling to know if they were
+mad, the coloured seamen took him by the shoulders,
+dragged him on one side till they were out of hearing, and
+surrounded him with open mouths and extravagant pantomime.
+The officer seemed to struggle hard; he laughed
+aloud, and I saw him make gestures of dissent and protest;
+but in the end, whether overcome by reason or simply
+weary of resistance, he gave in&mdash;approached me civilly
+enough, but with something of a sneering manner underneath&mdash;and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181"></a>181</span>
+touching his cap, &ldquo;My lady,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;if that
+is what you are, the boat is ready.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My reception on board the <i>Nemorosa</i> (for so the yacht
+was named) partook of the same mingled nature. We
+were scarcely within hail of that great and elegant fabric,
+where she lay rolling gunwale under and churning the blue
+sea to snow, before the bulwarks were lined with the heads
+of a great crowd of seamen, black, white, and yellow; and
+these and the few who manned the boat began exchanging
+shouts in some <i>lingua franca</i> incomprehensible to me. All
+eyes were directed on the passenger; and once more I saw
+the negroes toss up their hands to Heaven, but now as if
+with passionate wonder and delight.</p>
+
+<p>At the head of the gangway, I was received by another
+officer, a gentlemanly man with blond and bushy whiskers;
+and to him I addressed my demand to see Sir George.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But this is not&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; he cried, and paused.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know it,&rdquo; returned the other officer, who had brought
+me from the shore. &ldquo;But what the devil can we do? Look
+at all the niggers!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I followed his direction; and as my eye lighted upon
+each, the poor ignorant Africans ducked, and bowed, and
+threw their hands into the air, as though in the presence of
+a creature half divine. Apparently the officer with the
+whiskers had instantly come round to the opinion of his
+subaltern; for he now addressed me with every signal of
+respect.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir George is at the island, my lady,&rdquo; said he: &ldquo;for
+which, with your ladyship&rsquo;s permission, I shall immediately
+make all sail. The cabins are prepared. Steward, take
+Lady Greville below.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Under this new name, then, and so captivated by surprise
+that I could neither think nor speak, I was ushered
+into a spacious and airy cabin, hung about with weapons
+and surrounded by divans. The steward asked for my
+commands; but I was by this time so wearied, bewildered,
+and disturbed, that I could only wave him to leave me to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182"></a>182</span>
+myself, and sink upon a pile of cushions. Presently, by
+the changed motion of the ship, I knew her to be under way;
+my thoughts, so far from clarifying, grew the more distracted
+and confused; dreams began to mingle and confound them;
+and at length, by insensible transition, I sank into a dreamless
+slumber.</p>
+
+<p>When I awoke, the day and night had passed, and it
+was once more morning. The world on which I reopened
+my eyes swam strangely up and down; the jewels in the
+bag that lay beside me clinked together ceaselessly; the
+clock and the barometer wagged to and fro like pendulums;
+and overhead, seamen were singing out at their work, and
+coils of rope clattering and thumping on the deck. Yet it
+was long before I had divined that I was at sea; long before
+I had recalled, one after another, the tragical, mysterious,
+and inexplicable events that had brought me where I was.</p>
+
+<p>When I had done so, I thrust the jewels, which I was
+surprised to find had been respected, into the bosom of my
+dress; and, seeing a silver bell hard by upon a table, rang
+it loudly. The steward instantly appeared; I asked for
+food; and he proceeded to lay the table, regarding me the
+while with a disquieting and pertinacious scrutiny. To
+relieve myself of my embarrassment, I asked him, with as
+fair a show of ease as I could muster, if it were usual for
+yachts to carry so numerous a crew?</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I know not who you are, nor what
+mad desire has induced you to usurp a name and an appalling
+destiny that are not yours. I warn you from the
+soul. No sooner arrived at the island&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment he was interrupted by the whiskered
+officer, who had entered unperceived behind him, and now
+laid a hand upon his shoulder. The sudden pallor, the
+deadly and sick fear that was imprinted on the steward&rsquo;s
+face, formed a startling addition to his words.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Parker!&rdquo; said the officer, and pointed towards the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, Mr. Kentish,&rdquo; said the steward. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183"></a>183</span>
+sake, Mr. Kentish!&rdquo; And vanished, with a white face,
+from the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon the officer bade me sit down, and began to
+help me, and join in the meal. &ldquo;I fill your ladyship&rsquo;s
+glass,&rdquo; said he, and handed me a tumbler of neat rum.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; cried I, &ldquo;do you expect me to drink this?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He laughed heartily. &ldquo;Your ladyship is so much
+changed,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that I no longer expect any one thing
+more than any other.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after, a white seaman entered the cabin,
+saluted both Mr. Kentish and myself, and informed the
+officer there was a sail in sight, which was bound to pass
+us very close, and that Mr. Harland was in doubt about the
+colours.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Being so near the island?&rdquo; asked Mr. Kentish.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That was what Mr. Harland said, sir,&rdquo; returned the
+sailor, with a scrape.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Better not, I think,&rdquo; said Mr. Kentish. &ldquo;My compliments
+to Mr. Harland; and if she seem a lively boat,
+give her the stars and stripes; but if she be dull, and we
+can easily outsail her, show John Dutchman. That is
+always another word for incivility at sea; so we can disregard
+a hail or a flag of distress, without attracting notice.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the sailor had gone on deck, I turned to the
+officer in wonder. &ldquo;Mr. Kentish, if that be your name,&rdquo;
+said I, &ldquo;are you ashamed of your own colours?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your ladyship refers to the&lsquo;Jolly Roger&rsquo;?&rdquo; he inquired,
+with perfect gravity; and, immediately after, went
+into peals of laughter. &ldquo;Pardon me,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;but here
+for the first time, I recognise your ladyship&rsquo;s impetuosity.&rdquo;
+Nor, try as I pleased, could I extract from him any explanation
+of this mystery, but only oily and commonplace evasion.</p>
+
+<p>While we were thus occupied, the movement of the
+<i>Nemorosa</i> gradually became less violent; its speed at the
+same time diminished; and presently after, with a sullen
+plunge, the anchor was discharged into the sea. Kentish
+immediately rose, offered his arm, and conducted me on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184"></a>184</span>
+deck; where I found we were lying in a roadstead among
+many low and rocky islets, hovered about by an innumerable
+cloud of sea-fowl. Immediately under our board, a
+somewhat larger isle was green with trees, set with a few
+low buildings and approached by a pier of very crazy workmanship;
+and a little inshore of us, a smaller vessel lay at
+anchor.</p>
+
+<p>I had scarce time to glance to the four quarters ere a
+boat was lowered. I was handed in, Kentish took place
+beside me, and we pulled briskly to the pier. A crowd of
+villainous, armed loiterers, both black and white, looked
+on upon our landing; and again the word passed about
+among the negroes, and again I was received with prostrations
+and the same gesture of the flung-up hand. By this,
+what with the appearance of these men and the lawless, seagirt
+spot in which I found myself, my courage began a little
+to decline, and, clinging to the arm of Mr. Kentish, I begged
+him to tell me what it meant.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, madam,&rdquo; he returned, &ldquo;<i>you</i> know.&rdquo; And
+leading me smartly through the crowd, which continued
+to follow at a considerable distance, and at which he still
+kept looking back, I thought, with apprehension, he brought
+me to a low house that stood alone in an encumbered yard,
+opened the door, and begged me to enter.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But why?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I demand to see Sir George.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; returned Mr. Kentish, looking suddenly as
+black as thunder, &ldquo;to drop all fence, I know neither who
+nor what you are; beyond the fact that you are not the
+person whose name you have assumed. But be what you
+please, spy, ghost, devil, or most ill-judging jester, if you
+do not immediately enter that house, I will cut you to the
+earth.&rdquo; And even as he spoke, he threw an uneasy glance
+behind him at the following crowd of blacks.</p>
+
+<p>I did not wait to be twice threatened; I obeyed at once
+and with a palpitating heart; and the next moment, the
+door was locked from the outside and the key withdrawn.
+The interior was long, low, and quite unfurnished, but filled,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185"></a>185</span>
+almost from end to end, with sugar-cane, tar-barrels, old
+tarry rope, and other incongruous and highly inflammable
+material; and not only was the door locked, but the solitary
+window barred with iron.</p>
+
+<p>I was by this time so exceedingly bewildered and afraid,
+that I would have given years of my life to be once more
+the slave of Mr. Caulder. I still stood, with my hands
+clasped, the image of despair, looking about me on the
+lumber of the room or raising my eyes to Heaven; when
+there appeared, outside the window bars, the face of a very
+black negro, who signed to me imperiously to draw near.
+I did so, and he instantly, and with every mark of fervour,
+addressed me a long speech in some unknown and barbarous
+tongue.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I declare,&rdquo; I cried, clasping my brow, &ldquo;I do not
+understand one syllable.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not?&rdquo; he said in Spanish. &ldquo;Great, great, are the
+powers of Hoodoo! Her very mind is changed! But, O
+chief priestess, why have you suffered yourself to be shut
+into this cage? why did you not call your slaves at once
+to your defence? Do you not see that all has been prepared
+to murder you? at a spark, this flimsy house will go
+in flames; and alas! who shall then be the chief priestess?
+and what shall be the profit of the miracle?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; cried I, &ldquo;can I not see Sir George? I
+must, I must, come by speech of him. Oh, bring me to
+Sir George!&rdquo; And, my terror fairly mastering my courage,
+I fell upon my knees and began to pray to all the
+saints.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Lordy!&rdquo; cried the negro, &ldquo;here they come!&rdquo; And
+his black head was instantly withdrawn from the window.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I never heard such nonsense in my life,&rdquo; exclaimed
+a voice.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, so we all say, Sir George,&rdquo; replied the voice of
+Mr. Kentish. &ldquo;But put yourself in our place. The niggers
+were near two to one. And upon my word, if you&rsquo;ll excuse
+me, sir, considering the notion they have taken in their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186"></a>186</span>
+heads, I regard it as precious fortunate for all of us that the
+mistake occurred.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is no question of fortune, sir,&rdquo; returned Sir George.
+&ldquo;It is a question of my orders, and you may take my word
+for it, Kentish, either Harland, or yourself, or Parker&mdash;or,
+by George, all three of you!&mdash;shall swing for this affair.
+These are my sentiments. Give me the key and be off.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after, the key turned in the lock; and
+there appeared upon the threshold a gentleman, between
+forty and fifty, with a very open countenance and of a stout
+and personable figure.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear young lady,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;who the devil may
+you be?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I told him all my story in one rush of words. He heard
+me, from the first, with an amazement you can scarcely
+picture, but when I came to the death of the Se�ora Mendizabal
+in the tornado, he fairly leaped into the air.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear child,&rdquo; he cried, clasping me in his arms,
+&ldquo;excuse a man who might be your father! This is the
+best news I ever had since I was born; for that hag of a
+mulatto was no less a person than my wife.&rdquo; He sat down
+upon a tar-barrel, as if unmanned by joy. &ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;I declare this tempts me to believe in Providence.
+And what,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;can I do for you?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir George,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am already rich: all that I ask
+is your protection.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Understand one thing,&rdquo; he said, with great energy:
+&ldquo;I will never marry.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I had not ventured to propose it,&rdquo; I exclaimed, unable
+to restrain my mirth; &ldquo;I only seek to be conveyed
+to England, the natural home of the escaped slave.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; returned Sir George, &ldquo;frankly I owe you something
+for this exhilarating news; besides, your father was
+of use to me. Now, I have made a small competence in
+business&mdash;a jewel mine, a sort of naval agency, et c�tera,
+and I am on the point of breaking up my company, and
+retiring to my place in Devonshire to pass a plain old age,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187"></a>187</span>
+unmarried. One good turn deserves another: if you swear
+to hold your tongue about this island, these little bonfire
+arrangements, and the whole episode of my unfortunate
+marriage, why, I&rsquo;ll carry you home aboard the <i>Nemorosa</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I eagerly accepted his conditions.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;One thing more,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;My late wife was some
+sort of a sorceress among the blacks; and they are all persuaded
+she has come alive again in your agreeable person.
+Now, you will have the goodness to keep up that fancy, if
+you please; and to swear to them, on the authority of
+Hoodoo or whatever his name may be, that I am from this
+moment quite a sacred character.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I swear it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;by my father&rsquo;s memory; and
+that is a vow that I will never break.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have considerably better hold on you than any
+oath,&rdquo; returned Sir George, with a chuckle; &ldquo;for you are
+not only an escaped slave, but have, by your own account,
+a considerable amount of stolen property.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I was struck dumb; I saw it was too true; in a glance,
+I recognised that these jewels were no longer mine; with
+similar quickness, I decided they should be restored, ay,
+if it cost me the liberty that I had just regained. Forgetful
+of all else, forgetful of Sir George, who sat and watched me
+with a smile, I drew out Mr. Caulder&rsquo;s pocket-book and
+turned to the page on which the dying man had scrawled
+his testament. How shall I describe the agony of happiness
+and remorse with which I read it! for my victim had
+not only set me free, but bequeathed to me the bag of jewels.</p>
+
+<p>My plain tale draws towards a close. Sir George and
+I, in my character of his rejuvenated wife, displayed ourselves
+arm-in-arm among the negroes, and were cheered
+and followed to the place of embarkation. There, Sir
+George, turning about, made a speech to his old companions,
+in which he thanked and bade them farewell with a very
+manly spirit; and towards the end of which he fell on some
+expressions which I still remember. &ldquo;If any of you gentry
+lose your money,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;take care you do not come to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page188"></a>188</span>
+me; for in the first place, I shall do my best to have you
+murdered; and if that fails, I hand you over to the law.
+Blackmail won&rsquo;t do for me. I&rsquo;ll rather risk all upon a cast,
+than be pulled to pieces by degrees. I&rsquo;ll rather be found
+out and hang, than give a doit to one man-jack of you.&rdquo;
+That same night we got under way and crossed to the port
+of New Orleans, whence, as a sacred trust, I sent the pocket-book
+to Mr. Caulder&rsquo;s son. In a week&rsquo;s time, the men were
+all paid off; new hands were shipped; and the <i>Nemorosa</i>
+weighed her anchor for Old England.</p>
+
+<p>A more delightful voyage it were hard to fancy. Sir
+George, of course, was not a conscientious man; but he
+had an unaffected gaiety of character that naturally endeared
+him to the young; and it was interesting to hear
+him lay out his projects for the future, when he should be
+returned to parliament, and place at the service of the nation
+his experience of marine affairs. I asked him if his notion
+of piracy upon a private yacht were not original. But he
+told me, no. &ldquo;A yacht, Miss Valdevia,&rdquo; he observed, &ldquo;is
+a chartered nuisance. Who smuggles? Who robs the
+salmon rivers of the west of Scotland? Who cruelly beats
+the keepers if they dare to intervene? The crews and the
+proprietors of yachts. All I have done is to extend the
+line a trifle; and if you ask me for my unbiassed opinion,
+I do not suppose that I am in the least alone.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In short we were the best of friends, and lived like
+father and daughter; though I still withheld from him, of
+course, that respect which is only due to moral excellence.</p>
+
+<p>We were still some days&rsquo; sail from England, when Sir
+George obtained, from an outward-bound ship, a packet
+of newspapers; and from that fatal hour my misfortunes
+recommenced. He sat, the same evening, in the cabin,
+reading the news, and making savoury comments on the
+decline of England and the poor condition of the navy;
+when I suddenly observed him to change countenance.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hullo!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;this is bad; this is deuced bad,
+Miss Valdevia. You would not listen to sound sense,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189"></a>189</span>
+you would send that pocket-book to that man Caulder&rsquo;s
+son.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir George,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;it was my duty.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are prettily paid for it, at least,&rdquo; says he; &ldquo;and
+much as I regret it, I, for one, am done with you. This
+fellow Caulder demands your extradition.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But a slave,&rdquo; I returned, &ldquo;is safe in England.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, by George!&rdquo; replied the baronet; &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s
+not a slave, Miss Valdevia, it&rsquo;s a thief that he demands.
+He has quietly destroyed the will; and now accuses you
+of robbing your father&rsquo;s bankrupt estate of jewels to the
+value of a hundred thousand pounds.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I was so much overcome by indignation at this hateful
+charge and concern for my unhappy fate that the genial
+baronet made haste to put me more at ease.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do not be cast down,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Of course, I wash
+my hands of you myself. A man in my position&mdash;baronet,
+old family, and all that&mdash;cannot possibly be too particular
+about the company he keeps. But I am a deuced good-humoured
+old boy, let me tell you, when not ruffled; and
+I will do the best I can to put you right. I will lend you a
+trifle of ready money, give you the address of an excellent
+lawyer in London, and find a way to set you on shore unsuspected.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He was in every particular as good as his word. Four
+days later, the <i>Nemorosa</i> sounded her way, under the cloak
+of a dark night, into a certain haven of the coast of England;
+and a boat, rowing with muffled oars, set me ashore upon
+the beach within a stone&rsquo;s throw of a railway station.
+Thither, guided by Sir George&rsquo;s directions, I groped a devious
+way; and, finding a bench upon the platform, sat me
+down, wrapped in a man&rsquo;s fur greatcoat, to await the
+coming of the day. It was still dark when a light was
+struck behind one of the windows of the building; nor had
+the east begun to kindle to the warmer colours of the dawn,
+before a porter, carrying a lantern, issued from the door
+and found himself face to face with the unfortunate Teresa.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190"></a>190</span>
+He looked all about him; in the grey twilight of the dawn,
+the haven was seen to lie deserted, and the yacht had long
+since disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he cried.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am a traveller,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And where do you come from?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going, by the first train, to London,&rdquo; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>In such manner, like a ghost or a new creation, was
+Teresa with her bag of jewels landed on the shores of England;
+in this silent fashion, without history or name, she
+took her place among the millions of a new country.</p>
+
+<p>Since then, I have lived by the expedients of my lawyer,
+lying concealed in quiet lodgings, dogged by the spies of
+Cuba, and not knowing at what hour my liberty and honour
+may be lost.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<h4>THE BROWN BOX (<i>concluded</i>)</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">The</span> effect of this tale on the mind of Harry Desborough
+was instant and convincing. The Fair Cuban had been
+already the loveliest, she now became, in his eyes, the most
+romantic, the most innocent and the most unhappy of her
+sex. He was bereft of words to utter what he felt: what
+pity, what admiration, what youthful envy of a career so
+vivid and adventurous. &ldquo;Oh, madam!&rdquo; he began; and
+finding no language adequate to that apostrophe, caught
+up her hand and wrung it in his own. &ldquo;Count upon me,&rdquo;
+he added, with bewildered fervour; and, getting somehow
+or other out of the apartment and from the circle of that
+radiant sorceress, he found himself in the strange out-of-doors,
+beholding dull houses, wondering at dull passers-by,
+a fallen angel. She had smiled upon him as he left, and with
+how significant, how beautiful a smile! The memory
+lingered in his heart; and when he found his way to a certain
+restaurant where music was performed, flutes (as it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191"></a>191</span>
+were of Paradise) accompanied his meal. The strings went
+to the melody of that parting smile; they paraphrased and
+glossed it in the sense that he desired; and for the first time
+in his plain and somewhat dreary life, he perceived himself
+to have a taste for music.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, and the next, his meditations moved to
+that delectable air. Now he saw her, and was favoured;
+now saw her not at all; now saw her and was put by. The
+fall of her foot upon the stair entranced him; the books
+that he sought out and read were books on Cuba and spoke
+of her indirectly; nay, and in the very landlady&rsquo;s parlour, he
+found one that told of precisely such a hurricane and, down
+to the smallest detail, confirmed (had confirmation been
+required) the truth of her recital. Presently he began to
+fall into that prettiest mood of a young love, in which the
+lover scorns himself for his presumption. Who was he,
+the dull one, the commonplace unemployed, the man without
+adventure, the impure, the untruthful, to aspire to such
+a creature made of fire and air, and hallowed and adorned
+by such incomparable passages of life? What should he
+do, to be more worthy? by what devotion, call down the
+notice of these eyes to so terrene a being as himself?</p>
+
+<p>He betook himself, thereupon, to the rural privacy of
+the square, where, being a lad of a kind heart, he had made
+himself a circle of acquaintances among its shy frequenters,
+the half-domestic cats and the visitors that hung before
+the windows of the Children&rsquo;s Hospital. There he walked,
+considering the depth of his demerit and the height of the
+adored one&rsquo;s super-excellence; now lighting upon earth
+to say a pleasant word to the brother of some infant invalid;
+now, with a great heave of breath remembering the queen
+of women, and the sunshine of his life.</p>
+
+<p>What was he to do? Teresa, he had observed, was in
+the habit of leaving the house towards afternoon: she
+might, perchance, run danger from some Cuban emissary,
+when the presence of a friend might turn the balance in
+her favour: how, then, if he should follow her? To offer
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page192"></a>192</span>
+his company would seem like an intrusion; to dog her openly
+were a manifest impertinence; he saw himself reduced to
+a more stealthy part, which, though in some ways distasteful
+to his mind, he did not doubt that he could practise with the
+skill of a detective.</p>
+
+<p>The next day he proceeded to put his plan in action.
+At the corner of Tottenham Court Road, however, the
+Se�orita suddenly turned back, and met him face to face,
+with every mark of pleasure and surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, Se�or, I am sometimes fortunate!&rdquo; she cried.
+&ldquo;I was looking for a messenger&ldquo;; and with the sweetest
+of smiles she despatched him to the east end of London,
+to an address which he was unable to find. This was a
+bitter pill to the knight-errant; but when he returned at
+night, worn out with fruitless wandering and dismayed by
+his <i>fiasco</i>, the lady received him with a friendly gaiety,
+protesting that all was for the best, since she had changed
+her mind and long since repented of her message.</p>
+
+<p>Next day he resumed his labours, glowing with pity and
+courage, and determined to protect Teresa with his life.
+But a painful shock awaited him. In the narrow and silent
+Hanway Street, she turned suddenly about and addressed
+him with a manner and a light in her eyes, that were new
+to the young man&rsquo;s experience.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do I understand that you follow me, Se�or?&rdquo; she
+cried. &ldquo;Are these the manners of the English gentleman?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Harry confounded himself in the most abject apologies
+and prayers to be forgiven, vowed to offend no more, and
+was at length dismissed, crestfallen and heavy of heart.
+The check was final; he gave up that road to service; and
+began once more to hang about the square or on the terrace,
+filled with remorse and love, admirable and idiotic, a fit
+object for the scorn and envy of older men. In these idle
+hours, while he was courting fortune for a sight of the
+beloved, it fell out naturally that he should observe the
+manners and appearance of such as came about the house.
+One person alone was the occasional visitor of the young
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193"></a>193</span>
+lady: a man of considerable stature and distinguished only
+by the doubtful ornament of a chin-beard in the style of
+an American deacon. Something in his appearance grated
+upon Harry; this distaste grew upon him in the course of
+days; and when at length he mustered courage to inquire
+of the Fair Cuban who this was, he was yet more dismayed
+by her reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That gentleman,&rdquo; said she, a smile struggling to her
+face, &ldquo;that gentleman, I will not attempt to conceal from
+you, desires my hand in marriage, and presses me with the
+most respectful ardour. Alas, what am I to say? I, the
+forlorn Teresa, how shall I refuse or accept such protestations?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Harry feared to say more; a horrid pang of jealousy
+transfixed him; and he had scarce the strength of mind
+to take his leave with decency. In the solitude of his own
+chamber, he gave way to every manifestation of despair.
+He passionately adored the Se�orita; but it was not only
+the thought of her possible union with another that distressed
+his soul, it was the indefeasible conviction that her
+suitor was unworthy. To a duke, a bishop, a victorious
+general, or any man adorned with obvious qualities, he had
+resigned her with a sort of bitter joy; he saw himself follow
+the wedding party from a great way off; he saw himself
+return to the poor house, then robbed of its jewel; and
+while he could have wept for his despair, he felt he could
+support it nobly. But this affair looked otherwise. The
+man was patently no gentleman; he had a startled, skulking,
+guilty bearing; his nails were black, his eyes evasive,
+his love perhaps was a pretext; he was perhaps, under this
+deep disguise, a Cuban emissary! Harry swore that he
+would satisfy these doubts; and the next evening, about the
+hour of the usual visit, he posted himself at a spot whence
+his eye commanded the three issues of the square.</p>
+
+<p>Presently after, a four-wheeler rumbled to the door;
+and the man with the chin-beard alighted, paid off the
+cabman, and was seen by Harry to enter the house with a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page194"></a>194</span>
+brown box hoisted on his back. Half an hour later, he
+came forth again without the box, and struck eastward at
+a rapid walk; and Desborough, with the same skill and
+caution that he had displayed in following Teresa, proceeded
+to dog the steps of her admirer. The man began to loiter,
+studying with apparent interest the wares of the small
+fruiterer or tobacconist; twice he returned hurriedly upon
+his former course; and then, as though he had suddenly
+conquered a moment&rsquo;s hesitation, once more set forth with
+resolute and swift steps in the direction of Lincoln&rsquo;s Inn.
+At length, in a deserted by-street, he turned; and coming
+up to Harry with a countenance which seemed to have become
+older and whiter, inquired with some severity of speech
+if he had not had the pleasure of seeing the gentleman
+before.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have, sir,&rdquo; said Harry, somewhat abashed, but
+with a good show of stoutness; &ldquo;and I will not deny that
+I was following you on purpose. Doubtless,&rdquo; he added,
+for he supposed that all men&rsquo;s minds must still be running
+on Teresa, &ldquo;you can divine my reason.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At these words, the man with the chin-beard was seized
+with a palsied tremor. He seemed, for some seconds, to
+seek the utterance which his fear denied him; and then,
+whipping sharply about, he took to his heels at the most
+furious speed of running.</p>
+
+<p>Harry was at first so taken aback that he neglected to
+pursue; and by the time he had recovered his wits, his best
+expedition was only rewarded by a glimpse of the man with
+the chin-beard mounting into a hansom, which immediately
+after disappeared into the moving crowds of Holborn.</p>
+
+<p>Puzzled and dismayed by this unusual behaviour, Harry
+returned to the house in Queen Square, and ventured for
+the first time to knock at the fair Cuban&rsquo;s door. She bade
+him enter, and he found her kneeling with rather a disconsolate
+air beside a brown wooden trunk.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Se�orita,&rdquo; he broke out, &ldquo;I doubt whether that man&rsquo;s
+character is what he wishes you to believe. His manner,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195"></a>195</span>
+when he found, and indeed when I admitted, that I was
+following him, was not the manner of an honest
+man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she cried, throwing up her hands as in desperation,
+&ldquo;Don Quixote, Don Quixote, have you again been
+tilting against windmills?&rdquo; And then, with a laugh,
+&ldquo;Poor soul!&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;how you must have terrified
+him! For know that the Cuban authorities are here, and
+your poor Teresa may soon be hunted down. Even yon
+humble clerk from my solicitor&rsquo;s office may find himself
+at any moment the quarry of armed spies.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A humble clerk!&rdquo; cried Harry, &ldquo;why, you told me
+yourself that he wished to marry you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you English like what you call a joke,&rdquo;
+replied the lady calmly. &ldquo;As a matter of fact he is my
+lawyer&rsquo;s clerk, and has been here to-night charged with
+disastrous news. I am in sore straits, Se�or Harry. Will
+you help me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At this most welcome word, the young man&rsquo;s heart
+exulted; and in the hope, pride, and self-esteem, that
+kindled with the very thought of service, he forgot to dwell
+upon the lady&rsquo;s jest. &ldquo;Can you ask?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;What
+is there that I can do? Only tell me that.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With signs of an emotion that was certainly unfeigned,
+the Fair Cuban laid her hand upon the box. &ldquo;This box,&rdquo;
+she said, &ldquo;contains my jewels, papers, and clothes; all,
+in a word, that still connects me with Cuba and my dreadful
+past. They must now be smuggled out of England; or,
+by the opinion of my lawyer, I am lost beyond remedy.
+To-morrow, on board the Irish packet, a sure hand awaits
+the box; the problem still unsolved is to find some one to
+carry it as far as Holyhead, to see it placed on board the
+steamer, and instantly return to town. Will you be he?
+Will you leave to-morrow by the first train, punctually
+obey orders, bear still in mind that you are surrounded by
+Cuban spies; and without so much as a look behind you,
+or a single movement to betray your interest, leave the box
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196"></a>196</span>
+where you have put it and come straight on shore? Will
+you do this, and so save your friend?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not clearly understand ...&rdquo; began Harry.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No more do I,&rdquo; replied the Cuban. &ldquo;It is not necessary
+that we should, so long as we obey the lawyer&rsquo;s orders.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Se�orita,&rdquo; returned Harry gravely, &ldquo;I think this, of
+course, a very little thing to do for you, when I would willingly
+do all. But suffer me to say one word. If London
+is unsafe for your treasures, it cannot long be safe for you;
+and indeed, if I at all fathom the plan of your solicitor, I
+fear I may find you already fled on my return. I am not
+considered clever, and can only speak out plainly what is
+in my heart: that I love you, and that I cannot bear to
+lose all knowledge of you. I hope no more than to be your
+servant; I ask no more than just that I shall hear of you.
+Oh, promise me so much!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You shall,&rdquo; she said, after a pause. &ldquo;I promise you,
+you shall.&rdquo; But though she spoke with earnestness, the
+marks of great embarrassment and a strong conflict of emotions
+appeared upon her face.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wish to tell you,&rdquo; resumed Desborough, &ldquo;in case
+of accidents....&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Accidents!&rdquo; she cried: &ldquo;why do you say that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you may be gone before
+my return, and we may not meet again for long. And so
+I wished you to know this: That since the day you gave
+me the cigarette, you have never once, not once, been absent
+from my mind; and if it will in any way serve you, you
+may crumple me up like that piece of paper, and throw me
+on the fire. I would love to die for you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Go!&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;Go now at once! My brain is in
+a whirl. I scarce know what we are talking. Go; and
+good-night; and oh, may you come safe!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Once back in his own room a fearful joy possessed the
+young man&rsquo;s mind; and as he recalled her face struck
+suddenly white and the broken utterance of her last words,
+his heart at once exulted and misgave him. Love had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page197"></a>197</span>
+indeed looked upon him with a tragic mask; and yet what
+mattered, since at least it was love&mdash;since at least she was
+commoved at their division? He got to bed with these
+parti-coloured thoughts; passed from one dream to another
+all night long, the white face of Teresa still haunting him,
+wrung with unspoken thoughts; and, in the grey of the
+dawn, leaped suddenly out of bed, in a kind of horror. It
+was already time for him to rise. He dressed, made his
+breakfast on cold food that had been laid for him the night
+before; and went down to the room of his idol for the box.
+The door was open; a strange disorder reigned within; the
+furniture all pushed aside, and the centre of the room left
+bare of impediment, as though for the pacing of a creature
+with a tortured mind. There lay the box, however, and
+upon the lid a paper with these words: &ldquo;Harry, I hope to
+be back before you go. Teresa.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He sat down to wait, laying his watch before him on
+the table. She had called him Harry: that should be
+enough, he thought, to fill the day with sunshine; and yet
+somehow the sight of that disordered room still poisoned
+his enjoyment. The door of the bedchamber stood gaping
+open; and though he turned aside his eyes as from a
+sacrilege, he could not but observe the bed had not been
+slept in. He was still pondering what this should mean,
+still trying to convince himself that all was well, when the
+moving needle of his watch summoned him to set forth
+without delay. He was before all things a man of his word;
+ran round to Southampton Row to fetch a cab; and, taking
+the box on the front seat, drove off towards the terminus.</p>
+
+<p>The streets were scarcely awake; there was little to
+amuse the eye; and the young man&rsquo;s attention centred on
+the dumb companion of his drive. A card was nailed upon
+one side, bearing the superscription: &ldquo;Miss Doolan, passenger
+to Dublin. Glass. With care.&rdquo; He thought with a sentimental
+shock that the fair idol of his heart was perhaps
+driven to adopt the name of Doolan; and, as he still studied
+the card, he was aware of a deadly black depression settling
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page198"></a>198</span>
+steadily upon his spirits. It was in vain for him to contend
+against the tide; in vain that he shook himself or tried to
+whistle: the sense of some impending blow was not to be
+averted. He looked out; in the long, empty streets, the
+cab pursued its way without a trace of any follower. He
+gave ear; and over and above the jolting of the wheels upon
+the road, he was conscious of a certain regular and quiet
+sound that seemed to issue from the box. He put his ear
+to the cover; at one moment, he seemed to perceive a
+delicate ticking; the next, the sound was gone, nor could
+his closest hearkening recapture it. He laughed at himself;
+but still the gloom continued; and it was with more than
+the common relief of an arrival, that he leaped from the
+cab before the station.</p>
+
+<p>Probably enough on purpose, Teresa had named an hour
+some thirty minutes earlier than needful; and when Harry
+had given the box into the charge of a porter, who set it on
+a truck, he proceeded briskly to pace the platform. Presently
+the bookstall opened; and the young man was looking at the
+books when he was seized by the arm. He turned and, though
+she was closely veiled, at once recognised the Fair Cuban.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where is it?&rdquo; she asked; and the sound of her voice
+surprised him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The box. Have it put on a cab instantly. I am
+in fearful haste.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He hurried to obey, marvelling at these changes, but
+not daring to trouble her with questions; and when the
+cab had been brought round, and the box mounted on the
+front, she passed a little way off upon the pavement and
+beckoned him to follow.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said she, still in those mechanical and hushed
+tones that had at first affected him, &ldquo;you must go on to
+Holyhead alone; go on board the steamer; and if you see
+a man in tartan trousers and a pink scarf, say to him that
+all has been put off: if not,&rdquo; she added, with a sobbing sigh,
+&ldquo;it does not matter. So, good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page199"></a>199</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Teresa,&rdquo; said Harry, &ldquo;get into your cab, and I will
+go along with you. You are in some distress, perhaps some
+danger; and till I know the whole, not even you can make
+me leave you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You will not?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Oh, Harry, it were
+better!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will not,&rdquo; said Harry stoutly.</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him for a moment through her veil; took
+his hand suddenly and sharply, but more as if in fear than
+tenderness; and, still holding him, walked to the cab-door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Where are we to drive?&rdquo; asked Harry.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Home, quickly,&rdquo; she answered; &ldquo;double fare!&rdquo;
+And as soon as they had both mounted to their places, the
+vehicle crazily trundled from the station.</p>
+
+<p>Teresa leaned back in a corner. The whole way Harry
+could perceive her tears to flow under her veil; but she
+vouchsafed no explanation. At the door of the house in
+Queen Square, both alighted; and the cabman lowered the
+box, which Harry, glad to display his strength, received
+upon his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let the man take it,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;Let the man
+take it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will do no such thing,&rdquo; said Harry cheerfully; and
+having paid the fare, he followed Teresa through the door
+which she had opened with her key. The landlady and
+maid were gone upon their morning errands; the house
+was empty and still; and as the rattling of the cab died
+away down Gloucester Street, and Harry continued to ascend
+the stair with his burthen, he heard close against his shoulders
+the same faint and muffled ticking as before. The lady,
+still preceding him, opened the door of her room, and helped
+him to lower the box tenderly in the corner by the window.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said Harry, &ldquo;what is wrong?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You will not go away?&rdquo; she cried, with a sudden
+break in her voice and beating her hands together in the
+very agony of impatience. &ldquo;Oh, Harry, Harry, go away!
+Oh, go, and leave me to the fate that I deserve!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page200"></a>200</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The fate?&rdquo; repeated Harry. &ldquo;What is this?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No fate,&rdquo; she resumed. &ldquo;I do not know what I am
+saying. But I wish to be alone. You may come back this
+evening, Harry; come again when you like; but leave me
+now, only leave me now!&rdquo; And then suddenly, &ldquo;I have
+an errand,&rdquo; she exclaimed; &ldquo;you cannot refuse me that!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Harry, &ldquo;you have no errand. You are
+in grief or danger. Lift your veil and tell me what it is.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then,&rdquo; she said, with a sudden composure, &ldquo;you
+leave but one course open to me.&rdquo; And raising the veil,
+she showed him a countenance from which every trace of
+colour had fled, eyes marred with weeping, and a brow on
+which resolve had conquered fear. &ldquo;Harry,&rdquo; she began,
+&ldquo;I am not what I seem.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have told me that before,&rdquo; said Harry, &ldquo;several
+times.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, Harry, Harry,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;how you shame me!
+But this is the God&rsquo;s truth. I am a dangerous and wicked
+girl. My name is Clara Luxmore. I was never nearer
+Cuba than Penzance. From first to last I have cheated
+and played with you. And what I am I dare not even
+name to you in words. Indeed, until to-day, until the
+sleepless watches of last night, I never grasped the depth
+and foulness of my guilt.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The young man looked upon her aghast. Then a generous
+current poured along his veins. &ldquo;That is all one,&rdquo;
+he said. &ldquo;If you be all you say, you have the greater need
+of me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is it possible,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;that I have schemed
+in vain? And will nothing drive you from this house of
+death?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of death?&rdquo; he echoed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Death!&rdquo; she cried: &ldquo;death! In that box which
+you have dragged about London and carried on your defenceless
+shoulders, sleep, at the trigger&rsquo;s mercy, the
+destroying energies of dynamite.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My God!&rdquo; cried Harry.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page201"></a>201</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; she continued wildly, &ldquo;will you flee now? At
+any moment you may hear the click that sounds the ruin
+of this building. I was sure M&rsquo;Guire was wrong; this
+morning, before day, I flew to Zero; he confirmed my fears;
+I beheld you, my beloved Harry, fall a victim to my own
+contrivances. I knew then I loved you&mdash;Harry, will you
+go now? Will you not spare me this unwilling crime?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Harry remained speechless, his eyes fixed upon the box:
+at last he turned to her.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is it,&rdquo; he asked hoarsely, &ldquo;an infernal machine?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Her lips formed the word &ldquo;yes&ldquo;; which her voice
+refused to utter.</p>
+
+<p>With fearful curiosity, he drew near and bent above
+the box; in that still chamber, the ticking was distinctly
+audible; and at the measured sound, the blood flowed back
+upon his heart.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For whom?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What matters it?&rdquo; she cried, seizing him by the arm.
+&ldquo;If you may still be saved, what matter questions?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;God in Heaven!&rdquo; cried Harry. &ldquo;And the Children&rsquo;s
+Hospital! At whatever cost, this damned contrivance must
+be stopped!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It cannot,&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;The power of man cannot
+avert the blow. But you, Harry&mdash;you, my beloved&mdash;you
+may still&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And then from the box that lay so quietly in the corner,
+a sudden catch was audible, like the catch of a clock before
+it strikes the hour. For one second, the two stared at each
+other with lifted brows and stony eyes. Then Harry, throwing
+one arm over his face, with the other clutched the girl
+to his breast and staggered against the wall.</p>
+
+<p>A dull and startling thud resounded through the room;
+their eyes blinked against the coming horror; and still
+clinging together like drowning people, they fell to the floor.
+Then followed a prolonged and strident hissing as from the
+indignant pit; an offensive stench seized them by the
+throat; the room was filled with dense and choking fumes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page202"></a>202</span></p>
+
+<p>Presently these began a little to disperse: and when
+at length they drew themselves, all limp and shaken, to a
+sitting posture, the first object that greeted their vision
+was the box reposing uninjured in its corner, but still leaking
+little wreaths of vapour round the lid.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, poor Zero!&rdquo; cried the girl with a strange sobbing
+laugh. &ldquo;Alas, poor Zero! This will break his heart!&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<h4>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (<i>concluded</i>)</h4>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Somerset</span> ran straight upstairs; the door of the drawing-room,
+contrary to all custom, was unlocked; and, bursting
+in, the young man found Zero seated on a sofa in an attitude
+of singular dejection. Close beside him stood an untasted
+grog, the mark of strong preoccupation. The room
+besides was in confusion: boxes had been tumbled to and
+fro; the floor was strewn with keys and other implements;
+and in the midst of this disorder lay a lady&rsquo;s glove.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have come,&rdquo; cried Somerset, &ldquo;to make an end of
+this. Either you will instantly abandon all your schemes,
+or (cost what it may) I will denounce you to the police.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; replied Zero, slowly shaking his head. &ldquo;You
+are too late, dear fellow! I am already at the end of all
+my hopes and fallen to be a laughing-stock and mockery.
+My reading,&rdquo; he added, with a gentle despondency of
+manner, &ldquo;has not been much among romances; yet I recall
+from one a phrase that depicts my present state with
+critical exactitude; and you behold me sitting here&lsquo;like
+a burst drum.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What has befallen you?&rdquo; cried Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My last batch,&rdquo; retorted the plotter wearily, &ldquo;like
+all the others, is a hollow mockery and a fraud. In vain
+do I combine the elements; in vain adjust the springs; and
+I have now arrived at such a pitch of disconsideration that
+(except yourself, dear fellow) I do not know a soul that I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203"></a>203</span>
+can face. My subordinates themselves have turned upon
+me. What language have I heard to-day, what illiberality
+of sentiment, what pungency of expression! She came
+once; I could have pardoned that, for she was moved; but
+she returned, returned to announce to me this crushing
+blow; and, Somerset, she was very inhumane. Yes, dear
+fellow, I have drunk a bitter cup; the speech of females is
+remarkable for ... well, well! Denounce me, if you will;
+you but denounce the dead. I am extinct. It is strange
+how, at this supreme crisis of my life, I should be haunted
+by quotations from works of an inexact and even fanciful
+description; but here,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;is another:&lsquo;Othello&rsquo;s
+occupation&rsquo;s gone.&rsquo; Yes, dear Somerset, it is gone; I am
+no more a dynamiter; and how, I ask you, after having
+tasted of these joys, am I to condescend to a less glorious
+life?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I cannot describe how you relieve me,&rdquo; returned
+Somerset, sitting down on one of several boxes that had
+been drawn out into the middle of the floor. &ldquo;I had conceived
+a sort of maudlin toleration for your character; I
+have a great distaste, besides, for anything in the nature
+of a duty; and upon both grounds, your news delights me.
+But I seem to perceive,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;a certain sound of
+ticking in this box.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Zero, with the same slow weariness of
+manner, &ldquo;I have set several of them going.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My God!&rdquo; cried Somerset, bounding to his feet.
+&ldquo;Machines?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Machines!&rdquo; returned the plotter bitterly. &ldquo;Machines
+indeed! I blush to be their author. Alas!&rdquo; he said, burying
+his face in his hands, &ldquo;that I should live to say it!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madman!&rdquo; cried Somerset, shaking him by the arm.
+&ldquo;What am I to understand? Have you, indeed, set these
+diabolical contrivances in motion? and do we stay here to
+be blown up?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Hoist with his own petard?&rsquo;&rdquo; returned the plotter
+musingly. &ldquo;One more quotation: strange! But indeed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204"></a>204</span>
+my brain is struck with numbness. Yes, dear boy, I have,
+as you say, put my contrivances in motion. The one on
+which you are sitting, I have timed for half an hour. Yon
+other&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Half an hour!&rdquo; echoed Somerset, dancing with trepidation.
+&ldquo;Merciful heavens, in half an hour?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear fellow, why so much excitement?&rdquo; inquired
+Zero. &ldquo;My dynamite is not more dangerous than toffy;
+had I an only child, I would give it him to play with. You
+see this brick?&rdquo; he continued, lifting a cake of the infernal
+compound from the laboratory-table. &ldquo;At a touch it
+should explode, and that with such unconquerable energy
+as should bestrew the square with ruins. Well, now, behold!
+I dash it on the floor.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset sprang forward, and, with the strength of
+the very ecstasy of terror, wrested the brick from his possession.
+&ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; he cried, wiping his brow; and
+then with more care than ever mother handled her first-born
+withal, gingerly transported the explosive to the far
+end of the apartment; the plotter, his arms once more
+fallen to his side, dispiritedly watching him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was entirely harmless,&rdquo; he sighed. &ldquo;They describe
+it as burning like tobacco.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In the name of fortune,&rdquo; cried Somerset, &ldquo;what have
+I done to you, or what have you done to yourself, that you
+should persist in this insane behaviour? If not for your
+own sake, then for mine, let us depart from this doomed
+house, where I profess I have not the heart to leave you;
+and then, if you will take my advice, and if your determination
+be sincere, you will instantly quit this city, where no
+further occupation can detain you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Such, dear fellow, was my own design,&rdquo; replied the
+plotter. &ldquo;I have, as you observe, no further business
+here; and once I have packed a little bag, I shall ask you
+to share a frugal meal, to go with me as far as to the station,
+and see the last of a broken-hearted man. And yet,&rdquo; he
+added, looking on the boxes with a lingering regret, &ldquo;I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205"></a>205</span>
+should have liked to make quite certain. I cannot but
+suspect my underlings of some mismanagement; it may be
+fond, but yet I cherish that idea: it may be the weakness
+of a man of science, but yet,&rdquo; he cried, rising into some
+energy, &ldquo;I will never, I cannot if I try, believe that my poor
+dynamite has had fair usage!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Five minutes!&rdquo; said Somerset, glancing with horror
+at the timepiece. &ldquo;If you do not instantly buckle to your
+bag, I leave you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A few necessaries,&rdquo; returned Zero, &ldquo;only a few necessaries,
+dear Somerset, and you behold me ready.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He passed into the bedroom, and after an interval
+which seemed to draw out into eternity for his unfortunate
+companion, he returned, bearing in his hand an open
+Gladstone bag. His movements were still horribly deliberate,
+and his eyes lingered gloatingly on his dear boxes, as
+he moved to and fro about the drawing-room, gathering a
+few small trifles. Last of all, he lifted one of the squares
+of dynamite.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Put that down!&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;If what you say
+be true, you have no call to load yourself with that ungodly
+contraband.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Merely a curiosity, dear boy,&rdquo; he said persuasively,
+and slipped the brick into his bag; &ldquo;merely a memento
+of the past&mdash;ah, happy past, bright past! You will not
+take a touch of spirits? no? I find you very abstemious.
+Well,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;if you have really no curiosity to await
+the event&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I!&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;My blood boils to get away.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; said Zero, &ldquo;I am ready; I would I could
+say, willing; but thus to leave the scene of my sublime
+endeavours&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Without further parley, Somerset seized him by the
+arm, and dragged him downstairs; the hall-door shut with
+a clang on the deserted mansion; and still towing his laggardly
+companion, the young man sped across the square
+in the Oxford Street direction. They had not yet passed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206"></a>206</span>
+the corner of the garden, when they were arrested by a dull
+thud of an extraordinary amplitude of sound, accompanied
+and followed by a shattering <i>fracas</i>. Somerset turned in
+time to see the mansion rend in twain, vomit forth flames
+and smoke, and instantly collapse into its cellars. At the
+same moment, he was thrown violently to the ground. His
+first glance was towards Zero. The plotter had but reeled
+against the garden rail; he stood there, the Gladstone bag
+clasped tight upon his heart, his whole face radiant with
+relief and gratitude; and the young man heard him murmur
+to himself: &ldquo;<i>Nunc dimittis, nunc dimittis!</i>&ldquo;</p>
+
+<p>The consternation of the populace was indescribable:
+the whole of Golden Square was alive with men, women,
+and children, running wildly to and fro, and, like rabbits
+in a warren, dashing in and out of the house doors, and under
+favour of this confusion, Somerset dragged away the lingering
+plotter.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was grand,&rdquo; he continued to murmur: &ldquo;it was
+indescribably grand. Ah, green Erin, green Erin, what
+a day of glory! and, oh, my calumniated dynamite, how
+triumphantly hast thou prevailed!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a shade crossed his face; and pausing in the
+middle of the footway, he consulted the dial of his watch.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;how mortifying! seven
+minutes too early! The dynamite surpassed my hopes;
+but the clockwork, fickle clockwork, has once more betrayed
+me. Alas, can there be no success unmixed with failure? and
+must even this red-letter day be chequered by a shadow?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Incomparable ass!&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;what have you
+done? Blown up the house of an unoffending old lady,
+and the whole earthly property of the only person who is
+fool enough to befriend you!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You do not understand these matters,&rdquo; replied Zero,
+with an air of great dignity. &ldquo;This will shake England
+to the heart. Gladstone, the truculent old man, will quail
+before the pointing finger of revenge. And now that my
+dynamite is proved effective&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page207"></a>207</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Heavens, you remind me!&rdquo; ejaculated Somerset.
+&ldquo;That brick in your bag must be instantly disposed of.
+But how? If we could throw it in the river&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A torpedo,&rdquo; cried Zero, brightening, &ldquo;a torpedo in
+the Thames! Superb, dear fellow! I recognise in you the
+marks of an accomplished anarch.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;True!&rdquo; returned Somerset. &ldquo;It cannot so be done;
+and there is no help but you must carry it away with you.
+Come on, then, and let me at once consign you to a train.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, nay, dear boy,&rdquo; protested Zero. &ldquo;There is
+now no call for me to leave. My character is now reinstated;
+my fame brightens; this is the best thing I have
+done yet; and I see from here the ovations that await the
+author of the Golden Square Atrocity.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My young friend,&rdquo; returned the other, &ldquo;I give you
+your choice. I will either see you safe on board a train or
+safe in gaol.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Somerset, this is unlike you!&rdquo; said the chemist.
+&ldquo;You surprise me, Somerset.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I shall considerably more surprise you at the next
+police office,&rdquo; returned Somerset, with something bordering
+on rage. &ldquo;For on one point my mind is settled: either I
+see you packed off to America, brick and all, or else you
+dine in prison.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have perhaps neglected one point,&rdquo; returned
+the unoffended Zero: &ldquo;for, speaking as a philosopher, I
+fail to see what means you can employ to force me. The
+will, my dear fellow&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, see here,&rdquo; interrupted Somerset. &ldquo;You are
+ignorant of anything but science, which I can never regard
+as being truly knowledge; I, sir, have studied life; and
+allow me to inform you that I have but to raise my hand
+and voice&mdash;here in this street&mdash;and the mob&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good God in Heaven, Somerset,&rdquo; cried Zero, turning
+deadly white and stopping in his walk, &ldquo;great God in
+Heaven, what words are these? Oh, not in jest, not even
+in jest, should they be used! The brutal mob, the savage
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208"></a>208</span>
+passions.... Somerset, for God&rsquo;s sake, a public-house!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset considered him with freshly awakened curiosity.
+&ldquo;This is very interesting,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You recoil
+from such a death?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who would not?&rdquo; asked the plotter.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And to be blown up by dynamite,&rdquo; inquired the young
+man, &ldquo;doubtless strikes you as a form of euthanasia?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon me,&rdquo; returned Zero: &ldquo;I own, and, since I
+have braved it daily in my professional career, I own it
+even with pride: it is a death unusually distasteful to the
+mind of man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;One more question,&rdquo; said Somerset; &ldquo;you object
+to Lynch Law? why?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is assassination,&rdquo; said the plotter calmly; but with
+eyebrows a little lifted, as in wonder at the question.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shake hands with me,&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;Thank
+God, I have now no ill-feeling left; and though you cannot
+conceive how I burn to see you on the gallows, I can quite
+contentedly assist at your departure.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not very clearly take your meaning,&rdquo; said Zero,
+&ldquo;but I am sure you mean kindly. As to my departure,
+there is another point to be considered. I have neglected
+to supply myself with funds; my little all has perished in
+what history will love to relate under the name of the
+Golden Square Atrocity; and without what is coarsely if
+vigorously called stamps, you must be well aware it is impossible
+for me to pass the ocean.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For me,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;you have now ceased to
+be a man. You have no more claim upon me than a door-scraper;
+but the touching confusion of your mind disarms
+me from extremities. Until to-day, I always thought
+stupidity was funny; I now know otherwise; and when
+I look upon your idiot face, laughter rises within me like
+a deadly sickness, and the tears spring up into my eyes as
+bitter as blood. What should this portend? I begin to
+doubt; I am losing faith in scepticism. Is it possible,&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209"></a>209</span>
+he cried, in a kind of horror of himself&mdash;&ldquo;is it conceivable
+that I believe in right and wrong? Already I have found
+myself, with incredulous surprise, to be the victim of a prejudice
+of personal honour. And must this change proceed?
+Have you robbed me of my youth? Must I fall, at my
+time of life, into the Common Banker? But why should
+I address that head of wood? Let this suffice. I dare not
+let you stay among women and children; I lack the courage
+to denounce you, if by any means I may avoid it; you have
+no money; well then, take mine, and go; and if ever I
+behold your face after to-day, that day will be your last.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Under the circumstances,&rdquo; replied Zero, &ldquo;I scarce
+see my way to refuse your offer. Your expressions may
+pain, they cannot surprise me; I am aware our point of
+view requires a little training, a little moral hygiene, if I
+may so express it; and one of the points that has always
+charmed me in your character is this delightful frankness.
+As for the small advance, it shall be remitted you from
+Philadelphia.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It shall not,&rdquo; said Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear fellow, you do not understand,&rdquo; returned the
+plotter. &ldquo;I shall now be received with fresh confidence
+by my superiors; and my experiments will be no longer
+hampered by pitiful conditions of the purse.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What I am now about, sir, is a crime,&rdquo; replied Somerset;
+&ldquo;and were you to roll in wealth like Vanderbilt, I
+should scorn to be reimbursed of money I had so scandalously
+misapplied. Take it, and keep it. By George, sir,
+three days of you have transformed me to an ancient
+Roman.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With these words, Somerset hailed a passing hansom;
+and the pair were driven rapidly to the railway terminus.
+There, an oath having been extracted, the money changed
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;I have bought back my
+honour with every penny I possess. And I thank God,
+though there is nothing before me but starvation, I am
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210"></a>210</span>
+free from all entanglement with Mr. Zero Pumpernickel
+Jones.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To starve?&rdquo; cried Zero. &ldquo;Dear fellow, I cannot
+endure the thought.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take your ticket!&rdquo; returned Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think you display temper,&rdquo; said Zero.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take your ticket,&rdquo; reiterated the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the plotter, as he returned, ticket in hand,
+&ldquo;your attitude is so strange and painful, that I scarce know
+if I should ask you to shake hands.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As a man, no,&rdquo; replied Somerset; &ldquo;but I have no
+objection to shake hands with you, as I might with a pump-well
+that ran poison or hell-fire.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a very cold parting,&rdquo; sighed the dynamiter;
+and still followed by Somerset, he began to descend the
+platform. This was now bustling with passengers; the
+train for Liverpool was just about to start, another had
+but recently arrived; and the double tide made movement
+difficult. As the pair reached the neighbourhood of the
+bookstall, however, they came into an open space; and
+here the attention of the plotter was attracted by a Standard
+broadside bearing the words: &ldquo;Second Edition: Explosion
+in Golden Square.&rdquo; His eye lighted; groping in his pocket
+for the necessary coin, he sprang forward&mdash;his bag knocked
+sharply on the corner of the stall&mdash;and instantly, with a
+formidable report, the dynamite exploded. When the
+smoke cleared away the stall was seen much shattered, and
+the stall-keeper running forth in terror from the ruins;
+but of the Irish patriot or the Gladstone bag no adequate
+remains were to be found.</p>
+
+<p>In the first scramble of the alarm, Somerset made good
+his escape, and came out upon the Euston Road, his head
+spinning, his body sick with hunger, and his pockets destitute
+of coin. Yet as he continued to walk the pavements,
+he wondered to find in his heart a sort of peaceful exultation,
+a great content, a sense, as it were, of divine presence and
+the kindliness of fate; and he was able to tell himself that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211"></a>211</span>
+even if the worst befell, he could now starve with a certain
+comfort since Zero was expunged.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon he found himself at the door of
+Mr. Godall&rsquo;s shop; and being quite unmanned by his long
+fast, and scarce considering what he did, he opened the glass
+door and entered.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; said Mr. Godall, &ldquo;Mr. Somerset! Well, have
+you met with an adventure? Have you the promised
+story? Sit down, if you please; suffer me to choose you
+a cigar of my own special brand; and reward me with a
+narrative in your best style.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I must not take a cigar,&rdquo; said Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo; said Mr. Godall. &ldquo;But now I come to
+look at you more closely, I perceive that you are changed.
+My poor boy, I hope there is nothing wrong?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somerset burst into tears.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page212"></a>212</span></p>
+<h3>EPILOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">On</span> a certain day of lashing rain in the December of last
+year, and between the hours of nine and ten in the morning,
+Mr. Edward Challoner pioneered himself under an umbrella
+to the door of the Cigar Divan in Rupert Street. It was
+a place he had visited but once before: the memory of
+what had followed on that visit and the fear of Somerset
+having prevented his return. Even now, he looked in
+before he entered; but the shop was free of customers.</p>
+
+<p>The young man behind the counter was so intently
+writing in a penny version-book, that he paid no heed to
+Challoner&rsquo;s arrival. On a second glance, it seemed to the
+latter that he recognised him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By Jove,&rdquo; he thought, &ldquo;unquestionably Somerset!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And though this was the very man he had been so sedulously
+careful to avoid, his unexplained position at the
+receipt of custom changed distaste to curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Or opulent rotunda strike the sky,&rsquo;&rdquo; said the shopman
+to himself, in the tone of one considering a verse. &ldquo;I
+suppose it would be too much to say&lsquo;orotunda,&rsquo; and yet
+how noble it were!&lsquo;Or opulent orotunda strike the sky.&rsquo;
+But that is the bitterness of arts; you see a good effect,
+and some nonsense about sense continually intervenes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Somerset, my dear fellow,&rdquo; said Challoner, &ldquo;is this
+a masquerade?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What? Challoner!&rdquo; cried the shopman. &ldquo;I am
+delighted to see you. One moment, till I finish the octave
+of my sonnet: only the octave.&rdquo; And with a friendly
+waggle of the hand, he once more buried himself in the
+commerce of the Muses. &ldquo;I say,&rdquo; he said presently, looking
+up, &ldquo;you seem in wonderful preservation: how about
+the hundred pounds?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page213"></a>213</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have made a small inheritance from a great aunt
+in Wales,&rdquo; replied Challoner modestly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said Somerset, &ldquo;I very much doubt the legitimacy
+of inheritance. The State, in my view, should collar
+it. I am now going through a stage of socialism and poetry,&rdquo;
+he added apologetically, as one who spoke of a course of
+medicinal waters.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And are you really the person of the&mdash;establishment?&rdquo;
+inquired Challoner, deftly evading the word &ldquo;shop.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A vendor, sir, a vendor,&rdquo; returned the other, pocketing
+his poesy. &ldquo;I help old Happy and Glorious. Can I
+offer you a weed?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I scarcely like ...&rdquo; began Challoner.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nonsense, my dear fellow,&rdquo; cried the shopman. &ldquo;We
+are very proud of the business; and the old man, let me
+inform you, besides being the most egregious of created
+beings from the point of view of ethics, is literally sprung
+from the loins of kings.&lsquo;<i>De Godall je suis le fervent.</i>&rsquo;
+There is only one Godall.&mdash;By the way,&rdquo; he added, as
+Challoner lit his cigar, &ldquo;how did you get on with the
+detective trade?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I did not try,&rdquo; said Challoner curtly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, well, I did,&rdquo; returned Somerset, &ldquo;and made the
+most incomparable mess of it; lost all my money and fairly
+covered myself with odium and ridicule. There is more
+in that business, Challoner, than meets the eye; there is
+more, in fact, in all businesses. You must believe in them,
+or get up the belief that you believe. Hence,&rdquo; he added,
+&ldquo;the recognised inferiority of the plumber, for no one
+could believe in plumbing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>A propos</i>,&rdquo; asked Challoner, &ldquo;do you still paint?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not now,&rdquo; replied Paul; &ldquo;but I think of taking up
+the violin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Challoner&rsquo;s eye, which had been somewhat restless since
+the trade of the detective had been named, now rested for
+a moment on the columns of the morning paper, where it
+lay spread upon the counter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page214"></a>214</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By Jove,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s odd!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is odd?&rdquo; asked Paul.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, nothing,&rdquo; returned the other: &ldquo;only I once met
+a person called M&rsquo;Guire.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So did I!&rdquo; cried Somerset. &ldquo;Is there anything
+about him?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Challoner read as follows: &ldquo;<i>Mysterious death in Stepney.</i>
+An inquest was held yesterday on the body of Patrick
+M&rsquo;Guire, described as a carpenter. Dr. Dovering stated
+that he had for some time treated the deceased as a dispensary
+patient, for sleeplessness, loss of appetite, and
+nervous depression. There was no cause of death to be
+found. He would say the deceased had sunk. Deceased
+was not a temperate man, which doubtless accelerated
+death. Deceased complained of dumb ague, but witness
+had never been able to detect any positive disease. He
+did not know that he had any family. He regarded him
+as a person of unsound intellect, who believed himself a
+member and the victim of some secret society. If he were
+to hazard an opinion, he would say deceased had died of
+fear.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And the doctor would be right,&rdquo; cried Somerset;
+&ldquo;and my dear Challoner, I am so relieved to hear of his
+demise, that I will&mdash;&mdash;. Well, after all,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;poor
+devil, he was well served.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The door at this moment opened, and Desborough
+appeared upon the threshold. He was wrapped in a long
+waterproof, imperfectly supplied with buttons; his boots
+were full of water, his hat greasy with service; and yet he
+wore the air of one exceeding well content with life. He
+was hailed by the two others with exclamations of surprise
+and welcome.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And did you try the detective business?&rdquo; inquired Paul.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; returned Harry. &ldquo;Oh yes, by the way, I did
+though: twice, and got caught out both times. But I
+thought I should find my&mdash;my wife here?&rdquo; he added, with
+a kind of proud confusion.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page215"></a>215</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What? are you married?&rdquo; cried Somerset.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said Harry, &ldquo;quite a long time: a month at
+least.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Money?&rdquo; asked Challoner.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the worst of it,&rdquo; Desborough admitted. &ldquo;We
+are deadly hard up. But the Pri&mdash;Mr. Godall is going to
+do something for us. That is what brings us here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who was Mrs. Desborough?&rdquo; said Challoner, in the
+tone of a man of society.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She was a Miss Luxmore,&rdquo; returned Harry. &ldquo;You
+fellows will be sure to like her, for she is much cleverer than
+I. She tells wonderful stories, too; better than a book.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And just then the door opened, and Mrs. Desborough
+entered. Somerset cried out aloud to recognise the young
+lady of the Superfluous Mansion, and Challoner fell back
+a step and dropped his cigar as he beheld the sorceress of
+Chelsea.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried Harry, &ldquo;do you both know my wife?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I believe I have seen her,&rdquo; said Somerset, a little
+wildly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think I have met the gentleman,&rdquo; said Mrs. Desborough
+sweetly; &ldquo;but I cannot imagine where it was.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no,&rdquo; cried Somerset fervently; &ldquo;I have no notion&mdash;I
+cannot conceive&mdash;where it could have been. Indeed,&rdquo;
+he continued, growing in emphasis, &ldquo;I think it highly
+probable that it&rsquo;s a mistake.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you, Challoner?&rdquo; asked Harry, &ldquo;you seemed
+to recognise her, too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;These are both friends of yours, Harry?&rdquo; said the
+lady. &ldquo;Delighted, I am sure. I do not remember to have
+met Mr. Challoner.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Challoner was very red in the face, perhaps from having
+groped after his cigar. &ldquo;I do not remember to have had
+the pleasure,&rdquo; he responded huskily.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, and Mr. Godall?&rdquo; asked Mrs. Desborough.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you the lady that has an appointment with
+old ...&rdquo; began Somerset, and paused, blushing. &ldquo;Because
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page216"></a>216</span>
+if so,&rdquo; he resumed, &ldquo;I was to announce you at
+once.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And the shopman raised a curtain, opened a door, and
+passed into a small pavilion which had been added to the
+back of the house. On the roof, the rain resounded musically.
+The walls were lined with maps and prints and a few
+works of reference. Upon a table was a large-scale map of
+Egypt and the Soudan, and another of Tonkin, on which,
+by the aid of coloured pins, the progress of the different wars
+was being followed day by day. A light, refreshing odour
+of the most delicate tobacco hung upon the air; and a fire,
+not of foul coal, but of clear-flaming resinous billets, chattered
+upon silver dogs. In this elegant and plain apartment,
+Mr. Godall sat in a morning muse, placidly gazing
+at the fire and hearkening to the rain upon the roof.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ha, my dear Mr. Somerset,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and have you
+since last night adopted any fresh political principle?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The lady, sir,&rdquo; said Somerset, with another blush.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have seen her, I believe?&rdquo; returned Mr. Godall;
+and on Somerset&rsquo;s replying in the affirmative: &ldquo;You will
+excuse me, my dear sir,&rdquo; he resumed, &ldquo;if I offer you a hint.
+I think it not improbable this lady may desire entirely to
+forget the past. From one gentleman to another, no more
+words are necessary.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A moment after, he had received Mrs. Desborough with
+that grave and touching urbanity that so well became him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am pleased, madam, to welcome you to my poor
+house,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;and shall be still more so, if what were
+else a barren courtesy and a pleasure personal to myself,
+shall prove to be of serious benefit to you and Mr. Desborough.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your highness,&rdquo; replied Clara, &ldquo;I must begin with
+thanks; it is like what I have heard of you, that you should
+thus take up the case of the unfortunate; and as for my
+Harry, he is worthy of all that you can do.&rdquo; She paused.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But for yourself?&rdquo; suggested Mr. Godall&mdash;&ldquo;it was
+thus you were about to continue, I believe.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page217"></a>217</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You take the words out of my mouth,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;For myself, it is different.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am not here to be a judge of men,&rdquo; replied the prince;
+&ldquo;still less of women. I am now a private person like yourself
+and many million others; but I am one who still fights
+upon the side of quiet. Now, madam, you know better
+than I, and God better than you, what you have done to
+mankind in the past; I pause not to inquire; it is with the
+future I concern myself, it is for the future I demand
+security. I would not willingly put arms into the hands of
+a disloyal combatant; and I dare not restore to wealth one
+of the levyers of a private and a barbarous war. I speak
+with some severity, and yet I pick my terms. I tell myself
+continually that you are a woman; and a voice continually
+reminds me of the children whose lives and limbs you have
+endangered. A woman,&rdquo; he repeated solemnly&mdash;&ldquo;and
+children. Possibly, madam, when you are yourself a
+mother, you will feel the bite of that antithesis: possibly
+when you kneel at night beside a cradle, a fear will fall upon
+you, heavier than any shame; and when your child lies in
+the pain and danger of disease, you shall hesitate to kneel
+before your Maker.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You look at the fault,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and not at the
+excuse. Has your own heart never leaped within you at
+some story of oppression? But, alas, no! for you were
+born upon a throne.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I was born of woman,&rdquo; said the prince; &ldquo;I came
+forth from my mother&rsquo;s agony, helpless as a wren, like
+other nurselings. This, which you forgot, I have still
+faithfully remembered. Is it not one of your English poets,
+that looked abroad upon the earth and saw vast circumvallations,
+innumerable troops man&oelig;uvring, warships at
+sea, and a great dust of battles on shore; and, casting
+anxiously about for what should be the cause of so many
+and painful preparations, spied at last, in the centre of all,
+a mother and her babe? These, madam, are my politics;
+and the verses, which are by Mr. Coventry Patmore, I have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218"></a>218</span>
+caused to be translated into the Bohemian tongue. Yes,
+these are my politics: to change what we can, to better
+what we can; but still to bear in mind that man is but a
+devil weakly fettered by some generous beliefs and impositions;
+and for no word however nobly sounding, and no
+cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture of these
+bonds.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>There was a silence of a moment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I fear, madam,&rdquo; resumed the prince, &ldquo;that I but
+weary you. My views are formal like myself; and like
+myself, they also begin to grow old. But I must still
+trouble you for some reply.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can say but one thing,&rdquo; said Mrs. Desborough: &ldquo;I
+love my husband.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a good answer,&rdquo; returned the prince; &ldquo;and you
+name a good influence, but one that need not be conterminous
+with life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will not play at pride with such a man as you,&rdquo; she
+answered. &ldquo;What do you ask of me? not protestations,
+I am sure. What shall I say? I have done much that I
+cannot defend and that I would not do again. Can I say
+more? Yes: I can say this: I never abused myself with
+the muddle-headed fairy tales of politics. I was at least
+prepared to meet reprisals. While I was levying war myself&mdash;or
+levying murder, if you choose the plainer term&mdash;I
+never accused my adversaries of assassination. I never
+felt or feigned a righteous horror, when a price was put upon
+my life by those whom I attacked. I never called the
+policeman a hireling. I may have been a criminal, in short;
+but I never was a fool.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Enough, madam,&rdquo; returned the prince: &ldquo;more than
+enough! Your words are most reviving to my spirits; for
+in this age, when even the assassin is a sentimentalist, there
+is no virtue greater in my eyes than intellectual clarity.
+Suffer me then to ask you to retire; for by the signal of
+that bell, I perceive my old friend, your mother, to be close
+at hand. With her I promise you to do my utmost.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page219"></a>219</span></p>
+
+<p>And as Mrs. Desborough returned to the Divan, the
+prince, opening a door upon the other side, admitted Mrs.
+Luxmore.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam, and my very good friend,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is my
+face so much changed that you no longer recognise Prince
+Florizel in Mr. Godall?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To be sure!&rdquo; she cried, looking at him through her
+glasses. &ldquo;I have always regarded your highness as a
+perfect man; and in your altered circumstances, of which
+I have already heard with deep regret, I will beg you to
+consider my respect increased instead of lessened.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have found it so,&rdquo; returned the prince, &ldquo;with every
+class of my acquaintance. But, madam, I pray you to be
+seated. My business is of a delicate order, and regards
+your daughter.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; said Mrs. Luxmore, &ldquo;you may save
+yourself the trouble of speaking, for I have fully made up
+my mind to have nothing to do with her. I will not hear
+one word in her defence; but as I value nothing so particularly
+as the virtue of justice, I think it my duty to explain
+to you the grounds of my complaint. She deserted me,
+her natural protector; for years she has consorted with the
+most disreputable persons; and, to fill the cup of her
+offence, she has recently married. I refuse to see her, or
+the being to whom she has linked herself. One hundred
+and twenty pounds a year, I have always offered her: I offer
+it again. It is what I had myself when I was her age.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, madam,&rdquo; said the prince; &ldquo;and be that
+so! But to touch upon another matter: what was the
+income of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My father?&rdquo; asked the spirited old lady. &ldquo;I believe
+he had seven hundred pounds in the year.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You were one, I think, of several?&rdquo; pursued the
+prince.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Of four,&rdquo; was the reply. &ldquo;We were four daughters;
+and, painful as the admission is to make, a more detestable
+family could scarce be found in England.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page220"></a>220</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said the prince. &ldquo;And you, madam,
+have an income of eight thousand?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not more than five,&rdquo; returned the old lady; &ldquo;but
+where on earth are you conducting me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;To an allowance of one thousand pounds a year,&rdquo;
+replied Florizel, smiling. &ldquo;For I must not suffer you to
+take your father for a rule. He was poor, you are rich.
+He had many calls upon his poverty: there are none upon
+your wealth. And indeed, madam, if you will let me touch
+this matter with a needle, there is but one point in common
+to your two positions: that each had a daughter more remarkable
+for liveliness than duty.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have been entrapped into this house,&rdquo; said the old
+lady, getting to her feet. &ldquo;But it shall not avail. Not
+all the tobacconists in Europe....&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, madam,&rdquo; interrupted Florizel, &ldquo;before what is
+referred to as my fall, you had not used such language!
+And since you so much object to the simple industry by
+which I live, let me give you a friendly hint. If you will
+not consent to support your daughter, I shall be constrained
+to place that lady behind my counter, where I doubt not
+she would prove a great attraction; and your son-in-law
+shall have a livery and run the errands. With such young
+blood my business might be doubled, and I might be bound,
+in common gratitude, to place the name of Luxmore beside
+that of Godall.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your highness,&rdquo; said the old lady, &ldquo;I have been very
+rude, and you are very cunning. I suppose the minx is
+on the premises. Produce her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let us rather observe them unperceived,&rdquo; said the
+prince; and so saying he rose and quietly drew back the
+curtain.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Desborough sat with her back to them on a chair;
+Somerset and Harry were hanging on her words with extraordinary
+interest; Challoner, alleging some affair, had
+long ago withdrawn from the detested neighbourhood of
+the enchantress.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page221"></a>221</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At that moment,&rdquo; Mrs. Desborough was saying, &ldquo;Mr.
+Gladstone detected the features of his cowardly assailant.
+A cry rose to his lips: a cry of mingled triumph....&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is Mr. Somerset!&rdquo; interrupted the spirited old
+lady, in the highest note of her register. &ldquo;Mr. Somerset,
+what have you done with my house-property?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said the prince, &ldquo;let it be mine to give the
+explanation; and in the meanwhile, welcome your
+daughter.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Clara, how do you do?&rdquo; said Mrs. Luxmore.
+&ldquo;It appears I am to give you an allowance. So much the
+better for you. As for Mr. Somerset, I am very ready to
+have an explanation; for the whole affair, though costly,
+was eminently humorous. And at any rate,&rdquo; she added,
+nodding to Paul, &ldquo;he is a young gentleman for whom I
+have a great affection, and his pictures were the funniest
+I ever saw.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have ordered a collation,&rdquo; said the prince. &ldquo;Mr.
+Somerset, as these are all your friends, I propose, if you
+please, that you should join them at table. I will take
+the shop.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page222"></a>222</span></p>
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page223"></a>223</span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2>STRANGE CASE OF</h2>
+<h2>DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE</h2>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page224"></a>224</span></p>
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page225"></a>225</span></p>
+<h5><i>TO</i></h5>
+
+<p class="center noind"><i>KATHARINE DE MATTOS</i></p>
+
+<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td>
+<div class="poemr">
+
+<p><i>It&rsquo;s ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind;</i></p>
+<p><i>Still will we be the children of the heather and the wind.</i></p>
+<p><i>Far away from home, O it&rsquo;s still for you and me</i></p>
+<p><i>That the broom is blowing bonnie in the north countrie.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page226"></a>226</span></p>
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page227"></a>227</span></p>
+<h2>STRANGE CASE OF</h2>
+<h2>DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE</h2>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<h3>STORY OF THE DOOR</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Mr. Utterson</span> the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance,
+that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and
+embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean,
+long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. At friendly
+meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something
+eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed
+which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke
+not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but
+more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere
+with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a
+taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had
+not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had
+an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering,
+almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved
+in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help
+rather than to reprove. &ldquo;I incline to Cain&rsquo;s heresy,&rdquo; he
+used to say quaintly: &ldquo;I let my brother go to the devil in
+his own way.&rdquo; In this character, it was frequently his
+fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last
+good influence in the lives of down-going men. And to
+such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he
+never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson; for he was
+undemonstrative at the best, and even his friendships
+seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of good-nature.
+It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228"></a>228</span>
+ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was
+the lawyer&rsquo;s way. His friends were those of his own blood,
+or those whom he had known the longest; his affections,
+like ivy, were the growth of time, they implied no aptness
+in the object. Hence, no doubt, the bond that united him
+to Mr. Richard Enfield, his distant kinsman, the well-known
+man about town. It was a nut to crack for many, what
+these two could see in each other or what subject they could
+find in common. It was reported by those who encountered
+them in their Sunday walks that they said nothing, looked
+singularly dull, and would hail with obvious relief the
+appearance of a friend. For all that, the two men put the
+greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief
+jewel of each week, and not only set aside occasions of
+pleasure, but even resisted the calls of business, that they
+might enjoy them uninterrupted.</p>
+
+<p>It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led
+them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London. The
+street was small, and what is called quiet, but it drove a
+thriving trade on the week-days. The inhabitants were all
+doing well, it seemed, and all emulously hoping to do better
+still, and laying out the surplus of their gains in coquetry;
+so that the shop-fronts stood along that thoroughfare with
+an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen. Even
+on Sunday, when it veiled its more florid charms and lay
+comparatively empty of passage, the street shone out in
+contrast to its dingy neighbourhood, like a fire in a forest;
+and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished brasses,
+and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught
+and pleased the eye of the passenger.</p>
+
+<p>Two doors from one corner on the left hand going east,
+the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that
+point a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its
+gable on the street. It was two stories high; showed no
+window, nothing but a door on the lower story and a blind
+forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in
+every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229"></a>229</span>
+The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker,
+was blistered and distained. Tramps slouched into the
+recess and struck matches on the panels; children kept
+shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on
+the mouldings; and for close on a generation no one had
+appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair
+their ravages.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the
+by-street, but when they came abreast of the entry, the
+former lifted up his cane and pointed.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did you ever remark that door?&rdquo; he asked; and when
+his companion had replied in the affirmative, &ldquo;it is connected
+in my mind,&rdquo; added he, &ldquo;with a very odd story.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson, with a slight change of
+voice, &ldquo;and what was that?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, it was this way,&rdquo; returned Mr. Enfield: &ldquo;I was
+coming home from some place at the end of the world,
+about three o&rsquo;clock of a black winter morning, and my way
+lay through a part of town where there was literally
+nothing to be seen but lamps. Street after street, and all
+the folks asleep&mdash;street after street, all lighted up as if for
+a procession and all as empty as a church&mdash;till at last I got
+into that state of mind when a man listens and listens and
+begins to long for the sight of a policeman. All at once I
+saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along
+eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight
+or ten, who was running as hard as she was able down a cross
+street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally
+enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of
+the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child&rsquo;s
+body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds
+nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn&rsquo;t like a
+man; it was like some damned Juggernaut. I gave a view-holloa,
+took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and brought
+him back to where there was already quite a group about
+the screaming child. He was perfectly cool, and made no
+resistance, but gave me one look so ugly that it brought
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page230"></a>230</span>
+out the sweat on me like running. The people who had
+turned out were the girl&rsquo;s own family; and pretty soon, the
+doctor, for whom she had been sent, put in his appearance.
+Well, the child was not much the worse, more frightened,
+according to the Sawbones; and there you might have supposed
+would be an end to it. But there was one curious
+circumstance. I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at
+first sight. So had the child&rsquo;s family, which was only
+natural. But the doctor&rsquo;s case was what struck me. He
+was the usual cut-and-dry apothecary, of no particular age
+and colour, with a strong Edinburgh accent, and about as
+emotional as a bagpipe. Well, sir, he was like the rest of us;
+every time he looked at my prisoner, I saw that Sawbones
+turn sick and white with the desire to kill him. I knew
+what was in his mind, just as he knew what was in mine;
+and killing being out of the question, we did the next best.
+We told the man we could and would make such a scandal
+out of this as should make his name stink from one end of
+London to the other. If he had any friends or any credit,
+we undertook that he should lose them. And all the time,
+as we were pitching it in red-hot, we were keeping the
+women off him as best we could, for they were as wild as
+harpies. I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and
+there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black
+sneering coolness&mdash;frightened, too, I could see that&mdash;but
+carrying it off, sir, really like Satan.&lsquo;If you choose to
+make capital out of this accident,&rsquo; said he,&lsquo;I am naturally
+helpless. No gentleman but wishes to avoid a scene,&rsquo; says
+he.&lsquo;Name your figure.&rsquo; Well, we screwed him up to a
+hundred pounds for the child&rsquo;s family; he would have
+clearly liked to stick out; but there was something about
+the lot of us that meant mischief, and at last he struck.
+The next thing was to get the money; and where do you
+think he carried us but to that place with the door?&mdash;whipped
+out a key, went in, and presently came back with
+the matter of ten pounds in gold and a cheque for the balance
+on Coutts&rsquo;s, drawn payable to bearer and signed with a name
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231"></a>231</span>
+that I can&rsquo;t mention, though it&rsquo;s one of the points of my
+story, but it was a name at least very well known and often
+printed. The figure was stiff; but the signature was good
+for more than that, if it was only genuine. I took the
+liberty of pointing out to my gentleman that the whole
+business looked apocryphal, and that a man does not, in
+real life, walk into a cellar-door at four in the morning and
+come out of it with another man&rsquo;s cheque for close upon a
+hundred pounds. But he was quite easy and sneering.
+&rsquo;Set your mind at rest,&rsquo; says he,&lsquo;I will stay with you till
+the banks open and cash the cheque myself.&rsquo; So we all
+set off, the doctor, and the child&rsquo;s father, and our friend and
+myself, and passed the rest of the night in my chambers;
+and next day, when we had breakfasted, went in a body to
+the bank. I gave in the cheque myself, and said I had
+every reason to believe it was a forgery. Not a bit of it.
+The cheque was genuine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tut-tut,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I see you feel as I do,&rdquo; said Mr. Enfield. &ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s a
+bad story. For my man was a fellow that nobody could
+have to do with, a really damnable man: and the person
+that drew the cheque is the very pink of the proprieties,
+celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your
+fellows who do what they call good. Blackmail, I suppose;
+an honest man paying through the nose for some of the
+capers of his youth. Black Mail House is what I call that
+place with the door, in consequence. Though even that,
+you know, is far from explaining all,&rdquo; he added, and with
+the words fell into a vein of musing.</p>
+
+<p>From this he was recalled by Mr. Utterson asking rather
+suddenly: &ldquo;And you don&rsquo;t know if the drawer of the
+cheque lives there?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A likely place, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; returned Mr. Enfield. &ldquo;But
+I happened to have noticed his address; he lives in some
+square or other.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you never asked about&mdash;the place with the
+door?&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page232"></a>232</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir: I had a delicacy,&rdquo; was the reply. &ldquo;I feel
+very strongly about putting questions; it partakes too
+much of the style of the day of judgment. You start a
+question, and it&rsquo;s like starting a stone. You sit quietly
+on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting
+others; and presently some bland old bird (the last you
+would have thought of) is knocked on the head in his own
+back-garden and the family have to change their name.
+No, sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like
+Queer Street, the less I ask.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A very good rule too,&rdquo; said the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I have studied the place for myself,&rdquo; continued
+Mr. Enfield. &ldquo;It seems scarcely a house. There is no
+other door, and nobody goes in or out of that one but, once
+in a great while, the gentleman of my adventure. There
+are three windows looking on the court on the first floor;
+none below; the windows are always shut, but they&rsquo;re
+clean. And then there is a chimney which is generally
+smoking; so somebody must live there. Yet it&rsquo;s not so sure;
+for the buildings are so packed together about that court
+that it&rsquo;s hard to say where one ends and another begins.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The pair walked on again for a while in silence; and
+then, &ldquo;Enfield,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s a good rule of
+yours.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I think it is,&rdquo; returned Enfield.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But for all that,&rdquo; continued the lawyer, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s one
+point I want to ask: I want to ask the name of that man
+who walked over the child.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Mr. Enfield, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see what harm it
+would do. He was a man of the name of Hyde.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;H&rsquo;m,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson. &ldquo;What sort of a man is he
+to see?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong
+with his appearance; something displeasing, something
+downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked,
+and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere;
+he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233"></a>233</span>
+couldn&rsquo;t specify the point. He&rsquo;s an extraordinary-looking
+man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way.
+No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can&rsquo;t describe him.
+And it&rsquo;s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him
+this moment.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson again walked some way in silence and
+obviously under a weight of consideration. &ldquo;You are sure
+he used a key?&rdquo; he inquired at last.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My dear sir&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began Enfield, surprised out of himself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I know,&rdquo; said Utterson; &ldquo;I know it must seem
+strange. The fact is, if I do not ask you the name of the
+other party it is because I know it already. You see,
+Richard, your tale has gone home. If you have been inexact
+in any point, you had better correct it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think you might have warned me,&rdquo; returned the
+other with a touch of sullenness. &ldquo;But I have been
+pedantically exact, as you call it. The fellow had a key;
+and what&rsquo;s more, he has it still. I saw him use it not a
+week ago.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word; and
+the young man presently resumed. &ldquo;Here is another
+lesson to say nothing,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I am ashamed of my
+long tongue. Let us make a bargain never to refer to this
+again.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;With all my heart,&rdquo; said the lawyer. &ldquo;I shake
+hands on that, Richard.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page234"></a>234</span></p>
+<h3>SEARCH FOR MR. HYDE</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">That</span> evening Mr. Utterson came home to his bachelor
+house in sombre spirits and sat down to dinner without
+relish. It was his custom of a Sunday, when this meal was
+over, to sit close by the fire, a volume of some dry divinity
+on his reading-desk, until the clock of the neighbouring
+church rang out the hour of twelve, when he would go
+soberly and gratefully to bed. On this night, however, as
+soon as the cloth was taken away, he took up a candle and
+went into his business-room. There he opened his safe,
+took from the most private part of it a document endorsed
+on the envelope as Dr. Jekyll&rsquo;s Will, and sat down with a
+clouded brow to study its contents. The will was holograph,
+for Mr. Utterson, though he took charge of it now
+that it was made, had refused to lend the least assistance
+in the making of it; it provided not only that, in case of
+the decease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.,
+&amp;c., all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his
+&ldquo;friend and benefactor Edward Hyde,&rdquo; but that in case of
+Dr. Jekyll&rsquo;s &ldquo;disappearance or unexplained absence for
+any period exceeding three calendar months,&rdquo; the said
+Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll&rsquo;s shoes
+without further delay and free from any burthen or obligation,
+beyond the payment of a few small sums to the
+members of the doctor&rsquo;s household. This document had
+long been the lawyer&rsquo;s eyesore. It offended him both as a
+lawyer and as a lover of the sane and customary sides of
+life, to whom the fanciful was the immodest. And hitherto
+it was his ignorance of Mr. Hyde that had swelled his indignation;
+now, by a sudden turn, it was his knowledge.
+It was already bad enough when the name was but a name
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235"></a>235</span>
+of which he could learn no more. It was worse when it
+began to be clothed upon with detestable attributes; and
+out of the shifting, insubstantial mists that had so long
+baffled his eye, there leaped up the sudden, definite presentment
+of a fiend.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it was madness,&rdquo; he said, as he replaced the
+obnoxious paper in the safe, &ldquo;and now I begin to fear it is
+disgrace.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With that he blew out his candle, put on a great-coat,
+and set forth in the direction of Cavendish Square, that
+citadel of medicine, where his friend, the great Dr. Lanyon,
+had his house and received his crowding patients. &ldquo;If
+any one knows, it will be Lanyon,&rdquo; he had thought.</p>
+
+<p>The solemn butler knew and welcomed him; he was
+subjected to no stage of delay, but ushered direct from the
+door to the dining-room, where Dr. Lanyon sat alone over
+his wine. This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced
+gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a
+boisterous and decided manner. At sight of Mr. Utterson,
+he sprang up from his chair and welcomed him with both
+hands. The geniality, as was the way of the man, was
+somewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed on genuine
+feeling. For these two were old friends, old mates both at
+school and college, both thorough respecters of themselves
+and of each other, and, what does not always follow, men
+who thoroughly enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company.</p>
+
+<p>After a little rambling talk, the lawyer led up to the
+subject which so disagreeably preoccupied his mind.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose, Lanyon,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you and I must be the
+two oldest friends that Henry Jekyll has?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wish the friends were younger,&rdquo; chuckled Dr.
+Lanyon. &ldquo;But I suppose we are. And what of that? I
+see little of him now.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; said Utterson. &ldquo;I thought you had a bond
+of common interest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We had,&rdquo; was the reply. &ldquo;But it is more than ten
+years since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236"></a>236</span>
+began to go wrong, wrong in mind; and though of course
+I continue to take an interest in him for old sake&rsquo;s sake,
+as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the man.
+Such unscientific balderdash,&rdquo; added the doctor, flushing
+suddenly purple, &ldquo;would have estranged Damon and
+Pythias.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This little spirt of temper was somewhat of a relief to
+Mr. Utterson. &ldquo;They have only differed on some point of
+science,&rdquo; he thought; and being a man of no scientific
+passions (except in the matter of conveyancing) he even
+added: &ldquo;It is nothing worse than that!&rdquo; He gave his
+friend a few seconds to recover his composure, and then
+approached the question he had come to put. &ldquo;Did you
+ever come across a prot�g� of his&mdash;one Hyde?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hyde,&rdquo; repeated Lanyon. &ldquo;No. Never heard of
+him. Since my time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>That was the amount of information that the lawyer
+carried back with him to the great, dark bed on which he
+tossed to and fro, until the small hours of the morning began
+to grow large. It was a night of little ease to his toiling
+mind, toiling in mere darkness and besieged by questions.</p>
+
+<p>Six o&rsquo;clock struck on the bells of the church that was so
+conveniently near to Mr. Utterson&rsquo;s dwelling, and still he
+was digging at the problem. Hitherto it had touched him
+on the intellectual side alone; but now his imagination also
+was engaged, or rather enslaved; and as he lay and tossed
+in the gross darkness of the night and the curtained room,
+Mr. Enfield&rsquo;s tale went by before his mind in a scroll of
+lighted pictures. He would be aware of the great field of
+lamps of a nocturnal city; then of the figure of a man walking
+swiftly; then of a child running from the doctor&rsquo;s; and
+then these met, and that human Juggernaut trod the child
+down and passed on regardless of her screams. Or else he
+would see a room in a rich house, where his friend lay asleep,
+dreaming and smiling at his dreams; and then the door of
+that room would be opened, the curtains of the bed plucked
+apart, the sleeper recalled, and lo! there would stand by his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page237"></a>237</span>
+side a figure to whom power was given, and even at that
+dead hour he must rise and do its bidding. The figure in
+these two phases haunted the lawyer all night; and if at
+any time he dozed over, it was but to see it glide more
+stealthily through sleeping houses, or move the more
+swiftly and still the more swiftly, even to dizziness, through
+wider labyrinths of lamplighted city, and at every street-corner
+crush a child and leave her screaming. And still the
+figure had no face by which he might know it; even in his
+dreams, it had no face, or one that baffled him and melted
+before his eyes; and thus it was that there sprang up and
+grew apace in the lawyer&rsquo;s mind a singularly strong, almost
+an inordinate, curiosity to behold the features of the real
+Mr. Hyde. If he could but once set eyes on him, he thought
+the mystery would lighten and perhaps roll altogether
+away, as was the habit of mysterious things when well examined.
+He might see a reason for his friend&rsquo;s strange preference
+or bondage (call it which you please) and even for
+the startling clauses of the will. And at least it would be
+a face worth seeing: the face of a man who was without
+bowels of mercy: a face which had but to show itself to
+raise up, in the mind of the unimpressionable Enfield, a
+spirit of enduring hatred.</p>
+
+<p>From that time forward, Mr. Utterson began to haunt
+the door in the by-street of shops. In the morning before
+office hours, at noon when business was plenty and time
+scarce, at night under the face of the fogged city moon, by
+all lights and at all hours of solitude or concourse, the lawyer
+was to be found on his chosen post.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If he be Mr. Hyde,&rdquo; he had thought, &ldquo;I shall be Mr.
+Seek.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And at last his patience was rewarded. It was a fine
+dry night; frost in the air; the streets as clean as a ballroom
+floor; the lamps, unshaken by any wind, drawing a
+regular pattern of light and shadow. By ten o&rsquo;clock, when
+the shops were closed, the by-street was very solitary and,
+in spite of the low growl of London from all round, very
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238"></a>238</span>
+silent. Small sounds carried far; domestic sounds out of
+the houses were clearly audible on either side of the roadway;
+and the rumour of the approach of any passenger
+preceded him by a long time. Mr. Utterson had been some
+minutes at his post, when he was aware of an odd, light footstep
+drawing near. In the course of his nightly patrols he
+had long grown accustomed to the quaint effect with which
+the footfalls of a single person, while he is still a great way
+off, suddenly spring out distinct from the vast hum and
+clatter of the city. Yet his attention had never before been
+so sharply and decisively arrested; and it was with a strong,
+superstitious prevision of success that he withdrew into the
+entry of the court.</p>
+
+<p>The steps drew swiftly nearer, and swelled out suddenly
+louder as they turned the end of the street. The lawyer,
+looking forth from the entry, could soon see what manner of
+man he had to deal with. He was small and very plainly
+dressed, and the look of him, even at that distance, went
+somehow strongly against the watcher&rsquo;s inclination. But
+he made straight for the door, crossing the roadway to save
+time; and as he came, he drew a key from his pocket like
+one approaching home.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson stepped out and touched him on the
+shoulder as he passed. &ldquo;Mr. Hyde, I think?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the
+breath. But his fear was only momentary; and though
+he did not look the lawyer in the face, he answered coolly
+enough: &ldquo;That is my name. What do you want?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I see you are going in,&rdquo; returned the lawyer. &ldquo;I
+am an old friend of Dr. Jekyll&rsquo;s&mdash;Mr. Utterson of Gaunt
+Street&mdash;you must have heard my name; and meeting
+you so conveniently, I thought you might admit
+me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You will not find Dr. Jekyll; he is from home,&rdquo; replied
+Mr. Hyde, blowing in the key. And then suddenly,
+but still without looking up, &ldquo;How did you know me?&rdquo; he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page239"></a>239</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On your side,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson, &ldquo;will you do me a
+favour?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;With pleasure,&rdquo; replied the other. &ldquo;What shall it
+be?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will you let me see your face?&rdquo; asked the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hyde appeared to hesitate, and then, as if upon
+some sudden reflection, fronted about with an air of defiance;
+and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for
+a few seconds. &ldquo;Now I shall know you again,&rdquo; said Mr.
+Utterson. &ldquo;It may be useful.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; returned Mr. Hyde, &ldquo;it is as well we have met;
+and <i>� propos</i>, you should have my address.&rdquo; And he gave
+a number of a street in Soho.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; thought Mr. Utterson, &ldquo;can he too have
+been thinking of the will?&rdquo; But he kept his feelings to
+himself and only grunted in acknowledgment of the address.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said the other, &ldquo;how did you know me?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By description,&rdquo; was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Whose description?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We have common friends,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Common friends?&rdquo; echoed Mr. Hyde, a little hoarsely.
+&ldquo;Who are they?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jekyll, for instance,&rdquo; said the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He never told you,&rdquo; cried Mr. Hyde, with a flush of
+anger. &ldquo;I did not think you would have lied.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson, &ldquo;that is not fitting language.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The other snarled aloud into a savage laugh; and the
+next moment, with extraordinary quickness, he had unlocked
+the door and disappeared into the house.</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer stood awhile when Mr. Hyde had left him,
+the picture of disquietude. Then he began slowly to mount
+the street, pausing every step or two and putting his hand
+to his brow like a man in mental perplexity. The problem
+he was thus debating as he walked was one of a class that is
+rarely solved. Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish. He gave
+an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240"></a>240</span>
+he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself
+to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity
+and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and
+somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him,
+but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown
+disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson
+regarded him. &ldquo;There must be something else,&rdquo; said the
+perplexed gentleman. &ldquo;There <i>is</i> something more, if I
+could find a name for it. God bless me, the man seems
+hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or
+can it be the old story of Dr. Fell? or is it the mere radiance
+of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures,
+its clay continent? The last, I think; for O my poor old
+Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan&rsquo;s signature upon a face,
+it is on that of your new friend.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Round the corner from the by-street there was a square
+of ancient, handsome houses, now for the most part decayed
+from their high estate and let in flats and chambers to all
+sorts and conditions of men: map-engravers, architects,
+shady lawyers, and the agents of obscure enterprises. One
+house, however, second from the corner, was still occupied
+entire; and at the door of this, which wore a great air of
+wealth and comfort, though it was now plunged in darkness
+except for the fan-light, Mr. Utterson stopped and knocked.
+A well-dressed elderly servant opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is Dr. Jekyll at home, Poole?&rdquo; asked the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will see, Mr. Utterson,&rdquo; said Poole, admitting the
+visitor, as he spoke, into a large, low-roofed, comfortable
+hall, paved with flags, warmed (after the fashion of a country
+house) by a bright, open fire, and furnished with costly
+cabinets of oak. &ldquo;Will you wait here by the fire, sir? or
+shall I give you a light in the dining-room?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here, thank you,&rdquo; said the lawyer, and he drew near
+and leaned on the tall fender. This hall, in which he was
+now left alone, was a pet fancy of his friend the doctor&rsquo;s;
+and Utterson himself was wont to speak of it as the pleasantest
+room in London. But to-night there was a shudder in his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241"></a>241</span>
+blood; the face of Hyde sat heavy on his memory; he felt
+(what was rare with him) a nausea and distaste of life; and
+in the gloom of his spirits, he seemed to read a menace in
+the flickering of the firelight on the polished cabinets and
+the uneasy starting of the shadow on the roof. He was
+ashamed of his relief, when Poole presently returned to
+announce that Dr. Jekyll was gone out.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I saw Mr. Hyde go in by the old dissecting-room door,
+Poole,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Is that right, when Dr. Jekyll is from
+home?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Quite right, Mr. Utterson, sir,&rdquo; replied the servant.
+&ldquo;Mr. Hyde has a key.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Your master seems to repose a great deal of trust in
+that young man, Poole,&rdquo; resumed the other musingly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, he do indeed,&rdquo; said Poole. &ldquo;We have all
+orders to obey him.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not think I ever met Mr. Hyde?&rdquo; asked Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O dear no, sir. He never <i>dines</i> here,&rdquo; replied the
+butler. &ldquo;Indeed, we see very little of him on this side of
+the house; he mostly comes and goes by the laboratory.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, good-night, Poole.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night, Mr. Utterson.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And the lawyer set out homeward with a very heavy
+heart. &ldquo;Poor Harry Jekyll,&rdquo; he thought, &ldquo;my mind misgives
+me he is in deep waters! He was wild when he was
+young; a long while ago, to be sure; but in the law of God
+there is no statute of limitations. Ay, it must be that; the
+ghost of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace:
+punishment coming, <i>pede claudo</i>, years after
+memory has forgotten and self-love condoned the fault.&rdquo;
+And the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded awhile on
+his own past, groping in all the corners of memory, lest by
+chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap
+to light there. His past was fairly blameless; few men
+could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet
+he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had
+done, and raised up again into a sober and fearful gratitude
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page242"></a>242</span>
+by the many that he had come so near to doing, yet avoided.
+And then, by a return on his former subject, he conceived
+a spark of hope. &ldquo;This Master Hyde, if he were studied,&rdquo;
+thought he, &ldquo;must have secrets of his own: black secrets,
+by the look of him; secrets compared to which poor Jekyll&rsquo;s
+worst would be like sunshine. Things cannot continue as
+they are. It turns me cold to think of this creature stealing
+like a thief to Harry&rsquo;s bedside; poor Harry, what a wakening!
+And the danger of it; for if this Hyde suspects the
+existence of the will, he may grow impatient to inherit.
+Ay, I must put my shoulder to the wheel&mdash;if Jekyll will but
+let me,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;if Jekyll will only let me.&rdquo; For once
+more he saw before his mind&rsquo;s eye, as clear as a transparency,
+the strange clauses of the will.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page243"></a>243</span></p>
+<h3>DR. JEKYLL WAS QUITE AT EASE</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">A fortnight</span> later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor
+gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old
+cronies, all intelligent, reputable men, and all judges of
+good wine; and Mr. Utterson so contrived that he remained
+behind after the others had departed. This was no new
+arrangement, but a thing that had befallen many scores of
+times. Where Utterson was liked, he was liked well.
+Hosts loved to detain the dry lawyer, when the light-hearted
+and the loose-tongued had already their foot on the threshold;
+they liked to sit awhile in his unobtrusive company,
+practising for solitude, sobering their minds in the man&rsquo;s
+rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety. To this
+rule Dr. Jekyll was no exception; and as he now sat on the
+opposite side of the fire&mdash;a large, well-made, smooth-faced
+man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but
+every mark of capacity and kindness&mdash;you could see by his
+looks that he cherished for Mr. Utterson a sincere and warm
+affection.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have been wanting to speak to you, Jekyll,&rdquo; began
+the latter. &ldquo;You know that will of yours?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A close observer might have gathered that the topic was
+distasteful; but the doctor carried it off gaily. &ldquo;My poor
+Utterson,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you are unfortunate in such a client.
+I never saw a man so distressed as you were by my will;
+unless it were that hide-bound pedant, Lanyon, at what he
+called my scientific heresies. Oh, I know he&rsquo;s a good fellow&mdash;you
+needn&rsquo;t frown&mdash;an excellent fellow, and I always
+mean to see more of him; but a hide-bound pedant for all
+that; an ignorant, blatant pedant. I was never more disappointed
+in any man than Lanyon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page244"></a>244</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You know I never approved of it,&rdquo; pursued Utterson,
+ruthlessly disregarding the fresh topic.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My will? Yes, certainly, I know that,&rdquo; said the
+doctor, a trifle sharply. &ldquo;You have told me so.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I tell you so again,&rdquo; continued the lawyer. &ldquo;I
+have been learning something of young Hyde.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the
+very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes. &ldquo;I
+do not care to hear more,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;This is a matter I
+thought we had agreed to drop.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What I heard was abominable,&rdquo; said Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It can make no change. You do not understand my
+position,&rdquo; returned the doctor, with a certain incoherency
+of manner. &ldquo;I am painfully situated, Utterson; my
+position is a very strange&mdash;a very strange one. It is one of
+those affairs that cannot be mended by talking.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jekyll,&rdquo; said Utterson, &ldquo;you know me: I am a man
+to be trusted. Make a clean breast of this in confidence;
+and I make no doubt I can get you out of it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My good Utterson,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;this is very good
+of you, this is downright good of you, and I cannot find
+words to thank you in. I believe you fully; I would trust
+you before any man alive&mdash;ay, before myself, if I could
+make the choice; but indeed it isn&rsquo;t what you fancy; it is
+not so bad as that; and just to put your good heart at rest,
+I will tell you one thing: the moment I choose, I can be rid
+of Mr. Hyde. I give you my hand upon that; and I thank
+you again and again; and I will just add one little word,
+Utterson, that I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ll take in good part: this is a
+private matter, and I beg of you to let it sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Utterson reflected a little, looking in the fire.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have no doubt you are perfectly right,&rdquo; he said at
+last, getting to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, but since we have touched upon this business,
+and for the last time I hope,&rdquo; continued the doctor, &ldquo;there
+is one point I should like you to understand. I have really
+a very great interest in poor Hyde. I know you have seen
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245"></a>245</span>
+him; he told me so; and I fear he was rude. But I do
+sincerely take a great, a very great interest in that young
+man; and if I am taken away, Utterson, I wish you to
+promise me that you will bear with him and get his rights
+for him. I think you would, if you knew all; and it would
+be a weight off my mind if you would promise.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t pretend that I shall ever like him,&rdquo; said the
+lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t ask that,&rdquo; pleaded Jekyll, laying his hand
+upon the other&rsquo;s arm; &ldquo;I only ask for justice; I only ask
+you to help him for my sake, when I am no longer here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Utterson heaved an irrepressible sigh. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said
+he, &ldquo;I promise.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page246"></a>246</span></p>
+<h3>THE CAREW MURDER CASE</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Nearly</span> a year later, in the month of October 18&mdash;, London
+was startled by a crime of singular ferocity, rendered all
+the more notable by the high position of the victim. The
+details were few and startling. A maid-servant living alone
+in a house not far from the river had gone upstairs to bed
+about eleven. Although a fog rolled over the city in the
+small hours, the early part of the night was cloudless, and
+the lane, which the maid&rsquo;s window overlooked, was brilliantly
+lit by the full moon. It seems she was romantically
+given, for she sat down upon her box, which stood immediately
+under the window, and fell into a dream of musing.
+Never (she used to say, with streaming tears, when she
+narrated that experience), never had she felt more at peace
+with all men or thought more kindly of the world. And as
+she so sat she became aware of an aged and beautiful gentleman
+with white hair drawing near along the lane: and advancing
+to meet him another and very small gentleman, to
+whom at first she paid less attention. When they had come
+within speech (which was just under the maid&rsquo;s eyes) the
+older man bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty
+manner of politeness. It did not seem as if the subject of
+his address were of great importance; indeed, from his
+pointing, it sometimes appeared as if he were only inquiring
+his way; but the moon shone on his face as he spoke, and
+the girl was pleased to watch it, it seemed to breathe such
+an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition, yet with
+something high too, as of a well-founded self-content.
+Presently her eye wandered to the other, and she was surprised
+to recognise in him a certain Mr. Hyde, who had once
+visited her master, and for whom she had conceived a dislike.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247"></a>247</span>
+He had in his hand a heavy cane, with which he was
+trifling; but he answered never a word, and seemed to listen
+with an ill-contained impatience. And then all of a sudden he
+broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot,
+brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described
+it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back,
+with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt;
+and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed
+him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury,
+he was trampling his victim under foot, and hailing down a
+storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly
+shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway. At the
+horror of these sights and sounds the maid fainted.</p>
+
+<p>It was two o&rsquo;clock when she came to herself and called
+for the police. The murderer was gone long ago; but there
+lay his victim in the middle of the lane, incredibly mangled.
+The stick with which the deed had been done, although it
+was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood, had broken
+in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty; and
+one splintered half had rolled in the neighbouring gutter&mdash;the
+other, without doubt, had been carried away by the
+murderer. A purse and a gold watch were found upon the
+victim; but no cards or papers, except a sealed and stamped
+envelope, which he had been probably carrying to the post,
+and which bore the name and address of Mr. Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>This was brought to the lawyer the next morning before
+he was out of bed; and he had no sooner seen it, and been
+told the circumstances, than he shot out a solemn lip. &ldquo;I
+shall say nothing till I have seen the body,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;this
+may be very serious. Have the kindness to wait while I
+dress.&rdquo; And with the same grave countenance he hurried
+through his breakfast and drove to the police station,
+whither the body had been carried. As soon as he came
+into the cell he nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I recognise him. I am sorry to say
+that this is Sir Danvers Carew.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good God, sir,&rdquo; exclaimed the officer, &ldquo;is it possible?&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page248"></a>248</span>
+And the next moment his eye lighted up with professional
+ambition. &ldquo;This will make a deal of noise,&rdquo; he said.
+&ldquo;And perhaps you can help us to the man.&rdquo; And he
+briefly narrated what the maid had seen, and showed the
+broken stick.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde;
+but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no
+longer; broken and battered as it was, he recognised it for
+one that he had himself presented many years before to
+Henry Jekyll.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is this Mr. Hyde a person of small stature?&rdquo; he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Particularly small and particularly wicked-looking,
+is what the maid calls him,&rdquo; said the officer.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson reflected; and then, raising his head, &ldquo;If
+you will come with me in my cab,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I think I can
+take you to his house.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was by this time about nine in the morning, and the
+first fog of the season. A great chocolate-coloured pall
+lowered over heaven, but the wind was continually charging
+and routing these embattled vapours; so that as the cab
+crawled from street to street, Mr. Utterson beheld a marvellous
+number of degrees and hues of twilight; for here it
+would be dark like the back-end of evening; and there
+would be a glow of a rich, lurid brown, like the light of some
+strange conflagration; and here, for a moment, the fog
+would be quite broken up, and a haggard shaft of daylight
+would glance in between the swirling wreaths. The dismal
+quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its
+muddy ways, and slatternly passengers, and its lamps,
+which had never been extinguished or had been kindled
+afresh to combat this mournful re-invasion of darkness,
+seemed, in the lawyer&rsquo;s eyes, like a district of some city in a
+nightmare.</p>
+
+<p>The thoughts of his mind, besides, were of the gloomiest
+dye; and when he glanced at the companion of his drive,
+he was conscious of some touch of that terror of the law
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249"></a>249</span>
+and the law&rsquo;s officers which may at times assail the most
+honest.</p>
+
+<p>As the cab drew up before the address indicated, the fog
+lifted a little, and showed him a dingy street, a gin-palace,
+a low French eating-house, a shop for the retail of penny
+numbers and twopenny salads, many ragged children
+huddled in the doorways, and many women of many different
+nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a morning
+glass; and the next moment the fog settled down again
+upon that part, as brown as umber, and cut him off from
+his blackguardly surroundings. This was the home of
+Henry Jekyll&rsquo;s favourite; of a man who was heir to a quarter
+of a million sterling.</p>
+
+<p>An ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the
+door. She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but
+her manners were excellent. Yes, she said, this was Mr.
+Hyde&rsquo;s, but he was not at home; he had been in that night
+very late, but had gone away again in less than an hour;
+there was nothing strange in that; his habits were very
+irregular, and he was often absent; for instance, it was
+nearly two months since she had seen him till yesterday.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very well then, we wish to see his rooms,&rdquo; said the
+lawyer; and when the woman began to declare it was impossible,
+&ldquo;I had better tell you who this person is,&rdquo; he
+added. &ldquo;This is Inspector Newcomen of Scotland Yard.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A flash of odious joy appeared upon the woman&rsquo;s face.
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;he is in trouble! What has he done?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson and the inspector exchanged glances.
+&ldquo;He don&rsquo;t seem a very popular character,&rdquo; observed the
+latter. &ldquo;And now, my good woman, just let me and this
+gentleman have a look about us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In the whole extent of the house, which but for the old
+woman remained otherwise empty, Mr. Hyde had only used
+a couple of rooms; but these were furnished with luxury
+and good taste. A closet was filled with wine; the plate
+was of silver, the napery elegant; a good picture hung upon
+the walls, a gift (as Utterson supposed) from Henry Jekyll,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page250"></a>250</span>
+who was much of a connoisseur; and the carpets were of
+many plies and agreeable in colour. At this moment, however,
+the rooms bore every mark of having been recently
+and hurriedly ransacked; clothes lay about the floor, with
+their pockets inside out; lockfast drawers stood open; and
+on the hearth there lay a pile of grey ashes, as though many
+papers had been burned. From these embers the inspector
+disinterred the butt-end of a green cheque-book, which had
+resisted the action of the fire; the other half of the stick
+was found behind the door; and as this clinched his suspicions,
+the officer declared himself delighted. A visit to
+the bank, where several thousand pounds were found to be
+lying to the murderer&rsquo;s credit, completed his gratification.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may depend upon it, sir,&rdquo; he told Mr. Utterson:
+&ldquo;I have him in my hand. He must have lost his head, or
+he never would have left the stick or, above all, burned the
+cheque-book. Why, money&rsquo;s life to the man. We have
+nothing to do but wait for him at the bank, and get out the
+handbills.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This last, however, was not so easy of accomplishment;
+for Mr. Hyde had numbered few familiars&mdash;even the master
+of the servant-maid had only seen him twice; his family
+could nowhere be traced; he had never been photographed;
+and the few who could describe him differed widely, as
+common observers will. Only on one point were they
+agreed; and that was the haunting sense of unexpressed
+deformity with which the fugitive impressed his beholders.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page251"></a>251</span></p>
+<h3>INCIDENT OF THE LETTER</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">It</span> was late in the afternoon when Mr. Utterson found his
+way to Dr. Jekyll&rsquo;s door, where he was at once admitted by
+Poole, and carried down by the kitchen offices and across
+a yard which had once been a garden to the building which
+was indifferently known as the laboratory or the dissecting-rooms.
+The doctor had bought the house from the heirs
+of a celebrated surgeon; and, his own tastes being rather
+chemical than anatomical, had changed the destination
+of the block at the bottom of the garden. It was the first
+time that the lawyer had been received in that part of his
+friend&rsquo;s quarters; and he eyed the dingy windowless
+structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a distasteful
+sense of strangeness as he crossed the theatre, once crowded
+with eager students and now lying gaunt and silent, the
+tables laden with chemical apparatus, the floor strewn with
+crates and littered with packing straw, and the light falling
+dimly through the foggy cupola. At the farther end, a
+flight of stairs mounted to a door covered with red baize;
+and through this, Mr. Utterson was at last received into the
+doctor&rsquo;s cabinet. It was a large room, fitted round with
+glass presses, furnished, among other things, with a cheval-glass
+and a business-table, and looking out upon the court
+by three dusty windows barred with iron. The fire burned
+in the grate; a lamp was set lighted on the chimney shelf,
+for even in the houses the fog began to lie thickly; and
+there, close up to the warmth, sat Dr. Jekyll, looking deadly
+sick; he did not rise to meet his visitor, but held out a cold
+hand and bade him welcome in a changed voice.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson, as soon as Poole had
+left them, &ldquo;you have heard the news?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page252"></a>252</span></p>
+
+<p>The doctor shuddered. &ldquo;They were crying it in the
+square,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I heard them in my dining-room.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;One word,&rdquo; said the lawyer. &ldquo;Carew was my client,
+but so are you, and I want to know what I am doing. You
+have not been mad enough to hide this fellow?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Utterson, I swear to God,&rdquo; cried the doctor, &ldquo;I swear
+to God I will never set eyes on him again. I bind my
+honour to you that I am done with him in this world. It
+is all at an end. And indeed he does not want my help;
+you do not know him as I do; he is safe, he is quite safe;
+mark my words, he will never more be heard of.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer listened gloomily; he did not like his friend&rsquo;s
+feverish manner. &ldquo;You seem pretty sure of him,&rdquo; said he;
+&ldquo;and for your sake, I hope you may be right. If it came to
+a trial your name might appear.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am quite sure of him,&rdquo; replied Jekyll; &ldquo;I have
+grounds for certainty that I cannot share with any one.
+But there is one thing on which you may advise me. I
+have&mdash;I have received a letter; and I am at a loss whether
+I should show it to the police. I should like to leave it in
+your hands, Utterson; you would judge wisely, I am sure;
+I have so great a trust in you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You fear, I suppose, that it might lead to his detection?&rdquo;
+asked the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the other. &ldquo;I cannot say that I care what
+becomes of Hyde; I am quite done with him. I was thinking
+of my own character, which this hateful business has
+rather exposed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Utterson ruminated awhile; he was surprised at his
+friend&rsquo;s selfishness, and yet relieved by it. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said
+he at last, &ldquo;let me see the letter.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The letter was written in an odd, upright hand and
+signed &ldquo;Edward Hyde&ldquo;: and it signified, briefly enough,
+that the writer&rsquo;s benefactor, Dr. Jekyll, whom he had long
+so unworthily repaid for a thousand generosities, need
+labour under no alarm for his safety, as he had means of
+escape on which he placed a sure dependence. The lawyer
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253"></a>253</span>
+liked this letter well enough; it put a better colour on the
+intimacy than he had looked for; and he blamed himself
+for some of his past suspicions.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you the envelope?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I burned it,&rdquo; replied Jekyll, &ldquo;before I thought what
+I was about. But it bore no postmark. The note was
+handed in.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I keep this and sleep upon it?&rdquo; asked Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wish you to judge for me entirely,&rdquo; was the reply.
+&ldquo;I have lost confidence in myself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I shall consider,&rdquo; returned the lawyer.&mdash;&ldquo;And
+now one word more: it was Hyde who dictated the terms
+in your will about that disappearance?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The doctor seemed seized with a qualm of faintness; he
+shut his mouth tight and nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I knew it,&rdquo; said Utterson. &ldquo;He meant to murder you.
+You have had a fine escape.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have had what is far more to the purpose,&rdquo; returned
+the doctor solemnly: &ldquo;I have had a lesson&mdash;O God, Utterson,
+what a lesson I have had!&rdquo; And he covered his face
+for a moment with his hands.</p>
+
+<p>On his way out, the lawyer stopped and had a word or
+two with Poole. &ldquo;By the by,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;there was a letter
+handed in to-day: what was the messenger like?&rdquo; But
+Poole was positive nothing had come except by post; &ldquo;and
+only circulars by that,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+
+<p>This news sent off the visitor with his fears renewed.
+Plainly the letter had come by the laboratory door; possibly
+indeed, it had been written in the cabinet; and if that were
+so, it must be differently judged, and handled with the more
+caution. The newsboys, as he went, were crying themselves
+hoarse along the footways: &ldquo;Special edition. Shocking
+murder of an M.P.&rdquo; That was the funeral oration of one
+friend and client; and he could not help a certain apprehension
+lest the good name of another should be sucked
+down in the eddy of the scandal. It was, at least, a ticklish
+decision that he had to make; and, self-reliant as he was by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page254"></a>254</span>
+habit, he began to cherish a longing for advice. It was not
+to be had directly; but perhaps, he thought, it might be
+fished for.</p>
+
+<p>Presently after, he sat on one side of his own hearth,
+with Mr. Guest, his head clerk, upon the other, and midway
+between, at a nicely calculated distance from the fire, a
+bottle of a particular old wine that had long dwelt unsunned
+in the foundations of his house. The fog still slept on the
+wing above the drowned city, where the lamps glimmered
+like carbuncles; and through the muffle and smother of
+these fallen clouds, the procession of the town&rsquo;s life was
+still rolling on through the great arteries with a sound as of
+a mighty wind. But the room was gay with firelight. In
+the bottle the acids were long ago resolved; the imperial
+dye had softened with time, as the colour grows richer in
+stained windows; and the glow of hot autumn afternoons
+on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse
+the fogs of London. Insensibly the lawyer melted. There
+was no man from whom he kept fewer secrets than Mr.
+Guest; and he was not always sure that he kept as many as
+he meant. Guest had often been on business to the doctor&rsquo;s;
+he knew Poole; he could scarce have failed to hear of Mr.
+Hyde&rsquo;s familiarity about the house; he might draw conclusions:
+was it not as well, then, that he should see a letter
+which put that mystery to rights? and above all since
+Guest, being a great student and critic of handwriting,
+would consider the step natural and obliging? The clerk,
+besides, was a man of counsel; he would scarce read so
+strange a document without dropping a remark; and by
+that remark Mr. Utterson might shape his future course.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a sad business about Sir Danvers,&rdquo; he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, indeed. It has elicited a great deal of public
+feeling,&rdquo; returned Guest. &ldquo;The man, of course, was mad.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to hear your views on that,&rdquo; replied
+Utterson. &ldquo;I have a document here in his handwriting;
+it is between ourselves, for I scarce know what to do about
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255"></a>255</span>
+it; it is an ugly business at the best. But there it is;
+quite in your way: a murderer&rsquo;s autograph.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Guest&rsquo;s eyes brightened, and he sat down at once and
+studied it with passion. &ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;not mad;
+but it is an odd hand.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And by all accounts a very odd writer,&rdquo; added the
+lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the servant entered with a note.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is that from Dr. Jekyll, sir?&rdquo; inquired the clerk. &ldquo;I
+thought I knew the writing. Anything private, Mr.
+Utterson?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Only an invitation to dinner. Why? do you want to
+see it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;One moment. I thank you, sir&ldquo;; and the clerk laid
+the two sheets of paper alongside and sedulously compared
+their contents. &ldquo;Thank you, sir,&rdquo; he said at last, returning
+both; &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a very interesting autograph.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause, during which Mr. Utterson struggled
+with himself. &ldquo;Why did you compare them, Guest?&rdquo; he
+inquired suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; returned the clerk, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a rather
+singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points
+identical: only differently sloped.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Rather quaint,&rdquo; said Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is, as you say, rather quaint,&rdquo; returned Guest.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t speak of this note, you know,&rdquo; said the
+master.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; said the clerk. &ldquo;I understand.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But no sooner was Mr. Utterson alone that night than
+he locked the note into his safe, where it reposed from that
+time forward. &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he thought. &ldquo;Henry Jekyll
+forge for a murderer!&rdquo; And his blood ran cold in his
+veins.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page256"></a>256</span></p>
+<h3>REMARKABLE INCIDENT OF DR. LANYON</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Time</span> ran on; thousands of pounds were offered in reward,
+for the death of Sir Danvers was resented as a public injury;
+but Mr. Hyde had disappeared out of the ken of the police
+as though he had never existed. Much of his past was unearthed,
+indeed, and all disreputable: tales came out of the
+man&rsquo;s cruelty, at once so callous and violent, of his vile life,
+of his strange associates, of the hatred that seemed to have
+surrounded his career; but of his present whereabouts, not
+a whisper. From the time he had left the house in Soho
+on the morning of the murder, he was simply blotted out;
+and gradually, as time drew on, Mr. Utterson began to recover
+from the hotness of his alarm, and to grow more at
+quiet with himself. The death of Sir Danvers was, to his
+way of thinking, more than paid for by the disappearance
+of Mr. Hyde. Now that that evil influence had been withdrawn,
+a new life began for Dr. Jekyll. He came out of his
+seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became once
+more their familiar guest and entertainer; and whilst he
+had always been known for charities, he was now no less distinguished
+for religion. He was busy, he was much in the
+open air, he did good; his face seemed to open and brighten,
+as if with an inward consciousness of service; and for more
+than two months the doctor was at peace.</p>
+
+<p>On the 8th of January Utterson had dined at the doctor&rsquo;s
+with a small party; Lanyon had been there; and the face
+of the host had looked from one to the other as in the old
+days when the trio were inseparable friends. On the 12th,
+and again on the 14th, the door was shut against the lawyer.
+&ldquo;The doctor was confined to the house,&rdquo; Poole said, &ldquo;and
+saw no one.&rdquo; On the 15th he tried again, and was again
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257"></a>257</span>
+refused; and having now been used for the last two months
+to see his friend almost daily, he found this return of solitude
+to weigh upon his spirits. The fifth night he had in
+Guest to dine with him; and the sixth he betook himself
+to Dr. Lanyon&rsquo;s.</p>
+
+<p>There at least he was not denied admittance; but when
+he came in, he was shocked at the change which had taken
+place in the doctor&rsquo;s appearance. He had his death-warrant
+written legibly upon his face. The rosy man had
+grown pale; his flesh had fallen away; he was visibly balder
+and older; and yet it was not so much these tokens of a swift
+physical decay that arrested the lawyer&rsquo;s notice, as a look
+in the eye and quality of manner that seemed to testify to
+some deep-seated terror of the mind. It was unlikely that
+the doctor should fear death; and yet that was what Utterson
+was tempted to suspect. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he thought; &ldquo;he is
+a doctor, he must know his own state and that his days are
+counted; and the knowledge is more than he can bear.&rdquo;
+And yet when Utterson remarked on his ill-looks, it was
+with an air of great firmness that Lanyon declared himself
+a doomed man.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have had a shock,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I shall never recover.
+It is a question of weeks. Well, life has been
+pleasant; I liked it; yes, sir, I used to like it. I sometimes
+think if we knew all we should be more glad to get
+away.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jekyll is ill too,&rdquo; observed Utterson. &ldquo;Have you
+seen him?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But Lanyon&rsquo;s face changed, and he held up a trembling
+hand. &ldquo;I wish to see or hear no more of Dr. Jekyll,&rdquo; he
+said in a loud, unsteady voice. &ldquo;I am quite done with
+that person; and I beg that you will spare me any allusion
+to one whom I regard as dead.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tut-tut,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson; and then, after a considerable
+pause, &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t I do anything?&rdquo; he inquired.
+&ldquo;We are three very old friends, Lanyon; we shall not live
+to make others.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page258"></a>258</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing can be done,&rdquo; returned Lanyon; &ldquo;ask himself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He will not see me,&rdquo; said the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am not surprised at that,&rdquo; was the reply. &ldquo;Some
+day, Utterson, after I am dead, you may perhaps come to
+learn the right and wrong of this. I cannot tell you. And
+in the meantime, if you can sit and talk with me of other
+things, for God&rsquo;s sake, stay and do so; but if you cannot
+keep clear of this accursed topic, then, in God&rsquo;s name, go,
+for I cannot bear it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he got home, Utterson sat down and wrote
+to Jekyll, complaining of his exclusion from the house, and
+asking the cause of this unhappy break with Lanyon; and
+the next day brought him a long answer, often very pathetically
+worded, and sometimes darkly mysterious in drift.
+The quarrel with Lanyon was incurable. &ldquo;I do not blame
+our old friend,&rdquo; Jekyll wrote, &ldquo;but I share his view that we
+must never meet. I mean from henceforth to lead a life of
+extreme seclusion; you must not be surprised, nor must you
+doubt my friendship, if my door is often shut even to you.
+You must suffer me to go my own dark way. I have
+brought on myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot
+name. If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of
+sufferers also. I could not think that this earth contained
+a place for sufferings and terrors so unmanning; and you
+can but do one thing, Utterson, to lighten this destiny, and
+that is to respect my silence.&rdquo; Utterson was amazed;
+the dark influence of Hyde had been withdrawn, the doctor
+had returned to his old tasks and amities; a week ago, the
+prospect had smiled with every promise of a cheerful and an
+honoured age; and now in a moment, friendship and peace
+of mind and the whole tenor of his life were wrecked. So
+great and unprepared a change pointed to madness; but in
+view of Lanyon&rsquo;s manner and words, there must lie for it
+some deeper ground.</p>
+
+<p>A week afterwards Dr. Lanyon took to his bed, and in
+something less than a fortnight he was dead. The night
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259"></a>259</span>
+after the funeral, at which he had been sadly affected,
+Utterson locked the door of his business-room, and sitting
+there by the light of a melancholy candle, drew out and set
+before him an envelope addressed by the hand and sealed
+with the seal of his dead friend. &ldquo;<span class="sc">Private</span>: for the hands
+of G. J. Utterson <span class="sc">ALONE</span>, and in case of his predecease <i>to
+be destroyed unread</i>,&rdquo; so it was emphatically superscribed;
+and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents. &ldquo;I have
+buried one friend to-day,&rdquo; he thought: &ldquo;what if this should
+cost me another?&rdquo; And then he condemned the fear as a
+disloyalty, and broke the seal. Within there was another
+enclosure, likewise sealed, and marked upon the cover as
+&ldquo;not to be opened till the death or disappearance of Dr.
+Henry Jekyll.&rdquo; Utterson could not trust his eyes. Yes,
+it was disappearance; here again, as in the mad will which
+he had long ago restored to its author, here again were the
+idea of a disappearance and the name of Henry Jekyll
+bracketed. But in the will that idea had sprung from the
+sinister suggestion of the man Hyde; it was set there with
+a purpose all too plain and horrible. Written by the hand
+of Lanyon, what should it mean? A great curiosity came
+on the trustee, to disregard the prohibition and dive at once
+to the bottom of these mysteries; but professional honour
+and faith to his dead friend were stringent obligations;
+and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private
+safe.</p>
+
+<p>It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer
+it; and it may be doubted if, from that day forth, Utterson
+desired the society of his surviving friend with the same
+eagerness. He thought of him kindly; but his thoughts
+were disquieted and fearful. He went to call indeed; but
+he was perhaps relieved to be denied admittance; perhaps,
+in his heart, he preferred to speak with Poole upon the doorstep
+and surrounded by the air and sounds of the open city,
+rather than to be admitted into that house of voluntary
+bondage, and to sit and speak with its inscrutable recluse.
+Poole had, indeed, no very pleasant news to communicate.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260"></a>260</span>
+The doctor, it appeared, now more than ever confined himself
+to the cabinet over the laboratory, where he would
+sometimes even sleep; he was out of spirits, he had grown
+very silent, he did not read; it seemed as if he had something
+on his mind. Utterson became so used to the unvarying
+character of these reports, that he fell off little by
+little in the frequency of his visits.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page261"></a>261</span></p>
+<h3>INCIDENT AT THE WINDOW</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">It</span> chanced on Sunday, when Mr. Utterson was on his usual
+walk with Mr. Enfield, that their way lay once again
+through the by-street; and that when they came in front
+of the door, both stopped to gaze on it.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Enfield, &ldquo;that story&rsquo;s at an end at least.
+We shall never see more of Mr. Hyde.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I hope not,&rdquo; said Utterson. &ldquo;Did I ever tell you that
+I once saw him, and shared your feeling of repulsion?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It was impossible to do the one without the other,&rdquo;
+returned Enfield. &ldquo;And by the way, what an ass you
+must have thought me, not to know that this was a back
+way to Dr. Jekyll&rsquo;s! It was partly your own fault that I
+found it out, even when I did.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So you found it out, did you?&rdquo; said Utterson. &ldquo;But
+if that be so, we may step into the court and take a look at
+the windows. To tell you the truth, I am uneasy about
+poor Jekyll; and even outside, I feel as if the presence of a
+friend might do him good.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The court was very cool and a little damp, and full of
+premature twilight, although the sky, high up overhead,
+was still bright with sunset. The middle one of the three
+windows was half-way open; and sitting close beside it,
+taking the air with an infinite sadness of mien, like some
+disconsolate prisoner, Utterson saw Dr. Jekyll.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What! Jekyll!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;I trust you are better.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am very low, Utterson,&rdquo; replied the doctor drearily,
+&ldquo;very low. It will not last long, thank God.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You stay too much indoors,&rdquo; said the lawyer. &ldquo;You
+should be out, whipping up the circulation like Mr. Enfield
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262"></a>262</span>
+and me. (This is my cousin&mdash;Mr. Enfield&mdash;Dr. Jekyll.)
+Come now; get your hat and take a quick turn with us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are very good,&rdquo; sighed the other. &ldquo;I should like
+to very much; but no, no, no, it is quite impossible; I dare
+not. But indeed, Utterson, I am very glad to see you;
+this is really a great pleasure; I would ask you and Mr.
+Enfield up, but the place is really not fit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why then,&rdquo; said the lawyer good-naturedly, &ldquo;the best
+thing we can do is to stay down here and speak with you
+from where we are.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is just what I was about to venture to propose,&rdquo;
+returned the doctor, with a smile. But the words were
+hardly uttered, before the smile was struck out of his face
+and succeeded by an expression of such abject terror and
+despair as froze the very blood of the two gentleman below.
+They saw it but for a glimpse, for the window was instantly
+thrust down; but that glimpse had been sufficient, and
+they turned and left the court without a word. In
+silence, too, the by-street; and it was not until they
+had come into a neighbouring thoroughfare, where even
+upon a Sunday there were still some stirrings of life, that
+Mr. Utterson at last turned and looked at his companion.
+They were both pale; and there was an answering horror in
+their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;God forgive us, God forgive us!&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Enfield only nodded his head very seriously,
+and walked on once more in silence.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page263"></a>263</span></p>
+<h3>THE LAST NIGHT</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Mr. Utterson</span> was sitting by his fireside one evening after
+dinner, when he was surprised to receive a visit from Poole.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Bless me, Poole, what brings you here?&rdquo; he cried;
+and then, taking a second look at him, &ldquo;What ails you?&rdquo;
+he added, &ldquo;is the doctor ill?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Utterson,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;there is something
+wrong.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take a seat, and here is a glass of wine for you,&rdquo; said
+the lawyer. &ldquo;Now, take your time, and tell me plainly
+what you want.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You know the doctor&rsquo;s ways, sir,&rdquo; replied Poole,
+&ldquo;and how he shuts himself up. Well, he&rsquo;s shut up again
+in the cabinet; and I don&rsquo;t like it, sir&mdash;I wish I may die if I
+like it. Mr. Utterson, sir, I&rsquo;m afraid.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, my good man,&rdquo; said the lawyer, &ldquo;be explicit.
+What are you afraid of?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been afraid for about a week,&rdquo; returned Poole,
+doggedly disregarding the question, &ldquo;and I can bear it no
+more.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The man&rsquo;s appearance amply bore out his words; his
+manner was altered for the worse; and except for the
+moment when he had first announced his terror, he had not
+once looked the lawyer in the face. Even now, he sat with
+the glass of wine untasted on his knee, and his eyes directed
+to a corner of the floor. &ldquo;I can bear it no more,&rdquo; he repeated.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said the lawyer, &ldquo;I see you have some good
+reason, Poole; I see there is something seriously amiss.
+Try to tell me what it is.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s been foul play,&rdquo; said Poole hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page264"></a>264</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Foul play!&rdquo; cried the lawyer, a good deal frightened,
+and rather inclined to be irritated in consequence. &ldquo;What
+foul play? What does the man mean?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I daren&rsquo;t say, sir,&rdquo; was the answer; &ldquo;but will you
+come along with me and see for yourself?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson&rsquo;s only answer was to rise and get his hat
+and greatcoat; but he observed with wonder the greatness
+of the relief that appeared upon the butler&rsquo;s face, and perhaps
+with no less, that the wine was still untasted when he
+set it down to follow.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a
+pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted
+her, and a flying wrack of the most diaphanous and lawny
+texture. The wind made talking difficult, and flecked the
+blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets unusually
+bare of passengers, besides; for Mr. Utterson thought
+he had never seen that part of London so deserted. He
+could have wished it otherwise; never in his life had he
+been conscious of so sharp a wish to see and touch his fellow-creatures;
+for, struggle as he might, there was borne in
+upon his mind a crushing anticipation of calamity. The
+square, when they got there, was all full of wind and dust,
+and the thin trees in the garden were lashing themselves
+along the railing. Poole, who had kept all the way a pace
+or two ahead, now pulled up in the middle of the pavement,
+and, in spite of the biting weather, took off his hat and
+mopped his brow with a red pocket-handkerchief. But for
+all the hurry of his coming, these were not the dews of exertion
+that he wiped away, but the moisture of some strangling
+anguish; for his face was white, and his voice, when he
+spoke, harsh and broken.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;here we are, and God grant there
+be nothing wrong.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Amen, Poole,&rdquo; said the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon the servant knocked in a very guarded
+manner; the door was opened on the chain; and a voice
+asked from within, &ldquo;Is that you, Poole?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page265"></a>265</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; said Poole. &ldquo;Open the door.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The hall, when they entered it, was brightly lighted up;
+the fire was built high; and about the hearth the whole of
+the servants, men and women, stood huddled together like
+a flock of sheep. At the sight of Mr. Utterson, the housemaid
+broke into hysterical whimpering; and the cook, crying
+out &ldquo;Bless God! it&rsquo;s Mr. Utterson,&rdquo; ran forward as if
+to take him in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What, what? Are you all here?&rdquo; said the lawyer
+peevishly. &ldquo;Very irregular, very unseemly; your master
+would be far from pleased.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all afraid,&rdquo; said Poole.</p>
+
+<p>Blank silence followed, no one protesting; only the maid
+lifted up her voice and now wept loudly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hold your tongue!&rdquo; Poole said to her, with a ferocity
+of accent that testified to his own jangled nerves; and indeed,
+when the girl had so suddenly raised the note of her
+lamentation, they had all started and turned towards the
+inner door with faces of dreadful expectation. &ldquo;And now,&rdquo;
+continued the butler, addressing the knife-boy, &ldquo;reach me
+a candle, and we&rsquo;ll get this through hands at once.&rdquo; And
+then he begged Mr. Utterson to follow him, and led the way
+to the back-garden.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you come as gently as you can.
+I want you to hear, and I don&rsquo;t want you to be heard. And
+see here, sir, if by any chance he was to ask you in, don&rsquo;t
+go.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Utterson&rsquo;s nerves, at this unlooked-for termination,
+gave a jerk that nearly threw him from his balance; but he
+re-collected his courage and followed the butler into the
+laboratory building and through the surgical theatre, with
+its lumber of crates and bottles, to the foot of the stair.
+Here Poole motioned him to stand on one side and listen;
+while he himself, setting down the candle and making a
+great and obvious call on his resolution, mounted the steps
+and knocked with a somewhat uncertain hand on the red
+baize of the cabinet door.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page266"></a>266</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Utterson, sir, asking to see you,&rdquo; he called; and,
+even as he did so, once more violently signed to the lawyer
+to give ear.</p>
+
+<p>A voice answered from within: &ldquo;Tell him I cannot see
+any one,&rdquo; it said complainingly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir,&rdquo; said Poole, with a note of something
+like triumph in his voice; and taking up his candle,
+he led Mr. Utterson back across the yard and into the great
+kitchen, where the fire was out and the beetles were leaping
+on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; he said, looking Mr. Utterson in the eyes, &ldquo;was
+that my master&rsquo;s voice?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It seems much changed,&rdquo; replied the lawyer, very
+pale, but giving look for look.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Changed? Well, yes, I think so,&rdquo; said the butler.
+&ldquo;Have I been twenty years in this man&rsquo;s house, to be
+deceived about his voice? No, sir; master&rsquo;s made away
+with; he was made away with eight days ago, when we
+heard him cry out upon the name of God; and <i>who&rsquo;s</i> in
+there instead of him, and <i>why</i> it stays there, is a thing that
+cries to Heaven, Mr. Utterson!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a very strange tale, Poole; this is rather a
+wild tale, my man,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson, biting his finger.
+&ldquo;Suppose it were as you suppose, supposing Dr. Jekyll
+to have been&mdash;well, murdered, what could induce the
+murderer to stay? That won&rsquo;t hold water; it doesn&rsquo;t
+commend itself to reason.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Mr. Utterson, you are a hard man to satisfy,
+but I&rsquo;ll do it yet,&rdquo; said Poole. &ldquo;All this last week (you
+must know) him, or it, or whatever it is that lives in that
+cabinet, has been crying night and day for some sort of
+medicine and cannot get it to his mind. It was sometimes
+his way&mdash;the master&rsquo;s, that is&mdash;to write his orders
+on a sheet of paper and throw it on the stair. We&rsquo;ve had
+nothing else this week back; nothing but papers, and a
+closed door, and the very meals left there to be smuggled
+in when nobody was looking. Well, sir, every day, ay,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267"></a>267</span>
+and twice and thrice in the same day, there have been
+orders and complaints, and I have been sent flying to all
+the wholesale chemists in town. Every time I brought
+the stuff back, there would be another paper telling me to
+return it, because it was not pure, and another order to a
+different firm. This drug is wanted bitter bad, sir, whatever
+for.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you any of these papers?&rdquo; asked Mr.
+Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>Poole felt in his pocket and handed out a crumpled
+note, which the lawyer, bending nearer to the candle,
+carefully examined. Its contents ran thus: &ldquo;Dr. Jekyll
+presents his compliments to Messrs. Maw. He assures
+them that their last sample is impure, and quite useless
+for his present purpose. In the year 18&mdash;, Dr. J. purchased
+a somewhat large quantity from Messrs. M. He
+now begs them to search with the most sedulous care,
+and should any of the same quality be left, to forward
+it to him at once. Expense is no consideration. The
+importance of this to Dr. J. can hardly be exaggerated.&rdquo;
+So far the letter had run composedly enough, but here,
+with a sudden splutter of the pen, the writer&rsquo;s emotion
+had broken loose. &ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; he had added,
+&ldquo;find me some of the old.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a strange note,&rdquo; said Mr. Utterson; and then
+sharply, &ldquo;How do you come to have it open?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The man at Maw&rsquo;s was main angry, sir, and he threw
+it back to me like so much dirt,&rdquo; returned Poole.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is unquestionably the doctor&rsquo;s hand, do you
+know?&rdquo; resumed the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it looked like it,&rdquo; said the servant rather
+sulkily; and then, with another voice, &ldquo;But what matters
+hand-of-write?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen him!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Seen him?&rdquo; repeated Mr. Utterson. &ldquo;Well?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s it!&rdquo; said Poole. &ldquo;It was this way. I came
+suddenly into the theatre from the garden. It seems
+he had slipped out to look for this drug, or whatever it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268"></a>268</span>
+is; for the cabinet door was open, and there he was at
+the far end of the room digging among the crates. He
+looked up when I came in, gave a kind of cry, and whipped
+upstairs into the cabinet. It was but for one minute
+that I saw him, but the hair stood up on my head like quills.
+Sir, if that was my master, why had he a mask upon his
+face? If it was my master, why did he cry out like a rat,
+and run from me? I have served him long enough. And
+then ...&rdquo; the man paused and passed his hand over his
+face.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;These are all very strange circumstances,&rdquo; said Mr.
+Utterson, &ldquo;but I think I begin to see daylight. Your
+master, Poole, is plainly seized with one of those maladies
+that both torture and deform the sufferer; hence, for
+aught I know, the alteration of his voice; hence the mask
+and his avoidance of his friends; hence his eagerness to
+find this drug, by means of which the poor soul retains some
+hope of ultimate recovery&mdash;God grant that he be not
+deceived. There is my explanation; it is sad enough,
+Poole, ay, and appalling to consider; but it is plain and
+natural, hangs well together, and delivers us from all
+exorbitant alarms.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the butler, turning to a sort of mottled
+pallor, &ldquo;that thing was not my master, and there&rsquo;s the
+truth. My master&ldquo;&mdash;here he looked round him and
+began to whisper&mdash;&ldquo;is a tall, fine build of a man, and
+this was more of a dwarf.&rdquo; Utterson attempted to protest.
+&ldquo;O sir,&rdquo; cried Poole, &ldquo;do you think I do not know my
+master after twenty years? do you think I do not know
+where his head comes to in the cabinet door, where I saw
+him every morning of my life? No, sir, that thing in the
+mask was never Dr. Jekyll&mdash;God knows what it was, but
+it was never Dr. Jekyll; and it is the belief of my heart that
+there was murder done.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Poole,&rdquo; replied the lawyer, &ldquo;if you say that, it will
+become my duty to make certain. Much as I desire to
+spare your master&rsquo;s feelings, much as I am puzzled by this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269"></a>269</span>
+note which seems to prove him to be still alive, I shall
+consider it my duty to break in that door.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, Mr. Utterson, that&rsquo;s talking!&rdquo; cried the butler.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now comes the second question,&rdquo; resumed
+Utterson: &ldquo;Who is going to do it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, you and me, sir,&rdquo; was the undaunted reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is very well said,&rdquo; returned the lawyer; &ldquo;and
+whatever comes of it, I shall make it my business to see
+you are no loser.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There is an axe in the theatre,&rdquo; continued Poole;
+&ldquo;and you might take the kitchen poker for yourself.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer took that rude but weighty instrument
+into his hand, and balanced it. &ldquo;Do you know, Poole,&rdquo;
+he said, looking up, &ldquo;that you and I are about to place
+ourselves in a position of some peril?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may say so, sir, indeed,&rdquo; returned the butler.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is well, then, that we should be frank,&rdquo; said the
+other. &ldquo;We both think more than we have said; let
+us make a clean breast. This masked figure that you saw,
+did you recognise it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, sir, it went so quick, and the creature was so
+doubled up, that I could hardly swear to that,&rdquo; was the
+answer. &ldquo;But if you mean, was it Mr. Hyde?&mdash;why,
+yes, I think it was! You see, it was much of the same
+bigness; and it had the same quick light way with it;
+and then who else could have got in by the laboratory door?
+You have not forgot, sir, that at the time of the murder he
+had still the key with him? But that&rsquo;s not all. I don&rsquo;t
+know, Mr. Utterson, if ever you met this Mr. Hyde?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the lawyer, &ldquo;I once spoke with him.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then you must know as well as the rest of us that there
+was something queer about that gentleman&mdash;something
+that gave a man a turn&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know rightly how to say it,
+sir, beyond this: that you felt it in your marrow kind of
+cold and thin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I own I felt something of what you describe,&rdquo; said
+Mr. Utterson.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page270"></a>270</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Quite so, sir,&rdquo; returned Poole. &ldquo;Well, when that
+masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the
+chemicals and whipped into the cabinet, it went down
+my spine like ice. Oh, I know it&rsquo;s not evidence, Mr.
+Utterson; I&rsquo;m book-learned enough for that; but a man
+has his feelings, and I give you my Bible-word it was Mr.
+Hyde!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ay, ay,&rdquo; said the lawyer. &ldquo;My fears incline to
+the same point. Evil, I fear, founded&mdash;evil was sure
+to come&mdash;of that connection. Ay, truly, I believe you;
+I believe poor Harry is killed; and I believe his murderer
+(for what purpose, God alone can tell) is still lurking
+in his victim&rsquo;s room. Well, let our name be vengeance.
+Call Bradshaw.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The footman came at the summons, very white and
+nervous.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pull yourself together, Bradshaw,&rdquo; said the lawyer.
+&ldquo;This suspense, I know, is telling upon all of you; but
+it is now our intention to make an end of it. Poole, here,
+and I are going to force our way into the cabinet. If all
+is well, my shoulders are broad enough to bear the blame.
+Meanwhile, lest anything should really be amiss, or any
+malefactor seek to escape by the back, you and the boy
+must go round the corner with a pair of good sticks, and
+take your post at the laboratory door. We give you ten
+minutes to get to your stations.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>As Bradshaw left, the lawyer looked at his watch.
+&ldquo;And now, Poole, let us get to ours,&rdquo; he said; and taking
+the poker under his arm, he led the way into the yard.
+The scud had banked over the moon, and it was now quite
+dark. The wind, which only broke in puffs and draughts
+into that deep well of building, tossed the light of the
+candle to and fro about their steps, until they came into the
+shelter of the theatre, where they sat down silently to wait.
+London hummed solemnly all around; but nearer at hand,
+the stillness was only broken by the sound of a footfall
+moving to and fro along the cabinet floor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page271"></a>271</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So it will walk all day, sir,&rdquo; whispered Poole; &ldquo;ay,
+and the better part of the night. Only when a new sample
+comes from the chemist, there&rsquo;s a bit of a break. Ah,
+it&rsquo;s an ill-conscience that&rsquo;s such an enemy to rest! Ah,
+sir, there&rsquo;s blood foully shed in every step of it! But hark
+again, a little closer&mdash;put your heart in your ears, Mr.
+Utterson, and tell me, is that the doctor&rsquo;s foot?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The steps fell lightly and oddly, with a certain swing,
+for all they went so slowly; it was different indeed from
+the heavy creaking tread of Henry Jekyll. Utterson
+sighed. &ldquo;Is there never anything else?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Poole nodded. &ldquo;Once,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Once I heard
+it weeping!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Weeping? how that?&rdquo; said the lawyer, conscious
+of a sudden chill of horror.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Weeping like a woman or a lost soul,&rdquo; said the butler.
+&ldquo;I came away with that upon my heart that I could have
+wept too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But now the ten minutes drew to an end. Poole
+disinterred the axe from under a stack of packing straw;
+the candle was set upon the nearest table to light them
+to the attack; and they drew near with bated breath to
+where that patient foot was still going up and down, up
+and down, in the quiet of the night.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Jekyll,&rdquo; cried Utterson, with a loud voice, &ldquo;I demand
+to see you.&rdquo; He paused a moment, but there came
+no reply. &ldquo;I give you fair warning, our suspicions are
+aroused, and I must and shall see you,&rdquo; he resumed; &ldquo;if
+not by fair means, then by foul&mdash;if not of your consent, then
+by brute force!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Utterson,&rdquo; said the voice, &ldquo;for God&rsquo;s sake have
+mercy!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, that&rsquo;s not Jekyll&rsquo;s voice&mdash;it&rsquo;s Hyde&rsquo;s!&rdquo; cried
+Utterson. &ldquo;Down with the door, Poole.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Poole swung the axe over his shoulder; the blow shook
+the building, and the red baize door leaped against the
+lock and hinges. A dismal screech, as of mere animal terror,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page272"></a>272</span>
+rang from the cabinet. Up went the axe again, and again
+the panels crashed and the frame bounded; four times the
+blow fell; but the wood was tough and the fittings were of
+excellent workmanship; and it was not until the fifth, that
+the lock burst in sunder and the wreck of the door fell
+inwards on the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>The besiegers, appalled by their own riot and the
+stillness that had succeeded, stood back a little and peered
+in. There lay the cabinet before their eyes in the quiet
+lamplight, a good fire glowing and chattering on the hearth,
+the kettle singing its thin strain, a drawer or two open,
+papers neatly set forth on the business-table, and, nearer
+the fire, the things laid out for tea: the quietest room, you
+would have said, and, but for the glazed presses full of
+chemicals, the most commonplace that night in London.</p>
+
+<p>Right in the midst there lay the body of a man sorely
+contorted, and still twitching. They drew near on tiptoe,
+turned it on its back, and beheld the face of Edward Hyde.
+He was dressed in clothes far too large for him, clothes
+of the doctor&rsquo;s bigness; the cords of his face still moved
+with a semblance of life, but life was quite gone; and by
+the crushed phial in the hand and the strong smell of kernels
+that hung upon the air, Utterson knew that he was looking
+on the body of a self-destroyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We have come too late,&rdquo; he said sternly, &ldquo;whether
+to save or punish. Hyde is gone to his account; and it
+only remains for us to find the body of your master.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The far greater proportion of the building was occupied
+by the theatre, which filled almost the whole ground
+story and was lighted from above, and by the cabinet,
+which formed an upper story at one end and looked upon
+the court. A corridor joined the theatre to the door on
+the by-street; and with this, the cabinet communicated
+separately by a second flight of stairs. There were besides
+a few dark closets and a spacious cellar. All these they
+now thoroughly examined. Each closet needed but a
+glance, for all were empty, and all, by the dust that fell
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page273"></a>273</span>
+from their doors, had stood long unopened. The cellar,
+indeed, was filled with crazy lumber, mostly dating from
+the times of the surgeon who was Jekyll&rsquo;s predecessor; but
+even as they opened the door, they were advertised of the
+uselessness of further search, by the fall of a perfect mat
+of cobweb which had for years sealed up the entrance.
+Nowhere was there any trace of Henry Jekyll, dead or
+alive.</p>
+
+<p>Poole stamped on the flags of the corridor. &ldquo;He
+must be buried here,&rdquo; he said, hearkening to the sound.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Or he may have fled,&rdquo; said Utterson, and he turned
+to examine the door in the by-street. It was locked;
+and lying near by on the flags, they found the key, already
+stained with rust.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This does not look like use,&rdquo; observed the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Use!&rdquo; echoed Poole. &ldquo;Do you not see, sir, it is
+broken? much as if a man had stamped on it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ay,&rdquo; continued Utterson, &ldquo;and the fractures, too, are
+rusty.&rdquo; The two men looked at each other with a scare.
+&ldquo;This is beyond me, Poole,&rdquo; said the lawyer. &ldquo;Let us
+go back to the cabinet.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They mounted the stair in silence, and, still with an
+occasional awe-struck glance at the dead body, proceeded
+more thoroughly to examine the contents of the cabinet.
+At one table there were traces of chemical work, various
+measured heaps of some white salt being laid on glass
+saucers, as though for an experiment in which the unhappy
+man had been prevented.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is the same drug that I was always bringing
+him,&rdquo; said Poole; and even as he spoke, the kettle with a
+startling noise boiled over.</p>
+
+<p>This brought them to the fireside, where the easy-chair
+was drawn cosily up, and the tea-things stood ready
+to the sitter&rsquo;s elbow, the very sugar in the cup. There
+were several books on a shelf; one lay beside the tea-things
+open, and Utterson was amazed to find it a copy
+of a pious work, for which Jekyll had several times expressed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274"></a>274</span>
+a great esteem, annotated, in his own hand, with startling
+blasphemies.</p>
+
+<p>Next, in the course of their review of the chamber,
+the searchers came to the cheval-glass, into whose depths
+they looked with an involuntary horror. But it was so
+turned as to show them nothing but the rosy glow playing
+on the roof, the fire sparkling in a hundred repetitions
+along the glazed front of the presses, and their own pale
+and fearful countenances stooping to look in.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This glass have seen some strange things, sir,&rdquo;
+whispered Poole.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And surely none stranger than itself,&rdquo; echoed the
+lawyer in the same tones. &ldquo;For what did Jekyll&ldquo;&mdash;he
+caught himself up at the word with a start, and then
+conquering the weakness: &ldquo;what could Jekyll want with
+it?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You may say that!&rdquo; said Poole.</p>
+
+<p>Next they turned to the business-table. On the desk,
+among the neat array of papers, a large envelope was
+uppermost, and bore, in the doctor&rsquo;s hand, the name of
+Mr. Utterson. The lawyer unsealed it, and several enclosures
+fell to the floor. The first was a will, drawn in the
+same eccentric terms as the one which he had returned six
+months before, to serve as a testament in case of death and
+as a deed of gift in case of disappearance; but, in place
+of the name of Edward Hyde, the lawyer, with indescribable
+amazement, read the name of Gabriel John Utterson. He
+looked at Poole, and then back at the paper, and last of all
+at the dead malefactor stretched upon the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My head goes round,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He has been all
+these days in possession; he had no cause to like me; he
+must have raged to see himself displaced; and he has
+not destroyed this document.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He caught up the next paper; it was a brief note in
+the doctor&rsquo;s hand, and dated at the top. &ldquo;O Poole!&rdquo;
+the lawyer cried, &ldquo;he was alive and here this day. He
+cannot have been disposed of in so short a space, he must
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page275"></a>275</span>
+be still alive, he must have fled! And then, why fled?
+and how? and in that case, can we venture to declare this
+suicide? Oh, we must be careful. I foresee that we may
+yet involve your master in some dire catastrophe.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you read it, sir?&rdquo; asked Poole.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Because I fear,&rdquo; replied the lawyer solemnly. &ldquo;God
+grant I have no cause for it!&rdquo; and with that he brought
+the paper to his eyes and read as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="pt05">&nbsp;</div>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear Utterson,&mdash;When this shall fall into your
+hands, I shall have disappeared, under what circumstances
+I have not the penetration to foresee, but my instinct and
+all the circumstances of my nameless situation tell me that
+the end is sure, and must be early. Go then, and first read
+the narrative which Lanyon warned me he was to place
+in your hands; and if you care to hear more, turn to the
+confession of      Your unworthy and unhappy friend,</p>
+
+<p class="rt sc">&ldquo;Henry Jekyll.&ldquo;</p>
+
+<div class="pt05">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There was a third enclosure?&rdquo; asked Utterson.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here sir,&rdquo; said Poole, and gave into his hands a
+considerable packet sealed in several places.</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer put it in his pocket. &ldquo;I would say nothing
+of this paper. If your master has fled or is dead, we may
+at least save his credit. It is now ten; I must go home and
+read these documents in quiet; but I shall be back before
+midnight, when we shall send for the police.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They went out, locking the door of the theatre behind
+them; and Utterson, once more leaving the servants gathered
+about the fire in the hall, trudged back to his office to read
+the two narratives in which this mystery was now to be
+explained.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page276"></a>276</span></p>
+<h3>DR. LANYON&rsquo;S NARRATIVE</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">On</span> the ninth of January, now four days ago, I received
+by the evening delivery a registered envelope, addressed
+in the hand of my colleague and old school-companion,
+Henry Jekyll. I was a good deal surprised by this; for
+we were by no means in the habit of correspondence; I
+had seen the man, dined with him, indeed, the night before;
+and I could imagine nothing in our intercourse that should
+justify the formality of registration. The contents increased
+my wonder; for this is how the letter ran:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="pt05">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p class="rt f80">&ldquo;10th December, 18&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Dear Lanyon,&mdash;You are one of my oldest friends;
+and although we may have differed at times on scientific
+questions, I cannot remember, at least on my side, any
+break in our affection. There was never a day when, if
+you had said to me,&lsquo;Jekyll, my life, my honour, my reason,
+depend upon you,&rsquo; I would not have sacrificed my fortune
+or my left hand to help you. Lanyon, my life, my honour,
+my reason, are all at your mercy; if you fail me to-night,
+I am lost. You might suppose, after this preface, that I
+am going to ask you for something dishonourable to grant.
+Judge for yourself.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to postpone all other engagements for to-night&mdash;ay,
+even if you were summoned to the bedside of
+an emperor; to take a cab, unless your carriage should be
+actually at the door; and with this letter in your hand for
+consultation, to drive straight to my house. Poole, my
+butler, has his orders; you will find him waiting your
+arrival with a locksmith. The door of my cabinet is then
+to be forced; and you are to go in alone; to open the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277"></a>277</span>
+glazed press (letter E) on the left hand, breaking the lock if
+it be shut; and to draw out, <i>with all its contents as they
+stand</i>, the fourth drawer from the top or (which is the
+same thing) the third from the bottom. In my extreme
+distress of mind I have a morbid fear of misdirecting you;
+but even if I am in error, you may know the right drawer
+by its contents: some powders, a phial, and a paper book.
+This drawer I beg of you to carry back with you to Cavendish
+Square exactly as it stands.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is the first part of the service: now for the
+second. You should be back, if you set out at once on the
+receipt of this, long before midnight; but I will leave you
+that amount of margin, not only in the fear of one of those
+obstacles that can neither be prevented nor foreseen, but
+because an hour when your servants are in bed is to be
+preferred for what will then remain to do. At midnight,
+then, I have to ask you to be alone in your consulting-room,
+to admit with your own hand into the house a man who
+will present himself in my name, and to place in his hands the
+drawer that you will have brought with you from my
+cabinet. Then you will have played your part and earned
+my gratitude completely. Five minutes afterwards, if
+you insist upon an explanation, you will have understood
+that these arrangements are of capital importance; and
+that by the neglect of one of them, fantastic as they must
+appear, you might have charged your conscience with my
+death or the shipwreck of my reason.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Confident as I am that you will not trifle with this
+appeal, my heart sinks and my hand trembles at the bare
+thought of such a possibility. Think of me at this hour,
+in a strange place, labouring under a blackness of distress
+that no fancy can exaggerate, and yet well aware that, if
+you will but punctually serve me, my troubles will roll
+away like a story that is told. Serve me, my dear Lanyon,
+and save</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right; padding-right: 6em;">&ldquo;Your friend,</p>
+
+<p class="rt">&ldquo;H. J.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page278"></a>278</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>P.S.</i>&mdash;I had already sealed this up when a fresh
+terror struck upon my soul. It is possible that the post
+office may fail me, and this letter not come into your hands
+until to-morrow morning. In that case, dear Lanyon, do
+my errand when it shall be most convenient for you in the
+course of the day; and once more expect my messenger at
+midnight. It may then already be too late; and if that
+night passes without event, you will know that you have seen
+the last of Henry Jekyll.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="pt05">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p>Upon the reading of this letter I made sure my colleague
+was insane; but till that was proved beyond the possibility
+of doubt, I felt bound to do as he requested. The less I
+understood of this farrago, the less I was in a position to
+judge of its importance; and an appeal so worded could not
+be set aside without a grave responsibility. I rose accordingly
+from table, got into a hansom, and drove straight
+to Jekyll&rsquo;s house. The butler was awaiting my arrival;
+he had received by the same post as mine a registered letter
+of instruction, and had sent at once for a locksmith and
+a carpenter. The tradesmen came while we were yet speaking;
+and we moved in a body to old Dr. Denman&rsquo;s surgical
+theatre, from which (as you are doubtless aware) Jekyll&rsquo;s
+private cabinet is most conveniently entered. The door was
+very strong, the lock excellent; the carpenter avowed he
+would have great trouble and have to do much damage, if
+force were to be used; and the locksmith was near despair.
+But this last was a handy fellow, and after two hours&rsquo; work
+the door stood open. The press marked E was unlocked;
+and I took out the drawer, had it filled up with straw and
+tied in a sheet, and returned with it to Cavendish Square.</p>
+
+<p>Here I proceeded to examine its contents. The powders
+were neatly enough made up, but not with the nicety of the
+dispensing chemist; so that it was plain they were of Jekyll&rsquo;s
+private manufacture; and when I opened one of the
+wrappers, I found what seemed to me a simple, crystalline
+salt of a white colour. The phial, to which I next turned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279"></a>279</span>
+my attention, might have been about half-full of a blood-red
+liquor, which was highly pungent to the sense of smell and
+seemed to me to contain phosphorus and some volatile ether.
+At the other ingredients I could make no guess. The book
+was an ordinary version-book, and contained little but a
+series of dates. These covered a period of many years,
+but I observed that the entries ceased nearly a year ago,
+and quite abruptly. Here and there a brief remark was
+appended to a date, usually no more than a single word:
+&ldquo;double&rdquo; occurring perhaps six times in a total of several
+hundred entries; and once very early in the list, and followed
+by several marks of exclamation, &ldquo;total failure!!!&rdquo;
+All this, though it whetted my curiosity, told me little
+that was definite. Here was a phial of some tincture,
+a paper of some salt, and a record of a series of experiments
+that had led (like too many of Jekyll&rsquo;s investigations)
+to no end of practical usefulness. How could the
+presence of these articles in my house affect either the
+honour, the sanity, or the life of my flighty colleague?
+If his messenger could go to one place, why could he not
+go to another? And even granting some impediment,
+why was this gentleman to be received by me in secret?
+The more I reflected, the more convinced I grew that I
+was dealing with a case of cerebral disease; and though
+I dismissed my servants to bed, I loaded an old revolver
+that I might be found in some posture of self-defence.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve o&rsquo;clock had scarce rung out over London,
+ere the knocker sounded very gently on the door. I went
+myself at the summons, and found a small man crouching
+against the pillars of the portico.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you come from Dr. Jekyll?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>He told me &ldquo;yes&rdquo; by a constrained gesture; and
+when I had bidden him enter, he did not obey me without
+a searching backward glance into the darkness of the square.
+There was a policeman not far off, advancing with his
+bull&rsquo;s-eye open; and at the sight I thought my visitor
+started and made greater haste.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page280"></a>280</span></p>
+
+<p>These particulars struck me, I confess, disagreeably;
+and as I followed him into the bright light of the consulting-room,
+I kept my hand ready on my weapon. Here,
+at last, I had a chance of clearly seeing him. I had never
+set eyes on him before, so much was certain. He was small,
+as I have said; I was struck besides with the shocking
+expression of his face, with his remarkable combination of
+great muscular activity and great apparent debility of
+constitution, and&mdash;last but not least&mdash;with the odd,
+subjective disturbance caused by his neighbourhood.
+This bore some resemblance to incipient rigor, and was
+accompanied by a marked sinking of the pulse. At the time,
+I set it down to some idiosyncratic, personal distaste, and
+merely wondered at the acuteness of the symptoms; but
+I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much
+deeper in the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler
+hinge than the principle of hatred.</p>
+
+<p>This person (who had thus, from the first moment of
+his entrance, struck in me what I can only describe as a
+disgustful curiosity) was dressed in a fashion that would
+have made an ordinary person laughable: his clothes, that
+is to say, although they were of rich and sober fabric, were
+enormously too large for him in every measurement&mdash;the
+trousers hanging on his legs and rolled up to keep them
+from the ground, the waist of the coat below his haunches
+and the collar sprawling wide upon his shoulders. Strange
+to relate, this ludicrous accoutrement was far from moving
+me to laughter. Rather, as there was something abnormal
+and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature that now
+faced me&mdash;something seizing, surprising, and revolting&mdash;this
+fresh disparity seemed but to fit in with and to reinforce
+it; so that to my interest in the man&rsquo;s nature and character
+there was added a curiosity as to his origin, his life, his
+fortune and status in the world.</p>
+
+<p>These observations, though they have taken so great
+a space to be set down in, were yet the work of a few seconds.
+My visitor was, indeed, on fire with sombre excitement.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page281"></a>281</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you got it?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Have you got it?&rdquo;
+And so lively was his impatience that he even laid his
+hand upon my arm and sought to shake me.</p>
+
+<p>I put him back, conscious at his touch of a certain
+icy pang along my blood. &ldquo;Come, sir,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;You
+forget that I have not yet the pleasure of your acquaintance.
+Be seated, if you please.&rdquo; And I showed him an example,
+and sat down myself in my customary seat and with as fair
+an imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient as the
+lateness of the hour, the nature of my pre-occupations,
+and the horror I had of my visitor, would suffer me to
+muster.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I beg your pardon, Dr. Lanyon,&rdquo; he replied civilly
+enough. &ldquo;What you say is very well founded; and my
+impatience has shown its heels to my politeness. I come
+here at the instance of your colleague, Dr. Henry Jekyll,
+on a piece of business of some moment; and I understood ...&rdquo;
+he paused and put his hand to his throat,
+and I could see, in spite of his collected manner, that he
+was wrestling against the approaches of the hysteria&mdash;&ldquo;I
+understood, a drawer....&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But here I took pity on my visitor&rsquo;s suspense, and some
+perhaps on my own growing curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There it is, sir,&rdquo; said I, pointing to the drawer, where
+it lay on the floor behind a table and still covered with the
+sheet.</p>
+
+<p>He sprang to it, and then paused, and laid his hand
+upon his heart; I could hear his teeth grate with the convulsive
+action of his jaws; and his face was so ghastly
+to see that I grew alarmed both for his life and reason.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Compose yourself,&rdquo; said I.</p>
+
+<p>He turned a dreadful smile to me, and as if with the
+decision of despair, plucked away the sheet. At sight of
+the contents he uttered one loud sob of such immense relief
+that I sat petrified. And the next moment, in a voice that
+was already fairly well under control, &ldquo;Have you a graduated
+glass?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page282"></a>282</span></p>
+
+<p>I rose from my place with something of an effort and
+gave him what he asked.</p>
+
+<p>He thanked me with a smiling nod, measured out
+a few minims of the red tincture and added one of the
+powders. The mixture, which was at first of a reddish
+hue, began, in proportion as the crystals melted, to brighten
+in colour, to effervesce audibly, and to throw off small
+fumes of vapour. Suddenly and at the same moment,
+the ebullition ceased and the compound changed to a dark
+purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green.
+My visitor, who had watched these metamorphoses with a
+keen eye, smiled, set down the glass upon the table, and then
+turned and looked upon me with an air of scrutiny.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;to settle what remains. Will
+you be wise? will you be guided? will you suffer me to
+take this glass in my hand and to go forth from your house
+without further parley? or has the greed of curiosity too
+much command of you? Think before you answer, for
+it shall be done as you decide. As you decide, you shall be
+left as you were before, and neither richer nor wiser, unless
+the sense of service rendered to a man in mortal distress
+may be counted as a kind of riches of the soul. Or, if you
+shall so prefer to choose, a new province of knowledge and
+new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you,
+here, in this room, upon the instant; and your sight shall
+be blasted by a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said I, affecting a coolness that I was far from
+truly possessing, &ldquo;you speak enigmas, and you will perhaps
+not wonder that I hear you with no very strong impression
+of belief. But I have gone too far in the way of inexplicable
+services to pause before I see the end.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is well,&rdquo; replied my visitor. &ldquo;Lanyon, you remember
+your vows: what follows is under the seal of our
+profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to
+the most narrow and material views, you who have denied
+the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided
+your superiors&mdash;behold!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page283"></a>283</span></p>
+
+<p>He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp. A
+cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table
+and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open
+mouth; and as I looked there came, I thought, a change&mdash;he
+seemed to swell&mdash;his face became suddenly black and
+the features seemed to melt and alter&mdash;and the next moment
+I had sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall,
+my arm raised to shield me from that prodigy, my mind
+submerged in terror.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O God!&rdquo; I screamed, and &ldquo;O God!&rdquo; again and again;
+for there before my eyes&mdash;pale and shaken, and half fainting,
+and groping before him with his hands, like a man
+restored from death&mdash;there stood Henry Jekyll!</p>
+
+<p>What he told me in the next hour I cannot bring my
+mind to set on paper. I saw what I saw, I heard what I
+heard, and my soul sickened at it; and yet now when that
+sight has faded from my eyes, I ask myself if I believe it,
+and I cannot answer. My life is shaken to its roots; sleep
+has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of
+the day and night; I feel that my days are numbered, and
+that I must die; and yet I shall die incredulous. As for the
+moral turpitude that man unveiled to me, even with tears
+of penitence, I cannot, even in memory, dwell on it without
+a start of horror. I will say but one thing, Utterson, and
+that (if you can bring your mind to credit it) will be more
+than enough. The creature who crept into my house that
+night was, on Jekyll&rsquo;s own confession, known by the name
+of Hyde, and hunted for in every corner of the land as the
+murderer of Carew.</p>
+
+<p class="rt sc">Hastie Lanyon.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="art" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page284"></a>284</span></p>
+<h3>HENRY JEKYLL&rsquo;S FULL STATEMENT
+OF THE CASE</h3>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">I was</span> born in the year 18&mdash; to a large fortune, endowed besides
+with excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry,
+fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellow-men,
+and thus, as might have been supposed, with every
+guarantee of an honourable and distinguished future. And
+indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety
+of disposition such as has made the happiness of many, but
+such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire
+to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly
+grave countenance before the public. Hence it came about
+that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached
+years of reflection, and began to look round me and take
+stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood
+already committed to a profound duplicity of life. Many
+a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I
+was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before
+me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense
+of shame. It was thus rather the exacting nature of my
+aspirations than any particular degradation in my faults,
+that made me what I was, and, with even a deeper trench
+than in the majority of men, severed in me those provinces
+of good and ill which divide and compound man&rsquo;s dual
+nature. In this case, I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately
+on that hard law of life, which lies at the root of
+religion and is one of the most plentiful springs of distress.
+Though so profound a double-dealer, I was in no sense a
+hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no
+more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in
+shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285"></a>285</span>
+furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering.
+And it chanced that the direction of my scientific
+studies, which led wholly towards the mystic and the transcendental,
+reacted and shed a strong light on this consciousness
+of the perennial war among my members. With every
+day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and
+the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth,
+by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a
+dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly
+two. I say two, because the state of my own knowledge
+does not pass beyond that point. Others will follow, others
+will outstrip me on the same lines; and I hazard the guess
+that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious,
+incongruous and independent denizens. I for my
+part, from the nature of my life, advanced infallibly in one
+direction, and in one direction only. It was on the moral
+side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the
+thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that of the
+two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness,
+even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because
+I was radically both; and from an early date, even
+before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to
+suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had
+learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved day-dream, on
+the thought of the separation of these elements. If each, I
+told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life
+would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust
+might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse
+of his more upright twin; and the just could walk
+steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good
+things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed
+to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous
+evil. It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous
+fagots were thus bound together&mdash;that in the agonised
+womb of consciousness these polar twins should be continuously
+struggling. How, then, were they dissociated?</p>
+
+<p>I was so far in my reflections when, as I have said, a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286"></a>286</span>
+side-light began to shine upon the subject from the laboratory
+table. I began to perceive more deeply than it has
+ever yet been stated, the trembling immateriality, the mist-like
+transience, of this seemingly so solid body in which we
+walk attired. Certain agents I found to have the power to
+shake and to pluck that fleshy vestment, even as a wind
+might toss the curtains of a pavilion. For two good
+reasons, I will not enter deeply into this scientific branch of
+my confession. First, because I have been made to learn
+that the doom and burthen of our life is bound for ever on
+man&rsquo;s shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast it
+off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more
+awful pressure. Second, because as my narrative will
+make, alas! too evident, my discoveries were incomplete.
+Enough, then, that I not only recognised my natural body
+for the mere aura and effulgence of certain of the powers
+that made up my spirit, but managed to compound a drug
+by which these powers should be dethroned from their
+supremacy, and a second form and countenance substituted,
+none the less natural to me because they were the expression,
+and bore the stamp, of lower elements in my soul.</p>
+
+<p>I hesitated long before I put this theory to the test of
+practice. I knew well that I risked death; for any drug
+that so potently controlled and shook the very fortress of
+identity, might by the least scruple of an overdose or at the
+least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition, utterly
+blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to
+change. But the temptation of a discovery so singular and
+profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm. I had
+long since prepared my tincture; I purchased at once, from
+a firm of wholesale chemists, a large quantity of a particular
+salt which I knew, from my experiments, to be the last ingredient
+required; and late one accursed night, I compounded
+the elements, watched them boil and smoke
+together in the glass, and when the ebullition had subsided,
+with a strong glow of courage drank off the potion.</p>
+
+<p>The most racking pangs succeeded; a grinding in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page287"></a>287</span>
+bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot
+be exceeded at the hour of birth or death. Then these
+agonies began swiftly to subside, and I came to myself as if
+out of a great sickness. There was something strange in
+my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its
+very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter,
+happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness,
+a current of disordered sensual images running like
+a mill-race in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation,
+an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul.
+I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more
+wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil;
+and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me
+like wine. I stretched out my hands, exulting in the freshness
+of these sensations; and in the act I was suddenly aware
+that I had lost in stature.</p>
+
+<p>There was no mirror, at that date, in my room; that
+which stands beside me as I write was brought there later
+on, and for the very purpose of these transformations. The
+night, however, was far gone into the morning&mdash;the morning,
+black as it was, was nearly ripe for the conception of the
+day&mdash;the inmates of my house were locked in the most
+rigorous hours of slumber; and I determined, flushed as I
+was with hope and triumph, to venture in my new shape
+as far as to my bedroom. I crossed the yard, wherein the
+constellations looked down upon me, I could have thought,
+with wonder, the first creature of that sort that their unsleeping
+vigilance had yet disclosed to them; I stole through
+the corridors, a stranger in my own house; and, coming to
+my room, I saw for the first time the appearance of Edward
+Hyde.</p>
+
+<p>I must here speak by theory alone, saying not that which
+I know, but that which I suppose to be most probable. The
+evil side of my nature, to which I had now transferred the
+stamping efficacy, was less robust and less developed than
+the good which I had just deposed. Again, in the course
+of my life, which had been, after all, nine-tenths a life of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288"></a>288</span>
+effort, virtue, and control, it had been much less exercised
+and much less exhausted. And hence, as I think, it came
+about that Edward Hyde was so much smaller, slighter,
+and younger than Henry Jekyll. Even as good shone upon
+the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and
+plainly on the face of the other. Evil besides (which I must
+still believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that
+body an imprint of deformity and decay. And yet when I
+looked upon that ugly idol in the glass, I was conscious of no
+repugnance, rather of a leap of welcome. This too, was
+myself. It seemed natural and human. In my eyes it
+bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express
+and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance I
+had been hitherto accustomed to call mine. And in so far
+I was doubtless right. I have observed that when I bore
+the semblance of Edward Hyde, none could come near to
+me at first without a visible misgiving of the flesh. This, as
+I take it, was because all human beings, as we meet them, are
+commingled out of good and evil: and  Edward Hyde, alone
+in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.</p>
+
+<p>I lingered but a moment at the mirror: the second and
+conclusive experiment had yet to be attempted; it yet remained
+to be seen if I had lost my identity beyond redemption
+and must flee before daylight from a house that was no
+longer mine; and, hurrying back to my cabinet, I once more
+prepared and drank the cup, once more suffered the pangs
+of dissolution, and came to myself once more with the
+character, the stature, and the face of Henry Jekyll.</p>
+
+<p>That night I had come to the fatal cross roads. Had
+I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit, had I
+risked the experiment while under the empire of generous
+or pious aspirations, all must have been otherwise, and from
+these agonies of death and birth I had come forth an angel
+instead of a fiend. The drug had no discriminating action;
+it was neither diabolical nor divine; it but shook the doors
+of the prison-house of my disposition; and like the captives
+of Philippi, that which stood within ran forth. At that time
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289"></a>289</span>
+my virtue slumbered; my evil, kept awake by ambition,
+was alert and swift to seize the occasion; and the thing that
+was projected was Edward Hyde. Hence, although I had
+now two characters as well as two appearances, one was
+wholly evil, and the other was still the old Henry Jekyll,
+that incongruous compound of whose reformation and improvement
+I had already learned to despair. The movement
+was thus wholly toward the worse.</p>
+
+<p>Even at that time I had not yet conquered my aversion
+to the dryness of a life of study. I would still be merrily
+disposed at times; and as my pleasures were (to say the
+least) undignified, and I was not only well known and highly
+considered, but growing towards the elderly man, this incoherency
+of my life was daily growing more unwelcome.
+It was on this side that my new power tempted me until I
+fell in slavery. I had but to drink the cup, to doff at once
+the body of the noted professor, and to assume, like a thick
+cloak, that of Edward Hyde. I smiled at the notion; it
+seemed to me at the time to be humorous; and I made my
+preparations with the most studious care. I took and
+furnished that house in Soho, to which Hyde was tracked
+by the police; and engaged as housekeeper a creature whom
+I well knew to be silent and unscrupulous. On the other
+side, I announced to my servants that a Mr. Hyde (whom
+I described) was to have full liberty and power about my
+house in the square; and to parry mishaps, I even called
+and made myself a familiar object, in my second character.
+I next drew up that will to which you so much objected;
+so that if anything befell me in the person of Doctor Jekyll,
+I could enter on that of Edward Hyde without pecuniary
+loss. And thus fortified, as I supposed, on every side, I
+began to profit by the strange immunities of my position.</p>
+
+<p>Men have before hired bravos to transact their crimes,
+while their own person and reputation sat under shelter.
+I was the first that ever did so for his pleasures. I was the
+first that could thus plod in the public eye with a load of
+genial respectability, and in a moment, like a schoolboy,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page290"></a>290</span>
+strip off these leadings and spring headlong into the sea of
+liberty. But for me, in my impenetrable mantle, the safety
+was complete. Think of it&mdash;I did not even exist! Let me
+but escape into my laboratory-door, give me but a second
+or two to mix and swallow the draught that I had always
+standing ready; and whatever he had done, Edward Hyde
+would pass away like the stain of breath upon a mirror;
+and there in his stead, quietly at home, trimming the midnight
+lamp in his study, a man who could afford to laugh at
+suspicion, would be Henry Jekyll.</p>
+
+<p>The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise
+were, as I have said, undignified; I would scarce use a
+harder term. But in the hands of Edward Hyde they soon
+began to turn towards the monstrous. When I would come
+back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind
+of wonder at my vicarious depravity. This familiar that
+I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his
+good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous;
+his every act and thought centred on self; drinking pleasure
+with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another;
+relentless like a man of stone. Henry Jekyll stood at times
+aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation
+was apart from ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the
+grasp of conscience. It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde
+alone, that was guilty. Jekyll was no worse; he woke
+again to his good qualities seemingly unimpaired; he would
+even make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil
+done by Hyde. And thus his conscience slumbered.</p>
+
+<p>Into the details of the infamy at which I thus connived
+(for even now I can scarce grant that I committed it) I
+have no design of entering; I mean but to point out the
+warnings and the successive steps with which my chastisement
+approached. I met with one accident which, as it
+brought on no consequence, I shall no more than mention.
+An act of cruelty to a child aroused against me the anger of
+a passer-by, whom I recognised the other day in the person
+of your kinsman; the doctor and the child&rsquo;s family joined
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291"></a>291</span>
+him; there were moments when I feared for my life; and
+at last, in order to pacify their too just resentment, Edward
+Hyde had to bring them to the door, and pay them in a
+cheque drawn in the name of Henry Jekyll. But this
+danger was easily eliminated from the future, by opening
+an account at another bank in the name of Edward Hyde
+himself; and when, by sloping my own hand backward, I
+had supplied my double with a signature, I thought I sat
+beyond the reach of fate.</p>
+
+<p>Some two months before the murder of Sir Danvers, I
+had been out for one of my adventures, had returned at a
+late hour, and woke the next day in bed with somewhat odd
+sensations. It was in vain I looked about me; in vain I
+saw the decent furniture and tall proportions of my room
+in the square; in vain that I recognised the pattern of the
+bed-curtains and the design of the mahogany frame; something
+still kept insisting that I was not where I was, that I
+had not wakened where I seemed to be, but in the little
+room in Soho where I was accustomed to sleep in the body
+of Edward Hyde. I smiled to myself, and, in my psychological
+way, began lazily to inquire into the elements of this
+illusion, occasionally, even as I did so, dropping back into a
+comfortable morning doze. I was still so engaged when,
+in one of my more wakeful moments, my eye fell upon my
+hand. Now the hand of Henry Jekyll (as you have often
+remarked) was professional in shape and size: it was large,
+firm, white, and comely. But the hand which I now saw,
+clearly enough, in the yellow light of a mid-London morning,
+lying half shut on the bed-clothes, was lean, corded,
+knuckly, of a dusky pallor, and thickly shaded with a swart
+growth of hair. It was the hand of Edward Hyde.</p>
+
+<p>I must have stared upon it for near half a minute, sunk
+as I was in the mere stupidity of wonder, before terror woke
+up in my breast as sudden and startling as the crash of
+cymbals; and bounding from my bed, I rushed to the mirror.
+At the sight that met my eyes my blood was changed into
+something exquisitely thin and icy. Yes, I had gone to bed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page292"></a>292</span>
+Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde. How was
+this to be explained? I asked myself; and then, with
+another bound of terror&mdash;how was it to be remedied? It
+was well on in the morning; the servants were up; all my
+drugs were in the cabinet&mdash;a long journey, down two pairs
+of stairs, through the back passage, across the open court
+and through the anatomical theatre, from where I was
+then standing horror-struck. It might indeed be possible
+to cover my face; but of what use was that, when I was
+unable to conceal the alteration in my stature? And then,
+with an overpowering sweetness of relief, it came back upon
+my mind that the servants were already used to the coming
+and going of my second self. I had soon dressed, as well as
+I was able, in clothes of my own size: had soon passed
+through the house, where Bradshaw stared and drew back
+at seeing Mr. Hyde at such an hour and in such a strange
+array; and ten minutes later Dr. Jekyll had returned to his
+own shape, and was sitting down, with a darkened brow,
+to make a feint of breakfasting.</p>
+
+<p>Small indeed was my appetite. This inexplicable incident,
+this reversal of my previous experience, seemed, like
+the Babylonian finger on the wall, to be spelling out the
+letters of my judgment; and I began to reflect more seriously
+than ever before on the issues and possibilities of my double
+existence. That part of me which I had the power of projecting
+had lately been much exercised and nourished; it
+had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward
+Hyde had grown in stature, as though (when I wore that
+form) I were conscious of a more generous tide of blood;
+and I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged,
+the balance of my nature might be permanently
+overthrown, the power of voluntary change be forfeited,
+and the character of Edward Hyde become irrevocably mine.
+The power of the drug had not always been equally displayed.
+Once, very early in my career, it had totally failed
+me; since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion
+to double, and once, with infinite risk of death, to treble
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293"></a>293</span>
+the amount; and these rare uncertainties had cast hitherto
+the sole shadow on my contentment. Now, however, and
+in the light of that morning&rsquo;s accident, I was led to remark
+that whereas, in the beginning, the difficulty had been to
+throw off the body of Jekyll, it had of late gradually but
+decidedly transferred itself to the other side. All things
+therefore seemed to point to this: that I was slowly losing
+hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly
+incorporated with my second and worse.</p>
+
+<p>Between these two, I now felt I had to choose. My two
+natures had memory in common, but all other faculties
+were most unequally shared between them. Jekyll (who
+was composite) now with the most sensitive apprehensions,
+now with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the
+pleasures and adventures of Hyde; but Hyde was indifferent
+to Jekyll, or but remembered him as the mountain
+bandit remembers the cavern in which he conceals himself
+from pursuit. Jekyll had more than a father&rsquo;s interest;
+Hyde had more than a son&rsquo;s indifference. To cast in my lot
+with Jekyll was to die to those appetites which I had long
+secretly indulged, and had of late begun to pamper. To
+cast it in with Hyde was to die to a thousand interests and
+aspirations, and to become, at a blow and for ever, despised
+and friendless. The bargain might appear unequal; but
+there was still another consideration in the scales; for while
+Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence,
+Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost.
+Strange as my circumstances were, the terms of this debate
+are as old and commonplace as man; much the same inducements
+and alarms cast the die for any tempted and
+trembling sinner; and it fell out with me, as it falls with so
+vast a majority of my fellows, that I chose the better part,
+and was found wanting in the strength to keep to it.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor,
+surrounded by friends and cherishing honest hopes; and
+bade a resolute farewell to the liberty, the comparative
+youth, the light step, leaping pulses, and secret pleasures,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page294"></a>294</span>
+that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde. I made this
+choice perhaps with some unconscious reservation, for I
+neither gave up the house in Soho, nor destroyed the clothes
+of Edward Hyde, which still lay ready in my cabinet. For
+two months, however, I was true to my determination; for
+two months I led a life of such severity as I had never before
+attained to, and enjoyed the compensations of an approving
+conscience. But time began at last to obliterate the freshness
+of my alarm; the praises of conscience began to grow
+into a thing of course; I began to be tortured with throes
+and longings, as of Hyde struggling after freedom; and at
+last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded
+and swallowed the transforming draught.</p>
+
+<p>I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with
+himself upon his vice, he is once out of five hundred times
+affected by the dangers that he runs through his brutish,
+physical insensibility; neither had I, long as I had considered
+my position, made enough allowance for the complete
+moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil,
+which were the leading characters of Edward Hyde. Yet it
+was by these that I was punished. My devil had been long
+caged, he came out roaring. I was conscious, even when I
+took the draught, of a more unbridled, a more furious propensity
+to ill. It must have been this, I suppose, that
+stirred in my soul that tempest of impatience with which I
+listened to the civilities of my unhappy victim; I declare at
+least, before God, no man morally sane could have been
+guilty of that crime upon so pitiful a provocation; and that
+I struck in no more reasonable spirit than that in which a
+sick child may break a plaything. But I had voluntarily
+stripped myself of all those balancing instincts, by which
+even the worst of us continues to walk with some degree of
+steadiness among temptations; and in my case, to be
+tempted, however slightly, was to fall.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged.
+With a transport of glee I mauled the unresisting body,
+tasting delight from every blow: and it was not till weariness
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295"></a>295</span>
+had begun to succeed, that I was suddenly, in the top
+fit of my delirium, struck through the heart by a cold thrill
+of terror. A mist dispersed; I saw my life to be forfeit;
+and fled from the scene of these excesses, at once glorying
+and trembling, my lust of evil gratified and stimulated, my
+love of life screwed to the topmost peg. I ran to the house
+in Soho, and (to make assurance doubly sure) destroyed my
+papers; thence I set out through the lamplit streets, in the
+same divided ecstasy of mind, gloating on my crime, light-headedly
+devising others in the future, and yet still hastening
+and still hearkening in my wake for the steps of the
+avenger. Hyde had a song upon his lips as he compounded
+the draught, and as he drank it, pledged the dead man.
+The pangs of transformation had not done tearing him, before
+Henry Jekyll, with streaming tears of gratitude and
+remorse, had fallen upon his knees and lifted his clasped
+hands to God. The veil of self-indulgence was rent from
+head to foot, I saw my life as a whole: I followed it up from
+the days of childhood, when I had walked with my father&rsquo;s
+hand, and through the self-denying toils of my professional
+life, to arrive again and again, with the same sense of unreality,
+at the damned horrors of the evening. I could have
+screamed aloud; I sought with tears and prayers to smother
+down the crowd of hideous images and sounds with which
+my memory swarmed against me; and still, between the
+petitions, the ugly face of my iniquity stared into my soul.
+As the acuteness of this remorse began to die away, it was
+succeeded by a sense of joy. The problem of my conduct
+was solved. Hyde was thenceforth impossible; whether
+I would or not, I was now confined to the better part of my
+existence; and oh how I rejoiced to think it! with what
+willing humility I embraced anew the restrictions of natural
+life! with what sincere renunciation I locked the door by
+which I had so often gone and come, and ground the key
+under my heel!</p>
+
+<p>The next day came the news that the murder had been
+overlooked, that the guilt of Hyde was patent to the world,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296"></a>296</span>
+and that the victim was a man high in public estimation.
+It was not only a crime, it had been a tragic folly. I think
+I was glad to know it; I think I was glad to have my better
+impulses thus buttressed and guarded by the terrors of the
+scaffold. Jekyll was now my city of refuge; let but Hyde
+peep out an instant, and the hands of all men would be
+raised to take and slay him.</p>
+
+<p>I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past;
+and I can say with honesty that my resolve was fruitful of
+some good. You know yourself how earnestly in the last
+months of last year, I laboured to relieve suffering; you know
+that much was done for others, and that the days passed
+quietly, almost happily for myself. Nor can I truly say
+that I wearied of this beneficent and innocent life; I think
+instead that I daily enjoyed it more completely; but I was
+still cursed with my duality of purpose; and as the first
+edge of my penitence wore off, the lower side of me, so long
+indulged, so recently chained down, began to growl for
+licence. Not that I dreamed of resuscitating Hyde; the
+bare idea of that would startle me to frenzy: no, it was in
+my own person that I was once more tempted to trifle with
+my conscience; and it was as an ordinary secret sinner that
+I at last fell before the assaults of temptation.</p>
+
+<p>There comes an end to all things; the most capacious
+measure is filled at last; and this brief condescension to evil
+finally destroyed the balance of my soul. And yet I was
+not alarmed; the fall seemed natural, like a return to the
+old days before I had made my discovery. It was a fine,
+clear, January day, wet under foot where the frost had
+melted, but cloudless overhead; and the Regent&rsquo;s Park
+was full of winter chirrupings and sweet with spring odours.
+I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal within me licking
+the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little drowsed,
+promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin.
+After all, I reflected, I was like my neighbours; and
+then I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing
+my active goodwill with the lazy cruelty of their neglect.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297"></a>297</span>
+And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought a
+qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly
+shuddering. These passed away, and left me faint; and
+then, as in its turn the faintness subsided, I began to be
+aware of a change in the temper of my thoughts, a greater
+boldness, a contempt of danger, a solution of the bonds of
+obligation. I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly
+on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was
+corded and hairy. I was once more Edward Hyde. A
+moment before I had been safe of all men&rsquo;s respect, wealthy,
+beloved&mdash;the cloth laying for me in the dining-room at home;
+and now I was the common quarry of mankind, hunted,
+houseless, a known murderer, thrall to the gallows.</p>
+
+<p>My reason wavered, but it did not fail me utterly. I
+have more than once observed that, in my second character,
+my faculties seemed sharpened to a point and my spirits
+more tensely elastic; thus it came about that, where Jekyll
+perhaps might have succumbed, Hyde rose to the importance
+of the moment. My drugs were in one of the presses
+of my cabinet; how was I to reach them? That was the
+problem that (crushing my temples in my hands) I set myself
+to solve. The laboratory door I had closed. If I
+sought to enter by the house, my own servants would consign
+me to the gallows. I saw I must employ another hand,
+and thought of Lanyon. How was he to be reached? how
+persuaded? Supposing that I escaped capture in the
+streets, how was I to make my way into his presence? and
+how should I, an unknown and displeasing visitor, prevail
+on the famous physician to rifle the study of his colleague,
+Dr. Jekyll? Then I remembered that of my original character,
+one part remained to me: I could write my own hand;
+and once I had conceived that kindling spark, the way that
+I must follow became lighted up from end to end.</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon I arranged my clothes as best I could, and
+summoning a passing hansom, drove to a hotel in Portland
+Street, the name of which I chanced to remember. At my
+appearance (which was indeed comical enough, however
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298"></a>298</span>
+tragic a fate these garments covered) the driver could not
+conceal his mirth. I gnashed my teeth upon him with a
+gust of devilish fury; and the smile withered from his face&mdash;happily
+for him&mdash;yet more happily for myself, for in another
+instant I had certainly dragged him from his perch. At the
+inn, as I entered, I looked about me with so black a countenance
+as made the attendants tremble; not a look did
+they exchange in my presence; but obsequiously took my
+orders, led me to a private room, and brought me wherewithal
+to write. Hyde in danger of his life was a creature
+new to me: shaken with inordinate anger, strung to the
+pitch of murder, lusting to inflict pain. Yet the creature
+was astute; mastered his fury with a great effort of the will;
+composed his two important letters, one to Lanyon and one
+to Poole; and that he might receive actual evidence of their
+being posted, sent them out with directions that they should
+be registered.</p>
+
+<p>Thenceforward, he sat all day over the fire in the private
+room, gnawing his nails; there he dined, sitting alone with
+his fears, the waiter visibly quailing before his eye; and
+then, when the night was fully come, he set forth in the
+corner of a closed cab, and was driven to and fro about the
+streets of the city. He, I say&mdash;I cannot say, I. That child
+of Hell had nothing human; nothing lived in him but fear
+and hatred. And when at last, thinking the driver had begun
+to grow suspicious, he discharged the cab and ventured
+on foot, attired in his misfitting clothes, an object marked
+out for observation, into the midst of the nocturnal passengers,
+these two base passions raged within him like a tempest.
+He walked fast, hunted by his fears, chattering to himself,
+skulking through the less frequented thoroughfares, counting
+the minutes that still divided him from midnight.
+Once a woman spoke to him, offering, I think, a box of lights.
+He smote her in the face, and she fled.</p>
+
+<p>When I came to myself at Lanyon&rsquo;s, the horror of my
+old friend perhaps affected me somewhat: I do not know;
+it was at least but a drop in the sea to the abhorrence with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page299"></a>299</span>
+which I looked back upon these hours. A change had
+come over me. It was no longer the fear of the gallows, it
+was the horror of being Hyde that racked me. I received
+Lanyon&rsquo;s condemnation partly in a dream; it was partly
+in a dream that I came home to my own house and got into
+bed. I slept after the prostration of the day, with a stringent
+and profound slumber which not even the nightmares
+that wrung me could avail to break. I awoke in the morning
+shaken, weakened, but refreshed. I still hated and
+feared the thought of the brute that slept within me, and I
+had not, of course, forgotten the appalling dangers of the
+day before; but I was once more at home, in my own house
+and close to my drugs; and gratitude for my escape shone
+so strong in my soul that it almost rivalled the brightness of
+hope.</p>
+
+<p>I was stepping leisurely across the court after breakfast,
+drinking the chill of the air with pleasure, when I was seized
+again with those indescribable sensations that heralded the
+change; and I had but the time to gain the shelter of my
+cabinet, before I was once again raging and freezing with the
+passions of Hyde. It took on this occasion a double dose
+to recall me to myself; and alas! six hours after, as I sat
+looking sadly in the fire, the pangs returned, and the drug
+had to be re-administered. In short, from that day forth
+it seemed only by a great effort as of gymnastics, and only
+under the immediate stimulation of the drug, that I was
+able to wear the countenance of Jekyll. At all hours of the
+day and night I would be taken with the premonitory
+shudder; above all, if I slept, or even dozed for a moment
+in my chair, it was always as Hyde that I awakened. Under
+the strain of this continually impending doom and by the
+sleeplessness to which I now condemned myself, ay, even
+beyond what I had thought possible to man, I became, in
+my own person, a creature eaten up and emptied by fever,
+languidly weak both in body and mind, and solely occupied
+by one thought: the horror of my other self. But when I
+slept, or when the virtue of the medicine wore off, I would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page300"></a>300</span>
+leap almost without transition (for the pangs of transformation
+grew daily less marked) into the possession of a
+fancy brimming with images of terror, a soul boiling with
+causeless hatreds, and a body that seemed not strong enough
+to contain the raging energies of life. The powers of Hyde
+seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll. And
+certainly the hate that now divided them was equal on each
+side. With Jekyll, it was a thing of vital instinct. He had
+now seen the full deformity of that creature that shared
+with him some of the phenomena of consciousness, and was
+co-heir with him to death: and beyond these links of community,
+which in themselves made the most poignant part
+of his distress, he thought of Hyde, for all his energy of life,
+as of something not only hellish but inorganic. This was
+the shocking thing; that the slime of the pit seemed to utter
+cries and voices; that the amorphous dust gesticulated and
+sinned; that what was dead, and had no shape, should
+usurp the offices of life. And this again, that that insurgent
+horror was knit to him closer than a wife, closer than an eye;
+lay caged in his flesh, where he heard it mutter and felt it
+struggle to be born; and at every hour of weakness, and in
+the confidence of slumber, prevailed against him, and deposed
+him out of life. The hatred of Hyde for Jekyll was
+of a different order. His terror of the gallows drove him
+continually to commit temporary suicide, and return to his
+subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he
+loathed the necessity, he loathed the despondency into
+which Jekyll was now fallen, and he resented the dislike
+with which he was himself regarded. Hence the ape-like
+tricks that he would play me, scrawling in my own hand
+blasphemies on the pages of my books, burning the letters
+and destroying the portrait of my father; and indeed, had
+it not been for his fear of death, he would long ago have
+ruined himself in order to involve me in the ruin. But his
+love of life is wonderful; I go further: I, who sicken and
+freeze at the mere thought of him, when I recall the abjection
+and passion of this attachment, and when I know how
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page301"></a>301</span>
+he fears my power to cut him off by suicide, I find it in my
+heart to pity him.</p>
+
+<p>It is useless, and the time awfully fails me, to prolong
+this description; no one has ever suffered such torments,
+let that suffice; and yet even to these, habit brought&mdash;no,
+not alleviation&mdash;but a certain callousness of soul, a certain
+acquiescence of despair; and my punishment might have
+gone on for years, but for the last calamity which has now
+fallen, and which has finally severed me from my own face
+and nature. My provision of the salt, which had never
+been renewed since the date of the first experiment, began
+to run low. I sent out for a fresh supply, and mixed the
+draught; the ebullition followed, and the first change of
+colour, not the second; I drank it and it was without
+efficiency. You will learn from Poole how I have had
+London ransacked; it was in vain; and I am now persuaded
+that my first supply was impure, and that it was that unknown
+impurity which lent efficacy to the draught.</p>
+
+<p>About a week has passed, and I am now finishing this
+statement under the influence of the last of the old powders.
+This, then, is the last time, short of a miracle, that Henry
+Jekyll can think his own thoughts or see his own face (now
+how sadly altered!) in the glass. Nor must I delay too long
+to bring my writing to an end; for if my narrative has
+hitherto escaped destruction, it has been by a combination
+of great prudence and great good luck. Should the throes
+of change take me in the act of writing it, Hyde will tear it
+in pieces; but if some time shall have elapsed after I have
+laid it by, his wonderful selfishness and circumscription to
+the moment will probably save it once again from the action
+of his ape-like spite. And indeed the doom that is closing
+on us both has already changed and crushed him. Half
+an hour from now, when I shall again and for ever re-indue
+that hated personality, I know how I shall sit shuddering
+and weeping in my chair, or continue, with the most strained
+and fearstruck ecstasy of listening, to pace up and down
+this room (my last earthly refuge) and give ear to every
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page302"></a>302</span>
+sound of menace. Will Hyde die upon the scaffold? or
+will he find the courage to release himself at the last moment?
+God knows; I am careless; this is my true hour of death,
+and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here
+then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession,
+I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an
+end.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page303"></a>303</span></p>
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2>THRAWN JANET</h2>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page304"></a>304</span></p>
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page305"></a>305</span></p>
+<h2>THRAWN JANET</h2>
+
+<p class="noind"><span class="sc">The</span> Reverend Murdoch Soulis was long minister of the
+moorland parish of Balweary, in the vale of Dule. A
+severe, bleak-faced old man, dreadful to his hearers, he
+dwelt in the last years of his life, without relative or servant
+or any human company, in the small and lonely manse
+under the Hanging Shaw. In spite of the iron composure
+of his features, his eye was wild, scared, and uncertain;
+and when he dwelt, in private admonitions, on the future
+of the impenitent, it seemed as if his eye pierced through
+the storms of time to the terrors of eternity. Many young
+persons, coming to prepare themselves against the season
+of the Holy Communion, were dreadfully affected by his
+talk. He had a sermon on 1st Peter v. and 8th, &ldquo;The devil
+as a roaring lion,&rdquo; on the Sunday after every seventeenth
+of August, and he was accustomed to surpass himself upon
+that text both by the appalling nature of the matter and
+the terror of his bearing in the pulpit. The children were
+frightened into fits, and the old looked more than usually
+oracular, and were, all that day, full of those hints that
+Hamlet deprecated. The manse itself, where it stood
+by the water of Dule among some thick trees, with the Shaw
+overhanging it on the one side, and on the other many cold,
+moorish hill-tops rising towards the sky, had begun, at a
+very early period of Mr. Soulis&rsquo;s ministry, to be avoided in
+the dusk hours by all who valued themselves upon their
+prudence; and guidmen sitting at the clachan alehouse
+shook their heads together at the thought of passing late
+by that uncanny neighbourhood. There was one spot,
+to be more particular, which was regarded with especial
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page306"></a>306</span>
+awe. The manse stood between the high-road and the
+water of Dule, with a gable to each; its back was towards
+the kirktown of Balweary, nearly half a mile away; in
+front of it, a bare garden, hedged with thorn, occupied the
+land between the river and the road. The house was two
+stories high, with two large rooms on each. It opened not
+directly on the garden, but on a causewayed path, or passage,
+giving on the road on the one hand, and closed on the other
+by the tall willows and elders that bordered on the stream.
+And it was this strip of causeway that enjoyed among the
+young parishioners of Balweary so infamous a reputation.
+The minister walked there often after dark, sometimes groaning
+aloud in the instancy of his unspoken prayers; and
+when he was from home, and the manse door was locked,
+the more daring schoolboys ventured, with beating hearts,
+to &ldquo;follow my leader&rdquo; across that legendary spot.</p>
+
+<p>This atmosphere of terror, surrounding, as it did, a
+man of God of spotless character and orthodoxy, was
+a common cause of wonder and subject of inquiry among
+the few strangers who were led by chance or business into
+that unknown, outlying country. But many even of the
+people of the parish were ignorant of the strange events
+which had marked the first year of Mr. Soulis&rsquo;s ministrations;
+and among those who were better informed, some
+were naturally reticent, and others shy of that particular
+topic. Now and again, only, one of the older folk would
+warm into courage over his third tumbler, and recount
+the cause of the minister&rsquo;s strange looks and solitary life.</p>
+
+<div class="pt05">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p>Fifty years syne, when Mr. Soulis cam&rsquo; first into
+Ba&rsquo;weary, he was still a young man&mdash;a callant, the folk
+said&mdash;fu&rsquo; o&rsquo; book-learnin&rsquo; an&rsquo; grand at the exposition,
+but, as was natural in sae young a man, wi&rsquo; nae leevin&rsquo;
+experience in religion. The younger sort were greatly
+taken wi&rsquo; his gifts an&rsquo; his gab; but auld, concerned, serious
+men and women were moved even to prayer for the young
+man, whom they took to be a self-deceiver, an&rsquo; the parish
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307"></a>307</span>
+that was like to be sae ill-supplied. It was before the days o&rsquo;
+the Moderates&mdash;weary fa&rsquo; them; but ill things are like guid&mdash;they
+baith come bit by bit, a pickle at a time; an&rsquo; there
+were folk even then that said the Lord had left the college
+professors to their ain devices, an&rsquo; the lads that went to
+study wi&rsquo; them wad hae done mair an&rsquo; better sittin&rsquo; in a
+peat-bog, like their forbears o&rsquo; the persecution, wi&rsquo; a Bible
+under their oxter an&rsquo; a speerit o&rsquo; prayer in their heart.
+There was nae doubt, onyway, but that Mr. Soulis had been
+ower lang at the college. He was careful an&rsquo; troubled for
+mony things besides the ae thing needful. He had a feck
+o&rsquo; books wi&rsquo; him&mdash;mair than had ever been seen before in
+a&rsquo; that presbytery; and a sair wark the carrier had wi&rsquo;
+them, for they were a&rsquo; like to have smoored in the De&rsquo;il&rsquo;s
+Hag between this an&rsquo; Kilmackerlie. They were books
+o&rsquo; divinity, to be sure, or so they ca&rsquo;d them; but the
+serious were of opinion there was little service for sae mony,
+when the hale o&rsquo; God&rsquo;s Word would gang in the neuk o&rsquo;
+a plaid. Then he wad sit half the day, an&rsquo; half the nicht
+forbye, which was scant decent&mdash;writin&rsquo;, nae less; an&rsquo; first,
+they were feared he wad read his sermons; an&rsquo; syne it
+proved he was writin&rsquo; a book himsel&rsquo;, which was surely
+no&rsquo; flttin&rsquo; for ane o&rsquo; his years an&rsquo; sma&rsquo; experience.</p>
+
+<p>Onyway it behoved him to get an auld, decent wife
+to keep the manse for him an&rsquo; see to his bit denners; an&rsquo;
+he was recommended to an auld limmer&mdash;Janet M&rsquo;Clour,
+they ca&rsquo;d her&mdash;an&rsquo; sae far left to himsel&rsquo; as to be ower
+persuaded. There was mony advised him to the contrar,
+for Janet was mair than suspeckit by the best folk in
+Ba&rsquo;weary. Lang or that, she had had a wean to a dragoon;
+she hadna come forrit<a name="FnAnchor_5" href="#Footnote_5"><span class="sp">5</span></a> for maybe thretty year; an&rsquo; bairns
+had seen her mumblin&rsquo; to hersel&rsquo; up on Key&rsquo;s Loan in
+the gloamin&rsquo;, whilk was an unco time an&rsquo; place for a God-fearin&rsquo;
+woman. Howsoever, it was the laird himsel&rsquo; that
+had first tauld the minister o&rsquo; Janet; an&rsquo; in thae days he
+wad hae gane a far gate to pleesure the laird. When folk
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page308"></a>308</span>
+tauld him that Janet was sib to the de&rsquo;il, it was a&rsquo; superstition
+by his way o&rsquo; it; an&rsquo; when they cast up the Bible
+to him an&rsquo; the witch o&rsquo; Endor, he wad threep it doun their
+thrapples that thir days were a&rsquo; gane by, an&rsquo; the de&rsquo;il was
+mercifully restrained.</p>
+
+<p>Weel, when it got about the clachan that Janet M&rsquo;Clour
+was to be servant at the manse, the folk were fair mad wi&rsquo;
+her an&rsquo; him thegither; an&rsquo; some o&rsquo; the guid wives had nae
+better to dae than get round her door-cheeks and chairge
+her wi&rsquo; a&rsquo; that was ken&rsquo;t again&rsquo; her, frae the sodger&rsquo;s
+bairn to John Tamson&rsquo;s twa kye. She was nae great
+speaker; folk usually let her gang her ain gate, an&rsquo; she let
+them gang theirs, wi&rsquo; neither Fair-guid-een nor Fair-guid-day:
+but when she buckled to, she had a tongue to deave
+the miller. Up she got, an&rsquo; there wasna an auld story in
+Ba&rsquo;weary but she gart somebody lowp for it that day;
+they couldna say ae thing but she could say twa to it; till,
+at the hinder end, the guidwives up and claught hand o&rsquo; her,
+an&rsquo; clawed the coats aff her back, an&rsquo; pu&rsquo;d her doun the
+clachan to the water o&rsquo; Dule, to see if she were a witch or
+no, soom or droun. The carline skirled till ye could hear
+her at the Hangin&rsquo; Shaw, an&rsquo; she focht like ten; there
+was mony a guidwife bure the mark o&rsquo; her neist day an&rsquo;
+mony a lang day after; an&rsquo; just in the hottest o&rsquo; the
+collieshangie, wha suld come up (for his sins) but the new
+minister.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Women,&rdquo; said he (and he had a grand voice), &ldquo;I
+charge you in the Lord&rsquo;s name to let her go.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Janet ran to him&mdash;she was fair wud wi&rsquo; terror&mdash;an&rsquo;
+clang to him, an&rsquo; prayed him, for Christ&rsquo;s sake, save her
+frae the cummers; an&rsquo; they, for their pairt, tauld him a&rsquo;
+that was ken&rsquo;t, an&rsquo; maybe mair.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Woman,&rdquo; says he to Janet, &ldquo;is this true?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As the Lord sees me,&rdquo; says she, &ldquo;as the Lord made
+me, no a word o&rsquo;t. Forbye the bairn,&rdquo; says she, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been
+a decent woman a&rsquo; my days.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Will you,&rdquo; says Mr. Soulis, &ldquo;in the name of God, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page309"></a>309</span>
+before me, His unworthy minister, renounce the devil and
+his works?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Weel, it wad appear that when he askit that, she gave
+a girn that fairly frichtit them that saw her, an&rsquo; they could
+hear her teeth play dirl thegither in her chafts; but there
+was naething for&rsquo;t but the ae way or the ither; an&rsquo; Janet
+lifted up her hand an&rsquo; renounced the de&rsquo;il before them a&rsquo;.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And now,&rdquo; says Mr. Soulis to the guidwives, &ldquo;home
+with ye, one and all, and pray to God for His forgiveness.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>An&rsquo; he gied Janet his arm, though she had little on
+her but a sark, an&rsquo; took her up the clachan to her ain
+door like a leddy o&rsquo; the land; an&rsquo; her screighin&rsquo; and laughin&rsquo;
+as was a scandal to be heard.</p>
+
+<p>There were mony grave folk lang ower their prayers
+that nicht; but when the morn cam&rsquo; there was sic a fear
+fell upon a&rsquo; Ba&rsquo;weary that the bairns hid theirsels, an&rsquo;
+even the men-folk stood an&rsquo; keekit frae their doors. For
+there was Janet comin&rsquo; doun the clachan&mdash;her or her
+likeness, nane could tell&mdash;wi&rsquo; her neck thrawn, an&rsquo; her heid
+on ae side, like a body that has been hangit, an&rsquo; a girn on
+her face like an unstreakit corp. By an&rsquo; by they got used
+wi&rsquo; it, an&rsquo; even speered at her to ken what was wrang; but
+frae that day forth she couldna speak like a Christian woman,
+but slavered an&rsquo; played click wi&rsquo; her teeth like a pair o&rsquo;
+shears; an&rsquo; frae that day forth the name o&rsquo; God cam&rsquo; never
+on her lips. Whiles she wad try to say it, but it michtna
+be. Them that kenned best said least; but they never gied
+that Thing the name o&rsquo; Janet M&rsquo;Clour; for the auld Janet,
+by their way o&rsquo;t, was in muckle hell that day. But the
+minister was neither to haud nor to bind; he preached
+about naething but the folk&rsquo;s cruelty that had gi&rsquo;en her a
+stroke of the palsy; he skelpit the bairns that meddled her;
+an&rsquo; he had her up to the manse that same nicht, an&rsquo; dwalled
+there a&rsquo; his lane wi&rsquo; her under the Hangin&rsquo; Shaw.</p>
+
+<p>Weel, time gaed by: an&rsquo; the idler sort commenced
+to think mair lichtly o&rsquo; that black business. The minister
+was weel thocht o&rsquo;; he was aye late at the writing, folk
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page310"></a>310</span>
+wad see his can&rsquo;le doon by the Dule water after twal&rsquo;
+at e&rsquo;en; an&rsquo; he seemed pleased wi&rsquo; himsel&rsquo; an&rsquo; upsitten
+as at first, though a&rsquo; body could see that he was dwining.
+As for Janet she cam&rsquo; an&rsquo; she gaed; if she didna speak
+muckle afore, it was reason she should speak less then;
+she meddled naebody; but she was an eldritch thing to
+see, an&rsquo; nane wad hae mistrysted wi&rsquo; her for Ba&rsquo;weary
+glebe.</p>
+
+<p>About the end o&rsquo; July there cam&rsquo; a spell o&rsquo; weather,
+the like o&rsquo;t never was in that countryside; it was lown
+an&rsquo; het an&rsquo; heartless; the herds couldna win up the Black
+Hill, the bairns were ower weariet to play; an&rsquo; yet it was
+gousty too, wi&rsquo; claps o&rsquo; het wund that rumm&rsquo;led in the glens,
+and bits o&rsquo; shouers that slockened naething. We aye
+thocht it but to thun&rsquo;er on the morn; but the morn cam&rsquo;,
+an&rsquo; the morn&rsquo;s morning, an&rsquo; it was aye the same uncanny
+weather, sair on folks and bestial. O&rsquo; a&rsquo; that were the waur,
+nane suffered like Mr. Soulis; he could neither sleep nor
+eat, he tauld his elders; an&rsquo; when he wasna writin&rsquo; at his
+weary book, he wad be stravaguin&rsquo; ower a&rsquo; the countryside
+like a man possessed, when a&rsquo; body else was blithe to keep
+caller ben the house.</p>
+
+<p>Abune Hangin&rsquo; Shaw, in the bield o&rsquo; the Black Hill,
+there&rsquo;s a bit enclosed grund wi&rsquo; an iron yett; an&rsquo; it seems,
+in the auld days, that was the kirkyaird o&rsquo; Ba&rsquo;weary, and
+consecrated by the Papists before the blessed licht shone
+upon the kingdom. It was a great howff o&rsquo; Mr. Soulis&rsquo;s,
+onyway; there he wad sit an&rsquo; consider his sermons; an&rsquo;
+indeed it&rsquo;s a bieldy bit. Weel, as he cam&rsquo; ower the wast end
+o&rsquo; the Black Hill ae day, he saw first twa, an&rsquo; syne fower,
+an&rsquo; syne seeven corbie craws fleein&rsquo; round an&rsquo; round abune
+the auld kirkyaird. They flew laigh an&rsquo; heavy, an&rsquo; squawked
+to ither as they gaed; an&rsquo; it was clear to Mr. Soulis that something
+had put them frae their ordinar&rsquo;. He wasna easy
+fleyed, an&rsquo; gaed straucht up to the wa&rsquo;s; an&rsquo; what suld
+he find there but a man, or the appearance o&rsquo; a man, sittin&rsquo;
+in the inside upon a grave. He was of a great stature, an&rsquo;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page311"></a>311</span>
+black as hell, an&rsquo; his e&rsquo;en were singular to see.<a name="FnAnchor_6" href="#Footnote_6"><span class="sp">6</span></a> Mr. Soulis
+had heard tell o&rsquo; black men, mony&rsquo;s the time; but there was
+something unco about this black man that daunted him.
+Het as he was, he took a kind o&rsquo; cauld grue in the marrow
+o&rsquo; his banes; but up he spak for a&rsquo; that; an&rsquo; says he: &ldquo;My
+friend, are you a stranger in this place?&rdquo; The black man
+answered never a word; he got upon his feet, an&rsquo; begoud to
+hirsle to the wa&rsquo; on the far side; but he aye lookit at the
+minister; an&rsquo; the minister stood an&rsquo; lookit back; till a&rsquo;
+in a meenit the black man was ower the wa&rsquo; an&rsquo; rinnin&rsquo;
+for the bield o&rsquo; the trees. Mr. Soulis, he hardly kenned
+why, ran after him; but he was fair forjeskit wi&rsquo; his walk
+an&rsquo; the het, unhalesome weather; an&rsquo; rin as he likit, he got
+nae mair than a glisk o&rsquo; the black man amang the birks,
+till he won doun to the foot o&rsquo; the hillside, an&rsquo; there he saw
+him ance mair, gaun hap-step-an&rsquo;-lowp ower Dule water
+to the manse.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Soulis wasna weel pleased that this fearsome gangrel
+suld mak&rsquo; sae free wi&rsquo; Ba&rsquo;weary manse; an&rsquo; he ran the
+harder, an&rsquo;, wet shoon, ower the burn, an&rsquo; up the walk;
+but the deil a black man was there to see. He stepped out
+upon the road, but there was naebody there; he gaed a&rsquo;
+ower the gairden, but na, nae black man. At the hinder
+end, an&rsquo; a bit feared, as was but natural, he lifted the
+hasp an&rsquo; into the manse; an&rsquo; there was Janet M&rsquo;Clour
+before his een, wi&rsquo; her thrawn craig, an&rsquo; nane sae pleased
+to see him. An&rsquo; he aye minded sinsyne, when first he
+set his een upon her, he had the same cauld and deidly
+grue.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Janet,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;have you seen a black man?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A black man?&rdquo; quo&rsquo; she. &ldquo;Save us a&rsquo;! Ye&rsquo;re no
+wise, minister. There&rsquo;s nae black man in a&rsquo; Ba&rsquo;weary.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But she didna speak plain, ye maun understand; but
+yam-yammered, like a powney wi&rsquo; the bit in its moo.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page312"></a>312</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Weel,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;Janet, if there was nae black man,
+I have spoken with the Accuser of the Brethren.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>An&rsquo; he sat down like ane wi&rsquo; a fever, an&rsquo; his teeth
+chittered in his heid.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hoots,&rdquo; says she, &ldquo;think shame to yoursel&rsquo;, minister&ldquo;;
+an&rsquo; gied him a drap brandy that she keept aye by her.</p>
+
+<p>Syne Mr. Soulis gaed into his study amang a&rsquo; his books.
+It&rsquo;s a lang, laigh, mirk chalmer, perishin&rsquo; cauld in winter,
+an&rsquo; no&rsquo; very dry even in the tap o&rsquo; the simmer, for the
+manse stands near the burn. Sae doun he sat, an&rsquo; thocht
+o&rsquo; a&rsquo; that had come an&rsquo; gane since he was in Ba&rsquo;weary,
+an&rsquo; his hame, an&rsquo; the days when he was a bairn an&rsquo; ran
+daffin&rsquo; on the braes; an&rsquo; that black man aye ran in his
+heid like the owercome o&rsquo; a sang. Aye the mair he thocht,
+the mair he thocht o&rsquo; the black man. He tried the prayer,
+an&rsquo; the words wadna come to him; an&rsquo; he tried, they say,
+to write at his book, but he couldna mak&rsquo; nae mair o&rsquo; that.
+There was whiles he thocht the black man was at his oxter,
+an&rsquo; the swat stood upon him cauld as well-water; an&rsquo; there
+was ither whiles when he cam&rsquo; to himsel&rsquo; like a christened
+bairn an&rsquo; minded naething.</p>
+
+<p>The upshot was that he gaed to the window an&rsquo; stood
+glowrin&rsquo; at Dule water. The trees are unco thick, an&rsquo;
+the water lies deep an&rsquo; black under the manse; an&rsquo; there
+was Janet washin&rsquo; the cla&rsquo;es wi&rsquo; her coats kilted. She had
+her back to the minister, an&rsquo; he, for his pairt, hardly kenned
+what he was lookin&rsquo; at. Syne she turned round, an&rsquo;
+shawed her face; Mr. Soulis had the same cauld grue as
+twice that day afore, an&rsquo; it was borne in upon him what
+folk said, that Janet was deid lang syne, an&rsquo; this was
+a bogle in her clay-cauld flesh. He drew back a pickle
+and he scanned her narrowly. She was tramp-trampin&rsquo;
+in the cla&rsquo;es, croonin&rsquo; to hersel&rsquo;; and eh! Gude guide us,
+but it was a fearsome face. Whiles she sang louder, but
+there was nae man born o&rsquo; woman that could tell the words
+o&rsquo; her sang; an&rsquo; whiles she lookit side-lang doun, but there
+was naething there for her to look at. There gaed a scunner
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313"></a>313</span>
+through the flesh upon his banes; an&rsquo; that was Heeven&rsquo;s
+advertisement. But Mr. Soulis just blamed himsel&rsquo;, he
+said, to think sae ill o&rsquo; a puir, auld afflicted wife that hadna
+a freend forbye himsel&rsquo;; an&rsquo; he put up a bit prayer for him
+an&rsquo; her, an&rsquo; drank a little caller water&mdash;for his heart rose
+again&rsquo; the meat&mdash;an&rsquo; gaed up to his naked bed in the
+gloamin&rsquo;.</p>
+
+<p>That was a nicht that has never been forgotten in
+Ba&rsquo;weary, the nicht o&rsquo; the seeventeenth o&rsquo; August, seeventeen
+hun&rsquo;er&rsquo; an&rsquo; twal&rsquo;. It had been het afore, as I hae
+said, but that nicht it was better than ever. The sun
+gaed doun amang unco-lookin&rsquo; clouds; it fell as mirk as
+the pit; no&rsquo; a star, no&rsquo; a breath o&rsquo; wund; ye couldna see
+your han&rsquo; afore your face, an&rsquo; even the auld folk cuist
+the covers frae their beds an&rsquo; lay pechin&rsquo; for their breath.
+Wi&rsquo; a&rsquo; that he had upon his mind, it was geyan unlikely
+Mr. Soulis wad get muckle sleep. He lay an&rsquo; he tummled;
+the gude, caller bed that he got into brunt his very banes;
+whiles he slept, an&rsquo; whiles he waukened; whiles he heard
+the time o&rsquo; nicht, an&rsquo; whiles a tyke yowlin&rsquo; up the muir,
+as if somebody was deid; whiles he thocht he heard bogles
+claverin&rsquo; in his lug, an&rsquo; whiles he saw spunkies in the room.
+He behoved, he judged, to be sick; an&rsquo; sick he was&mdash;little
+he jaloosed the sickness.</p>
+
+<p>At the hinder end he got a clearness in his mind, sat up
+in his sark on the bed-side, an&rsquo; fell thinkin&rsquo; ance mair o&rsquo;
+the black man an&rsquo; Janet. He couldna weel tell how&mdash;maybe
+it was the cauld to his feet&mdash;but it cam&rsquo; in upon him
+wi&rsquo; a spate that there was some connection between thir
+twa, an&rsquo; that either or baith o&rsquo; them were bogles. An&rsquo;
+just at that moment, in Janet&rsquo;s room, which was neist to
+his, there cam&rsquo; a stramp o&rsquo; feet as if men were wars&rsquo;lin&rsquo;,
+an&rsquo; then a loud bang; an&rsquo; then a wund gaed reishling round
+the fower quarters o&rsquo; the house; an&rsquo; then a&rsquo; was aince mair
+as seelent as the grave.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Soulis was feared for neither man nor deevil. He
+got his tinder-box, an&rsquo; lit a can&rsquo;le, an&rsquo; made three steps o&rsquo;t
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314"></a>314</span>
+ower to Janet&rsquo;s door. It was on the hasp, an&rsquo; he pushed
+it open, an&rsquo; keekit bauldly in. It was a big room, as big
+as the minister&rsquo;s ain, an&rsquo; plenished wi&rsquo; grand, auld, solid
+gear, for he had naething else. There was a fower-posted
+bed wi&rsquo; auld tapestry; an&rsquo; a braw cabinet o&rsquo; aik, that was
+fu&rsquo; o&rsquo; the minister&rsquo;s divinity books, an&rsquo; put there to be out
+o&rsquo; the gate; an&rsquo; a wheen duds o&rsquo; Janet&rsquo;s lying here an&rsquo;
+there about the floor. But nae Janet could Mr. Soulis see;
+nor ony sign o&rsquo; a contention. In he gaed (an&rsquo; there&rsquo;s few
+that wad hae followed him) an&rsquo; lookit a&rsquo; round, an&rsquo; listened.
+But there was naething to be heard, neither inside the
+manse nor in a&rsquo; Ba&rsquo;weary parish, an&rsquo; naething to be seen
+but the muckle shadows turnin&rsquo; round the can&rsquo;le. An&rsquo;
+then a&rsquo; at aince, the minister&rsquo;s heart played dunt an&rsquo;
+stood stock-still; an&rsquo; a cauld wund blew amang the hairs
+o&rsquo; his heid. Whaten a weary sicht was that for the puir
+man&rsquo;s een! For there was Janet hangin&rsquo; frae a nail beside
+the auld aik cabinet: her heid aye lay on her shouther, her
+een were steekit, the tongue projected frae her mouth, an&rsquo;
+her heels were twa feet clear abune the floor.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;God forgive us all!&rdquo; thocht Mr. Soulis; &ldquo;poor Janet&rsquo;s
+dead.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He cam&rsquo; a step nearer to the corp; an&rsquo; then his heart
+fair whammled in his inside. For, by what cantrip it wad
+ill beseem a man to judge, she was hingin&rsquo; frae a single nail
+an&rsquo; by a single wursted thread for darnin&rsquo; hose.</p>
+
+<p>It&rsquo;s an awfu&rsquo; thing to be your lane at nicht wi&rsquo; siccan
+prodigies o&rsquo; darkness; but Mr. Soulis was strong in the
+Lord. He turned an&rsquo; gaed his ways oot o&rsquo; that room, an&rsquo;
+lockit the door ahint him; an&rsquo; step by step, doon the stairs,
+as heavy as leed; an&rsquo; set doon the can&rsquo;le on the table at the
+stairfoot. He couldna pray, he couldna think, he was
+dreepin&rsquo; wi&rsquo; caul&rsquo; swat, an&rsquo; naething could he hear but the
+dunt-dunt-duntin&rsquo; o&rsquo; his ain heart. He micht maybe hae
+stood there an hour, or maybe twa, he minded sae little;
+when a&rsquo; o&rsquo; a sudden, he heard a laigh, uncanny steer upstairs;
+a foot gaed to an&rsquo; fro in the chalmer whaur the corp
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page315"></a>315</span>
+was hingin&rsquo;; syne the door was opened, though he minded
+weel that he had lockit it; an&rsquo; syne there was a step upon
+the landin&rsquo;, an&rsquo; it seemed to him as if the corp was lookin&rsquo;
+ower the rail an&rsquo; doun upon him whaur he stood.</p>
+
+<p>He took up the can&rsquo;le again (for he couldna want the
+licht), an&rsquo; as saftly as ever he could, gaed straucht out o&rsquo;
+the manse an&rsquo; to the far end o&rsquo; the causeway. It was aye
+pit-mirk; the flame o&rsquo; the can&rsquo;le, when he set it on the
+grund, brunt steedy and clear as in a room; naething
+moved, but the Dule water seepin&rsquo; an&rsquo; sabbin&rsquo; doun the glen,
+an&rsquo; yon unhaly footstep that cam&rsquo; ploddin&rsquo; doun the stairs
+inside the manse. He kenned the foot ower weel, for it
+was Janet&rsquo;s; an&rsquo; at ilka step that cam&rsquo; a wee thing nearer,
+the cauld got deeper in his vitals. He commended his soul
+to Him that made an&rsquo; keepit him; &ldquo;and, O Lord,&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;give me strength this night to war against the powers of
+evil.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>By this time the foot was comin&rsquo; through the passage
+for the door; he could hear a hand skirt alang the wa&rsquo;,
+as if the fearsome thing was feelin&rsquo; for its way. The saughs
+tossed an&rsquo; maned thegither, a lang sigh cam&rsquo; ower the hills,
+the flame o&rsquo; the can&rsquo;le was blawn aboot; an&rsquo; there stood
+the corp o&rsquo; Thrawn Janet, wi&rsquo; her grogram goun an&rsquo; her
+black mutch, wi&rsquo; the heid aye upon the shouther, an&rsquo; the
+girn still upon the face o&rsquo;t&mdash;leevin&rsquo;, ye wad hae said&mdash;deid,
+as Mr. Soulis weel kenned&mdash;upon the threshold o&rsquo; the manse.</p>
+
+<p>It&rsquo;s a strange thing that the saul o&rsquo; man should be
+that thirled into his perishable body; but the minister saw
+that, an&rsquo; his heart didna break.</p>
+
+<p>She didna stand there lang; she began to move again
+an&rsquo; cam&rsquo; slowly towards Mr. Soulis whaur he stood under
+the saughs. A&rsquo; the life o&rsquo; his body, a&rsquo; the strength o&rsquo; his
+speerit, were glowerin&rsquo; frae his een. It seemed she was
+gaun to speak, but wanted words, an&rsquo; made a sign wi&rsquo; the
+left hand. There cam&rsquo; a clap o&rsquo; wund, like a cat&rsquo;s fuff;
+oot gaed the can&rsquo;le, the saughs skreighed like folk; and Mr.
+Soulis kenned that, live or die, this was the end o&rsquo;t.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page316"></a>316</span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Witch, beldame, devil!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;I charge you,
+by the power of God, begone&mdash;if you be dead, to the grave&mdash;if
+you be damned, to hell.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>An&rsquo; at that moment the Lord&rsquo;s ain hand out o&rsquo; the
+Heevens struck the Horror whaur it stood; the auld, deid,
+desecrated corp o&rsquo; the witch-wife, sae lang keepit frae the
+grave an&rsquo; hirsled round by de&rsquo;ils, lowed up like a brunstane
+spunk an&rsquo; fell in ashes to the grund; the thunder followed,
+peal on dirlin&rsquo; peal, the rairin&rsquo; rain upon the back o&rsquo; that;
+an&rsquo; Mr. Soulis lowped through the garden hedge, an&rsquo; ran,
+wi&rsquo; skelloch upon skelloch, for the clachan.</p>
+
+<p>That same mornin&rsquo;, John Christie saw the Black Man
+pass the Muckle Cairn as it was chappin&rsquo; six; before eicht,
+he gaed by the change-house at Knockdow; an&rsquo; no&rsquo; lang
+after, Sandy M&rsquo;Lellan saw him gaun linkin&rsquo; doun the braes
+frae Kilmackerlie. There&rsquo;s little doubt but it was him that
+dwalled sae lang in Janet&rsquo;s body; but he was awa&rsquo; at last;
+an&rsquo; sinsyne the de&rsquo;il has never fashed us in Ba&rsquo;weary.</p>
+
+<p>But it was a sair dispensation for the minister; lang,
+lang he lay ravin&rsquo; in his bed; an&rsquo; frae that hour to this he
+was the man ye ken the day.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="foot" />
+<div class="note">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5" href="#FnAnchor_5"><span class="fn">5</span></a> &ldquo;To come forrit&ldquo;&mdash;to offer oneself as a communicant.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6" href="#FnAnchor_6"><span class="fn">6</span></a> It was a common belief in Scotland that the devil appeared as a
+black man. This appears in several witch trials, and I think in Law&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Memorials,&rdquo; that delightful storehouse of the quaint and grisly.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="art" />
+
+<h5>END OF VOL. V</h5>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p class="center noind" style="font-size: 65%;">PRINTED BY CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="pt2">&nbsp;</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson -
+Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,11081 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson -
+Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson
+
+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 Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25)
+
+Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
+
+Other: Andrew Lang
+
+Release Date: December 23, 2009 [EBook #30744]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF STEVENSON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       THE WORKS OF
+  ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
+
+     SWANSTON EDITION
+
+         VOLUME V
+
+
+  _Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five
+  Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS
+  STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies
+  have been printed, of which only Two Thousand
+  Copies are for sale._
+
+  _This is No._ ........
+
+
+[Illustration: 8 HOWARD PLACE, EDINBURGH, BIRTHPLACE OF R. L. S. IN 1850]
+
+
+
+
+  THE WORKS OF
+  ROBERT LOUIS
+  STEVENSON
+
+  VOLUME FIVE
+
+
+  LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND
+  WINDUS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL
+  AND COMPANY LIMITED: WILLIAM
+  HEINEMANN: AND LONGMANS GREEN
+  AND COMPANY       MDCCCCXI
+
+
+  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
+
+
+  THE DYNAMITER
+
+
+                                                 PAGE
+    PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN                     7
+
+
+  CHALLONER'S ADVENTURE
+
+    THE SQUIRE OF DAMES                            15
+
+    STORY OF THE DESTROYING ANGEL                  24
+
+    THE SQUIRE OF DAMES (_concluded_)              57
+
+
+  SOMERSET'S ADVENTURE
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION                        73
+
+    NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY             78
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)         104
+
+    ZERO'S TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE BOMB             130
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)         139
+
+
+  DESBOROUGH'S ADVENTURE
+
+    THE BROWN BOX                                 149
+
+    STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN                       155
+
+    THE BROWN BOX (_concluded_)                   190
+
+    THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_concluded_)         202
+
+    EPILOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN                   212
+
+
+  STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
+
+    STORY OF THE DOOR                             227
+
+    SEARCH FOR MR. HYDE                           234
+
+    DR. JEKYLL WAS QUITE AT EASE                  243
+
+    THE CAREW MURDER CASE                         246
+
+    INCIDENT OF THE LETTER                        251
+
+    REMARKABLE INCIDENT OF DR. LANYON             256
+
+    INCIDENT AT THE WINDOW                        261
+
+    THE LAST NIGHT                                263
+
+    DR. LANYON'S NARRATIVE                        276
+
+    HENRY JEKYLL'S FULL STATEMENT OF THE CASE     284
+
+
+  THRAWN JANET                                    305
+
+
+
+
+MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
+
+THE DYNAMITER
+
+WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH MRS. STEVENSON
+
+
+
+
+  _TO
+  MESSRS. COLE AND COX_
+
+  _POLICE OFFICERS_
+
+_Gentlemen,_
+
+_In the volume now in your hands, the authors have touched upon that
+ugly devil of crime, with which it is your glory to have contended. It
+were a waste of ink to do so in a serious spirit. Let us dedicate our
+horror to acts of a more mingled strain, where crime preserves some
+features of nobility, and where reason and humanity can still relish the
+temptation. Horror, in this case, is due to Mr. Parnell: he sits before
+posterity silent, Mr. Forster's appeal echoing down the ages. Horror is
+due to ourselves, in that we have so long coquetted with political
+crime; not seriously weighing, not acutely following it from cause to
+consequence; but with a generous, unfounded heat of sentiment, like the
+schoolboy with the penny tale, applauding what was specious. When it
+touched ourselves (truly in a vile shape), we proved false to these
+imaginations; discovered, in a clap, that crime was no less cruel and no
+less ugly under sounding names; and recoiled from our false deities._
+
+_But seriousness comes most in place when we are to speak of our
+defenders. Whoever be in the right in this great and confused war of
+politics; whatever elements of greed, whatever traits of the bully,
+dishonour both parties in this inhuman contest;--your side, your part,
+is at least pure of doubt. Yours is the side of the child, of the
+breeding woman, of individual pity and public trust. If our society were
+the mere kingdom of the devil (as indeed it wears some of his colours),
+it yet embraces many precious elements and many innocent persons whom
+it_ _is a glory to defend. Courage and devotion, so common in the ranks
+of the police, so little recognised, so meagrely rewarded, have at
+length found their commemoration in an historical act. History, which
+will represent Mr. Parnell sitting silent under the appeal of Mr.
+Forster, and Gordon setting forth upon his tragic enterprise, will not
+forget Mr. Cole carrying the dynamite in his defenceless hands, nor Mr.
+Cox coming coolly to his aid._
+
+     _ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
+     FANNY VAN DE GRIFT STEVENSON._
+
+
+
+
+_A NOTE FOR THE READER_
+
+
+_It is within the bounds of possibility that you may take up this
+volume, and yet be unacquainted with its predecessor: the first series
+of_ NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS. _The loss is yours--and mine; or, to be more
+exact, my publishers'. But if you are thus unlucky, the least I can do
+is to pass you a hint. When you shall find a reference in the following
+pages to one Theophilus Godall of the Bohemian Cigar Divan in Rupert
+Street, Soho, you must be prepared to recognise under his features no
+less a person than Prince Florizel of Bohemia, formerly one of the
+magnates of Europe, now dethroned, exiled, impoverished, and embarked in
+the tobacco trade._
+
+     _R. L. S._
+
+
+
+
+MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
+
+THE DYNAMITER
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN
+
+
+In the city of encounters, the Bagdad of the West, and, to be more
+precise, on the broad northern pavement of Leicester Square, two young
+men of five- or six-and-twenty met after years of separation. The first,
+who was of a very smooth address, and clothed in the best fashion,
+hesitated to recognise the pinched and shabby air of his companion.
+
+"What!" he cried, "Paul Somerset!"
+
+"I am indeed Paul Somerset," returned the other, "or what remains of him
+after a well-deserved experience of poverty and law. But in you,
+Challoner, I can perceive no change; and time may be said, without
+hyperbole, to write no wrinkle on your azure brow."
+
+"All," replied Challoner, "is not gold that glitters. But we are here in
+an ill posture for confidences, and interrupt the movement of these
+ladies. Let us, if you please, find a more private corner."
+
+"If you will allow me to guide you," replied Somerset, "I will offer you
+the best cigar in London."
+
+And taking the arm of his companion, he led him in silence and at a
+brisk pace to the door of a quiet establishment in Rupert Street, Soho.
+The entrance was adorned with one of those gigantic Highlanders of wood
+which have almost risen to the standing of antiquities; and across the
+window-glass, which sheltered the usual display of pipes, tobacco, and
+cigars, there ran the gilded legend: "Bohemian Cigar Divan, by T.
+Godall." The interior of the shop was small, but commodious and ornate;
+the salesman grave, smiling, and urbane; and the two young men, each
+puffing a select regalia, had soon taken their places on a sofa of
+mouse-coloured plush, and proceeded to exchange their stories.
+
+"I am now," said Somerset, "a barrister; but Providence and the
+attorneys have hitherto denied me the opportunity to shine. A select
+society at the Cheshire Cheese engaged my evenings; my afternoons, as
+Mr. Godall could testify, have been generally passed in this divan; and
+my mornings, I have taken the precaution to abbreviate by not rising
+before twelve. At this rate, my little patrimony was very rapidly and, I
+am proud to remember, most agreeably expended. Since then a gentleman,
+who has really nothing else to recommend him beyond the fact of being my
+maternal uncle, deals me the small sum of ten shillings a week; and if
+you behold me once more revisiting the glimpses of the street lamps in
+my favourite quarter, you will readily divine that I have come into a
+fortune."
+
+"I should not have supposed so," replied Challoner. "But doubtless I met
+you on the way to your tailors."
+
+"It is a visit that I purpose to delay," returned Somerset, with a
+smile. "My fortune has definite limits. It consists, or rather this
+morning it consisted, of one hundred pounds."
+
+"That is certainly odd," said Challoner; "yes, certainly the coincidence
+is strange. I am myself reduced to the same margin."
+
+"You!" cried Somerset. "And yet Solomon in all his glory----"
+
+"Such is the fact. I am, dear boy, on my last legs," said Challoner.
+"Besides the clothes in which you see me, I have scarcely a decent
+trouser in my wardrobe; and if I knew how, I would this instant set
+about some sort of work or commerce. With a hundred pounds for capital,
+a man should push his way."
+
+"It may be," returned Somerset; "but what to do with mine is more than I
+can fancy.--Mr. Godall," he added, addressing the salesman, "you are a
+man who knows the world: what can a young fellow of reasonable education
+do with a hundred pounds?"
+
+"It depends," replied the salesman, withdrawing his cheroot. "The power
+of money is an article of faith in which I profess myself a sceptic. A
+hundred pounds will with difficulty support you for a year; with
+somewhat more difficulty you may spend it in a night; and without any
+difficulty at all you may lose it in five minutes on the Stock Exchange.
+If you are of that stamp of man that rises, a penny would be as useful;
+if you belong to those that fall, a penny would be no more useless. When
+I was myself thrown unexpectedly upon the world, it was my fortune to
+possess an art: I knew a good cigar. Do you know nothing, Mr. Somerset?"
+
+"Not even law," was the reply.
+
+"The answer is worthy of a sage," returned Mr. Godall.--"And you, sir,"
+he continued, turning to Challoner, "as the friend of Mr. Somerset, may
+I be allowed to address you the same question?"
+
+"Well," replied Challoner, "I play a fair hand at whist."
+
+"How many persons are there in London," returned the salesman, "who have
+two-and-thirty teeth? Believe me, young gentleman, there are more still
+who play a fair hand at whist. Whist, sir, is wide as the world; 'tis an
+accomplishment like breathing. I once knew a youth who announced that he
+was studying to be Chancellor of England; the design was certainly
+ambitious; but I find it less excessive than that of the man who aspires
+to make a livelihood by whist."
+
+"Dear me," said Challoner, "I am afraid I shall have to fall to be a
+working man."
+
+"Fall to be a working man?" echoed Mr. Godall. "Suppose a rural dean to
+be unfrocked, does he fall to be a major? suppose a captain were
+cashiered, would he fall to be a puisne judge? The ignorance of your
+middle class surprises me. Outside itself, it thinks the world to lie
+quite ignorant and equal, sunk in a common degradation; but to the eye
+of the observer, all ranks are seen to stand in ordered hierarchies, and
+each adorned with its particular aptitudes and knowledge. By the defects
+of your education you are more disqualified to be a working man than to
+be the ruler of an empire. The gulf, sir, is below; and the true learned
+arts--those which alone are safe from the competition of insurgent
+laymen--are those which give his title to the artisan."
+
+"This is a very pompous fellow," said Challoner in the ear of his
+companion.
+
+"He is immense," said Somerset.
+
+Just then the door of the divan was opened, and a third young fellow
+made his appearance, and rather bashfully requested some tobacco. He was
+younger than the others; and, in a somewhat meaningless and altogether
+English way, he was a handsome lad. When he had been served, and had
+lighted his pipe and taken his place upon the sofa, he recalled himself
+to Challoner by the name of Desborough.
+
+"Desborough, to be sure," cried Challoner. "Well, Desborough, and what
+do you do?"
+
+"The fact is," said Desborough, "that I am doing nothing."
+
+"A private fortune, possibly?" inquired the other.
+
+"Well, no," replied Desborough, rather sulkily. "The fact is that I am
+waiting for something to turn up."
+
+"All in the same boat!" cried Somerset. "And have you, too, one hundred
+pounds?"
+
+"Worse luck," said Mr. Desborough.
+
+"This is a very pathetic sight, Mr. Godall," said Somerset: "three
+futiles."
+
+"A character of this crowded age," returned the salesman.
+
+"Sir," said Somerset, "I deny that the age is crowded; I will admit one
+fact, and one fact only: that I am futile, that he is futile, and that
+we are all three as futile as the devil. What am I? I have smattered
+law, smattered letters, smattered geography, smattered mathematics; I
+have even a working knowledge of judicial astrology; and here I stand,
+all London roaring by at the street's end, as impotent as any baby. I
+have a prodigious contempt for my maternal uncle; but without him, it is
+idle to deny it, I should simply resolve into my elements like an
+unstable mixture. I begin to perceive that it is necessary to know some
+one thing to the bottom--were it only literature. And yet, sir, the man
+of the world is a great feature of this age; he is possessed of an
+extraordinary mass and variety of knowledge; he is everywhere at home;
+he has seen life in all its phases; and it is impossible but that this
+great habit of existence should bear fruit. I count myself a man of the
+world, accomplished, _cap-a-pie_. So do you, Challoner. And you, Mr.
+Desborough?"
+
+"Oh yes," returned the young man.
+
+"Well, then, Mr. Godall, here we stand, three men of the world, without
+a trade to cover us, but planted at the strategic centre of the universe
+(for so you will allow me to call Rupert Street), in the midst of the
+chief mass of people, and within earshot of the most continuous chink of
+money on the surface of the globe. Sir, as civilised men, what do we do?
+I will show you. You take in a paper?"
+
+"I take," said Mr. Godall solemnly, "the best paper in the world, the
+_Standard_."
+
+"Good," resumed Somerset. "I now hold it in my hand, the voice of the
+world, a telephone repeating all men's wants. I open it, and where my
+eye first falls--well, no, not Morrison's Pills--but here, sure enough,
+and but a little above, I find the joint that I was seeking; here is the
+weak spot in the armour of society. Here is a want, a plaint, an offer
+of substantial gratitude: '_Two Hundred Pounds Reward_.--The above
+reward will be paid to any person giving information as to the identity
+and whereabouts of a man observed yesterday in the neighbourhood of the
+Green Park. He was over six feet in height, with shoulders
+disproportionately broad, close shaved, with black moustaches, and
+wearing a sealskin great-coat.' There, gentlemen, our fortune, if not
+made, is founded."
+
+"Do you then propose, dear boy, that we should turn detectives?"
+inquired Challoner.
+
+"Do I propose it? No, sir," cried Somerset. "It is reason, destiny, the
+plain face of the world, that commands and imposes it. Here all our
+merits tell; our manners, habit of the world, powers of conversation,
+vast stores of unconnected knowledge, all that we are and have builds up
+the character of the complete detective. It is, in short, the only
+profession for a gentleman."
+
+"The proposition is perhaps excessive," replied Challoner; "for hitherto
+I own I have regarded it as of all dirty, sneaking, and ungentlemanly
+trades, the least and lowest."
+
+"To defend society?" asked Somerset; "to stake one's life for others? to
+deracinate occult and powerful evil? I appeal to Mr. Godall. He, at
+least, as a philosophic looker-on at life, will spit upon such
+philistine opinions. He knows that the policeman, as he is called upon
+continually to face greater odds, and that both worse equipped and for a
+better cause, is in form and essence a more noble hero than the soldier.
+Do you, by any chance, deceive yourself into supposing that a general
+would either ask or expect, from the best army ever marshalled, and on
+the most momentous battlefield, the conduct of a common constable at
+Peckham Rye?"[1]
+
+"I did not understand we were to join the force," said Challoner.
+
+"Nor shall we. These are the hands; but here--here, sir, is the head,"
+cried Somerset. "Enough; it is decreed. We shall hunt down this
+miscreant in the sealskin coat."
+
+"Suppose that we agreed," retorted Challoner, "you have no plan, no
+knowledge; you know not where to seek for a beginning."
+
+"Challoner!" cried Somerset, "is it possible that you hold the doctrine
+of Free Will? And are you devoid of any tincture of philosophy, that you
+should harp on such exploded fallacies? Chance, the blind Madonna of the
+Pagan, rules this terrestrial bustle; and in Chance I place my sole
+reliance. Chance has brought us three together; when we next separate
+and go forth our several ways, Chance will continually drag before our
+careless eyes a thousand eloquent clues, not to this mystery only, but
+to the countless mysteries by which we live surrounded. Then comes the
+part of the man of the world, of the detective born and bred. This clue,
+which the whole town beholds without comprehension, swift as a cat, he
+leaps upon it, makes it his, follows it with craft and passion, and from
+one trifling circumstance divines a world."
+
+"Just so," said Challoner; "and I am delighted that you should recognise
+these virtues in yourself. But in the meanwhile, dear boy, I own myself
+incapable of joining. I was neither born nor bred as a detective, but as
+a placable and very thirsty gentleman; and, for my part, I begin to
+weary for a drink. As for clues and adventures, the only adventure that
+is ever likely to occur to me will be an adventure with a bailiff."
+
+"Now there is the fallacy," cried Somerset. "There I catch the secret of
+your futility in life. The world teems and bubbles with adventure; it
+besieges you along the streets; hands waving out of windows, swindlers
+coming up and swearing they knew you when you were abroad, affable and
+doubtful people of all sorts and conditions begging and truckling for
+your notice. But not you: you turn away, you walk your seedy mill round,
+you must go the dullest way. Now here, I beg of you, the next adventure
+that offers itself, embrace it in with both your arms; whatever it
+looks, grimy or romantic, grasp it. I will do the like; the devil is in
+it, but at least we shall have fun; and each in turn we shall narrate
+the story of our fortunes to my philosophic friend of the divan, the
+great Godall, now hearing me with inward joy. Come, is it a bargain?
+Will you, indeed, both promise to welcome every chance that offers, to
+plunge boldly into every opening, and, keeping the eye wary and the head
+composed, to study and piece together all that happens? Come, promise:
+let me open to you the doors of the great profession of intrigue."
+
+"It is not much in my way," said Challoner, "but, since you make a point
+of it, amen."
+
+"I don't mind promising," said Desborough, "but nothing will happen to
+me."
+
+"O faithless ones!" cried Somerset. "But at least I have your promises;
+and Godall, I perceive, is transported with delight."
+
+"I promise myself at least much pleasure from your various narratives,"
+said the salesman, with the customary calm polish of his manner.
+
+"And now, gentlemen," concluded Somerset, "let us separate. I hasten to
+put myself in fortune's way. Hark how, in this quiet corner, London
+roars like the noise of battle; four million destinies are here
+concentred; and in the strong panoply of one hundred pounds, payable to
+the bearer, I am about to plunge into that web."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [1] Hereupon the Arabian author enters on one of his digressions.
+    Fearing, apparently, that the somewhat eccentric views of Mr.
+    Somerset should throw discredit on a part of truth, he calls upon
+    the English people to remember with more gratitude the services of
+    the police; to what unobserved and solitary acts of heroism they are
+    called; against what odds of numbers and of arms, and for how small
+    a reward, either in fame or money: matter, it has appeared to the
+    translators, too serious for this place.
+
+
+
+
+CHALLONER'S ADVENTURE:
+
+THE SQUIRE OF DAMES
+
+
+Mr. Edward Challoner had set up lodgings in the suburb of Putney, where
+he enjoyed a parlour and bedroom and the sincere esteem of the people of
+the house. To this remote home he found himself, at a very early hour in
+the morning of the next day, condemned to set forth on foot. He was a
+young man of a portly habit; no lover of the exercises of the body;
+bland, sedentary, patient of delay, a prop of omnibuses. In happier days
+he would have chartered a cab; but these luxuries were now denied him;
+and with what courage he could muster he addressed himself to walk.
+
+It was then the height of the season and the summer; the weather was
+serene and cloudless; and as he paced under the blinded houses and along
+the vacant streets, the chill of the dawn had fled, and some of the
+warmth and all the brightness of the July day already shone upon the
+city. He walked at first in a profound abstraction, bitterly reviewing
+and repenting his performances at whist; but as he advanced into the
+labyrinth of the south-west, his ear was gradually mastered by the
+silence. Street after street looked down upon his solitary figure, house
+after house echoed upon his passage with a ghostly jar, shop after shop
+displayed its shuttered front and its commercial legend; and meanwhile
+he steered his course, under day's effulgent dome and through this
+encampment of diurnal sleepers, lonely as a ship.
+
+"Here," he reflected, "if I were like my scatter-brained companion, here
+were indeed the scene where I might look for an adventure. Here, in
+broad day, the streets are secret as in the blackest night of January,
+and in the midst of some four million sleepers, solitary as the woods
+of Yucatan. If I but raise my voice I could summon up the number of an
+army, and yet the grave is not more silent than this city of sleep."
+
+He was still following these quaint and serious musings when he came
+into a street of more mingled ingredients than was common in the
+quarter. Here, on the one hand, framed in walls and the green tops of
+trees, were several of those discreet, _bijou_ residences on which
+propriety is apt to look askance. Here, too, were many of the
+brick-fronted barracks of the poor; a plaster cow, perhaps, serving as
+ensign to a dairy, or a ticket announcing the business of the mangler.
+Before one such house, that stood a little separate among walled
+gardens, a cat was playing with a straw, and Challoner paused a moment,
+looking on this sleek and solitary creature, who seemed an emblem of the
+neighbouring peace. With the cessation of the sound of his own steps the
+silence fell dead; the house stood smokeless; the blinds down, the whole
+machinery of life arrested; and it seemed to Challoner that he should
+hear the breathing of the sleepers.
+
+As he so stood, he was startled by a dull and jarring detonation from
+within. This was followed by a monstrous hissing and simmering as from a
+kettle of the bigness of St. Paul's; and at the same time from every
+chink of door and window spurted an ill-smelling vapour. The cat
+disappeared with a cry. Within the lodging-house feet pounded on the
+stairs; the door flew back, emitting clouds of smoke; and two men and an
+elegantly dressed young lady tumbled forth into the street and fled
+without a word. The hissing had already ceased, the smoke was melting in
+the air, the whole event had come and gone as in a dream, and still
+Challoner was rooted to the spot. At last his reason and his fear awoke
+together, and with the most unwonted energy he fell to running.
+
+Little by little this first dash relaxed, and presently he had resumed
+his sober gait and begun to piece together, out of the confused report
+of his senses, some theory of the occurrence. But the occasion of the
+sounds and stench that had so suddenly assailed him, and the strange
+conjunction of fugitives whom he had seen to issue from the house, were
+mysteries beyond his plummet. With an obscure awe he considered them in
+his mind, continuing, meanwhile, to thread the web of streets, and once
+more alone in morning sunshine.
+
+In his first retreat he had entirely wandered; and now, steering vaguely
+west, it was his luck to light upon an unpretending street, which
+presently widened so as to admit a strip of gardens in the midst. Here
+was quite a stir of birds; even at that hour, the shadow of the leaves
+was grateful; instead of the burnt atmosphere of cities, there was
+something brisk and rural in the air; and Challoner paced forward, his
+eyes upon the pavement and his mind running upon distant scenes, till he
+was recalled, upon a sudden, by a wall that blocked his further
+progress. This street, whose name I have forgotten, is no thoroughfare.
+
+He was not the first who had wandered there that morning; for, as he
+raised his eyes with an agreeable deliberation, they alighted on the
+figure of a girl, in whom he was struck to recognise the third of the
+incongruous fugitives. She had run there, seemingly, blindfold; the wall
+had checked her career; and being entirely wearied, she had sunk upon
+the ground beside the garden railings, soiling her dress among the
+summer dust. Each saw the other in the same instant of time; and she,
+with one wild look, sprang to her feet and began to hurry from the
+scene.
+
+Challoner was doubly startled to meet once more the heroine of his
+adventure and to observe the fear with which she shunned him. Pity and
+alarm, in nearly equal forces, contested the possession of his mind; and
+yet, in spite of both, he saw himself condemned to follow in the lady's
+wake. He did so gingerly, as fearing to increase her terrors; but, tread
+as lightly as he might, his footfalls eloquently echoed in the empty
+street. Their sound appeared to strike in her some strong emotion; for
+scarce had he begun to follow ere she paused. A second time she
+addressed herself to flight; and a second time she paused. Then she
+turned about, and, with doubtful steps and the most attractive
+appearance of timidity, drew near to the young man. He on his side
+continued to advance with similar signals of distress and bashfulness.
+At length, when they were but some steps apart, he saw her eyes brim
+over, and she reached out both her hands in eloquent appeal.
+
+"Are you an English gentleman?" she cried.
+
+The unhappy Challoner regarded her with consternation. He was the spirit
+of fine courtesy, and would have blushed to fail in his devoirs to any
+lady; but, in the other scale, he was a man averse from amorous
+adventures. He looked east and west; but the houses that looked down
+upon this interview remained inexorably shut; and he saw himself, though
+in the full glare of the day's eye, cut off from any human intervention.
+His looks returned at last upon the suppliant. He remarked with
+irritation that she was charming both in face and figure, elegantly
+dressed and gloved: a lady undeniable; the picture of distress and
+innocence; weeping and lost in the city of diurnal sleep.
+
+"Madam," he said, "I protest you have no cause to fear intrusion; and if
+I have appeared to follow you, the fault is in this street, which has
+deceived us both."
+
+An unmistakable relief appeared upon the lady's face. "I might have
+guessed it!" she exclaimed. "Thank you a thousand times! But at this
+hour, in this appalling silence, and among all these staring windows, I
+am lost in terrors--oh, lost in them!" she cried, her face blanching at
+the words. "I beg you to lend me your arm," she added with the
+loveliest, suppliant inflection. "I dare not go alone; my nerve is
+gone--I had a shock, O what a shock! I beg of you to be my escort."
+
+"My dear madam," responded Challoner heavily, "my arm is at your
+service."
+
+She took it and clung to it for a moment, struggling with her sobs; and
+the next, with feverish hurry, began to lead him in the direction of the
+city. One thing was plain, among so much that was obscure: it was plain
+her fears were genuine. Still, as she went, she spied around as if for
+dangers; and now she would shiver like a person in a chill, and now
+clutch his arm in hers. To Challoner her terror was at once repugnant
+and infectious; it gained and mastered, while it still offended him; and
+he wailed in spirit and longed for release.
+
+"Madam," he said at last, "I am, of course, charmed to be of use to any
+lady; but I confess I was bound in a direction opposite to that you
+follow, and a word of explanation----"
+
+"Hush!" she sobbed, "not here--not here!"
+
+The blood of Challoner ran cold. He might have thought the lady mad; but
+his memory was charged with more perilous stuff; and in view of the
+detonation, the smoke, and the flight of the ill-assorted trio, his mind
+was lost among mysteries. So they continued to thread the maze of
+streets in silence, with the speed of a guilty flight, and both
+thrilling with incommunicable terrors. In time, however, and above all
+by their quick pace of walking, the pair began to rise to firmer
+spirits; the lady ceased to peer about the corners; and Challoner,
+emboldened by the resonant tread and distant figure of a constable,
+returned to the charge with more of spirit and directness.
+
+"I thought," he said, in the tone of conversation, "that I had
+indistinctly perceived you leaving a villa in the company of two
+gentlemen."
+
+"Oh!" she said, "you need not fear to wound me by the truth. You saw me
+flee from a common lodging-house, and my companions were not gentlemen.
+In such a case, the best of compliments is to be frank."
+
+"I thought," resumed Challoner, encouraged as much as he was surprised
+by the spirit of her reply, "to have perceived, besides, a certain
+odour. A noise, too--I do not know to what I should compare it----"
+
+"Silence!" she cried. "You do not know the danger you invoke. Wait, only
+wait; and as soon as we have left those streets and got beyond the reach
+of listeners, all shall be explained. Meanwhile, avoid the topic. What a
+sight is this sleeping city!" she exclaimed; and then, with a most
+thrilling voice, "'Dear God,'" she quoted, "'the very houses seem
+asleep, and all that mighty heart is lying still.'"
+
+"I perceive, madam," said he, "you are a reader."
+
+"I am more than that," she answered, with a sigh. "I am a girl condemned
+to thoughts beyond her age; and so untoward is my fate, that this walk
+upon the arm of a stranger is like an interlude of peace."
+
+They had come by this time to the neighbourhood of the Victoria Station;
+and here, at a street corner, the young lady paused, withdrew her arm
+from Challoner's, and looked up and down as though in pain or
+indecision. Then, with a lovely change of countenance, and laying her
+gloved hand upon his arm:
+
+"What you already think of me," she said, "I tremble to conceive; yet I
+must here condemn myself still further. Here I must leave you, and here
+I beseech you to wait for my return. Do not attempt to follow me or spy
+upon my actions. Suspend yet awhile your judgment of a girl as innocent
+as your own sister; and do not, above all, desert me. Stranger as you
+are, I have none else to look to. You see me in sorrow and great fear;
+you are a gentleman, courteous and kind; and when I beg for a few
+minutes' patience, I make sure beforehand you will not deny me."
+
+Challoner grudgingly promised; and the young lady, with a grateful
+eye-shot, vanished round the corner. But the force of her appeal had
+been a little blunted; for the young man was not only destitute of
+sisters, but of any female relative nearer than a great-aunt in Wales.
+Now he was alone, besides, the spell that he had hitherto obeyed began
+to weaken; he considered his behaviour with a sneer; and plucking up the
+spirit of revolt, he started in pursuit. The reader, if he has ever
+plied the fascinating trade of the noctambulist, will not be unaware
+that, in the neighbourhood of the great railway centres, certain early
+taverns inaugurate the business of the day. It was into one of these
+that Challoner, coming round the corner of the block, beheld his
+charming companion disappear. To say he was surprised were inexact, for
+he had long since left that sentiment behind him. Acute disgust and
+disappointment seized upon his soul; and with silent oaths he damned
+this commonplace enchantress. She had scarce been gone a second ere the
+swing-doors reopened, and she appeared again in company with a young man
+of mean and slouching attire. For some five or six exchanges they
+conversed together with an animated air; then the fellow shouldered
+again into the tap; and the young lady, with something swifter than a
+walk, retraced her steps towards Challoner. He saw her coming, a miracle
+of grace; her ankle, as she hurried, flashing from her dress; her
+movements eloquent of speed and youth; and though he still entertained
+some thoughts of flight, they grew miserably fainter as the distance
+lessened. Against mere beauty he was proof: it was her unmistakable
+gentility that now robbed him of the courage of his cowardice. With a
+proved adventuress he had acted strictly on his right; with one whom, in
+spite of all, he could not quite deny to be a lady, he found himself
+disarmed. At the very corner from whence he had spied upon her
+interview, she came upon him, still transfixed, and--"Ah!" she cried,
+with a bright flush of colour. "Ah! Ungenerous!"
+
+The sharpness of the attack somewhat restored the Squire of Dames to the
+possession of himself.
+
+"Madam," he returned, with a fair show of stoutness, "I do not think
+that hitherto you can complain of any lack of generosity; I have
+suffered myself to be led over a considerable portion of the metropolis;
+and if I now request you to discharge me of my office of protector, you
+have friends at hand who will be glad of the succession."
+
+She stood a moment dumb.
+
+"It is well," she said. "Go! go, and may God help me! You have seen
+me--me, an innocent girl! fleeing from a dire catastrophe and haunted by
+sinister men; and neither pity, curiosity, nor honour move you to await
+my explanation or to help in my distress. Go!" she repeated. "I am lost
+indeed." And with a passionate gesture she turned and fled along the
+street.
+
+Challoner observed her retreat and disappear, an almost intolerable
+sense of guilt contending with the profound sense that he was being
+gulled. She was no sooner gone than the first of these feelings took the
+upper hand; he felt, if he had done her less than justice, that his
+conduct was a perfect model of the ungracious; the cultured tone of her
+voice, her choice of language, and the elegant decorum of her movements,
+cried out aloud against a harsh construction; and between penitence and
+curiosity he began slowly to follow in her wake. At the corner he had
+her once more full in view. Her speed was failing like a stricken
+bird's. Even as he looked, she threw her arm out gropingly, and fell and
+leaned against the wall. At the spectacle, Challoner's fortitude gave
+way. In a few strides he overtook her, and, for the first time removing
+his hat, assured her in the most moving terms of his entire respect and
+firm desire to help her. He spoke at first unheeded; but gradually it
+appeared that she began to comprehend his words; she moved a little, and
+drew herself upright; and finally, as with a sudden movement of
+forgiveness, turned on the young man a countenance in which reproach and
+gratitude were mingled. "Ah, madam," he cried, "use me as you will!" And
+once more, but now with a great air of deference, he offered her the
+conduct of his arm. She took it with a sigh that struck him to the
+heart; and they began once more to trace the deserted streets. But now
+her steps, as though exhausted by emotion, began to linger on the way;
+she leaned the more heavily upon his arm; and he, like the parent bird,
+stooped fondly above his drooping convoy. Her physical distress was not
+accompanied by any failing of her spirits; and hearing her strike so
+soon into a playful and charming vein of talk, Challoner could not
+sufficiently admire the elasticity of his companion's nature. "Let me
+forget," she had said, "for one half-hour, let me forget"; and sure
+enough, with the very word, her sorrows appeared to be forgotten. Before
+every house she paused, invented a name for the proprietor, and sketched
+his character: here lived the old general whom she was to marry on the
+fifth of the next month, there was the mansion of the rich widow who had
+set her heart on Challoner; and though she still hung wearily on the
+young man's arm, her laughter sounded low and pleasant in his ears.
+"Ah," she sighed, by way of commentary, "in such a life as mine I must
+seize tight hold of any happiness that I can find."
+
+When they arrived, in this leisurely manner, at the head of Grosvenor
+Place, the gates of the park were opening, and the bedraggled company of
+night-walkers were being at last admitted into that paradise of lawns.
+Challoner and his companion followed the movement, and walked for awhile
+in silence in that tatterdemalion crowd; but as one after another, weary
+with the night's patrolling of the city pavement, sank upon the benches
+or wandered into separate paths, the vast extent of the park had soon
+utterly swallowed up the last of these intruders; and the pair proceeded
+on their way alone in the grateful quiet of the morning.
+
+Presently they came in sight of a bench, standing very open on a mound
+of turf. The young lady looked about her with relief.
+
+"Here," she said, "here at last we are secure from listeners. Here,
+then, you shall learn and judge my history. I could not bear that we
+should part, and that you should still suppose your kindness squandered
+upon one who was unworthy."
+
+Thereupon she sat down upon the bench, and motioning Challoner to take a
+place immediately beside her, began in the following words, and with the
+greatest appearance of enjoyment, to narrate the story of her life.
+
+
+
+
+STORY OF THE DESTROYING ANGEL
+
+
+My father was a native of England, son of a cadet of a great ancient but
+untitled family; and by some event, fault, or misfortune he was driven
+to flee from the land of his birth and to lay aside the name of his
+ancestors. He sought the States; and instead of lingering in effeminate
+cities, pushed at once into the Far West with an exploring party of
+frontiersmen. He was no ordinary traveller; for he was not only brave
+and impetuous by character, but learned in many sciences, and above all
+in botany, which he particularly loved. Thus it fell that, before many
+months, Fremont himself, the nominal leader of the troop, courted and
+bowed to his opinion.
+
+They had pushed, as I have said, into the still unknown regions of the
+West. For some time they followed the track of Mormon caravans, guiding
+themselves in that vast and melancholy desert by the skeletons of men
+and animals. Then they inclined their route a little to the north, and,
+losing even these dire memorials, came into a country of forbidding
+stillness. I have often heard my father dwell upon the features of that
+ride: rock, cliff, and barren moor alternated; the streams were very far
+between; and neither beast nor bird disturbed the solitude. On the
+fortieth day they had already run so short of food that it was judged
+advisable to call a halt and scatter upon all sides to hunt. A great
+fire was built, that its smoke might serve to rally them; and each man
+of the party mounted and struck off at a venture into the surrounding
+desert.
+
+My father rode for many hours with a steep range of cliffs upon the one
+hand, very black and horrible; and upon the other an unwatered vale
+dotted with boulders like the site of some subverted city. At length he
+found the slot of a great animal, and from the claw-marks and the hair
+among the brush, judged that he was on the track of a cinnamon bear of
+most unusual size. He quickened the pace of his steed, and, still
+following the quarry, came at last to the division of two watersheds. On
+the far side the country was exceeding intricate and difficult, heaped
+with boulders, and dotted here and there with a few pines, which seemed
+to indicate the neighbourhood of water. Here, then, he picketed his
+horse, and, relying on his trusty rifle, advanced alone into that
+wilderness.
+
+Presently, in the great silence that reigned, he was aware of the sound
+of running water to his right; and leaning in that direction, was
+rewarded by a scene of natural wonder and human pathos strangely
+intermixed. The stream ran at the bottom of a narrow and winding
+passage, whose wall-like sides of rock were sometimes for miles together
+unscalable by man. The water, when the stream was swelled with rains,
+must have filled it from side to side; the sun's rays only plumbed it in
+the hour of noon; the wind, in that narrow and damp funnel, blew
+tempestuously. And yet, in the bottom of this den, immediately below my
+father's eyes as he leaned over the margin of the cliff, a party of some
+half a hundred men, women, and children lay scattered uneasily among the
+rocks. They lay, some upon their backs, some prone, and not one
+stirring; their upturned faces seemed all of an extraordinary paleness
+and emaciation; and from time to time, above the washing of the stream,
+a faint sound of moaning mounted to my father's ears.
+
+While he thus looked, an old man got staggering to his feet, unwound his
+blanket, and laid it, with great gentleness, on a young girl who sat
+hard by propped against a rock. The girl did not seem to be conscious of
+the act; and the old man, after having looked upon her with the most
+engaging pity, returned to his former bed and lay down again uncovered
+on the turf. But the scene had not passed without observation even in
+that starving camp. From the very outskirts of the party, a man with a
+white beard and seemingly of venerable years, rose up on his knees and
+came crawling stealthily among the sleepers towards the girl; and judge
+of my father's indignation, when he beheld this cowardly miscreant strip
+from her both the coverings and return with them to his original
+position. Here he lay down for a while below his spoils, and, as my
+father imagined, feigned to be asleep; but presently he had raised
+himself again upon one elbow, looked with sharp scrutiny at his
+companions, and then swiftly carried his hand into his bosom and thence
+to his mouth. By the movement of his jaws he must be eating; in that
+camp of famine he had reserved a store of nourishment; and, while his
+companions lay in the stupor of approaching death, secretly restored his
+powers.
+
+My father was so incensed at what he saw that he raised his rifle; and
+but for an accident, he has often declared, he would have shot the
+fellow dead upon the spot. How different would then have been my
+history! But it was not to be: even as he raised the barrel, his eye
+lighted on the bear, as it crawled along a ledge some way below him; and
+ceding to the hunter's instinct, it was at the brute, not at the man,
+that he discharged his piece. The bear leaped and fell into a pool of
+the river; the canon re-echoed the report; and in a moment the camp was
+afoot. With cries that were scarce human, stumbling, falling, and
+throwing each other down, these starving people rushed upon the quarry;
+and before my father, climbing down by the ledge, had time to reach the
+level of the stream, many were already satisfying their hunger on the
+raw flesh, and a fire was being built by the more dainty.
+
+His arrival was for some time unremarked. He stood in the midst of these
+tottering and clay-faced marionettes; he was surrounded by their cries;
+but their whole soul was fixed on the dead carcase; even those who were
+too weak to move, lay, half-turned over, with their eyes riveted upon
+the bear; and my father, seeing himself stand as though invisible in the
+thick of this dreary hubbub, was seized with a desire to weep. A touch
+upon the arm restrained him. Turning about, he found himself face to
+face with the old man he had so nearly killed; and yet, at the second
+glance, recognised him for no old man at all, but one in the full
+strength of his years, and of a strong, speaking, and intellectual
+countenance stigmatised by weariness and famine. He beckoned my father
+near the cliff, and there, in the most private whisper, begged for
+brandy. My father looked at him with scorn: "You remind me," he said,
+"of a neglected duty. Here is my flask; it contains enough, I trust, to
+revive the women of your party; and I will begin with her whom I saw you
+robbing of her blankets." And with that, not heeding his appeals, my
+father turned his back upon the egoist.
+
+The girl still lay reclined against the rock; she lay too far sunk in
+the first stage of death to have observed the bustle round her couch;
+but when my father had raised her head, put the flask to her lips, and
+forced or aided her to swallow some drops of the restorative, she opened
+her languid eyes and smiled upon him faintly. Never was there a smile of
+a more touching sweetness; never were eyes more deeply violet, more
+honestly eloquent of the soul! I speak with knowledge, for these were
+the same eyes that smiled upon me in the cradle. From her who was to be
+his wife, my father, still jealously watched and followed by the man
+with the grey beard, carried his attentions to all the women of the
+party, and gave the last drainings of his flask to those among the men
+who seemed in the most need.
+
+"Is there none left? not a drop for me?" said the man with the beard.
+
+"Not one drop," replied my father; "and if you find yourself in want,
+let me counsel you to put your hand into the pocket of your coat."
+
+"Ah!" cried the other, "you misjudge me. You think me one who clings to
+life for selfish and commonplace considerations. But let me tell you,
+that were all this caravan to perish, the world would but be lightened
+of a weight. These are but human insects, pullulating, thick as
+may-flies, in the slums of European cities, whom I myself have plucked
+from degradation and misery, from the dung-heap and gin-palace door. And
+you compare their lives with mine!"
+
+"You are then a Mormon missionary?" asked my father.
+
+"Oh!" cried the man, with a strange smile, "a Mormon missionary if you
+will! I value not the title. Were I no more than that, I could have died
+without a murmur. But with my life as a physician is bound up the
+knowledge of great secrets and the future of man. This it was, when we
+missed the caravan, tried for a short cut and wandered to this desolate
+ravine, that ate into my soul and, in five days, has changed my beard
+from ebony to silver."
+
+"And you are a physician," mused my father, looking on his face, "bound
+by oath to succour man in his distresses."
+
+"Sir," returned the Mormon, "my name is Grierson: you will hear that
+name again; and you will then understand that my duty was not to this
+caravan of paupers, but to mankind at large."
+
+My father turned to the remainder of the party, who were now
+sufficiently revived to hear; told them that he would set off at once to
+bring help from his own party; "and," he added, "if you be again reduced
+to such extremities, look round you, and you will see the earth strewn
+with assistance. Here, for instance, growing on the underside of
+fissures in this cliff, you will perceive a yellow moss. Trust me, it is
+both edible and excellent."
+
+"Ha!" said Dr. Grierson, "you know botany!"
+
+"Not I alone," returned my father, lowering his voice; "for see where
+these have been scraped away. Am I right? Was that your secret store?"
+
+My father's comrades, he found, when he returned to the signal-fire, had
+made a good day's hunting. They were thus the more easily persuaded to
+extend assistance to the Mormon caravan; and the next day beheld both
+parties on the march for the frontiers of Utah. The distance to be
+traversed was not great; but the nature of the country and the
+difficulty of procuring food extended the time to nearly three weeks;
+and my father had thus ample leisure to know and appreciate the girl
+whom he had succoured. I will call my mother Lucy. Her family name I am
+not at liberty to mention; it is one you would know well. By what series
+of undeserved calamities this innocent flower of maidenhood, lovely,
+refined by education, ennobled by the finest taste, was thus cast among
+the horrors of a Mormon caravan, I must not stay to tell you. Let it
+suffice, that even in these untoward circumstances, she found a heart
+worthy of her own. The ardour of attachment which united my father and
+mother was perhaps partly due to the strange manner of their meeting; it
+knew, at least, no bounds, either divine or human; my father, for her
+sake, determined to renounce his ambition and abjure his faith; and a
+week had not passed upon the march before he had resigned from his
+party, accepted the Mormon doctrine, and received the promise of my
+mother's hand on the arrival of the party at Salt Lake.
+
+The marriage took place, and I was its only offspring. My father
+prospered exceedingly in his affairs, remained faithful to my mother;
+and, though you may wonder to hear it, I believe there were few happier
+homes in any country than that in which I saw the light and grew to
+girlhood. We were, indeed, and in spite of all our wealth, avoided as
+heretics and half-believers by the more precise and pious of the
+faithful: Young himself, that formidable tyrant, was known to look
+askance upon my father's riches; but of this I had no guess. I dwelt,
+indeed, under the Mormon system, with perfect innocence and faith. Some
+of our friends had many wives; but such was the custom; and why should
+it surprise me more than marriage itself? From time to time one of our
+rich acquaintances would disappear, his family be broken up, his wives
+and houses shared among the elders of the church, and his memory only
+recalled with bated breath and dreadful head-shakings. When I had been
+very still, and my presence perhaps was forgotten, some such topic would
+arise among my elders by the evening fire; I would see them draw the
+closer together and look behind them with scared eyes; and I might
+gather from their whisperings how some one, rich, honoured, healthy, and
+in the prime of his days, some one, perhaps, who had taken me on his
+knees a week before, had in one hour been spirited from home and family,
+and vanished like an image from a mirror, leaving not a print behind. It
+was terrible, indeed; but so was death, the universal law. And even if
+the talk should wax still bolder, full of ominous silences and nods, and
+I should hear named in a whisper the Destroying Angels, how was a child
+to understand these mysteries? I heard of a Destroying Angel as some
+more happy child might hear in England of a bishop or a rural dean, with
+vague respect and without the wish for further information. Life
+anywhere, in society as in nature, rests upon dread foundations; I
+beheld safe roads, a garden blooming in the desert, pious people
+crowding to worship; I was aware of my parents' tenderness and all the
+harmless luxuries of my existence; and why should I pry beneath this
+honest seeming surface for the mysteries on which it stood?
+
+We dwelt originally in the city; but at an early date we moved to a
+beautiful house in a green dingle, musical with splashing water, and
+surrounded on almost every side by twenty miles of poisonous and rocky
+desert. The city was thirty miles away; there was but one road, which
+went no farther than my father's door; the rest were bridle-tracks
+impassable in winter; and we thus dwelt in a solitude inconceivable to
+the European. Our only neighbour was Dr. Grierson. To my young eyes,
+after the hair-oiled, chin-bearded elders of the city, and the
+ill-favoured and mentally stunted women of their harems, there was
+something agreeable in the correct manner, the fine bearing, the thin
+white hair and beard, and the piercing looks of the old doctor. Yet,
+though he was almost our only visitor, I never wholly overcame a sense
+of fear in his presence; and this disquietude was rather fed by the
+awful solitude in which he lived and the obscurity that hung about his
+occupations. His house was but a mile or two from ours, but very
+differently placed. It stood overlooking the road on the summit of a
+steep slope, and planted close against a range of overhanging bluffs.
+Nature, you would say, had here desired to imitate the works of man; for
+the slope was even, like the glacis of a fort, and the cliffs of a
+constant height, like the ramparts of a city. Not even spring could
+change one feature of that desolate scene; and the windows looked down
+across a plain, snowy with alkali, to ranges of cold stone sierras on
+the north. Twice or thrice I remember passing within view of this
+forbidding residence; and seeing it always shuttered, smokeless, and
+deserted, I remarked to my parents that some day it would certainly be
+robbed.
+
+"Ah, no," said my father, "never robbed"; and I observed a strange
+conviction in his tone.
+
+At last, and not long before the blow fell on my unhappy family, I
+chanced to see the doctor's house in a new light. My father was ill; my
+mother confined to his bedside; and I was suffered to go, under the
+charge of our driver, to the lonely house some twenty miles away, where
+our packages were left for us. The horse cast a shoe; night overtook us
+half-way home; and it was well on for three in the morning when the
+driver and I, alone in a light waggon, came to that part of the road
+which ran below the doctor's house. The moon swam clear; the cliffs and
+mountains in this strong light lay utterly deserted; but the house, from
+its station on the top of the long slope and close under the bluff, not
+only shone abroad from every window like a place of festival, but from
+the great chimney at the west end poured forth a coil of smoke so thick
+and so voluminous, that it hung for miles along the windless night-air,
+and its shadow lay far abroad in the moonlight upon the glittering
+alkali. As we continued to draw near, besides, a regular and panting
+throb began to divide the silence. First it seemed to me like the
+beating of a heart; and next it put into my mind the thought of some
+giant, smothered under mountains, and still, with incalculable effort,
+fetching breath. I had heard of the railway, though I had not seen it,
+and I turned to ask the driver if this resembled it. But some look in
+his eye, some pallor, whether of fear or moonlight on his face, caused
+the words to die upon my lips. We continued, therefore, to advance in
+silence, till we were close below the lighted house; when suddenly,
+without premonitory rustle, there burst forth a report of such a bigness
+that it shook the earth and set the echoes of the mountains thundering
+from cliff to cliff. A pillar of amber flame leaped from the chimney-top
+and fell in multitudes of sparks; and at the same time the lights in the
+windows turned for one instant ruby red and then expired. The driver had
+checked his horse instinctively, and the echoes were still rumbling
+farther off among the mountains, when there broke from the now darkened
+interior a series of yells--whether of man or woman it was impossible to
+guess--the door flew open, and there ran forth into the moonlight, at
+the top of the long slope, a figure clad in white, which began to dance
+and leap and throw itself down, and roll as if in agony, before the
+house. I could no more restrain my cries; the driver laid his lash about
+the horse's flank, and we fled up the rough track at the peril of our
+lives; and did not draw rein till, turning the corner of the mountain,
+we beheld my father's ranch and deep, green groves and gardens, sleeping
+in the tranquil light.
+
+This was the one adventure of my life, until my father had climbed to
+the very topmost point of material prosperity, and I myself had reached
+the age of seventeen. I was still innocent and merry like a child;
+tended my garden or ran upon the hills in glad simplicity; gave not a
+thought to coquetry or to material cares; and if my eye rested on my own
+image in a mirror or some sylvan spring, it was to seek and recognise
+the features of my parents. But the fears which had long pressed on
+others were now to be laid on my youth. I had thrown myself, one sultry,
+cloudy afternoon, on a divan; the windows stood open on the verandah,
+where my mother sat with her embroidery; and when my father joined her
+from the garden, their conversation, clearly audible to me, was of so
+startling a nature that it held me enthralled where I lay.
+
+"The blow has come," my father said, after a long pause.
+
+I could hear my mother start and turn, but in words she made no reply.
+
+"Yes," continued my father, "I have received to-day a list of all that I
+possess; of all, I say; of what I have lent privately to men whose lips
+are sealed with terror; of what I have buried with my own hand on the
+bare mountain, when there was not a bird in heaven. Does the air, then,
+carry secrets? Are the hills of glass? Do the stones we tread upon
+preserve the footprint to betray us? Oh, Lucy, Lucy, that we should have
+come to such a country!"
+
+"But this," returned my mother, "is no very new or very threatening
+event. You are accused of some concealment. You will pay more taxes in
+the future, and be mulcted in a fine. It is disquieting, indeed, to find
+our acts so spied upon, and the most private known. But is this new?
+Have we not long feared and suspected every blade of grass?"
+
+"Ay, and our shadows!" cried my father. "But all this is nothing. Here
+is the letter that accompanied the list."
+
+I heard my mother turn the pages; and she was some time silent.
+
+"I see," she said at last; and then, with the tone of one reading;
+"'From a believer so largely blessed by Providence with this world's
+goods,'" she continued, "'the Church awaits in confidence some signal
+mark of piety.' There lies the sting. Am I not right? These are the
+words you fear?"
+
+"These are the words," replied my father. "Lucy, you remember Priestley?
+Two days before he disappeared, he carried me to the summit of an
+isolated butte; we could see around us for ten miles; sure, if in any
+quarter of this land a man were safe from spies, it were in such a
+station; but it was in the very ague-fit of terror that he told me, and
+that I heard, his story. He had received a letter such as this; and he
+submitted to my approval an answer in which he offered to resign a third
+of his possessions. I conjured him, as he valued life, to raise his
+offering; and, before we parted, he had doubled the amount. Well, two
+days later he was gone--gone from the chief street of the city in the
+hour of noon--and gone for ever. O God!" cried my father, "by what art
+do they thus spirit out of life the solid body? What death do they
+command that leaves no traces? that this material structure, these
+strong arms, this skeleton that can resist the grave for centuries,
+should be thus reft in a moment from the world of sense? A horror dwells
+in that thought more awful than mere death."
+
+"Is there no hope in Grierson?" asked my mother.
+
+"Dismiss the thought," replied my father. "He now knows all that I can
+teach, and will do naught to save me. His power, besides, is small, his
+own danger not improbably more imminent than mine; for he, too, lives
+apart; he leaves his wives neglected and unwatched; he is openly cited
+for an unbeliever; and unless he buys security at a more awful
+price--but no; I will not believe it: I have no love for him, but I will
+not believe it."
+
+"Believe what?" asked my mother; and then, with a change of note, "But
+oh, what matters it?" she cried. "Abimelech, there is but one way open:
+we must fly!"
+
+"It is in vain," returned my father. "I should but involve you in my
+fate. To leave this land is hopeless: we are closed in it as men are
+closed in life; and there is no issue but the grave."
+
+"We can but die then," replied my mother. "Let us at least die together.
+Let not Asenath[2] and myself survive you. Think to what a fate we
+should be doomed!"
+
+My father was unable to resist her tender violence; and though I could
+see he nourished not one spark of hope, he consented to desert his whole
+estate, beyond some hundreds of dollars that he had by him at the
+moment, and to flee that night, which promised to be dark and cloudy. As
+soon as the servants were asleep, he was to load two mules with
+provisions; two others were to carry my mother and myself; and, striking
+through the mountains by an unfrequented trail, we were to make a fair
+stroke for liberty and life. As soon as they had thus decided, I showed
+myself at the window, and, owning that I had heard all, assured them
+that they could rely on my prudence and devotion. I had no fear, indeed,
+but to show myself unworthy of my birth; I held my life in my hand
+without alarm; and when my father, weeping upon my neck, had blessed
+Heaven for the courage of his child, it was with a sentiment of pride
+and some of the joy that warriors take in war, that I began to look
+forward to the perils of our flight.
+
+Before midnight, under an obscure and starless heaven, we had left far
+behind us the plantations of the valley, and were mounting a certain
+canon in the hills, narrow, encumbered with great rocks, and echoing
+with the roar of a tumultuous torrent. Cascade after cascade thundered
+and hung up its flag of whiteness in the night, or fanned our faces with
+the wet wind of its descent. The trail was break-neck, and led to
+famine-guarded deserts; it had been long since deserted for more
+practicable routes; and it was now a part of the world untrod from year
+to year by human footing. Judge of our dismay when, turning suddenly an
+angle of the cliffs, we found a bright bonfire blazing by itself under
+an impending rock; and on the face of the rock, drawn very rudely with
+charred wood, the great Open Eye which is the emblem of the Mormon
+faith. We looked upon each other in the firelight; my mother broke into
+a passion of tears; but not a word was said. The mules were turned
+about; and leaving that great eye to guard the lonely canon, we
+retraced our steps in silence. Day had not yet broken ere we were once
+more at home, condemned beyond reprieve.
+
+What answer my father sent I was not told; but two days later, a little
+before sundown, I saw a plain, honest-looking man ride slowly up the
+road in a great pother of dust. He was clad in homespun, with a broad
+straw hat; wore a patriarchal beard; and had an air of a simple rustic
+farmer, that was, in my eyes, very reassuring. He was, indeed, a very
+honest man and pious Mormon; with no liking for his errand, though
+neither he nor any one in Utah dared to disobey; and it was with every
+mark of diffidence that he had had himself announced as Mr. Aspinwall,
+and entered the room where our unhappy family was gathered. My mother
+and me he awkwardly enough dismissed; and as soon as he was alone with
+my father laid before him a blank signature of President Young's, and
+offered him a choice of services: either to set out as a missionary to
+the tribes about the White Sea, or to join the next day, with a party of
+Destroying Angels, in the massacre of sixty German immigrants. The last,
+of course, my father could not entertain, and the first he regarded as a
+pretext: even if he could consent to leave his wife defenceless, and to
+collect fresh victims for the tyranny under which he was himself
+oppressed, he felt sure he would never be suffered to return. He refused
+both; and Aspinwall, he said, betrayed sincere emotion, part religious,
+as the spectacle of such disobedience, but part human, in pity for my
+father and his family. He besought him to reconsider his decision; and
+at length, finding he could not prevail, gave him till the moon rose to
+settle his affairs, and say farewell to wife and daughter. "For," said
+he, "then, at the latest, you must ride with me."
+
+I dare not dwell upon the hours that followed: they fled all too fast;
+and presently the moon out-topped the eastern range, and my father and
+Mr. Aspinwall set forth, side by side, on their nocturnal journey. My
+mother, though still bearing an heroic countenance, had hastened to
+shut herself in her apartment, thenceforward solitary; and I, alone in
+the dark house, and consumed by grief and apprehension, made haste to
+saddle my Indian pony, to ride up to the corner of the mountain, and to
+enjoy one farewell sight of my departing father. The two men had set
+forth at a deliberate pace; nor was I long behind them, when I reached
+the point of view. I was the more amazed to see no moving creature in
+the landscape. The moon, as the saying is, shone bright as day; and
+nowhere, under the whole arch of night, was there a growing tree, a
+bush, a farm, a patch of tillage, or any evidence of man, but one. From
+the corner where I stood, a rugged bastion of the line of bluffs
+concealed the doctor's house; and across the top of that projection the
+soft night wind carried and unwound about the hills a coil of sable
+smoke. What fuel could produce a vapour so sluggish to dissipate in that
+dry air, or what furnace pour it forth so copiously, I was unable to
+conceive; but I knew well enough that it came from the doctor's chimney;
+I saw well enough that my father had already disappeared; and in despite
+of reason, I connected in my mind the loss of that dear protector with
+the ribbon of foul smoke that trailed along the mountains.
+
+Days passed, and still my mother and I waited in vain for news; a week
+went by, a second followed, but we heard no word of the father and
+husband. As smoke dissipates, as the image glides from the mirror, so in
+the ten or twenty minutes that I had spent in getting my horse and
+following upon his trail, had that strong and brave man vanished out of
+life. Hope, if any hope we had, fled with every hour; the worst was now
+certain for my father, the worst was to be dreaded for his defenceless
+family. Without weakness, with a desperate calm at which I marvel when I
+look back upon it, the widow and the orphan awaited the event. On the
+last day of the third week we rose in the morning to find ourselves
+alone in the house, alone, so far as we searched, on the estate; all our
+attendants, with one accord, had fled, and as we knew them to be
+gratefully devoted, we drew the darkest intimations from their flight.
+The day passed, indeed, without event; but in the fall of the evening we
+were called at last into the verandah by the approaching clink of
+horse's hoofs.
+
+The doctor, mounted on an Indian pony, rode into the garden, dismounted,
+and saluted us. He seemed much more bent, and his hair more silvery than
+ever; but his demeanour was composed, serious, and not unkind.
+
+"Madam," said he, "I am come upon a weighty errand; and I would have you
+recognise it as an effect of kindness in the President, that he should
+send as his ambassador your only neighbour and your husband's oldest
+friend in Utah."
+
+"Sir," said my mother, "I have but one concern, one thought. You know
+well what it is. Speak: my husband?"
+
+"Madam," returned the doctor, taking a chair on the verandah, "if you
+were a silly child my position would now be painfully embarrassing. You
+are, on the other hand, a woman of great intelligence and fortitude: you
+have, by my forethought, been allowed three weeks to draw your own
+conclusions and to accept the inevitable. Further words from me are, I
+conceive, superfluous."
+
+My mother was as pale as death, and trembled like a reed; I gave her my
+hand, and she kept it in the folds of her dress and wrung it till I
+could have cried aloud. "Then, sir," said she at last, "you speak to
+deaf ears. If this be indeed so, what have I to do with errands? what do
+I ask of Heaven but to die?"
+
+"Come," said the doctor, "command yourself. I bid you dismiss all
+thoughts of your late husband, and bring a clear mind to bear upon your
+own future and the fate of that young girl."
+
+"You bid me dismiss----" began my mother. "Then you know!" she cried.
+
+"I know," replied the doctor.
+
+"You know?" broke out the poor woman. "Then it was you who did the deed!
+I tear off the mask, and with dread and loathing see you as you
+are--you, whom the poor fugitive beholds in nightmares, and awakes
+raving--you, the Destroying Angel!"
+
+"Well, madam, and what then?" returned the doctor. "Have not my fate and
+yours been similar? Are we not both immured in this strong prison of
+Utah? Have you not tried to flee, and did not the Open Eye confront you
+in the canon? Who can escape the watch of that unsleeping eye of Utah?
+Not I, at least. Horrible tasks have, indeed, been laid upon me; and the
+most ungrateful was the last; but had I refused my offices, would that
+have spared your husband? You know well it would not. I, too, had
+perished along with him; nor would I have been able to alleviate his
+last moments, nor could I to-day have stood between his family and the
+hand of Brigham Young."
+
+"Ah!" cried I, "and could you purchase life by such concessions?"
+
+"Young lady," answered the doctor, "I both could and did; and you will
+live to thank me for that baseness. You have a spirit, Asenath, that it
+pleases me to recognise. But we waste time. Mr. Fonblanque's estate
+reverts, as you doubtless imagine, to the church; but some part of it
+has been reserved for him who is to marry the family; and that person, I
+should perhaps tell you without more delay, is no other than myself."
+
+At this odious proposal my mother and I cried out aloud, and clung
+together like lost souls.
+
+"It is as I supposed," resumed the doctor, with the same measured
+utterance. "You recoil from this arrangement. Do you expect me to
+convince you? You know very well that I have never held the Mormon view
+of women. Absorbed in the most arduous studies, I have left the
+slatterns whom they call my wives to scratch and quarrel among
+themselves; of me, they have had nothing but my purse; such was not the
+union I desired, even if I had the leisure to pursue it. No, you need
+not, madam, and my old friend--" and here the doctor rose and bowed with
+something of gallantry--"you need not apprehend my importunities. On the
+contrary, I am rejoiced to read in you a Roman spirit; and if I am
+obliged to bid you follow me at once, and that in the name, not of my
+wish, but of my orders, I hope it will be found that we are of a common
+mind."
+
+So, bidding us dress for the road, he took a lamp (for the night had now
+fallen) and set off to the stable to prepare our horses.
+
+"What does it mean?--what will become of us?" I cried.
+
+"Not that, at least," replied my mother, shuddering. "So far we can
+trust him. I seem to read among his words a certain tragic promise.
+Asenath, if I leave you, if I die, you will not forget your miserable
+parents?"
+
+Thereupon we fell to cross-purposes: I beseeching her to explain her
+words; she putting me by, and continuing to recommend the doctor for a
+friend. "The doctor!" I cried at last; "the man who killed my father?"
+
+"Nay," said she, "let us be just. I do believe, before Heaven, he played
+the friendliest part. And he alone, Asenath, can protect you in this
+land of death."
+
+At this the doctor returned, leading our two horses; and when we were
+all in the saddle, he bade me ride on before, as he had matter to
+discuss with Mrs. Fonblanque. They came at a foot's-pace, eagerly
+conversing in a whisper; and presently after the moon rose and showed
+them looking eagerly into each other's faces as they went, my mother
+laying her hand upon the doctor's arm, and the doctor himself, against
+his usual custom, making vigorous gestures of protest or asseveration.
+
+At the foot of the track which ascended the talus of the mountain to his
+door, the doctor overtook me at a trot.
+
+"Here," he said, "we shall dismount; and as your mother prefers to be
+alone, you and I shall walk together to my house."
+
+"Shall I see her again?" I asked.
+
+"I give you my word," he said, and helped me to alight. "We leave the
+horses here," he added. "There are no thieves in this stone wilderness."
+
+The track mounted gradually, keeping the house in view. The windows were
+once more bright; the chimney once more vomited smoke; but the most
+absolute silence reigned, and, but for the figure of my mother very
+slowly following in our wake, I felt convinced there was no human soul
+within a range of miles. At the thought, I looked upon the doctor,
+gravely walking by my side, with his bowed shoulders and white hair, and
+then once more at his house, lit up and pouring smoke like some
+industrious factory. And then my curiosity broke forth. "In Heaven's
+name," I cried, "what do you make in this inhuman desert?"
+
+He looked at me with a peculiar smile, and answered with an evasion:
+
+"This is not the first time," said he, "that you have seen my furnaces
+alight. One morning, in the small hours, I saw you driving past; a
+delicate experiment miscarried; and I cannot acquit myself of having
+startled either your driver or the horse that drew you."
+
+"What!" cried I, beholding again in fancy the antics of the figure,
+"could that be you?"
+
+"It was I," he replied; "but do not fancy that I was mad. I was in
+agony. I had been scalded cruelly."
+
+We were now near the house, which, unlike the ordinary houses of the
+country, was built of hewn stone and very solid. Stone, too, was its
+foundation, stone its background. Not a blade of grass sprouted among
+the broken mineral about the walls, not a flower adorned the windows.
+Over the door, by way of sole adornment, the Mormon Eye was rudely
+sculptured; I had been brought up to view that emblem from my
+childhood; but since the night of our escape, it had acquired a new
+significance, and set me shrinking. The smoke rolled voluminously from
+the chimney-top, its edges ruddy with the fire; and from the far corner
+of the building, near the ground, angry puffs of steam shone snow-white
+in the moon and vanished.
+
+The doctor opened the door and paused upon the threshold. "You ask me
+what I make here," he observed: "Two things: Life and Death." And he
+motioned me to enter.
+
+"I shall await my mother," said I.
+
+"Child," he replied, "look at me: am I not old and broken? Of us two,
+which is the stronger, the young maiden or the withered man?"
+
+I bowed and, passing by him, entered a vestibule or kitchen, lit by a
+good fire and a shaded reading-lamp. It was furnished only with a
+dresser, a rude table, and some wooden benches; and on one of these the
+doctor motioned me to take a seat; and passing by another door into the
+interior of the house, he left me to myself. Presently I heard the jar
+of iron from the far end of the building; and this was followed by the
+same throbbing noise that had startled me in the valley, but now so near
+at hand as to be menacing by loudness, and even to shake the house with
+every recurrence of the stroke. I had scarce time to master my alarm
+when the doctor returned, and almost in the same moment my mother
+appeared upon the threshold. But how am I to describe to you the peace
+and ravishment of that face? Years seemed to have passed over her head
+during that brief ride, and left her younger and fairer; her eyes shone,
+her smile went to my heart; she seemed no more a woman, but the angel of
+ecstatic tenderness. I ran to her in a kind of terror; but she shrank a
+little back and laid her finger on her lips, with something arch and yet
+unearthly. To the doctor, on the contrary, she reached out her hand as
+to a friend and helper; and so strange was the scene that I forgot to be
+offended.
+
+"Lucy," said the doctor, "all is prepared. Will you go alone, or shall
+your daughter follow us?"
+
+"Let Asenath come," she answered, "dear Asenath! At this hour when I am
+purified of fear and sorrow, and already survive myself and my
+affections, it is for your sake, and not for mine, that I desire her
+presence. Were she shut out, dear friend, it is to be feared she might
+misjudge your kindness."
+
+"Mother," I cried wildly, "mother, what is this?"
+
+But my mother, with her radiant smile, said only "Hush!" as though I
+were a child again, and tossing in some fever-fit; and the doctor bade
+me be silent and trouble her no more. "You have made a choice," he
+continued, addressing my mother, "that has often strangely tempted me.
+The two extremes: all, or else nothing; never, or this very hour upon
+the clock--these have been my incongruous desires. But to accept the
+middle term, to be content with a half-gift, to flicker awhile and to
+burn out--never for an hour, never since I was born, has satisfied the
+appetite of my ambition." He looked upon my mother fixedly, much of
+admiration and some touch of envy in his eyes; then, with a profound
+sigh, he led the way into the inner room.
+
+It was very long. From end to end it was lit up by many lamps, which by
+the changeful colour of their light, and by the incessant snapping
+sounds with which they burned, I have since divined to be electric. At
+the extreme end an open door gave us a glimpse into what must have been
+a lean-to shed beside the chimney; and this, in strong contrast to the
+room, was painted with a red reverberation as from furnace-doors. The
+walls were lined with books and glazed cases, the tables crowded with
+the implements of chemical research; great glass accumulators glittered
+in the light; and through a hole in the gable near the shed door a heavy
+driving-belt entered the apartment and ran overhead upon steel pulleys,
+with clumsy activity and many ghostly and fluttering sounds. In one
+corner I perceived a chair resting upon crystal feet, and curiously
+wreathed with wire. To this my mother advanced with a decisive
+swiftness.
+
+"Is this it?" she asked.
+
+The doctor bowed in silence.
+
+"Asenath," said my mother, "in this sad end of my life I have found one
+helper. Look upon him: it is Doctor Grierson. Be not, O my daughter, be
+not ungrateful to that friend!"
+
+She sat upon the chair, and took in her hands the globes that terminated
+the arms.
+
+"Am I right?" she asked, and looked upon the doctor with such a radiancy
+of face that I trembled for her reason. Once more the doctor bowed, but
+this time leaning hard against the wall. He must have touched a spring.
+The least shock agitated my mother where she sat; the least passing jar
+appeared to cross her features; and she sank back in the chair like one
+resigned to weariness. I was at her knees that moment; but her hands
+fell loosely in my grasp; her face, still beatified with the same
+touching smile, sank forward on her bosom: her spirit had for ever fled.
+
+I do not know how long may have elapsed before, raising for a moment my
+tearful face, I met the doctor's eyes. They rested upon mine with such a
+depth of scrutiny, pity, and interest, that even from the freshness of
+my sorrow I was startled into attention.
+
+"Enough," he said, "to lamentation. Your mother went to death as to a
+bridal, dying where her husband died. It is time, Asenath, to think of
+the survivors. Follow me to the next room."
+
+I followed him, like a person in a dream; he made me sit by the fire, he
+gave me wine to drink; and then, pacing the stone floor, he thus began
+to address me:
+
+"You are now, my child, alone in the world, and under the immediate
+watch of Brigham Young. It would be your lot, in ordinary circumstances,
+to become the fiftieth bride of some ignoble elder, or by particular
+fortune, as fortune is counted in this land, to find favour in the eyes
+of the President himself. Such a fate for a girl like you were worse
+than death; better to die as your mother died than to sink daily deeper
+in the mire of this pit of woman's degradation. But is escape
+conceivable? Your father tried; and you beheld yourself with what
+security his jailers acted, and how a dumb drawing on a rock was counted
+a sufficient sentry over the avenues of freedom. Where your father
+failed, will you be wiser or more fortunate? or are you, too, helpless
+in the toils?"
+
+I had followed his words with changing emotion, but now I believed I
+understood.
+
+"I see," I cried; "you judge me rightly. I must follow where my parents
+led; and oh! I am not only willing, I am eager!"
+
+"No," replied the doctor, "not death for you. The flawed vessel we may
+break, but not the perfect. No, your mother cherished a different hope,
+and so do I. I see," he cried, "the girl develop to the completed woman,
+the plan reach fulfilment, the promise--ay, outdone! I could not bear to
+arrest so lively, so comely a process. It was your mother's thought," he
+added, with a change of tone, "that I should marry you myself." I fear I
+must have shown a perfect horror of aversion from this fate, for he made
+haste to quiet me. "Reassure yourself, Asenath," he resumed. "Old as I
+am, I have not forgotten the tumultuous fancies of youth. I have passed
+my days, indeed, in laboratories; but in all my vigils I have not
+forgotten the tune of a young pulse. Age asks with timidity to be spared
+intolerable pain; youth, taking fortune by the beard, demands joy like a
+right. These things I have not forgotten; none, rather, has more keenly
+felt, none more jealously considered them; I have but postponed them to
+their day. See, then: you stand without support; the only friend left to
+you, this old investigator, old in cunning, young in sympathy. Answer me
+but one question: Are you free from the entanglement of what the world
+calls love? Do you still command your heart and purposes? or are you
+fallen in some bond-slavery of the eye and ear?"
+
+I answered him in broken words; my heart, I think I must have told him,
+lay with my dead parents.
+
+"It is enough," he said. "It has been my fate to be called on often, too
+often, for those services of which we spoke to-night; none in Utah could
+carry them so well to a conclusion; hence there has fallen into my hands
+a certain share of influence which I now lay at your service, partly for
+the sake of my dead friends, your parents; partly for the interest I
+bear you in your own right. I shall send you to England, to the great
+city of London, there to await the bridegroom I have selected. He shall
+be a son of mine, a young man suitable in age, and not grossly deficient
+in that quality of beauty that your years demand. Since your heart is
+free, you may well pledge me the sole promise that I ask in return for
+much expense and still more danger: to await the arrival of that
+bridegroom with the delicacy of a wife."
+
+I sat awhile stunned. The doctor's marriages, I remembered to have
+heard, had been unfruitful; and this added perplexity to my distress.
+But I was alone, as he had said, alone in that dark land; the thought of
+escape, of any equal marriage, was already enough to revive in me some
+dawn of hope; and, in what words I know not, I accepted the proposal.
+
+He seemed more moved by my consent than I could reasonably have looked
+for. "You shall see," he cried; "you shall judge for yourself." And
+hurrying to the next room he returned with a small portrait somewhat
+coarsely done in oils. It showed a man in the dress of nearly forty
+years before, young indeed, but still recognisable to be the doctor. "Do
+you like it?" he asked. "That is myself when I was young. My--my boy
+will be like that, like, but nobler; with such health as angels might
+condescend to envy; and a man of mind, Asenath, of commanding mind. That
+should be a man, I think; that should be one among ten thousand. A man
+like that--one to combine the passions of youth with the restraint, the
+force, the dignity of age--one to fill all the parts and faculties, one
+to be man's epitome--say, will that not satisfy the needs of an
+ambitious girl? Say, is not that enough?" And as he held the picture
+close before my eyes, his hand shook.
+
+I told him briefly I would ask no better, for I was transpierced with
+this display of fatherly emotion; but even as I said the words, the most
+insolent revolt surged through my arteries. I held him in horror, him,
+his portrait, and his son; and had there been any choice but death or a
+Mormon marriage, I declare before Heaven I had embraced it.
+
+"It is well," he replied, "and I had rightly counted on your spirit.
+Eat, then, for you have far to go." So saying, he set meat before me;
+and while I was endeavouring to obey, he left the room and returned with
+an armful of coarse raiment. "There," said he, "is your disguise. I
+leave you to your toilet."
+
+The clothes had probably belonged to a somewhat lubberly boy of fifteen;
+and they hung about me like a sack, and cruelly hampered my movements.
+But what filled me with uncontrollable shudderings was the problem of
+their origin and the fate of the lad to whom they had belonged. I had
+scarcely effected the exchange when the doctor returned, opened a back
+window, helped me out into the narrow space between the house and the
+overhanging bluffs, and showed me a ladder of iron foot-holds mortised
+in the rock. "Mount," he said, "swiftly. When you are at the summit,
+walk, so far as you are able, in the shadow of the smoke. The smoke will
+bring you, sooner or later, to a canon; follow that down, and you will
+find a man with two horses. Him you will implicitly obey. And remember,
+silence! That machinery which I now put in motion for your service may
+by one word be turned against you. Go; Heaven prosper you!"
+
+The ascent was easy. Arrived at the top of the cliff, I saw before me
+on the other side a vast and gradual declivity of stone, lying bare to
+the moon and the surrounding mountains. Nowhere was any vantage or
+concealment; and knowing how these deserts were beset with spies, I made
+haste to veil my movements under the blowing trail of smoke. Sometimes
+it swam high, rising on the night wind, and I had no more substantial
+curtain than its moon-thrown shadow; sometimes again it crawled upon the
+earth, and I would walk in it, no higher than to my shoulders, like some
+mountain fog. But, one way or another, the smoke of that ill-omened
+furnace protected the first steps of my escape, and led me unobserved to
+the canon.
+
+There, sure enough, I found a taciturn and sombre man beside a pair of
+saddle-horses; and thenceforward, all night long, we wandered in silence
+by the most occult and dangerous paths among the mountains. A little
+before the dayspring we took refuge in a wet and gusty cavern at the
+bottom of a gorge; lay there all day concealed; and the next night,
+before the glow had faded out of the west, resumed our wanderings. About
+noon we stopped again, in a lawn upon a little river, where was a screen
+of bushes; and here my guide, handing me a bundle from his pack, bade me
+change my dress once more. The bundle contained clothing of my own,
+taken from our house, with such necessaries as a comb and soap. I made
+my toilet by the mirror of a quiet pool; and as I was so doing and
+smiling with some complacency to see myself restored to my own image,
+the mountains rang with a scream of far more than human piercingness;
+and where I still stood astonished, there sprang up and swiftly
+increased a storm of the most awful and earth-rending sounds. Shall I
+own to you that I fell upon my face and shrieked? And yet this was but
+the overland train winding among the near mountains: the very means of
+my salvation: the strong wings that were to carry me from Utah!
+
+When I was dressed the guide gave me a bag, which contained, he said,
+both money and papers; and, telling me that I was already over the
+borders in the territory of Wyoming, bade me follow the stream until I
+reached the railway station, half a mile below. "Here," he added, "is
+your ticket as far as Council Bluffs. The East express will pass in a
+few hours." With that, he took both horses and, without further words or
+any salutation, rode off by the way that we had come.
+
+Three hours afterwards, I was seated on the end platform of the train as
+it swept eastward through the gorges and thundered in tunnels of the
+mountains. The change of scene, the sense of escape, the still throbbing
+terror of pursuit--above all the astounding magic of my new conveyance,
+kept me from any logical or melancholy thought. I had gone to the
+doctor's house two nights before prepared to die, prepared for worse
+than death; what had passed, terrible although it was, looked almost
+bright compared to my anticipations; and it was not till I had slept a
+full night in the flying palace car that I awoke to the sense of my
+irreparable loss and to some reasonable alarm about the future. In this
+mood I examined the contents of the bag. It was well supplied with gold;
+it contained tickets and complete directions for my journey as far as
+Liverpool, and a long letter from the doctor, supplying me with a
+fictitious name and story, recommending the most guarded silence, and
+bidding me to await faithfully the coming of his son. All then had been
+arranged beforehand: he had counted upon my consent, and, what was
+tenfold worse, upon my mother's voluntary death. My horror of my only
+friend, my aversion for this son who was to marry me, my revolt against
+the whole current and conditions of my life, were now complete. I was
+sitting stupefied by my distress and helplessness, when, to my joy, a
+very pleasant lady offered me her conversation. I clutched at the
+relief; and I was soon glibly telling her the story in the doctor's
+letter: how I was a Miss Gould, of Nevada City, going to England to an
+uncle, what money I had, what family, my age, and so forth, until I had
+exhausted my instructions, and, as the lady still continued to ply me
+with questions, began to embroider on my own account. This soon carried
+one of my inexperience beyond her depth; and I had already remarked a
+shadow on the lady's face, when a gentleman drew near and very civilly
+addressed me:
+
+"Miss Gould, I believe?" said he; and then, excusing himself to the lady
+by the authority of my guardian, drew me to the fore platform of the
+Pullman car. "Miss Gould," he said in my ear, "is it possible that you
+suppose yourself in safety? Let me completely undeceive you. One more
+such indiscretion and you return to Utah. And, in the meanwhile, if this
+woman should again address you, you are to reply with these words:
+'Madam, I do not like you, and I will be obliged if you will suffer me
+to choose my own associates.'"
+
+Alas, I had to do as I was bid; this lady, to whom I already felt myself
+drawn with the strongest cords of sympathy, I dismissed with insult; and
+thenceforward, through all that day I sat in silence, gazing on the bare
+plains and swallowing my tears. Let that suffice: it was the pattern of
+my journey. Whether on the train, at the hotels, or on board the ocean
+steamer, I never exchanged a friendly word with any fellow-traveller but
+I was certain to be interrupted. In every place, on every side, the most
+unlikely persons, man or woman, rich or poor, became protectors to
+forward me upon my journey or spies to observe and regulate my conduct.
+Thus I crossed the States, thus passed the ocean, the Mormon Eye still
+following my movements; and when at length a cab had set me down before
+that London lodging-house from which you saw me flee this morning, I had
+already ceased to struggle and ceased to hope.
+
+The landlady, like every one else through all that journey, was
+expecting my arrival. A fire was lighted in my room, which looked upon
+the garden; there were books on the table, clothes in the drawers; and
+there (I had almost said with contentment, and certainly with
+resignation) I saw month follow month over my head. At times my landlady
+took me for a walk or an excursion, but she would never suffer me to
+leave the house alone; and I, seeing that she also lived under the
+shadow of that widespread Mormon terror, felt too much pity to resist.
+To the child born on Mormon soil, as to the man who accepts the
+engagements of a secret order, no escape is possible; so I had clearly
+read, and I was thankful even for this respite. Meanwhile, I tried
+honestly to prepare my mind for my approaching nuptials. The day drew
+near when my bridegroom was to visit me, and gratitude and fear alike
+obliged me to consent. A son of Dr. Grierson's be he what he pleased,
+must still be young, and it was even probable he should be handsome; on
+more than that I felt I dared not reckon; and in moulding my mind
+towards consent I dwelt the more carefully on these physical attractions
+which I felt I might expect, and averted my eyes from moral or
+intellectual considerations. We have a great power upon our spirits; and
+as time passed I worked myself into a frame of acquiescence, nay, and I
+began to grow impatient for the hour. At night sleep forsook me; I sat
+all day by the fire, absorbed in dreams, conjuring up the features of my
+husband, and anticipating in fancy the touch of his hand and the sound
+of his voice. In the dead level and solitude of my existence, this was
+the one eastern window and the one door of hope. At last I had so
+cultivated and prepared my will, that I began to be besieged with fears
+upon the other side. How if it was I that did not please? How if this
+unseen lover should turn from me with disaffection? And now I spent
+hours before the glass, studying and judging my attractions, and was
+never weary of changing my dress or ordering my hair.
+
+When the day came I was long about my toilet; but at last, with a sort
+of hopeful desperation, I had to own that I could do no more, and must
+now stand or fall by nature. My occupation ended, I fell a prey to the
+most sickening impatience, mingled with alarms; giving ear to the
+swelling rumour of the streets, and at each change of sound or silence,
+starting, shrinking, and colouring to the brow. Love is not to be
+prepared, I know, without some knowledge of the object; and yet, when
+the cab at last rattled to the door, and I heard my visitor mount the
+stairs, such was the tumult of hopes in my poor bosom that love itself
+might have been proud to own their parentage. The door opened, and it
+was Dr. Grierson that appeared. I believe I must have screamed aloud,
+and I know, at least, that I fell fainting to the floor.
+
+When I came to myself he was standing over me, counting my pulse. "I
+have startled you," he said. "A difficulty unforeseen--the impossibility
+of obtaining a certain drug in its full purity--has forced me to resort
+to London unprepared. I regret that I should have shown myself once more
+without those poor attractions which are much, perhaps, to you, but to
+me are no more considerable than rain that falls into the sea. Youth is
+but a state, as passing as that syncope from which you are but just
+awakened, and, if there be truth in science, as easy to recall; for I
+find, Asenath, that I must now take you for my confidant. Since my first
+years I have devoted every hour and act of life to one ambitious task;
+and the time of my success is at hand. In these new countries, where I
+was so long content to stay, I collected indispensable ingredients; I
+have fortified myself on every side from the possibility of error; what
+was a dream now takes the substance of reality; and when I offered you a
+son of mine I did so in a figure. That son--that husband, Asenath, is
+myself--not as you now behold me, but restored to the first energy of
+youth. You think me mad? It is the customary attitude of ignorance. I
+will not argue; I will leave facts to speak. When you behold me
+purified, invigorated, renewed, restamped in the original image--when
+you recognise in me (what I shall be) the first perfect expression of
+the powers of mankind--I shall be able to laugh with a better grace at
+your passing and natural incredulity. To what can you aspire--fame,
+riches, power, the charm of youth, the dear-bought wisdom of age--that I
+shall not be able to afford you in perfection? Do not deceive yourself.
+I already excel you in every human gift but one: when that gift also has
+been restored to me you will recognise your master."
+
+Hereupon, consulting his watch, he told me he must now leave me to
+myself; and bidding me consult reason, and not girlish fancies, he
+withdrew. I had not the courage to move; the night fell, and found me
+still where he had laid me during my faint, my face buried in my hands,
+my soul drowned in the darkest apprehensions. Late in the evening he
+returned, carrying a candle, and, with a certain irritable tremor, bade
+me rise and sup. "Is it possible," he added, "that I have been deceived
+in your courage? A cowardly girl is no fit mate for me."
+
+I flung myself before him on my knees, and with floods of tears besought
+him to release me from this engagement, assuring him that my cowardice
+was abject, and that in every point of intellect and character I was his
+hopeless and derisible inferior.
+
+"Why, certainly," he replied. "I know you better than yourself; and I am
+well enough acquainted with human nature to understand this scene. It is
+addressed to me," he added with a smile, "in my character of the still
+untransformed. But do not alarm yourself about the future. Let me but
+attain my end, and not you only, Asenath, but every woman on the face of
+the earth becomes my willing slave."
+
+Thereupon he obliged me to rise and eat; sat down with me to table;
+helped and entertained me with the attentions of a fashionable host; and
+it was not till a late hour that, bidding me courteously good-night, he
+once more left me alone to my misery.
+
+In all this talk of an elixir and the restoration of his youth, I
+scarce knew from which hypothesis I should the more eagerly recoil. If
+his hopes reposed on any base of fact, if, indeed, by some abhorrent
+miracle, he should discard his age, death were my only refuge from that
+most unnatural, that most ungodly union. If, on the other hand, these
+dreams were merely lunatic, the madness of a life waxed suddenly acute,
+my pity would become a load almost as heavy to bear as my revolt against
+the marriage. So passed the night, in alternations of rebellion and
+despair, of hate and pity; and with the next morning I was only to
+comprehend more fully my enslaved position. For though he appeared with
+a very tranquil countenance, he had no sooner observed the marks of
+grief upon my brow than an answering darkness gathered on his own.
+"Asenath," he said, "you owe me much already; with one finger I still
+hold you suspended over death; my life is full of labour and anxiety;
+and I choose," said he, with a remarkable accent of command, "that you
+shall greet me with a pleasant face." He never needed to repeat the
+recommendation: from that day forward I was always ready to receive him
+with apparent cheerfulness; and he rewarded me with a good deal of his
+company, and almost more than I could bear of his confidence. He had set
+up a laboratory in the back part of the house, where he toiled day and
+night at his elixir, and he would come thence to visit me in my parlour:
+now with passing humours of discouragement; now, and far more often,
+radiant with hope. It was impossible to see so much of him, and not to
+recognise that the sands of his life were running low; and yet all the
+time he would be laying out vast fields of future, and planning, with
+all the confidence of youth, the most unbounded schemes of pleasure and
+ambition. How I replied I know not; but I found a voice and words to
+answer, even while I wept and raged to hear him.
+
+A week ago the doctor entered my room with the marks of great
+exhilaration contending with pitiful bodily weakness. "Asenath," said
+he, "I have now obtained the last ingredient. In one week from now the
+perilous moment of the last projection will draw nigh. You have once
+before assisted, although unconsciously, at the failure of a similar
+experiment. It was the elixir which so terribly exploded one night when
+you were passing my house; and it is idle to deny that the conduct of so
+delicate a process, among the million jars and trepidations of so great
+a city, presents a certain element of danger. From this point of view, I
+cannot but regret the perfect stillness of my house among the deserts;
+but, on the other hand, I have succeeded in proving that the singularly
+unstable equilibrium of the elixir, at the moment of projection, is due
+rather to the impurity than to the nature of the ingredients; and as all
+are now of an equal and exquisite nicety, I have little fear for the
+result. In a week then from to-day, my dear Asenath, this period of
+trial will be ended." And he smiled upon me in a manner unusually
+paternal.
+
+I smiled back with my lips, but at my heart there raged the blackest and
+most unbridled terror. What if he failed? And oh, tenfold worse! what if
+he succeeded? What detested and unnatural changeling would appear before
+me to claim my hand? And could there, I asked myself with a dreadful
+sinking, be any truth in his boasts of an assured victory over my
+reluctance? I knew him, indeed, to be masterful, to lead my life at a
+sign. Suppose, then, this experiment to succeed; suppose him to return
+to me, hideously restored, like a vampire in a legend; and suppose that,
+by some devilish fascination.... My head turned; all former fears
+deserted me; and I felt I could embrace the worst in preference to this.
+
+My mind was instantly made up. The doctor's presence in London was
+justified by the affairs of the Mormon polity. Often, in our
+conversation, he would gloat over the details of that great
+organisation, which he feared even while yet he wielded it; and would
+remind me that, even in the humming labyrinth of London, we were still
+visible to that unsleeping eye in Utah. His visitors, indeed, who were
+of every sort, from the missionary to the destroying angel, and seemed
+to belong to every rank of life, had, up to that moment, filled me with
+unmixed repulsion and alarm. I knew that if my secret were to reach the
+ear of any leader my fate were sealed beyond redemption; and yet in my
+present pass of horror and despair, it was to these very men that I
+turned for help. I waylaid upon the stair one of the Mormon
+missionaries, a man of a low class, but not inaccessible to pity; told
+him I scarce remember what elaborate fable to explain my application;
+and by his intermediacy entered into correspondence with my father's
+family. They recognised my claim for help, and on this very day I was to
+begin my escape.
+
+Last night I sat up fully dressed, awaiting the result of the doctor's
+labours, and prepared against the worst. The nights at this season and
+in this northern latitude are short; and I had soon the company of the
+returning daylight. The silence in and around the house was only broken
+by the movements of the doctor in the laboratory; to these I listened,
+watch in hand, awaiting the hour of my escape, and yet consumed by
+anxiety about the strange experiment that was going forward overhead.
+Indeed, now that I was conscious of some protection for myself, my
+sympathies had turned more directly to the doctor's side; I caught
+myself even praying for his success; and when some hours ago a low,
+peculiar cry reached my ears from the laboratory, I could no longer
+control my impatience, but mounted the stairs and opened the door.
+
+The doctor was standing in the middle of the room; in his hand a large,
+round-bellied, crystal flask, some three parts full of a bright
+amber-coloured liquid; on his face a rapture of gratitude and joy
+unspeakable. As he saw me he raised the flask at arm's-length.
+"Victory!" he cried. "Victory, Asenath!" And then--whether the flask
+escaped his trembling fingers, or whether the explosion was spontaneous,
+I cannot tell--enough that we were thrown, I against the door-post, the
+doctor into the corner of the room; enough that we were shaken to the
+soul by the same explosion that must have startled you upon the street;
+and that, in the brief space of an indistinguishable instant, there
+remained nothing of the labours of the doctor's lifetime but a few
+shards of broken crystal and those voluminous and ill-smelling vapours
+that pursued me in my flight.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [2] In this name the accent falls upon the _e_; the _s_ is sibilant.
+
+
+
+
+THE SQUIRE OF DAMES (_concluded_)
+
+
+What with the lady's animated manner and dramatic conduct of her voice,
+Challoner had thrilled to every incident with genuine emotion. His
+fancy, which was not perhaps of a very lively character, applauded both
+the matter and the style; but the more judicial functions of his mind
+refused assent. It was an excellent story; and it might be true, but he
+believed it was not. Miss Fonblanque was a lady, and it was doubtless
+possible for a lady to wander from the truth; but how was a gentleman to
+tell her so? His spirits for some time had been sinking, but they now
+fell to zero; and long after her voice had died away he still sat with a
+troubled and averted countenance, and could find no form of words to
+thank her for her narrative. His mind, indeed, was empty of everything
+beyond a dull longing for escape. From this pause, which grew the more
+embarrassing with every second, he was roused by the sudden laughter of
+the lady. His vanity was alarmed; he turned and faced her; their eyes
+met; and he caught from hers a spark of such frank merriment as put him
+instantly at ease.
+
+"You certainly," he said, "appear to bear your calamities with excellent
+spirit."
+
+"Do I not?" she cried, and fell once more into delicious laughter. But
+from this access she more speedily recovered. "This is all very well,"
+said she, nodding at him gravely, "but I am still in a most distressing
+situation, from which, if you deny me your help, I shall find it
+difficult indeed to free myself."
+
+At this mention of help Challoner fell back to his original gloom.
+
+"My sympathies are much engaged with you," he said, "and I should be
+delighted, I am sure. But our position is most unusual; and
+circumstances over which I have, I can assure you, no control, deprive
+me of the power--the pleasure----Unless, indeed," he added, somewhat
+brightening at the thought, "I were to recommend you to the care of the
+police?"
+
+She laid her hand upon his arm and looked hard into his eyes; and he saw
+with wonder that, for the first time since the moment of their meeting,
+every trace of colour had faded from her cheek.
+
+"Do so," she said, "and--weigh my words well--you kill me as certainly
+as with a knife."
+
+"God bless me!" exclaimed Challoner.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "I can see you disbelieve my story, and make light of
+the perils that surround me; but who are you to judge? My family share
+my apprehensions; they help me in secret; and you saw yourself by what
+an emissary, and in what a place, they have chosen to supply me with the
+funds for my escape. I admit that you are brave and clever, and have
+impressed me most favourably; but how are you to prefer your opinion
+before that of my uncle, an ex-minister of State, a man with the ear of
+the Queen, and of a long political experience? If I am mad, is he? And
+you must allow me, besides, a special claim upon your help. Strange as
+you may think my story, you know that much of it is true; and if you who
+heard the explosion, and saw the Mormon at Victoria, refuse to credit
+and assist me, to whom am I to turn?"
+
+"He gave you money then?" asked Challoner, who had been dwelling singly
+on that fact.
+
+"I begin to interest you," she cried. "But, frankly, you are condemned
+to help me. If the service I had to ask of you were serious, were
+suspicious, were even unusual, I should say no more. But what is it? To
+take a pleasure trip (for which, if you will suffer me, I propose to
+pay) and to carry from one lady to another a sum of money! What can be
+more simple?"
+
+"Is the sum," asked Challoner, "considerable?"
+
+She produced a packet from her bosom; and observing that she had not yet
+found time to make the count, tore open the cover and spread upon her
+knees a considerable number of Bank of England notes. It took some time
+to make the reckoning, for the notes were of every degree of value; but
+at last, and counting a few loose sovereigns, she made out the sum to be
+a little under L710 sterling. The sight of so much money worked an
+immediate revolution in the mind of Challoner.
+
+"And you propose, madam," he cried, "to intrust that money to a perfect
+stranger?"
+
+"Ah!" said she, with a charming smile, "but I no longer regard you as a
+stranger."
+
+"Madam," said Challoner, "I perceive I must make you a confession.
+Although of a very good family--through my mother, indeed, a lineal
+descendant of the patriot Bruce--I dare not conceal from you that my
+affairs are deeply, very deeply, involved. I am in debt; my pockets are
+practically empty; and, in short, I am fallen to that state when a
+considerable sum of money would prove to many men an irresistible
+temptation."
+
+"Do you not see," returned the young lady, "that by these words you have
+removed my last hesitation? Take them." And she thrust the notes into
+the young man's hand.
+
+He sat so long, holding them, like a baby at the font, that Miss
+Fonblanque once more bubbled into laughter.
+
+"Pray," she said, "hesitate no further; put them in your pocket; and to
+relieve our position of any shadow of embarrassment, tell me by what
+name I am to address my knight-errant, for I find myself reduced to the
+awkwardness of the pronoun."
+
+Had borrowing been in question, the wisdom of our ancestors had come
+lightly to the young man's aid; but upon what pretext could he refuse so
+generous a trust? Upon none, he saw, that was not unpardonably wounding;
+and the bright eyes and the high spirits of his companion had already
+made a breach in the rampart of Challoner's caution. The whole thing, he
+reasoned, might be a mere mystification, which it were the height of
+solemn folly to resent. On the other hand, the explosion, the interview
+at the public-house, and the very money in his hands, seemed to prove
+beyond denial the existence of some serious danger; and if that were so,
+could he desert her? There was a choice of risks: the risk of behaving
+with extraordinary incivility and unhandsomeness to a lady, and the risk
+of going on a fool's errand. The story seemed false; but then the money
+was undeniable. The whole circumstances were questionable and obscure;
+but the lady was charming, and had the speech and manners of society.
+While he still hung in the wind, a recollection returned upon his mind
+with some of the dignity of prophecy. Had he not promised Somerset to
+break with the traditions of the commonplace, and to accept the first
+adventure offered? Well, here was the adventure.
+
+He thrust the money into his pocket.
+
+"My name is Challoner," said he.
+
+"Mr. Challoner," she replied, "you have come very generously to my aid
+when all was against me. Though I am myself a very humble person, my
+family commands great interest; and I do not think you will repent this
+handsome action."
+
+Challoner flushed with pleasure.
+
+"I imagine that, perhaps, a consulship," she added, her eyes dwelling on
+him with a judicial admiration, "a consulship in some great town or
+capital--or else----But we waste time; let us set about the work of my
+delivery."
+
+She took his arm with a frank confidence that went to his heart; and
+once more laying by all serious thoughts, she entertained him, as they
+crossed the park, with her agreeable gaiety of mind. Near the Marble
+Arch they found a hansom, which rapidly conveyed them to the terminus at
+Euston Square; and here, in the hotel, they sat down to an excellent
+breakfast. The young lady's first step was to call for writing
+materials, and write, upon one corner of the table, a hasty note; still,
+as she did so, glancing with smiles at her companion. "Here," said she,
+"here is the letter which will introduce you to my cousin." She began to
+fold the paper. "My cousin, although I have never seen her, has the
+character of a very charming woman and a recognised beauty; of that I
+know nothing, but at least she has been very kind to me; so has my lord
+her father; so have you--kinder than all--kinder than I can bear to
+think of." She said this with unusual emotion; and, at the same time,
+sealed the envelope. "Ah!" she cried, "I have shut my letter! It is not
+quite courteous; and yet, as between friends, it is perhaps better so. I
+introduce you, after all, into a family secret; and though you and I are
+already old comrades, you are still unknown to my uncle. You go, then,
+to this address, Richard Street, Glasgow; go, please, as soon as you
+arrive; and give this letter with your own hands into those of Miss
+Fonblanque, for that is the name by which she is to pass. When we next
+meet, you will tell me what you think of her," she added, with a touch
+of the provocative.
+
+"Ah," said Challoner, almost tenderly, "she can be nothing to me."
+
+"You do not know," replied the young lady, with a sigh. "By the by, I
+had forgotten--it is very childish, and I am almost ashamed to mention
+it--but when you see Miss Fonblanque, you will have to make yourself a
+little ridiculous; and I am sure the part in no way suits you. We had
+agreed upon a watchword. You will have to address an earl's daughter in
+these words: '_Nigger_, _nigger, never die_'; but reassure yourself,"
+she added, laughing, "for the fair patrician will at once finish the
+quotation. Come now, say your lesson."
+
+"'Nigger, nigger, never die,'" repeated Challoner, with undisguised
+reluctance.
+
+Miss Fonblanque went into fits of laughter. "Excellent," said she, "it
+will be the most humorous scene!" And she laughed again.
+
+"And what will be the counterword?" asked Challoner stiffly.
+
+"I will not tell you till the last moment," said she; "for I perceive
+you are growing too imperious."
+
+Breakfast over, she accompanied the young man to the platform, bought
+him the _Graphic_, the _Athenaeum_, and a paper-cutter, and stood on the
+step conversing till the whistle sounded. Then she put her head into the
+carriage. "_Black face and shining eye!_" she whispered, and instantly
+leaped down upon the platform, with a trill of gay and musical laughter.
+As the train steamed out of the great arch of glass, the sound of that
+laughter still rang in the young man's ears.
+
+Challoner's position was too unusual to be long welcome to his mind. He
+found himself projected the whole length of England, on a mission beset
+with obscure and ridiculous circumstances, and yet, by the trust he had
+accepted, irrevocably bound to persevere. How easy it appeared, in the
+retrospect, to have refused the whole proposal, returned the money, and
+gone forth again upon his own affairs, a free and happy man! And it was
+now impossible: the enchantress who had held him with her eye had now
+disappeared, taking his honour in pledge; and as she had failed to leave
+him an address, he was denied even the inglorious safety of retreat. To
+use the paper-knife, or even to read the periodicals with which she had
+presented him, was to renew the bitterness of his remorse; and as he was
+alone in the compartment, he passed the day staring at the landscape in
+impotent repentance, and long before he was landed on the platform of
+St. Enoch's, had fallen to the lowest and coldest zones of
+self-contempt.
+
+As he was hungry, and elegant in his habits, he would have preferred to
+dine and to remove the stains of travel; but the words of the young
+lady, and his own impatient eagerness, would suffer no delay. In the
+late, luminous, and lamp-starred dusk of the summer evening he
+accordingly set forward with brisk steps.
+
+The street to which he was directed had first seen the day in the
+character of a row of small suburban villas on a hillside; but the
+extension of the city had, long since and on every hand, surrounded it
+with miles of streets. From the top of the hill a range of very tall
+buildings, densely inhabited by the poorest classes of the population
+and variegated by drying-poles from every second window, overplumbed the
+villas and their little gardens like a sea-board cliff. But still, under
+the grime of years of city smoke, these antiquated cottages, with their
+venetian blinds and rural porticoes, retained a somewhat melancholy
+savour of the past.
+
+The street, when Challoner entered it, was perfectly deserted. From hard
+by, indeed, the sound of a thousand footfalls filled the ear; but in
+Richard Street itself there was neither light nor sound of human
+habitation. The appearance of the neighbourhood weighed heavily on the
+mind of the young man; once more, as in the streets of London, he was
+impressed by the sense of city deserts; and as he approached the number
+indicated, and somewhat falteringly rang the bell, his heart sank within
+him.
+
+The bell was ancient, like the house; it had a thin and garrulous note;
+and it was some time before it ceased to sound from the rear quarters of
+the building. Following upon this an inner door was stealthily opened,
+and careful and catlike steps drew near along the hall. Challoner,
+supposing he was to be instantly admitted, produced his letter and, as
+well as he was able, prepared a smiling face. To his indescribable
+surprise, however, the footsteps ceased, and then, after a pause and
+with the like stealthiness, withdrew once more, and died away in the
+interior of the house. A second time the young man rang violently at the
+bell; a second time, to his keen hearkening, a certain bustle of
+discreet footing moved upon the hollow boards of the old villa; and
+again the faint-hearted garrison only drew near to retreat. The cup of
+the visitor's endurance was now full to overflowing; and, committing the
+whole family of Fonblanque to every mood and shade of condemnation, he
+turned upon his heel and redescended the steps. Perhaps the mover in the
+house was watching from a window, and plucked up courage at the sight of
+this desistance; or perhaps, where he lurked trembling in the back parts
+of the villa, reason in its own right had conquered his alarms.
+Challoner, at least, had scarce set foot upon the pavement when he was
+arrested by the sound of the withdrawal of an inner bolt; one followed
+another, rattling in their sockets; the key turned harshly in the lock;
+the door opened; and there appeared upon the threshold a man of a very
+stalwart figure in his shirt sleeves. He was a person neither of great
+manly beauty nor of a refined exterior; he was not the man, in ordinary
+moods, to attract the eyes of the observer; but as he now stood in the
+doorway he was marked so legibly with the extreme passion of terror that
+Challoner stood wonder-struck. For a fraction of a minute they gazed
+upon each other in silence; and then the man of the house, with ashen
+lips and gasping voice, inquired the business of his visitor. Challoner
+replied, in tones from which he strove to banish his surprise, that he
+was the bearer of a letter to a certain Miss Fonblanque. At this name,
+as at a talisman, the man fell back and impatiently invited him to
+enter; and no sooner had the adventurer crossed the threshold than the
+door was closed behind him and his retreat cut off.
+
+It was already long past eight at night; and though the late twilight of
+the north still lingered in the streets, in the passage it was already
+groping dark. The man led Challoner directly to a parlour looking on
+the garden to the back. Here he had apparently been supping; for by the
+light of a tallow dip, the table was seen to be covered with a napkin,
+and set out with a quart of bottled ale and the heel of a Gouda cheese.
+The room, on the other hand, was furnished with faded solidity, and the
+walls were lined with scholarly and costly volumes in glazed cases. The
+house must have been taken furnished; for it had no congruity with this
+man of the shirt sleeves and the mean supper. As for the earl's
+daughter, the earl and the visionary consulships in foreign cities, they
+had long ago begun to fade in Challoner's imagination. Like Dr. Grierson
+and the Mormon angels, they were plainly woven of the stuff of dreams.
+Not an illusion remained to the knight-errant; not a hope was left him
+but to be speedily relieved from this disreputable business.
+
+The man had continued to regard his visitor with undisguised anxiety,
+and began once more to press him for his errand.
+
+"I am here," said Challoner, "simply to do a service between two ladies;
+and I must ask you, without further delay, to summon Miss Fonblanque,
+into whose hands alone I am authorised to deliver the letter that I
+bear."
+
+A growing wonder began to mingle on the man's face with the lines of
+solicitude. "I am Miss Fonblanque," he said; and then, perceiving the
+effect of this communication, "Good God!" he cried, "what are you
+staring at? I tell you I am Miss Fonblanque."
+
+Seeing the speaker wore a chin-beard of considerable length, and the
+remainder of his face was blue with shaving, Challoner could only
+suppose himself the subject of a jest. He was no longer under the spell
+of the young lady's presence; and with men, and above all with his
+inferiors, he was capable of some display of spirit.
+
+"Sir," said he, pretty roundly, "I have put myself to great
+inconvenience for persons of whom I know too little, and I begin to be
+weary of the business. Either you shall immediately summon Miss
+Fonblanque, or I leave this house and put myself under the direction of
+the police."
+
+"This is horrible!" exclaimed the man. "I declare before Heaven I am the
+person meant, but how shall I convince you? It must have been Clara, I
+perceive, that sent you on this errand--a madwoman, who jests with the
+most deadly interests; and here we are, incapable, perhaps, of an
+agreement, and Heaven knows what may depend on our delay!"
+
+He spoke with a really startling earnestness; and at the same time there
+flashed upon the mind of Challoner the ridiculous jingle which was to
+serve as password. "This may, perhaps, assist you," he said; and then,
+with some embarrassment: "'Nigger, nigger, never die.'"
+
+A light of relief broke upon the troubled countenance of the man with
+the chin-beard. "'Black face and shining eye'--give me the letter," he
+panted, in one gasp.
+
+"Well," said Challoner, though still with some reluctance, "I suppose I
+must regard you as the proper recipient; and though I may justly
+complain of the spirit in which I have been treated, I am only too glad
+to be done with all responsibility. Here it is," and he produced the
+envelope.
+
+The man leaped upon it like a beast, and with hands that trembled in a
+manner painful to behold, tore it open and unfolded the letter. As he
+read, terror seemed to mount upon him to the pitch of nightmare. He
+struck one hand upon his brow, while with the other, as if
+unconsciously, he crumpled the paper to a ball. "My gracious powers!" he
+cried; and then, dashing to the window, which stood open on the garden,
+he clapped forth his head and shoulders and whistled long and shrill.
+Challoner fell back into a corner, and resolutely grasping his staff,
+prepared for the most desperate events; but the thoughts of the man with
+the chin-beard were far removed from violence. Turning again into the
+room, and once more beholding his visitor, whom he appeared to have
+forgotten, he fairly danced with trepidation. "Impossible!" he cried.
+"Oh, quite impossible! O Lord, I have lost my head." And then, once
+more striking his hand upon his brow, "The money!" he exclaimed. "Give
+me the money."
+
+"My good friend," replied Challoner, "this is a very painful exhibition;
+and until I see you reasonably master of yourself, I decline to proceed
+with any business."
+
+"You are quite right," said the man. "I am of a very nervous habit; a
+long course of the dumb ague has undermined my constitution. But I know
+you have money; it may be still the saving of me; and oh, dear young
+gentleman, in pity's name be expeditious!"
+
+Challoner, sincerely uneasy as he was, could scarce refrain from
+laughter; but he was himself in a hurry to be gone, and without more
+delay produced the money. "You will find the sum, I trust, correct," he
+observed; "and let me ask you to give me a receipt."
+
+But the man heeded him not. He seized the money, and disregarding the
+sovereigns that rolled loose upon the floor, thrust the bundle of notes
+into his pocket.
+
+"A receipt," repeated Challoner, with some asperity. "I insist on a
+receipt."
+
+"Receipt?" repeated the man, a little wildly. "A receipt? Immediately!
+Await me here."
+
+Challoner, in reply, begged the gentleman to lose no unnecessary time,
+as he was himself desirous of catching a particular train.
+
+"Ah, by God, and so am I!" exclaimed the man with the chin-beard; and
+with that he was gone out of the room, and had rattled upstairs, four at
+a time, to the upper story of the villa.
+
+"This is certainly a most amazing business," thought Challoner;
+"certainly a most disquieting affair; and I cannot conceal from myself
+that I have become mixed up with either lunatics or malefactors. I may
+truly thank my stars that I am so nearly and so creditably done with
+it." Thus thinking, and perhaps remembering the episode of the whistle,
+he turned to the open window. The garden was still faintly clear; he
+could distinguish the stairs and terraces with which the small domain
+had been adorned by former owners, and the blackened bushes and dead
+trees that had once afforded shelter to the country birds; beyond these
+he saw the strong retaining wall, some thirty feet in height, which
+enclosed the garden to the back; and again above that, the pile of dingy
+buildings rearing its frontage high into the night. A peculiar object
+lying stretched upon the lawn for some time baffled his eyesight; but at
+length he had made it out to be a long ladder, or series of ladders
+bound into one; and he was still wondering of what service so great an
+instrument could be in such a scant enclosure, when he was recalled to
+himself by the noise of some one running violently down the stairs. This
+was followed by the sudden, clamorous banging of the house door; and
+that again, by rapid and retreating footsteps in the street.
+
+Challoner sprang into the passage. He ran from room to room, upstairs
+and downstairs; and in that old dingy and worm-eaten house, he found
+himself alone. Only in one apartment looking to the front were there any
+traces of the late inhabitant: a bed that had been recently slept in and
+not made, a chest of drawers disordered by a hasty search and on the
+floor a roll of crumpled paper. This he picked up. The light in this
+upper story looking to the front was considerably brighter than in the
+parlour; and he was able to make out that the paper bore the mark of the
+hotel at Euston, and even, by peering closely, to decipher the following
+lines in a very elegant and careful female hand:
+
+   "DEAR M'GUIRE,--It is certain your retreat is known. We have just had
+   another failure, clockwork thirty hours too soon, with the usual
+   humiliating result. Zero is quite disheartened. We are all scattered,
+   and I could find no one but the _solemn ass_ who brings you this and
+   the money. I would love to see your meeting.--Ever yours,
+
+     "SHINING EYE."
+
+Challoner was stricken to the heart. He perceived by what facility, by
+what unmanly fear of ridicule, he had been brought down to be the gull
+of this intriguer; and his wrath flowed forth in almost equal measure
+against himself, against the woman, and against Somerset, whose idle
+counsels had impelled him to embark on that adventure. At the same time
+a great and troubled curiosity, and a certain chill of fear, possessed
+his spirits. The conduct of the man with the chin-beard, the terms of
+the letter, and the explosion of the early morning, fitted together like
+parts in some obscure and mischievous imbroglio. Evil was certainly
+afoot; evil, secrecy, terror, and falsehood were the conditions and the
+passions of the people among whom he had begun to move, like a blind
+puppet; and he who began as a puppet, his experience told him, was often
+doomed to perish as a victim.
+
+From the stupor of deep thought into which he had glided with the letter
+in his hand, he was awakened by the clatter of the bell. He glanced from
+the window; and conceive his horror and surprise when he beheld,
+clustered on the steps, in the front garden and on the pavement of the
+street, a formidable posse of police! He started to the full possession
+of his powers and courage. Escape, and escape at any cost, was the one
+idea that possessed him. Swiftly and silently he redescended the
+creaking stairs; he was already in the passage when a second and more
+imperious summons from the door awoke the echoes of the empty house; nor
+had the bell ceased to jangle before he had bestridden the window-sill
+of the parlour and was lowering himself into the garden. His coat was
+hooked upon the iron flower-basket; for a moment he hung dependent heels
+and head below; and then, with the noise of rending cloth and followed
+by several pots, he dropped upon the sod. Once more the bell was rung,
+and now with furious and repeated peals. The desperate Challoner turned
+his eyes on every side. They fell upon the ladder, and he ran to it, and
+with strenuous but unavailing effort sought to raise it from the ground.
+Suddenly the weight, which was thus resisting his whole strength, began
+to lighten in his hands; the ladder, like a thing of life, reared its
+bulk from off the sod; and Challoner, leaping back with a cry of almost
+superstitious terror, beheld the whole structure mount, foot by foot,
+against the face of the retaining-wall. At the same time, two heads were
+dimly visible above the parapet, and he was hailed by a guarded whistle.
+Something in its modulation recalled, like an echo, the whistle of the
+man with the chin-beard.
+
+Had he chanced upon a means of escape prepared beforehand by those very
+miscreants, whose messenger and gull he had become? Was this, indeed, a
+means of safety, or but the starting-point of further complication and
+disaster? He paused not to reflect. Scarce was the ladder reared to its
+full length than he had sprung already on the rounds; hand over hand,
+swift as an ape, he scaled the tottering stairway. Strong arms received,
+embraced, and helped him; he was lifted and set once more upon the
+earth; and with the spasm of his alarm yet unsubsided, found himself, in
+the company of two rough-looking men, in the paved back-yard of one of
+the tall houses that crowned the summit of the hill. Meanwhile, from
+below, the note of the bell had been succeeded by the sound of vigorous
+and redoubling blows.
+
+"Are you all out?" asked one of his companions; and as soon as he had
+babbled an answer in the affirmative, the rope was cut from the top
+round, and the ladder thrust roughly back into the garden, where it fell
+and broke with clattering reverberations. Its fall was hailed with many
+broken cries; for the whole of Richard Street was now in high emotion,
+the people crowding to the windows or clambering on the garden walls.
+The same man who had already addressed Challoner seized him by the arm;
+whisked him through the basement of the house and across the street upon
+the other side; and before the unfortunate adventurer had time to
+realise his situation, a door was opened, and he was thrust into a low
+and dark compartment.
+
+"Bedad," observed his guide, "there was no time to lose. Is M'Guire
+gone, or was it you that whistled?"
+
+"M'Guire is gone," said Challoner.
+
+The guide now struck a light. "Ah," said he, "this will never do. You
+dare not go upon the streets in such a figure. Wait quietly here and I
+will bring you something decent."
+
+With that the man was gone, and Challoner, his attention thus rudely
+awakened, began ruefully to consider the havoc that had been worked in
+his attire. His hat was gone; his trousers were cruelly ripped; and the
+best part of one tail of his very elegant frock-coat had been left
+hanging from the iron crockets of the window. He had scarce had time to
+measure these disasters when his host re-entered the apartment and
+proceeded, without a word, to envelop the refined and urbane Challoner
+in a long ulster of the cheapest material and of a pattern so gross and
+vulgar that his spirit sickened at the sight. This calumnious disguise
+was crowned and completed by a soft felt hat of the Tyrolese design and
+several sizes too small. At another moment Challoner would simply have
+refused to issue forth upon the world thus travestied; but the desire to
+escape from Glasgow was now too strongly and too exclusively impressed
+upon his mind. With one haggard glance at the spotted tails of his new
+coat, he inquired what was to pay for this accoutrement. The man assured
+him that the whole expense was easily met from funds in his possession,
+and begged him, instead of wasting time, to make his best speed out of
+the neighbourhood.
+
+The young man was not loath to take the hint. True to his usual
+courtesy, he thanked the speaker and complimented him upon his taste in
+greatcoats; and leaving the man somewhat abashed by these remarks and
+the manner of their delivery, he hurried forth into the lamp-lit city.
+The last train was gone ere, after many deviations, he had reached the
+terminus. Attired as he was he dared not present himself at any
+reputable inn; and he felt keenly that the unassuming dignity of his
+demeanour would serve to attract attention, perhaps mirth, and possibly
+suspicion, in any humbler hostelry. He was thus condemned to pass the
+solemn and uneventful hours of a whole night in pacing the streets of
+Glasgow; supperless; a figure of fun for all beholders; waiting the
+dawn, with hope indeed, but with unconquerable shrinkings; and above all
+things, filled with a profound sense of the folly and weakness of his
+conduct. It may be conceived with what curses he assailed the memory of
+the fair narrator of Hyde Park; her parting laughter rang in his ears
+all night with damning mockery and iteration; and when he could spare a
+thought from this chief artificer of his confusion, it was to expend his
+wrath on Somerset and the career of the amateur detective. With the
+coming of the day, he found in a shy milk-shop the means to appease his
+hunger. There were still many hours to wait before the departure of the
+south express; these he passed wandering with indescribable fatigue in
+the obscurer by-streets of the city; and at length slipped quietly into
+the station and took his place in the darkest corner of a third-class
+carriage. Here, all day long, he jolted on the bare boards, distressed
+by heat and continually reawakened from uneasy slumbers. By the half
+return ticket in his purse, he was entitled to make the journey on the
+easy cushions and with the ample space of the first-class; but alas! in
+his absurd attire, he durst not, for decency, commingle with his equals;
+and this small annoyance, coming last in such a series of disasters, cut
+him to the heart.
+
+That night, when, in his Putney lodging, he reviewed the expense,
+anxiety, and weariness of his adventure; when he beheld the ruins of his
+last good trousers and his last presentable coat; and above all, when
+his eye by any chance alighted on the Tyrolese hat or the degrading
+ulster, his heart would overflow with bitterness, and it was only by a
+serious call on his philosophy that he maintained the dignity of his
+demeanour.
+
+
+
+
+SOMERSET'S ADVENTURE
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION
+
+
+Mr. Paul Somerset was a young gentleman of a lively and fiery
+imagination, with very small capacity for action. He was one who lived
+exclusively in dreams and in the future: the creature of his own
+theories, and an actor in his own romances. From the cigar divan he
+proceeded to parade the streets, still heated with the fire of his
+eloquence, and scouting upon every side for the offer of some fortunate
+adventure. In the continual stream of passers-by, on the sealed fronts
+of houses, on the posters that covered the hoardings, and in every
+lineament and throb of the great city, he saw a mysterious and hopeful
+hieroglyph. But although the elements of adventure were streaming by him
+as thick as drops of water in the Thames, it was in vain that, now with
+a beseeching, now with something of a braggadocio air, he courted and
+provoked the notice of the passengers; in vain that, putting fortune to
+the touch, he even thrust himself into the way and came into direct
+collision with those of the more promising demeanour. Persons brimful of
+secrets, persons pining for affection, persons perishing for lack of
+help or counsel, he was sure he could perceive on every side; but by
+some contrariety of fortune, each passed upon his way without remarking
+the young gentleman, and went farther (surely to fare worse!) in quest
+of the confidant, the friend, or the adviser. To thousands he must have
+turned an appealing countenance, and yet not one regarded him.
+
+A light dinner, eaten to the accompaniment of his impetuous aspirations,
+broke in upon the series of his attempts on fortune; and when he
+returned to the task, the lamps were already lighted, and the nocturnal
+crowd was dense upon the pavement. Before a certain restaurant, whose
+name will readily occur to any student of our Babylon, people were
+already packed so closely that passage had grown difficult; and
+Somerset, standing in the kennel, watched, with a hope that was
+beginning to grow somewhat weary, the faces and the manners of the
+crowd. Suddenly he was startled by a gentle touch upon the shoulder, and
+facing about, he was aware of a very plain and elegant brougham, drawn
+by a pair of powerful horses, and driven by a man in sober livery. There
+were no arms upon the panel; the window was open, but the interior was
+obscure; the driver yawned behind his palm; and the young man was
+already beginning to suppose himself the dupe of his own fancy, when a
+hand, no larger than a child's and smoothly gloved in white, appeared in
+a corner of the window and privily beckoned him to approach. He did so,
+and looked in. The carriage was occupied by a single small and very
+dainty figure, swathed head and shoulders in impenetrable folds of white
+lace; and a voice, speaking low and silvery, addressed him in these
+words:
+
+"Open the door and get in."
+
+"It must be," thought the young man, with an almost unbearable thrill,
+"it must be that duchess at last!" Yet, although the moment was one to
+which he had long looked forward, it was with a certain share of alarm
+that he opened the door, and, mounting into the brougham, took his seat
+beside the lady of the lace. Whether or no she had touched a spring, or
+given some other signal, the young man had hardly closed the door before
+the carriage, with considerable swiftness, and with a very luxurious and
+easy movement on its springs, turned and began to drive towards the
+west.
+
+Somerset, as I have written, was not unprepared; it had long been his
+particular pleasure to rehearse his conduct in the most unlikely
+situations; and this, among others, of the patrician ravisher, was one
+he had familiarly studied. Strange as it may seem, however, he could
+find no apposite remark; and as the lady, on her side, vouchsafed no
+further sign, they continued to drive in silence through the streets.
+Except for alternate flashes from the passing lamps, the carriage was
+plunged in obscurity; and beyond the fact that the fittings were
+luxurious, and that the lady was singularly small and slender in person
+and, all but one gloved hand, still swathed in her costly veil, the
+young man could decipher no detail of an inspiring nature. The suspense
+began to grow unbearable. Twice he cleared his throat, and twice the
+whole resources of the language failed him. In similar scenes, when he
+had forecast them on the theatre of fancy, his presence of mind had
+always been complete, his eloquence remarkable; and at this disparity
+between the rehearsal and the performance, he began to be seized with a
+panic of apprehension. Here, on the very threshold of adventure, suppose
+him ignominiously to fail; suppose that after ten, twenty, or sixty
+seconds of still uninterrupted silence, the lady should touch the
+check-string and re-deposit him, weighed and found wanting, on the
+common street! Thousands of persons of no mind at all, he reasoned,
+would be found more equal to the part; could, that very instant, by some
+decisive step, prove the lady's choice to have been well inspired, and
+put a stop to this intolerable silence.
+
+His eye, at this point, lighted on the hand. It was better to fall by
+desperate councils than to continue as he was; and with one tremulous
+swoop he pounced on the gloved fingers and drew them to himself. One
+overt step, it had appeared to him, would dissolve the spell of his
+embarrassment; in act, he found it otherwise: he found himself no less
+incapable of speech or further progress; and, with the lady's hand in
+his, sat helpless. But worse was in store. A peculiar quivering began to
+agitate the form of his companion; the hand that lay unresistingly in
+Somerset's trembled as with ague; and presently there broke forth, in
+the shadow of the carriage, the bubbling and musical sound of laughter,
+resisted but triumphant. The young man dropped his prize; had it been
+possible, he would have bounded from the carriage. The lady, meanwhile,
+lying back upon the cushions, passed on from trill to trill of the most
+heartfelt, high-pitched, clear, and fairy-sounding merriment.
+
+"You must not be offended," she said at last, catching an opportunity
+between two paroxysms. "If you have been mistaken in the warmth of your
+attentions, the fault is solely mine; it does not flow from your
+presumption, but from my eccentric manner of recruiting friends; and,
+believe me, I am the last person in the world to think the worse of a
+young man for showing spirit. As for to-night, it is my intention to
+entertain you to a little supper; and if I shall continue to be as much
+pleased with your manners as I was taken with your face, I may perhaps
+end by making you an advantageous offer."
+
+Somerset sought in vain to find some form of answer, but his
+discomfiture had been too recent and complete.
+
+"Come," returned the lady, "we must have no display of temper; that is
+for me the one disqualifying fault; and as I perceive we are drawing
+near our destination, I shall ask you to descend and offer me your arm."
+
+Indeed, at that very moment the carriage drew up before a stately and
+severe mansion in a spacious square; and Somerset, who was possessed of
+an excellent temper, with the best grace in the world assisted the lady
+to alight. The door was opened by an old woman of a grim appearance, who
+ushered the pair into a dining-room somewhat dimly lighted, but already
+laid for supper, and occupied by a prodigious company of large and
+valuable cats. Here, as soon as they were alone, the lady divested
+herself of the lace in which she was enfolded; and Somerset was relieved
+to find, that although still bearing the traces of great beauty, and
+still distinguished by the fire and colour of her eye, her hair was of
+silvery whiteness and her face lined with years.
+
+"And now, _mon preux_," said the old lady, nodding at him with a quaint
+gaiety, "you perceive that I am no longer in my first youth. You will
+soon find that I am all the better company for that."
+
+As she spoke, the maid re-entered the apartment with a light but
+tasteful supper. They sat down, accordingly, to table, the cats with
+savage pantomime surrounding the old lady's chair; and what with the
+excellence of the meal and the gaiety of his entertainer, Somerset was
+soon completely at his ease. When they had well eaten and drunk, the old
+lady leaned back in her chair, and taking a cat upon her lap, subjected
+her guest to a prolonged but evidently mirthful scrutiny.
+
+"I fear, madam," said Somerset, "that my manners have not risen to the
+height of your preconceived opinion."
+
+"My dear young man," she replied, "you were never more mistaken in your
+life. I find you charming, and you may very well have lighted on a fairy
+godmother. I am not one of those who are given to change their opinions,
+and short of substantial demerit, those who have once gained my favour
+continue to enjoy it; but I have a singular swiftness of decision, read
+my fellow men and women with a glance, and have acted throughout life on
+first impressions. Yours, as I tell you, has been favourable; and if, as
+I suppose, you are a young fellow of somewhat idle habits, I think it
+not improbable that we may strike a bargain."
+
+"Ah, madam," returned Somerset, "you have divined my situation. I am a
+man of birth, parts, and breeding; excellent company, or at least so I
+find myself; but by a peculiar iniquity of fate, destitute alike of
+trade or money. I was, indeed, this evening upon the quest of an
+adventure, resolved to close with any offer of interest, emolument, or
+pleasure; and your summons, which I profess I am still at some loss to
+understand, jumped naturally with the inclination of my mind. Call it,
+if you will, impudence; I am here, at least, prepared for any
+proposition you can find it in your heart to make, and resolutely
+determined to accept."
+
+"You express yourself very well," replied the old lady, "and are
+certainly a droll and curious young man. I should not care to affirm
+that you were sane, for I have never found any one entirely so besides
+myself; but at least the nature of your madness entertains me, and I
+will reward you with some description of my character and life."
+
+Thereupon the old lady, still fondling the cat upon her lap, proceeded
+to narrate the following particulars.
+
+
+
+
+NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY
+
+
+I was the eldest daughter of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe, who held a
+valuable living in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Our family, a very
+large one, was noted for a sprightly and incisive wit, and came of a
+good old stock where beauty was an heirloom. In Christian grace of
+character we were unhappily deficient. From my earliest years I saw and
+deplored the defects of those relatives whose age and position should
+have enabled them to conquer my esteem; and while I was yet a child, my
+father married a second wife, in whom (strange to say) the Fanshawe
+failings were exaggerated to a monstrous and almost laughable degree.
+Whatever may be said against me, it cannot be denied I was a pattern
+daughter; but it was in vain that, with the most touching patience, I
+submitted to my stepmother's demands; and from the hour she entered my
+father's house, I may say that I met with nothing but injustice and
+ingratitude.
+
+I stood not alone, however, in the sweetness of my disposition; for one
+other of the family besides myself was free from any violence of
+character. Before I had reached the age of sixteen, this cousin, John by
+name, had conceived for me a sincere but silent passion; and although
+the poor lad was too timid to hint at the nature of his feelings, I had
+soon divined and begun to share them. For some days I pondered on the
+odd situation created for me by the bashfulness of my admirer; and at
+length, perceiving that he begun, in his distress, rather to avoid than
+seek my company, I determined to take the matter into my own hands.
+Finding him alone in a retired part of the rectory garden, I told him
+that I had divined his amiable secret; that I knew with what disfavour
+our union was sure to be regarded; and that, under the circumstances, I
+was prepared to flee with him at once. Poor John was literally paralysed
+with joy; such was the force of his emotions, that he could find no
+words in which to thank me; and that I, seeing him thus helpless, was
+obliged to arrange, myself, the details of our flight, and of the stolen
+marriage which was immediately to crown it. John had been at that time
+projecting a visit to the metropolis. In this I bade him persevere, and
+promised on the following day to join him at the Tavistock Hotel.
+
+True, on my side, to every detail of our arrangement, I arose, on the
+day in question, before the servants, packed a few necessaries in a bag,
+took with me the little money I possessed, and bade farewell for ever to
+the rectory. I walked with good spirits to a town some thirty miles from
+home; and was set down the next morning in this great city of London. As
+I walked from the coach-office to the hotel, I could not help exulting
+in the pleasant change that had befallen me; beholding, meanwhile, with
+innocent delight, the traffic of the streets, and depicting, in all the
+colours of fancy, the reception that awaited me from John. But alas!
+when I inquired for Mr. Fanshawe, the porter assured me there was no
+such gentleman among the guests. By what channel our secret had leaked
+out, or what pressure had been brought to bear on the too facile John, I
+could never fathom. Enough that my family had triumphed; that I found
+myself alone in London, tender in years, smarting under the most
+sensible mortification, and by every sentiment of pride and self-respect
+debarred for ever from my father's house.
+
+I rose under the blow, and found lodgings in the neighbourhood of Euston
+Road, where, for the first time in my life, I tasted the joys of
+independence. Three days afterwards, an advertisement in _The Times_
+directed me to the office of a solicitor whom I knew to be in my
+father's confidence. There I was given the promise of a very moderate
+allowance, and a distinct intimation that I must never look to be
+received at home. I could not but resent so cruel a desertion, and I
+told the lawyer it was a meeting I desired as little as themselves. He
+smiled at my courageous spirit, paid me the first quarter of my income,
+and gave me the remainder of my personal effects, which had been sent to
+me, under his care, in a couple of rather ponderous boxes. With these I
+returned in triumph to my lodgings, more content with my position than I
+should have thought possible a week before, and fully determined to make
+the best of the future.
+
+All went well for several months; and, indeed, it was my own fault alone
+that ended this pleasant and secluded episode of life. I have, I must
+confess, the fatal trick of spoiling my inferiors. My landlady, to whom
+I had as usual been overkind, impertinently called me in fault for some
+particular too small to mention; and I, annoyed that I had allowed her
+the freedom upon which she thus presumed, ordered her to leave my
+presence. She stood a moment dumb, and then, recalling her
+self-possession, "Your bill," said she, "shall be ready this evening,
+and to-morrow, madam, you shall leave my house. See," she added, "that
+you are able to pay what you owe me; for If I do not receive the
+uttermost farthing, no box of yours shall pass my threshold."
+
+I was confounded at her audacity, but, as a whole quarter's income was
+due to me, not otherwise affected by the threat. That afternoon, as I
+left the solicitor's door, carrying in one hand, and done up in a paper
+parcel, the whole amount of my fortune, there befell me one of those
+decisive incidents that sometimes shape a life. The lawyer's office was
+situated in a street that opened at the upper end upon the Strand and
+was closed at the lower, at the time of which I speak, by a row of iron
+railings looking on the Thames. Down this street, then, I beheld my
+stepmother advancing to meet me, and doubtless bound to the very house
+I had just left. She was attended by a maid whose face was new to me;
+but her own was too clearly printed on my memory; and the sight of it,
+even from a distance, filled me with generous indignation. Flight was
+impossible. There was nothing left but to retreat against the railing,
+and with my back turned to the street, pretend to be admiring the barges
+on the river or the chimneys of transpontine London.
+
+I was still so standing, and had not yet fully mastered the turbulence
+of my emotions, when a voice at my elbow addressed me with a trivial
+question. It was the maid whom my stepmother, with characteristic
+hardness, had left to await her on the street, while she transacted her
+business with the family solicitor. The girl did not know who I was; the
+opportunity was too golden to be lost; and I was soon hearing the latest
+news of my father's rectory and parish. It did not surprise me to find
+that she detested her employers; and yet the terms in which she spoke of
+them were hard to bear, hard to let pass unchallenged. I heard them,
+however, without dissent, for my self-command is wonderful; and we might
+have parted as we met, had she not proceeded, in an evil hour, to
+criticise the rector's missing daughter, and with the most shocking
+perversions to narrate the story of her flight. My nature is so
+essentially generous that I can never pause to reason. I flung up my
+hand sharply, by way, as well as I remember, of indignant protest; and,
+in the act, the packet slipped from my fingers, glanced between the
+railings, and fell and sunk in the river. I stood a moment petrified,
+and then, struck by the drollery of the incident, gave way to peals of
+laughter. I was still laughing when my stepmother reappeared, and the
+maid, who doubtless considered me insane, ran off to join her; nor had I
+yet recovered my gravity when I presented myself before the lawyer to
+solicit a fresh advance. His answer made me serious enough, for it was a
+flat refusal; and it was not until I had besought him even with tears,
+that he consented to lend me ten pounds from his own pocket. "I am a
+poor man," said he, "and you must look for nothing further at my hands."
+
+The landlady met me at the door. "Here, madam," said she, with a curtsey
+insolently low, "here is my bill. Would it inconvenience you to settle
+it at once?"
+
+"You shall be paid, madam," said I, "in the morning, in the proper
+course." And I took the paper with a very high air, but inwardly
+quaking.
+
+I had no sooner looked at it than I perceived myself to be lost. I had
+been short of money and had allowed my debt to mount; and it had now
+reached the sum, which I shall never forget, of twelve pounds thirteen
+and fourpence halfpenny. All evening I sat by the fire considering my
+situation. I could not pay the bill; my landlady would not suffer me to
+remove my boxes; and without either baggage or money, how was I to find
+another lodging? For three months, unless I could invent some remedy, I
+was condemned to be without a roof and without a penny. It can surprise
+no one that I decided on immediate flight; but even here I was
+confronted by a difficulty, for I had no sooner packed my boxes than I
+found I was not strong enough to move, far less to carry them.
+
+In this strait I did not hesitate a moment, but throwing on a shawl and
+bonnet, and covering my face with a thick veil, I betook myself to that
+great bazaar of dangerous and smiling chances, the pavement of the city.
+It was already late at night, and the weather being wet and windy, there
+were few abroad besides policemen. These, on my present mission, I had
+wit enough to know for enemies; and wherever I perceived their moving
+lanterns, I made haste to turn aside and choose another thoroughfare. A
+few miserable women still walked the pavement; here and there were young
+fellows returning drunk, or ruffians of the lowest class lurking in the
+mouths of alleys; but of any one to whom I might appeal in my distress,
+I began almost to despair.
+
+At last, at the corner of a street, I ran into the arms of one who was
+evidently a gentleman, and who, in all his appointments, from his furred
+greatcoat to the fine cigar which he was smoking, comfortably breathed
+of wealth. Much as my face has changed from its original beauty, I still
+retain (or so I tell myself) some traces of the youthful lightness of my
+figure. Even veiled as I then was, I could perceive the gentleman was
+struck by my appearance; and this emboldened me for my adventure.
+
+"Sir," said I, with a quickly beating heart, "sir, are you one in whom a
+lady can confide?"
+
+"Why, my dear," said he, removing his cigar, "that depends on
+circumstances. If you will raise your veil--"
+
+"Sir," I interrupted, "let there be no mistake. I ask you, as a
+gentleman, to serve me, but I offer no reward."
+
+"That is frank," said he; "but hardly tempting. And what, may I inquire,
+is the nature of the service?"
+
+But I knew well enough it was not my interest to tell him on so short an
+interview. "If you will accompany me," said I, "to a house not far from
+here, you can see for yourself."
+
+He looked at me awhile with hesitating eyes; and then, tossing away his
+cigar, which was not yet a quarter smoked, "Here goes!" said he, and
+with perfect politeness offered me his arm. I was wise enough to take
+it; to prolong our walk as far as possible, by more than one excursion
+from the shortest line; and to beguile the way with that sort of
+conversation which should prove to him indubitably from what station in
+society I sprang. By the time we reached the door of my lodging, I felt
+sure I had confirmed his interest, and might venture, before I turned
+the pass-key, to beseech him to moderate his voice and to tread softly.
+He promised to obey me; and I admitted him into the passage, and thence
+into my sitting-room, which was fortunately next the door.
+
+"And now," said he, when with trembling fingers I had lighted a candle,
+"what is the meaning of all this?"
+
+"I wish you," said I, speaking with great difficulty, "to help me out
+with these boxes--and I wish nobody to know."
+
+He took up the candle. "And I wish to see your face," said he.
+
+I turned back my veil without a word, and looked at him with every
+appearance of resolve that I could summon up. For some time he gazed
+into my face, still holding up the candle. "Well," said he at last, "and
+where do you wish them taken?"
+
+I knew that I had gained my point; and it was with a tremor in my voice
+that I replied. "I had thought we might carry them between us to the
+corner of Euston Road," said I, "where, even at this late hour, we may
+still find a cab."
+
+"Very good," was his reply; and he immediately hoisted the heavier of my
+trunks upon his shoulder, and taking one handle of the second, signed to
+me to help him at the other end. In this order we made good our retreat
+from the house, and without the least adventure, drew pretty near to the
+corner of Euston Road. Before a house, where there was a light still
+burning, my companion paused. "Let us here," said he, "set down our
+boxes, while we go forward to the end of the street in quest of a cab.
+By doing so, we can still keep an eye upon their safety; and we avoid
+the very extraordinary figure we should otherwise present--a young man,
+a young lady, and a mass of baggage, standing castaway at midnight on
+the streets of London." So it was done, and the event proved him to be
+wise; for long before there was any word of a cab, a policeman appeared
+upon the scene, turned upon us the full glare of his lantern, and hung
+suspiciously behind us in a doorway.
+
+"There seem to be no cabs about, policeman," said my champion, with
+affected cheerfulness. But the constable's answer was ungracious; and as
+for the offer of a cigar, with which this rebuff was most unwisely
+followed up, he refused it point-blank, and without the least civility.
+The young gentleman looked at me with a warning grimace, and there we
+continued to stand, on the edge of the pavement, in the beating rain,
+and with the policeman still silently watching our movements from the
+doorway.
+
+At last, and after a delay that seemed interminable, a four-wheeler
+appeared lumbering along in the mud, and was instantly hailed by my
+companion. "Just pull up here, will you?" he cried. "We have some
+baggage up the street."
+
+And now came the hitch of our adventure; for when the policeman, still
+closely following us, beheld my two boxes lying in the rain, he arose
+from mere suspicion to a kind of certitude of something evil. The light
+in the house had been extinguished; the whole frontage of the street was
+dark; there was nothing to explain the presence of these unguarded
+trunks; and no two innocent people were ever, I believe, detected in
+such questionable circumstances.
+
+"Where have these things come from?" asked the policeman, flashing his
+light full into my champion's face.
+
+"Why, from that house of course," replied the young gentleman, hastily
+shouldering a trunk.
+
+The policeman whistled and turned to look at the dark windows; he then
+took a step towards the door, as though to knock, a course which had
+infallibly proved our ruin; but seeing us already hurrying down the
+street under our double burthen, thought better or worse of it, and
+followed in our wake.
+
+"For God's sake," whispered my companion, "tell me where to drive to."
+
+"Anywhere," I replied, with anguish. "I have no idea. Anywhere you
+like."
+
+Thus it fell that, when the boxes had been stowed and I had already
+entered the cab, my deliverer called out in clear tones the address of
+the house in which we are now seated. The policeman, I could see, was
+staggered. This neighbourhood, so retired, so aristocratic, was far from
+what he had expected. For all that, he took the number of the cab, and
+spoke for a few seconds and with a decided manner, in the cabman's ear.
+
+"What can he have said?" I gasped, as soon as the cab had rolled away.
+
+"I can very well imagine," replied my champion; "and I can assure you
+that you are now condemned to go where I have said; for, should we
+attempt to change our destination by the way, the jarvey will drive us
+straight to a police-office. Let me compliment you on your nerves," he
+added. "I have had, I believe, the most horrible fright of my
+existence."
+
+But my nerves, which he so much misjudged, were in so strange a disarray
+that speech was now become impossible; and we made the drive
+thenceforward in unbroken silence. When we arrived before the door of
+our destination, the young gentleman alighted, opened it with a pass-key
+like one who was at home, bade the driver carry the trunks into the
+hall, and dismissed him with a handsome fee. He then led me into this
+dining-room, looking nearly as you behold it, but with certain marks of
+bachelor occupancy, and hastened to pour out a glass of wine, which he
+insisted on my drinking. As soon as I could find my voice, "In God's
+name," I cried, "where am I?"
+
+He told me I was in his house, where I was very welcome, and had no more
+urgent business than to rest myself and recover my spirits. As he spoke
+he offered me another glass of wine, of which, indeed, I stood in great
+want, for I was faint, and inclined to be hysterical. Then he sat down
+beside the fire, lit another cigar, and for some time observed me
+curiously in silence.
+
+"And now," said he, "that you have somewhat restored yourself, will you
+be kind enough to tell me in what sort of crime I have become a partner?
+Are you murderer, smuggler, thief, or only the harmless and domestic
+moonlight flitter?"
+
+I had been already shocked by his lighting a cigar without permission,
+for I had not forgotten the one he threw away on our first meeting; and
+now, at these explicit insults, I resolved at once to reconquer his
+esteem. The judgment of the world I have consistently despised, but I
+had already begun to set a certain value on the good opinion of my
+entertainer. Beginning with a note of pathos, but soon brightening into
+my habitual vivacity and humour, I rapidly narrated the circumstances of
+my birth, my flight, and subsequent misfortunes. He heard me to an end
+in silence, gravely smoking. "Miss Fanshawe," said he, when I had done,
+"you are a very comical and most enchanting creature; and I can see
+nothing for it but that I should return to-morrow morning and satisfy
+your landlady's demands."
+
+"You strangely misinterpret my confidence," was my reply; "and if you
+had at all appreciated my character, you would understand that I can
+take no money at your hands."
+
+"Your landlady will doubtless not be so particular," he returned; "nor
+do I at all despair of persuading even your unconquerable self. I desire
+you to examine me with critical indulgence. My name is Henry Luxmore,
+Lord Southwark's second son. I possess nine thousand a year, the house
+in which we are now sitting and seven others in the best neighbourhoods
+in town. I do not believe I am repulsive to the eye, and as for my
+character, you have seen me under trial. I think you simply the most
+original of created things; I need not tell you what you know very well,
+that you are ravishingly pretty; and I have nothing more to add, except
+that foolish as it may appear, I am already head over heels in love with
+you."
+
+"Sir," said I, "I am prepared to be misjudged; but while I continue to
+accept your hospitality, that fact alone should be enough to protect me
+from insult."
+
+"Pardon me," said he: "I offer you marriage." And leaning back in his
+chair he replaced his cigar between his lips.
+
+I own I was confounded by an offer, not only so unprepared, but couched
+in terms so singular. But he knew very well how to obtain his purposes,
+for he was not only handsome in person, but his very coolness had a
+charm; and to make a long story short, a fortnight later I became the
+wife of the Honourable Henry Luxmore.
+
+For nearly twenty years I now led a life of almost perfect quiet. My
+Henry had his weaknesses; I was twice driven to flee from his roof, but
+not for long; for though he was easily over-excited, his nature was
+placable below the surface, and, with all his faults, I loved him
+tenderly. At last he was taken from me; and such is the power of
+self-deception, and so strange are the whims of the dying, he actually
+assured me, with his latest breath, that he forgave the violence of my
+temper!
+
+There was but one pledge of the marriage, my daughter Clara. She had,
+indeed, inherited a shadow of her father's failing; but in all things
+else, unless my partial eyes deceived me, she derived her qualities from
+me, and might be called my moral image. On my side, whatever else I may
+have done amiss, as a mother I was above reproach. Here, then, was
+surely every promise for the future; here, at last, was a relation in
+which I might hope to taste repose. But it was not to be. You will
+hardly credit me when I inform you that she ran away from home; yet such
+was the case. Some whim about oppressed nationalities--Ireland, Poland,
+and the like--has turned her brain; and if you should anywhere encounter
+a young lady (I must say of remarkable attractions) answering to the
+name of Luxmore, Lake, or Fonblanque (for I am told she uses these
+indifferently, as well as many others), tell her, from me, that I
+forgive her cruelty, and though I will never more behold her face, I am
+at any time prepared to make her a liberal allowance.
+
+On the death of Mr. Luxmore I sought oblivion in the details of
+business. I believe I have mentioned that seven mansions, besides this,
+formed part of Mr. Luxmore's property: I have found them seven white
+elephants. The greed of tenants, the dishonesty of solicitors, and the
+incapacity that sits upon the bench, have combined together to make
+these houses the burthen of my life. I had no sooner, indeed, begun to
+look into these matters for myself, than I discovered so many injustices
+and met with so much studied incivility, that I was plunged into a long
+series of lawsuits, some of which are pending to this day. You must have
+heard my name already; I am the Mrs. Luxmore of the Law Reports: a
+strange destiny, indeed, for one born with an almost cowardly desire for
+peace! But I am of the stamp of those who, when they have once begun a
+task, will rather die than leave their duty unfulfilled. I have met with
+every obstacle: insolence and ingratitude from my own lawyers; in my
+adversaries, that fault of obstinacy which is to me perhaps the most
+distasteful in the calendar; from the bench, civility indeed--always, I
+must allow, civility--but never a spark of independence, never that
+knowledge of the law and love of justice which we have a right to look
+for in a judge, the most august of human officers. And still, against
+all these odds, I have undissuadably persevered.
+
+It was after the loss of one of my innumerable cases (a subject on which
+I will not dwell) that it occurred to me to make a melancholy pilgrimage
+to my various houses. Four were at that time tenantless and closed, like
+pillars of salt, commemorating the corruption of the age and the decline
+of private virtue. Three were occupied by persons who had wearied me by
+every conceivable unjust demand and legal subterfuge--persons whom, at
+that very hour, I was moving heaven and earth to turn into the streets.
+This was perhaps the sadder spectacle of the two; and my heart grew hot
+within me to behold them occupying, in my very teeth, and with an
+insolent ostentation, these handsome structures which were as much mine
+as the flesh upon my body.
+
+One more house remained for me to visit, that in which we now are. I had
+let it (for at that period I lodged in a hotel, the life that I have
+always preferred) to a Colonel Geraldine, a gentleman attached to Prince
+Florizel of Bohemia, whom you must certainly have heard of; and I had
+supposed, from the character and position of my tenant, that here, at
+least, I was safe against annoyance. What was my surprise to find this
+house also shuttered and apparently deserted! I will not deny that I was
+offended; I conceived that a house, like a yacht, was better to be kept
+in commission; and I promised myself to bring the matter before my
+solicitor the following morning. Meanwhile the sight recalled my fancy
+naturally to the past; and, yielding to the tender influence of
+sentiment, I sat down opposite the door upon the garden parapet. It was
+August and a sultry afternoon, but that spot is sheltered, as you may
+observe by daylight, under the branches of a spreading chestnut; the
+square, too, was deserted; there was a sound of distant music in the
+air; and all combined to plunge me into that most agreeable of states,
+which is neither happiness nor sorrow, but shares the poignancy of both.
+
+From this I was recalled by the arrival of a large van, very handsomely
+appointed, drawn by valuable horses, mounted by several men of an
+appearance more than decent, and bearing on its panels, instead of a
+trader's name, a coat of arms too modest to be deciphered from where I
+sat. It drew up before my house, the door of which was immediately
+opened by one of the men. His companions--I counted seven of them in
+all--proceeded, with disciplined activity, to take from the van and
+carry into the house a variety of hampers, bottle-baskets, and boxes,
+such as are designed for plate and napery. The windows of the
+dining-room were thrown widely open, as though to air it; and I saw some
+of those within laying the table for a meal. Plainly, I concluded, my
+tenant was about to return; and while still determined to submit to no
+aggression on my rights, I was gratified by the number and discipline of
+his attendants, and the quiet profusion that appeared to reign in his
+establishment. I was still so thinking when, to my extreme surprise, the
+windows and shutters of the dining-room were once more closed; the men
+began to reappear from the interior and resume their stations on the
+van; the last closed the door behind his exit; the van drove away; and
+the house was once more left to itself, looking blindly on the square
+with shuttered windows, as though the whole affair had been a vision.
+
+It was no vision, however; for, as I rose to my feet and thus brought my
+eyes a little nearer to the level of the fanlight over the door, I saw
+that, though the day had still some hours to run, the hall lamps had
+been lighted and left burning. Plainly, then, guests were expected, and
+were not expected before night. For whom, I asked myself with
+indignation, were such secret preparations likely to be made? Although
+no prude, I am a woman of decided views upon morality; if my house, to
+which my husband had brought me, was to serve in the character of a
+_petite maison_, I saw myself forced, however unwillingly, into a new
+course of litigation; and, determined to return and know the worst, I
+hastened to my hotel for dinner.
+
+I was at my post by ten. The night was clear and quiet; the moon rode
+very high and put the lamps to shame; and the shadow below the chestnut
+was black as ink. Here, then, I ensconced myself on the low parapet,
+with my back against the railings, face to face with the moonlit front
+of my old home, and ruminating gently on the past. Time fled; eleven
+struck on all the city clocks; and presently after I was aware of the
+approach of a gentleman of stately and agreeable demeanour. He was
+smoking as he walked; his light paletot, which was open, did not conceal
+his evening clothes; and he bore himself with a serious grace that
+immediately awakened my attention. Before the door of this house he took
+a pass-key from his pocket, quietly admitted himself, and disappeared
+into the lamp-lit hall.
+
+He was scarcely gone when I observed another and a much younger man
+approaching hastily from the opposite side of the square. Considering
+the season of the year and the genial mildness of the night, he was
+somewhat closely muffled up; and as he came, for all his hurry, he kept
+looking nervously behind him. Arrived before my door, he halted and set
+one foot upon the step, as though about to enter; then, with a sudden
+change, he turned and began to hurry away; halted a second time, as if
+in painful indecision; and lastly, with a violent gesture, wheeled
+about, returned straight to the door, and rapped upon the knocker. He
+was almost immediately admitted by the first arrival.
+
+My curiosity was now broad awake. I made myself as small as I could in
+the very densest of the shadow, and waited for the sequel. Nor had I
+long to wait. From the same side of the square a second young man made
+his appearance, walking slowly and softly, and like the first, muffled
+to the nose. Before the house he paused; looked all about him with a
+swift and comprehensive glance; and seeing the square lie empty in the
+moon and lamp-light, leaned far across the area railings and appeared to
+listen to what was passing in the house. From the dining-room there came
+the report of a champagne cork, and following upon that, the sound of
+rich and manly laughter. The listener took heart of grace, produced a
+key, unlocked the area gate, shut it noiselessly behind him, and
+descended the stair. Just when his head had reached the level of the
+pavement, he turned half round and once more raked the square with a
+suspicious eyeshot. The mufflings had fallen lower round his neck; the
+moon shone full upon him; and I was startled to observe the pallor and
+passionate agitation of his face.
+
+I could remain no longer passive. Persuaded that something deadly was
+afoot, I crossed the roadway and drew near the area railings. There was
+no one below; the man must therefore have entered the house, with what
+purpose I dreaded to imagine. I have at no part of my career lacked
+courage; and now, finding the area gate was merely laid-to, I pushed it
+gently open and descended the stairs. The kitchen door of the house,
+like the area gate, was closed but not fastened. It flashed upon me
+that the criminal was thus preparing his escape; and the thought, as it
+confirmed the worst of my suspicions, lent me new resolve. I entered the
+house; and being now quite reckless of my life, I shut and locked the
+door.
+
+From the dining-room above I could hear the pleasant tones of a voice in
+easy conversation. On the ground floor all was not only profoundly
+silent, but the darkness seemed to weigh upon my eyes. Here, then, I
+stood for some time, having thrust myself uncalled into the utmost
+peril, and being destitute of any power to help or interfere. Nor will I
+deny that fear had begun already to assail me, when I became aware, all
+at once and as though by some immediate but silent incandescence, of a
+certain glimmering of light upon the passage floor. Towards this I
+groped my way with infinite precaution; and having come at length as far
+as the angle of the corridor, beheld the door of the butler's pantry
+standing just ajar and a narrow thread of brightness falling from the
+chink. Creeping still closer, I put my eye to the aperture. The man sat
+within upon a chair, listening, I could see, with the most rapt
+attention. On a table before him he had laid a watch, a pair of steel
+revolvers, and a bull's-eye lantern. For one second many contradictory
+theories and projects whirled together in my head; the next, I had
+slammed the door and turned the key upon the malefactor. Surprised at my
+own decision, I stood and panted, leaning on the wall. From within the
+pantry not a sound was to be heard; the man, whatever he was, had
+accepted his fate without a struggle, and now, as I hugged myself to
+fancy, sat frozen with terror and looking for the worst to follow. I
+promised myself that he should not be disappointed; and the better to
+complete my task, I turned to ascend the stairs.
+
+The situation, as I groped my way to the first floor, appealed to me
+suddenly by my strong sense of humour. Here was I, the owner of the
+house, burglariously present in its walls; and there, in the
+dining-room, were two gentlemen, unknown to me, seated complacently at
+supper, and only saved by my promptitude from some surprising or deadly
+interruption. It were strange if I could not manage to extract the
+matter of amusement from so unusual a situation.
+
+Behind this dining-room there is a small apartment intended for a
+library. It was to this that I cautiously groped my way; and you will
+see how fortune had exactly served me. The weather, I have said, was
+sultry: in order to ventilate the dining-room and yet preserve the
+uninhabited appearance of the mansion to the front, the window of the
+library had been widely opened and the door of communication between the
+two apartments left ajar. To this interval I now applied my eye.
+
+Wax tapers, set in silver candlesticks, shed their chastened brightness
+on the damask of the tablecloth and the remains of a cold collation of
+the rarest delicacy. The two gentlemen had finished supper, and were now
+trifling with cigars and maraschino; while in a silver spirit-lamp,
+coffee of the most captivating fragrance was preparing in the fashion of
+the East. The elder of the two, he who had first arrived, was placed
+directly facing me; the other was set on his left hand. Both, like the
+man in the butler's pantry, seemed to be intently listening; and on the
+face of the second I thought I could perceive the marks of fear. Oddly
+enough, however, when they came to speak, the parts were found to be
+reversed.
+
+"I assure you," said the elder gentleman, "I not only heard the slamming
+of a door, but the sound of very guarded footsteps."
+
+"Your highness was certainly deceived," replied the other. "I am endowed
+with the acutest hearing, and I can swear that not a mouse has rustled."
+Yet the pallor and contraction of his features were in total discord
+with the tenor of his words.
+
+His highness (whom, of course, I readily divined to be Prince Florizel)
+looked at his companion for the least fraction of a second; and though
+nothing shook the easy quiet of his attitude, I could see that he was
+far from being duped. "It is well," said he: "let us dismiss the topic.
+And now, sir, that I have very freely explained the sentiments by which
+I am directed, let me ask you, according to your promise, to imitate my
+frankness."
+
+"I have heard you," replied the other, "with great interest."
+
+"With singular patience," said the prince politely.
+
+"Ay, your highness, and with unlooked-for sympathy," returned the young
+man. "I know not how to tell the change that has befallen me. You have,
+I must suppose, a charm, to which even your enemies are subject." He
+looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and visibly blanched. "So late!"
+he cried. "Your highness--God knows I am now speaking from the
+heart--before it be too late, leave this house!"
+
+The prince glanced once more at his companion, and then very
+deliberately shook the ash from his cigar. "That is a strange remark,"
+said he; "and _a propos de bottes_, I never continue a cigar when once
+the ash is fallen; the spell breaks, the soul of the flavour flies away,
+and there remains but the dead body of tobacco; and I make it a rule to
+throw away that husk and choose another." He suited the action to the
+words.
+
+"Do not trifle with my appeal," resumed the young man, in tones that
+trembled with emotion. "It is made at the price of my honour and to the
+peril of my life. Go--go now! lose not a moment; and if you have any
+kindness for a young man, miserably deceived indeed, but not devoid of
+better sentiments, look not behind you as you leave."
+
+"Sir," said the prince, "I am here upon your honour; I assure you upon
+mine that I shall continue to rely upon that safeguard. The coffee is
+ready; I must again trouble you, I fear." And with a courteous movement
+of the hand, he seemed to invite his companion to pour out the coffee.
+
+The unhappy young man rose from his seat. "I appeal to you," he cried,
+"by every holy sentiment, in mercy to me, if not in pity to yourself,
+begone before it is too late."
+
+"Sir," replied the prince, "I am not readily accessible to fear; and if
+there is one defect to which I must plead guilty, it is that of a
+curious disposition. You go the wrong way about to make me leave this
+house, in which I play the part of your entertainer; and, suffer me to
+add, young man, if any peril threaten us, it was of your contriving, not
+of mine."
+
+"Alas, you do not know to what you condemn me," cried the other. "But I
+at least will have no hand in it." With these words he carried his hand
+to his pocket, hastily swallowed the contents of a phial, and, with the
+very act, reeled back and fell across his chair upon the floor. The
+prince left his place and came and stood above him, where he lay
+convulsed upon the carpet. "Poor moth!" I heard his highness murmur.
+"Alas, poor moth! must we again inquire which is the more
+fatal--weakness or wickedness? And can a sympathy with ideas, surely not
+ignoble in themselves, conduct a man to this dishonourable death?"
+
+By this time I had pushed the door open and walked into the room. "Your
+highness," said I, "this is no time for moralising; with a little
+promptness we may save this creature's life; and as for the other, he
+need cause you no concern, for I have him safely under lock and key."
+
+The prince had turned about upon my entrance, and regarded me certainly
+with no alarm, but with a profundity of wonder which almost robbed me of
+my self-possession. "My dear madam," he cried at last, "and who the
+devil are you?"
+
+I was already on the floor beside the dying man. I had, of course, no
+idea with what drug he had attempted his life, and I was forced to try
+him with a variety of antidotes. Here were both oil and vinegar, for the
+prince had done the young man the honour of compounding for him one of
+his celebrated salads; and of each of these I administered from a
+quarter to half a pint, with no apparent efficacy. I next plied him
+with the hot coffee, of which there may have been near upon a quart.
+
+"Have you no milk?" I inquired.
+
+"I fear, madam, that milk has been omitted," returned the prince.
+
+"Salt, then," said I; "salt is a revulsive. Pass the salt."
+
+"And possibly the mustard?" asked his highness, as he offered me the
+contents of the various salt-cellars poured together on a plate.
+
+"Ah," cried I, "the thought is excellent! Mix me about half a pint of
+mustard, drinkably dilute."
+
+Whether it was the salt or the mustard, or the mere combination of so
+many subversive agents, as soon as the last had been poured over his
+throat, the young sufferer obtained relief.
+
+"There!" I exclaimed, with natural triumph, "I have saved a life!"
+
+"And yet, madam," returned the prince, "your mercy may be cruelly
+disguised. Where the honour is lost, it is, at least, superfluous to
+prolong the life."
+
+"If you had led a life as changeable as mine, your highness," I replied,
+"you would hold a very different opinion. For my part, and after
+whatever extremity of misfortune or disgrace, I should still count
+to-morrow worth a trial."
+
+"You speak as a lady, madam," said the prince; "and for such you speak
+the truth. But to men there is permitted such a field of licence, and
+the good behaviour asked of them is at once so easy and so little, that
+to fail in that is to fall beyond the reach of pardon. But will you
+suffer me to repeat a question, put to you at first, I am afraid, with
+some defect of courtesy; and to ask you once more, who you are and how I
+have the honour of your company?"
+
+"I am the proprietor of the house in which we stand," said I.
+
+"And still I am at fault," returned the prince.
+
+But at that moment the timepiece on the mantelshelf began to strike the
+hour of twelve; and the young man, raising himself upon one elbow, with
+an expression of despair and horror that I have never seen excelled,
+cried lamentably: "Midnight? oh, just God!" We stood frozen to our
+places, while the tingling hammer of the timepiece measured the
+remaining strokes; nor had we yet stirred, so tragic had been the tones
+of the young man, when the various bells of London began in turn to
+declare the hour. The timepiece was inaudible beyond the walls of the
+chamber where we stood; but the second pulsation of Big Ben had scarcely
+throbbed into the night, before a sharp detonation rang about the house.
+The prince sprang for the door by which I had entered; but quick as he
+was, I yet contrived to intercept him.
+
+"Are you armed?" I cried.
+
+"No, madam," replied he. "You remind me appositely; I will take the
+poker."
+
+"The man below," said I, "has two revolvers. Would you confront him at
+such odds?"
+
+He paused, as though staggered in his purpose. "And yet, madam," said
+he, "we cannot continue to remain in ignorance of what has passed."
+
+"No!" cried I. "And who proposes it? I am as curious as yourself, but
+let us rather send for the police; or, if your highness dreads a
+scandal, for some of your own servants."
+
+"Nay, madam," he replied, smiling, "for so brave a lady, you surprise
+me. Would you have me, then, send others where I fear to go myself."
+
+"You are perfectly right," said I, "and I was entirely wrong. Go, in
+God's name, and I will hold the candle!"
+
+Together, therefore, we descended to the lower story, he carrying the
+poker, I the light; and together we approached and opened the door of
+the butler's pantry. In some sort, I believe, I was prepared for the
+spectacle that met our eyes; I was prepared, that is, to find the
+villain dead, but the rude details of such a violent suicide I was
+unable to endure. The prince, unshaken by horror as he had remained
+unshaken by alarm, assisted me with the most respectful gallantry to
+regain the dining-room.
+
+There we found our patient, still, indeed, deadly pale, but vastly
+recovered and already seated on a chair. He held out both his hands with
+a most pitiful gesture of interrogation.
+
+"He is dead," said the prince.
+
+"Alas!" cried the young man, "and it should be I! What do I do, thus
+lingering on the stage I have disgraced, while he, my sure comrade,
+blameworthy indeed for much, but yet the soul of fidelity, has judged
+and slain himself for an involuntary fault? Ah, sir," said he, "and you
+too, madam, without whose cruel help I should be now beyond the reach of
+my accusing conscience, you behold in me the victim equally of my own
+faults and virtues. I was born a hater of injustice; from my most tender
+years my blood boiled against Heaven when I beheld the sick, and against
+men when I witnessed the sorrows of the poor; the pauper's crust stuck
+in my throat when I sat down to eat my dainties, and the cripple child
+has set me weeping. What was there in that but what was noble? and yet
+observe to what a fall these thoughts have led me! Year after year this
+passion for the lost besieged me closer. What hope was there in kings?
+what hope in these well-feathered classes that now roll in money? I had
+observed the course of history; I knew the burgess, our ruler of to-day,
+to be base, cowardly, and dull; I saw him, in every age, combine to pull
+down that which was immediately above and to prey upon those that were
+below; his dulness, I knew, would ultimately bring about his ruin; I
+knew his days were numbered, and yet how was I to wait? how was I to let
+the poor child shiver in the rain? The better days, indeed, were coming,
+but the child would die before that. Alas, your highness, in surely no
+ungenerous impatience I enrolled myself among the enemies of this unjust
+and doomed society; in surely no unnatural desire to keep the fires of
+my philanthropy alight, I bound myself by an irrevocable oath.
+
+"That oath is all my history. To give freedom to posterity, I had
+forsworn my own. I must attend upon every signal; and soon my father
+complained of my irregular hours and turned me from his house. I was
+engaged in betrothal to an honest girl; from her also I had to part, for
+she was too shrewd to credit my inventions and too innocent to be
+intrusted with the truth. Behold me, then, alone with conspirators!
+Alas! as the years went on, my illusions left me. Surrounded as I was by
+the fervent disciples and apologists of revolution, I beheld them daily
+advance in confidence and desperation; I beheld myself, upon the other
+hand, and with an almost equal regularity, decline in faith. I had
+sacrificed all to further that cause in which I still believed; and
+daily I began to grow in doubts if we were advancing it indeed. Horrible
+was the society with which we warred, but our own means were not less
+horrible.
+
+"I will not dwell upon my sufferings; I will not pause to tell you how,
+when I beheld young men still free and happy, married, fathers of
+children, cheerfully toiling at their work, my heart reproached me with
+the greatness and vanity of my unhappy sacrifice. I will not describe to
+you how, worn by poverty, poor lodging, scanty food, and an unquiet
+conscience, my health began to fail, and in the long nights, as I
+wandered bedless in the rainy streets, the most cruel sufferings of the
+body were added to the tortures of my mind. These things are not
+personal to me; they are common to all unfortunates in my position. An
+oath, so light a thing to swear, so grave a thing to break: an oath,
+taken in the heat of youth, repented with what sobbings of the heart,
+but yet in vain repented, as the years go on: an oath, that was once the
+very utterance of the truth of God, but that falls to be the symbol of a
+meaningless and empty slavery; such is the yoke that many young men
+joyfully assume, and under whose dead weight they live to suffer worse
+than death.
+
+"It is not that I was patient. I have begged to be released; but I knew
+too much, and I was still refused. I have fled; ay, and for the time
+successfully. I reached Paris. I found a lodging in the Rue St. Jacques,
+almost opposite the Val de Grace. My room was mean and bare, but the sun
+looked into it towards evening; it commanded a peep of a green garden; a
+bird hung by a neighbour's window and made the morning beautiful; and I,
+who was sick, might lie in bed and rest myself: I, who was in full
+revolt against the principles that I had served, was now no longer at
+the beck of the council, and was no longer charged with shameful and
+revolting tasks. Oh! what an interval of peace was that! I still dream,
+at times, that I can hear the note of my neighbour's bird.
+
+"My money was running out, and it became necessary that I should find
+employment. Scarcely had I been three days upon the search, ere I
+thought that I was being followed. I made certain of the features of the
+man, which were quite strange to me, and turned into a small cafe, where
+I whiled away an hour, pretending to read the papers, but inwardly
+convulsed with terror. When I came forth again into the street, it was
+quite empty, and I breathed again; but alas, I had not turned three
+corners, when I once more observed the human hound pursuing me. Not an
+hour was to be lost; timely submission might yet preserve a life which
+otherwise was forfeit and dishonoured; and I fled, with what speed you
+may conceive, to the Paris agency of the society I served.
+
+"My submission was accepted. I took up once more the hated burthen of
+that life; once more I was at the call of men whom I despised and hated,
+while yet I envied and admired them. They at least were whole-hearted in
+the things they purposed; but I, who had once been such as they, had
+fallen from the brightness of my faith, and now laboured, like a
+hireling, for the wages of a loathed existence. Ay, sir, to that I was
+condemned; I obeyed to continue to live, and lived but to obey.
+
+"The last charge that was laid upon me was the one which has to-night so
+tragically ended. Boldly telling who I was, I was to request from your
+highness, on behalf of my society, a private audience, where it was
+designed to murder you. If one thing remained to me of my old
+convictions, it was the hate of kings; and when this task was offered
+me, I took it gladly. Alas, sir, you triumphed. As we supped, you gained
+upon my heart. Your character, your talents, your designs for our
+unhappy country, all had been misrepresented. I began to forget you were
+a prince; I began, all too feelingly, to remember that you were a man.
+As I saw the hour approach, I suffered agonies untold; and when, at
+last, we heard the slamming of the door which announced in my unwilling
+ears the arrival of the partner of my crime, you will bear me out with
+what instancy I besought you to depart. You would not, alas! and what
+could I? Kill you, I could not; my heart revolted, my hand turned back
+from such a deed. Yet it was impossible that I should suffer you to
+stay; for when the hour struck and my companion came, true to his
+appointment, and he, at least, true to our design, I could neither
+suffer you to be killed nor yet him to be arrested. From such a tragic
+passage, death, and death alone, could save me; and it is no fault of
+mine if I continue to exist.
+
+"But you, madam," continued the young man, addressing himself more
+directly to myself, "were doubtless born to save the prince and to
+confound our purposes. My life you have prolonged; and by turning the
+key on my companion, you have made me the author of his death. He heard
+the hour strike; he was impotent to help; and thinking himself forfeit
+to honour, thinking that I should fall alone upon his highness and
+perish for lack of his support, he has turned his pistol on himself."
+
+"You are right," said Prince Florizel: "it was in no ungenerous spirit
+that you brought these burthens on yourself; and when I see you so nobly
+to blame, so tragically punished, I stand like one reproved. For is it
+not strange, madam, that you and I, by practising accepted and
+inconsiderable virtues, and commonplace but still unpardonable faults,
+should stand here, in the sight of God, with what we call clean hands
+and quiet consciences; while this poor youth, for an error that I could
+almost envy him, should be sunk beyond the reach of hope?
+
+"Sir," resumed the prince, turning to the young man, "I cannot help you;
+my help would but unchain the thunderbolt that overhangs you; and I can
+but leave you free."
+
+"And, sir," said I, "as this house belongs to me, I will ask you to have
+the kindness to remove the body. You and your conspirators, it appears
+to me, can hardly in civility do less."
+
+"It shall be done," said the young man, with a dismal accent.
+
+"And you, dear madam," said the prince, "you, to whom I owe my life, how
+can I serve you?"
+
+"Your highness," I said, "to be very plain, this is my favourite house,
+being not only a valuable property, but endeared to me by various
+associations. I have endless troubles with tenants of the ordinary
+class; and at first applauded my good fortune when I found one of the
+station of your Master of the Horse. I now begin to think otherwise;
+dangers set a siege about great personages; and I do not wish my
+tenement to share these risks. Procure me the resiliation of the lease,
+and I shall feel myself your debtor."
+
+"I must tell you, madam," replied his highness, "that Colonel Geraldine
+is but a cloak for myself; and I should be sorry indeed to think myself
+so unacceptable a tenant."
+
+"Your highness," said I, "I have conceived a sincere admiration for your
+character; but on the subject of house property I cannot allow the
+interference of my feelings. I will, however, to prove to you that there
+is nothing personal in my request, here solemnly engage my word that I
+will never put another tenant in this house."
+
+"Madam," said Florizel, "you plead your cause too charmingly to be
+refused."
+
+Thereupon we all three withdrew. The young man, still reeling in his
+walk, departed by himself to seek the assistance of his
+fellow-conspirators; and the prince, with the most attentive gallantry,
+lent me his escort to the door of my hotel. The next day the lease was
+cancelled; nor from that hour to this, though sometimes regretting my
+engagement, have I suffered a tenant in this house.
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)
+
+
+As soon as the old lady had finished her relation, Somerset made haste
+to offer her his compliments.
+
+"Madam," said he, "your story is not only entertaining but instructive;
+and you have told it with infinite vivacity. I was much affected towards
+the end, as I held at one time very liberal opinions, and should
+certainly have joined a secret society if I had been able to find one.
+But the whole tale came home to me; and I was the better able to feel
+for you in your various perplexities, as I am myself of somewhat hasty
+temper."
+
+"I do not understand you," said Mrs. Luxmore, with some marks of
+irritation. "You must have strangely misinterpreted what I have told
+you. You fill me with surprise."
+
+Somerset, alarmed by the old lady's change of tone and manner, hurried
+to recant.
+
+"Dear Mrs. Luxmore," said he, "you certainly misconstrue my remark. As a
+man of somewhat fiery humour, my conscience repeatedly pricked me when I
+heard what you had suffered at the hands of persons similarly
+constituted."
+
+"Oh, very well indeed," replied the old lady; "and a very proper spirit.
+I regret that I have met with it so rarely."
+
+"But in all this," resumed the young man, "I perceive nothing that
+concerns myself."
+
+"I am about to come to that," she returned. "And you have already before
+you, in the pledge I gave Prince Florizel, one of the elements of the
+affair. I am a woman of the nomadic sort, and when I have no case before
+the courts I make it a habit to visit continental spas: not that I have
+ever been ill; but then I am no longer young, and I am always happy in a
+crowd. Well, to come more shortly to the point, I am now on the wing for
+Evian; this incubus of a house, which I must leave behind and dare not
+let, hangs heavily upon my hands; and I propose to rid myself of that
+concern, and do you a very good turn into the bargain, by lending you
+the mansion, with all its fittings, as it stands. The idea was sudden;
+it appealed to me as humorous; and I am sure it will cause my relatives,
+if they should ever hear of it, the keenest possible chagrin. Here,
+then, is the key; and when you return at two to-morrow afternoon, you
+will find neither me nor my cats to disturb you in your new possession."
+
+So saying, the old lady arose, as if to dismiss her visitor; but
+Somerset, looking somewhat blankly on the key, began to protest.
+
+"Dear Mrs. Luxmore," said he, "this is a most unusual proposal. You know
+nothing of me, beyond the fact that I displayed both impudence and
+timidity. I may be the worst kind of scoundrel; I may sell your
+furniture--"
+
+"You may blow up the house with gunpowder, for what I care!" cried Mrs.
+Luxmore. "It is in vain to reason. Such is the force of my character
+that, when I have one idea clearly in my head, I do not care two straws
+for any side consideration. It amuses me to do it, and let that suffice.
+On your side, you may do what you please--let apartments, or keep a
+private hotel; on mine, I promise you a full month's warning before I
+return, and I never fail religiously to keep my promises."
+
+The young man was about to renew his protest, when he observed a sudden
+and significant change in the old lady's countenance.
+
+"If I thought you capable of disrespect!" she cried.
+
+"Madam," said Somerset, with the extreme fervour of asseveration,
+"madam, I accept. I beg you to understand that I accept with joy and
+gratitude."
+
+"Ah, well," returned Mrs. Luxmore, "if I am mistaken, let it pass. And
+now, since all is comfortably settled, I wish you a good-night."
+
+Thereupon, as if to leave him no room for repentance, she hurried
+Somerset out of the front door, and left him standing, key in hand, upon
+the pavement.
+
+The next day, about the hour appointed, the young man found his way to
+the square, which I will here call Golden Square, though that was not
+its name. What to expect, he knew not; for a man may live in dreams, and
+yet be unprepared for their realisation. It was already with a certain
+pang of surprise that he beheld the mansion, standing in the eye of day,
+a solid among solids. The key, upon trial, readily opened the front
+door; he entered that great house, a privileged burglar; and, escorted
+by the echoes of desertion, rapidly reviewed the empty chambers. Cats,
+servant, old lady, the very marks of habitation, like writing on a
+slate, had been in these few hours obliterated. He wandered from floor
+to floor, and found the house of great extent; the kitchen offices
+commodious and well appointed; the rooms many and large; and the
+drawing-room, in particular, an apartment of princely size and tasteful
+decoration. Although the day without was warm, genial, and sunny, with a
+ruffling wind from the quarter of Torquay, a chill, as it were, of
+suspended animation, inhabited the house. Dust and shadows met the eye;
+and but for the ominous procession of the echoes, and the rumour of the
+wind among the garden trees, the ear of the young man was stretched in
+vain.
+
+Behind the dining-room, that pleasant library, referred to by the old
+lady in her tale, looked upon the flat roofs and netted cupolas of the
+kitchen quarters; and on a second visit, this room appeared to greet him
+with a smiling countenance. He might as well, he thought, avoid the
+expense of lodging: the library fitted with an iron bedstead which he
+had remarked, in one of the upper chambers, would serve his purpose for
+the night; while in the dining-room, which was large, airy, and
+lightsome, looking on the square and garden, he might very agreeably
+pass his days, cook his meals, and study to bring himself to some
+proficiency in that art of painting which he had recently determined to
+adopt. It did not take him long to make the change: he had soon returned
+to the mansion with his modest kit; and the cabman who brought him was
+readily induced, by the young man's pleasant manner and a small
+gratuity, to assist him in the installation of the iron bed. By six in
+the evening, when Somerset went forth to dine, he was able to look back
+upon the mansion with a sense of pride and property. Four-square it
+stood, of an imposing frontage, and flanked on either side by family
+hatchments. His eye, from where he stood whistling in the key, with his
+back to the garden railings, reposed on every feature of reality; and
+yet his own possession seemed as flimsy as a dream.
+
+In the course of a few days, the genteel inhabitants of the square began
+to remark the customs of their neighbour. The sight of a young gentleman
+discussing a clay pipe, about four o'clock of the afternoon, in the
+drawing-room balcony of so discreet a mansion; and perhaps still more,
+his periodical excursion to a decent tavern in the neighbourhood, and
+his unabashed return, nursing the full tankard: had presently raised to
+a high pitch the interest and indignation of the liveried servants of
+the square. The disfavour of some of these gentlemen at first proceeded
+to the length of insult; but Somerset knew how to be affable with any
+class of men; and a few rude words merrily accepted, and a few glasses
+amicably shared, gained for him the right of toleration.
+
+The young man had embraced the art of Raphael, partly from a notion of
+its ease, partly from an inborn distrust of offices. He scorned to bear
+the yoke of any regular schooling; and proceeded to turn one half of the
+dining-room into a studio for the reproduction of still life. There he
+amassed a variety of objects, indiscriminately chosen from the kitchen,
+the drawing-room, and the back garden; and there spent his days in
+smiling assiduity. Meantime, the great bulk of empty building overhead
+lay, like a load, upon his imagination. To hold so great a stake and to
+do nothing, argued some defect of energy; and he at length determined to
+act upon the hint given by Mrs. Luxmore herself, and to stick, with
+wafers, in the window of the dining-room, a small hand-bill announcing
+furnished lodgings. At half-past six of a fine July morning, he affixed
+the bill, and went forth into the square to study the result. It seemed,
+to his eye, promising and unpretentious; and he returned to the
+drawing-room balcony to consider, over a studious pipe, the knotty
+problem of how much he was to charge.
+
+Thereupon he somewhat relaxed in his devotion to the art of painting.
+Indeed, from that time forth, he would spend the best part of the day in
+the front balcony, like the attentive angler poring on his float; and
+the better to support the tedium, he would frequently console himself
+with his clay pipe. On several occasions passers-by appeared to be
+arrested by the ticket, and on several others ladies and gentlemen drove
+to the very doorstep by the carriageful; but it appeared there was
+something repulsive in the appearance of the house; for, with one
+accord, they would cast but one look upward, and hastily resume their
+onward progress, or direct the driver to proceed. Somerset had thus the
+mortification of actually meeting the eye of a large number of
+lodging-seekers; and though he hastened to withdraw his pipe, and to
+compose his features to an air of invitation, he was never rewarded by
+so much as an inquiry. "Can there," he thought, "be anything repellent
+in myself?" But a candid examination in one of the pier-glasses of the
+drawing-room led him to dismiss the fear.
+
+Something, however, was amiss. His vast and accurate calculations on the
+fly-leaves of books, or on the backs of playbills, appeared to have been
+an idle sacrifice of time. By these, he had variously computed the weekly
+takings of the house, from sums as modest as five-and-twenty-shillings, up
+to the more majestic figure of a hundred pounds; and yet, in despite of
+the very elements of arithmetic, here he was making literally nothing.
+
+This incongruity impressed him deeply and occupied his thoughtful
+leisure on the balcony; and at last it seemed to him that he had
+detected the error of his method. "This," he reflected, "is an age of
+generous display: the age of the sandwich-man, of Griffiths, of Pears'
+legendary soap, and of Eno's fruit salt which, by sheer brass and
+notoriety, and the most disgusting pictures I ever remember to have
+seen, has overlaid that comforter of my childhood, Lamplough's pyretic
+saline. Lamplough was genteel, Eno was omnipresent; Lamplough was trite,
+Eno original and abominably vulgar; and here have I, a man of some
+pretensions to knowledge of the world, contented myself with half a
+sheet of note-paper, a few cold words which do not directly address the
+imagination, and the adornment (if adornment it may be called) of four
+red wafers! Am I, then, to sink with Lamplough, or to soar with Eno? Am
+I to adopt that modesty which is doubtless becoming in a duke? or to
+take hold of the red facts of life with the emphasis of the tradesman
+and the poet?"
+
+Pursuant upon these meditations, he procured several sheets of the very
+largest size of drawing-paper; and laying forth his paints, proceeded to
+compose an ensign that might attract the eye and at the same time, in
+his own phrase, directly address the imagination of the passenger.
+Something taking in the way of colour, a good, savoury choice of words,
+and a realistic design setting forth the life a lodger might expect to
+lead within the walls of that palace of delight: these, he perceived,
+must be the elements of his advertisement. It was possible, upon the one
+hand, to depict the sober pleasures of domestic life, the evening fire,
+blond-headed urchins, and the hissing urn; but on the other, it was
+possible (and he almost felt as if it were more suited to his muse) to
+set forth the charms of an existence somewhat wider in its range, or,
+boldly say, the paradise of the Mohammedan. So long did the artist waver
+between these two views, that, before he arrived at a conclusion, he had
+finally conceived and completed both designs. With the proverbially
+tender heart of the parent, he found himself unable to sacrifice either
+of these offspring of his art; and decided to expose them on alternate
+days. "In this way," he thought, "I shall address myself indifferently
+to all classes of the world."
+
+The tossing of a penny decided the only remaining point; and the more
+imaginative canvas received the suffrages of fortune and appeared first
+in the window of the mansion. It was of a high fancy, the legend
+eloquently writ, the scheme of colour taking and bold; and but for the
+imperfection of the artist's drawing, it might have been taken for a
+model of its kind. As it was, however, when viewed from his favourite
+point against the garden railings, and with some touch of distance, it
+caused a pleasurable rising of the artist's heart. "I have thrown away,"
+he ejaculated, "an invaluable motive; and this shall be the subject of
+my first Academy picture."
+
+The fate of neither of these works was equal to its merit. A crowd would
+certainly, from time to time, collect before the area-railings; but they
+came to jeer and not to speculate; and those who pushed their inquiries
+further, were too plainly animated by the spirit of derision. The racier
+of the two cartoons displayed, indeed, no symptom of attractive merit;
+and though it had a certain share of that success called scandalous,
+failed utterly of its effect. On the day, however, of the second
+appearance of the companion work, a real inquirer did actually present
+himself before the eyes of Somerset.
+
+This was a gentlemanly man, with some marks of recent merriment, and his
+voice under inadequate control.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said he, "but what is the meaning of your
+extraordinary bill?"
+
+"I beg yours," returned Somerset hotly. "Its meaning is sufficiently
+explicit." And being now, from dire experience, fearful of ridicule, he
+was preparing to close the door, when the gentleman thrust his cane into
+the aperture.
+
+"Not so fast, I beg of you," said he. "If you really let apartments,
+here is a possible tenant at your door; and nothing would give me
+greater pleasure than to see the accommodation and to learn your terms."
+
+His heart joyously beating, Somerset admitted the visitor, showed him
+over the various apartments, and, with some return of his persuasive
+eloquence, expounded their attractions. The gentleman was particularly
+pleased by the elegant proportions of the drawing-room.
+
+"This," he said, "would suit me very well. What, may I ask, would be
+your terms a week, for this floor and the one above it?"
+
+"I was thinking," returned Somerset, "of a hundred pounds."
+
+"Surely not," exclaimed the gentleman.
+
+"Well, then," returned Somerset, "fifty."
+
+The gentleman regarded him with an air of some amazement. "You seem to
+be strangely elastic in your demands," said he. "What if I were to
+proceed on your own principle of division, and offer twenty-five?"
+
+"Done!" cried Somerset; and then, overcome by a sudden embarrassment,
+"you see," he added apologetically, "it is all found money for me."
+
+"Really?" said the stranger, looking at him all the while with growing
+wonder. "Without extras, then?"
+
+"I--I suppose so," stammered the keeper of the lodging-house.
+
+"Service included?" pursued the gentleman.
+
+"Service?" cried Somerset. "Do you mean that you expect me to empty your
+slops?"
+
+The gentleman regarded him with a very friendly interest. "My dear
+fellow," said he, "if you take my advice, you will give up this
+business." And thereupon he resumed his hat and took himself away.
+
+This smarting disappointment produced a strong effect on the artist of
+the cartoons; and he began with shame to eat up his rosier illusions.
+First one and then the other of his great works was condemned, withdrawn
+from exhibition, and relegated, as a mere wall-picture, to the
+decoration of the dining-room. Their place was taken by a replica of the
+original watered announcement, to which, in particularly large letters,
+he had added the pithy rubric: "_No service._" Meanwhile he had fallen
+into something as nearly bordering on low spirits as was consistent with
+his disposition; depressed, at once by the failure of his scheme, the
+laughable turn of his late interview, and the judicial blindness of the
+public to the merit of the twin cartoons.
+
+Perhaps a week had passed before he was again startled by the note of
+the knocker. A gentleman of a somewhat foreign and somewhat military
+air, yet closely shaven and wearing a soft hat, desired in the politest
+terms to visit the apartments. He had (he explained) a friend, a
+gentleman in tender health, desirous of a sedate and solitary life,
+apart from interruptions and the noises of the common lodging-house.
+"The unusual clause," he continued, "in your announcement, particularly
+struck me. 'This,' I said, 'is the place for Mr. Jones.' You are
+yourself, sir, a professional gentleman?" concluded the visitor, looking
+keenly in Somerset's face.
+
+"I am an artist," replied the young man lightly.
+
+"And these," observed the other, taking a side glance through the open
+door of the dining-room, which they were then passing, "these are some
+of your works. Very remarkable." And he again and still more sharply
+peered into the countenance of the young man.
+
+Somerset, unable to suppress a blush, made the more haste to lead his
+visitor upstairs and to display the apartments.
+
+"Excellent," observed the stranger, as he looked from one of the back
+windows. "Is that a mews behind, sir? Very good. Well, sir: see here. My
+friend will take your drawing-room floor; he will sleep in the back
+drawing-room; his nurse, an excellent Irish widow, will attend on all
+his wants and occupy a garret; he will pay you the round sum of ten
+dollars a week; and you, on your part, will engage to receive no other
+lodger? I think that fair."
+
+Somerset had scarcely words in which to clothe his gratitude and joy.
+
+"Agreed," said the other; "and to spare you trouble, my friend will
+bring some men with him to make the changes. You will find him a
+retiring inmate, sir; receives but few, and rarely leaves the house
+except at night."
+
+"Since I have been in this house," returned Somerset, "I have myself,
+unless it were to fetch beer, rarely gone abroad except in the evening.
+But a man," he added, "must have some amusement."
+
+An hour was then agreed on; the gentleman departed; and Somerset sat
+down to compute in English money the value of the figure named. The
+result of this investigation filled him with amazement and disgust; but
+it was now too late; nothing remained but to endure; and he awaited the
+arrival of his tenant, still trying, by various arithmetical expedients,
+to obtain a more favourable quotation for the dollar. With the approach
+of dusk, however, his impatience drove him once more to the front
+balcony. The night fell, mild and airless; the lamps shone around the
+central darkness of the garden; and through the tall grove of trees that
+intervened, many warmly illuminated windows on the farther side of the
+square told their tale of white napery, choice wine, and genial
+hospitality. The stars were already thickening overhead, when the young
+man's eyes alighted on a procession of three four-wheelers, coasting
+round the garden railing and bound for the Superfluous Mansion. They
+were laden with formidable boxes; moved in a military order, one
+following another; and, by the extreme slowness of their advance,
+inspired Somerset with the most serious ideas of his tenant's malady.
+
+By the time he had the door open, the cabs had drawn up beside the
+pavement; and from the two first, there had alighted the military
+gentleman of the morning and two very stalwart porters. These proceeded
+instantly to take possession of the house; with their own hands, and
+firmly rejecting Somerset's assistance, they carried in the various
+crates and boxes; with their own hands dismounted and transferred to the
+back drawing-room the bed in which the tenant was to sleep; and it was
+not until the bustle of arrival had subsided, and the arrangements were
+complete, that there descended, from the third of the three vehicles, a
+gentleman of great stature and broad shoulders, leaning on the shoulder
+of a woman in a widow's dress, and himself covered by a long cloak and
+muffled in a coloured comforter.
+
+Somerset had but a glimpse of him in passing; he was soon shut into the
+back drawing-room; the other men departed; silence redescended on the
+house; and had not the nurse appeared a little before half-past ten,
+and, with a strong brogue, asked if there were a decent public-house in
+the neighbourhood, Somerset might have still supposed himself to be
+alone in the Superfluous Mansion.
+
+Day followed day; and still the young man had never come by speech or
+sight of his mysterious lodger. The doors of the drawing-room flat were
+never open; and although Somerset could hear him moving to and fro, the
+tall man had never quitted the privacy of his apartments. Visitors,
+indeed, arrived; sometimes in the dusk, sometimes at intempestuous hours
+of night or morning; men, for the most part; some meanly attired, some
+decently; some loud, some cringing; and yet all, in the eyes of
+Somerset, displeasing. A certain air of fear and secrecy was common to
+them all; they were all voluble, he thought, and ill at ease; even the
+military gentleman proved, on a closer inspection, to be no gentleman at
+all; and as for the doctor who attended the sick man, his manners were
+not suggestive of a university career. The nurse, again, was scarcely a
+desirable house-fellow. Since her arrival, the fall of whisky in the
+young man's private bottle was much accelerated; and though never
+communicative, she was at times unpleasantly familiar. When asked about
+the patient's health, she would dolorously shake her head, and declare
+that the poor gentleman was in a pitiful condition.
+
+Yet somehow Somerset had early begun to entertain the notion that his
+complaint was other than bodily. The ill-looking birds that gathered to
+the house, the strange noises that sounded from the drawing-room in the
+dead hours of night, the careless attendance and intemperate habits of
+the nurse, the entire absence of correspondence, the entire seclusion of
+Mr. Jones himself, whose face, up to that hour, he could not have sworn
+to in a court of justice--all weighed unpleasantly upon the young man's
+mind. A sense of something evil, irregular and underhand, haunted and
+depressed him; and this uneasy sentiment was the more firmly rooted in
+his mind, when, in the fulness of time, he had an opportunity of
+observing the features of his tenant. It fell in this way. The young
+landlord was awakened about four in the morning by a noise in the hall.
+Leaping to his feet, and opening the door of the library, he saw the
+tall man, candle in hand, in earnest conversation with the gentleman who
+had taken the rooms. The faces of both were strongly illuminated; and in
+that of his tenant Somerset could perceive none of the marks of disease,
+but every sign of health, energy, and resolution. While he was still
+looking, the visitor took his departure; and the invalid, having
+carefully fastened the front door, sprang upstairs without a trace of
+lassitude.
+
+That night upon his pillow, Somerset began to kindle once more into the
+hot fit of the detective fever; and the next morning resumed the
+practice of his art with careless hand and an abstracted mind. The day
+was destined to be fertile in surprises; nor had he long been seated at
+the easel ere the first of these occurred. A cab laden with baggage
+drew up before the door; and Mrs. Luxmore in person rapidly mounted the
+steps and began to pound upon the knocker. Somerset hastened to attend
+the summons.
+
+"My dear fellow," she said, with the utmost gaiety, "here I come
+dropping from the moon. I am delighted to find you faithful; and I have
+no doubt you will be equally pleased to be restored to liberty."
+
+Somerset could find no words, whether of protest or welcome; and the
+spirited old lady pushed briskly by him, and paused on the threshold of
+the dining-room. The sight that met her eyes was one well calculated to
+inspire astonishment. The mantelpiece was arrayed with saucepans and
+empty bottles; on the fire some chops were frying; the floor was
+littered from end to end with books, clothes, walking-canes, and the
+materials of the painter's craft; but what far outstripped the other
+wonders of the place was the corner which had been arranged for the
+study of still-life. This formed a sort of rockery; conspicuous upon
+which, according to the principles of the art of composition, a cabbage
+was relieved against a copper kettle, and both contrasted with the mail
+of a boiled lobster.
+
+"My gracious goodness!" cried the lady of the house; and then, turning
+in wrath on the young man, "From what rank in life are you sprung?" she
+demanded. "You have the exterior of a gentleman; but from the
+astonishing evidences before me, I should say you can only be a
+green-grocer's man. Pray, gather up your vegetables, and let me see no
+more of you."
+
+"Madam," babbled Somerset, "you promised me a month's warning."
+
+"That was under a misapprehension," returned the old lady. "I now give
+you warning to leave at once."
+
+"Madam," said the young man, "I wish I could; and indeed, as far as I am
+concerned, it might be done. But then, my lodger!"
+
+"Your lodger?" echoed Mrs. Luxmore.
+
+"My lodger: why should I deny it?" returned Somerset. "He is only by the
+week."
+
+The old lady sat down upon a chair. "You have a lodger?--you?" she
+cried. "And pray, how did you get him?"
+
+"By advertisement," replied the young man. "O madam, I have not lived
+unobservantly. I adopted"--his eyes involuntarily shifted to the
+cartoons--"I adopted every method."
+
+Her eyes had followed his; for the first time in Somerset's experience,
+she produced a double eyeglass; and as soon as the full merit of the
+works had flashed upon her, she gave way to peal after peal of her
+trilling and soprano laughter.
+
+"Oh, I think you are perfectly delicious!" she cried. "I do hope you had
+them in the window. M'Pherson," she continued, crying to her maid, who
+had been all this time grimly waiting in the hall, "I lunch with Mr.
+Somerset. Take the cellar key and bring some wine."
+
+In this gay humour she continued throughout the luncheon; presented
+Somerset with a couple of dozen of wine, which she made M'Pherson bring
+up from the cellar--"as a present, my dear," she said, with another
+burst of tearful merriment, "for your charming pictures, which you must
+be sure to leave me when you go"; and finally, protesting that she dared
+not spoil the absurdest houseful of madmen in the whole of London,
+departed (as she vaguely phrased it) for the continent of Europe.
+
+She was no sooner gone than Somerset encountered in the corridor the
+Irish nurse; sober, to all appearance, and yet a prey to singularly
+strong emotion. It was made to appear, from her account, that Mr. Jones
+had already suffered acutely in his health from Mrs. Luxmore's visit,
+and that nothing short of a full explanation could allay the invalid's
+uneasiness. Somerset, somewhat staring, told what he thought fit of the
+affair.
+
+"Is that all?" cried the woman. "As God sees you, is that all?"
+
+"My good woman," said the young man, "I have no idea what you can be
+driving at. Suppose the lady were my friend's wife, suppose she were my
+fairy godmother, suppose she were the Queen of Portugal; and how should
+that affect yourself or Mr. Jones?"
+
+"Blessed Mary!" cried the nurse, "it's he that will be glad to hear it!"
+
+And immediately she fled upstairs.
+
+Somerset, on his part, returned to the dining-room, and, with a very
+thoughtful brow and ruminating many theories, disposed of the remainder
+of the bottle. It was port; and port is a wine, sole among its equals
+and superiors, that can in some degree support the competition of
+tobacco. Sipping, smoking, and theorising, Somerset moved on from
+suspicion to suspicion, from resolve to resolve, still growing braver
+and rosier as the bottle ebbed. He was a sceptic, none prouder of the
+name; he had no horror at command, whether for crimes or vices, but
+beheld and embraced the world, with an immoral approbation, the frequent
+consequence of youth and health. At the same time, he felt convinced
+that he dwelt under the same roof with secret malefactors; and the
+unregenerate instinct of the chase impelled him to severity. The bottle
+had run low; the summer sun had finally withdrawn; and at the same
+moment, night and the pangs of hunger recalled him from his dreams.
+
+He went forth, and dined in the Criterion: a dinner in consonance, not
+so much with his purse, as with the admirable wine he had discussed.
+What with one thing and another, it was long past midnight when he
+returned home. A cab was at the door; and entering the hall, Somerset
+found himself face to face with one of the most regular of the few who
+visited Mr. Jones: a man of powerful figure, strong lineaments, and a
+chin-beard in the American fashion. This person was carrying on one
+shoulder a black portmanteau, seemingly of considerable weight. That he
+should find a visitor removing baggage in the dead of night, recalled
+some odd stories to the young man's memory; he had heard of lodgers who
+thus gradually drained away, not only their own effects, but the very
+furniture and fittings of the house that sheltered them; and now, in a
+mood between pleasantry and suspicion, and aping the manner of a
+drunkard, he roughly bumped against the man with the chin-beard and
+knocked the portmanteau from his shoulder to the floor. With a face
+struck suddenly as white as paper, the man with the chin-beard called
+lamentably on the name of his Maker, and fell in a mere heap on the mat
+at the foot of the stairs. At the same time, though only for a single
+instant, the heads of the sick lodger and the Irish nurse popped out
+like rabbits over the banisters of the first floor; and on both the same
+scare and pallor were apparent.
+
+The sight of this incredible emotion turned Somerset to stone, and he
+continued speechless, while the man gathered himself together, and, with
+the help of the hand-rail and audibly thanking God, scrambled once more
+upon his feet.
+
+"What in Heaven's name ails you?" gasped the young man as soon as he
+could find words and utterance.
+
+"Have you a drop of brandy?" returned the other. "I am sick."
+
+Somerset administered two drams, one after the other, to the man with
+the chin-beard; who then, somewhat restored, began to confound himself
+in apologies for what he called his miserable nervousness, the result,
+he said, of a long course of dumb ague; and having taken leave with a
+hand that still sweated and trembled, he gingerly resumed his burthen
+and departed.
+
+Somerset retired to bed but not to sleep. What, he asked himself, had
+been the contents of the black portmanteau? Stolen goods? the carcass of
+one murdered? or--and at the thought he sat upright in bed--an infernal
+machine? He took a solemn vow that he would set these doubts at rest;
+and, with the next morning, installed himself beside the dining-room
+window, vigilant with eye and ear, to await and profit by the earliest
+opportunity.
+
+The hours went heavily by. Within the house there was no circumstance of
+novelty; unless it might be that the nurse more frequently made little
+journeys round the corner of the square, and before afternoon was
+somewhat loose of speech and gait. A little after six, however, there
+came round the corner of the gardens a very handsome and elegantly
+dressed young woman, who paused a little way off, and for some time, and
+with frequent sighs, contemplated the front of the Superfluous Mansion.
+It was not the first time that she had thus stood afar and looked upon
+it, like our common parents at the gates of Eden; and the young man had
+already had occasion to remark the lively slimness of her carriage, and
+had already been the butt of a chance arrow from her eye. He hailed her
+coming, then, with pleasant feelings, and moved a little nearer to the
+window to enjoy the sight. What was his surprise, however, when, as if
+with a sensible effort, she drew near, mounted the steps, and tapped
+discreetly at the door! He made haste to get before the Irish nurse, who
+was not improbably asleep, and had the satisfaction to receive this
+gracious visitor in person.
+
+She inquired for Mr. Jones; and then, without transition, asked the
+young man if he were the person of the house (and at the words, he
+thought he could perceive her to be smiling), "because," she added, "if
+you are, I should like to see some of the other rooms."
+
+Somerset told her he was under an engagement to receive no other
+lodgers; but she assured him that would be no matter, as these were
+friends of Mr. Jones's. "And," she continued, moving suddenly to the
+dining-room door, "let us begin here." Somerset was too late to prevent
+her entering, and perhaps lacked the courage to essay. "Ah!" she cried,
+"how changed it is!"
+
+"Madam," cried the young man, "since your entrance, it is I who have the
+right to say so."
+
+She received this inane compliment with a demure and conscious droop of
+the eyelids, and gracefully steering her dress among the mingled
+litter, now with a smile, now with a sigh, reviewed the wonders of the
+two apartments. She gazed upon the cartoons with sparkling eyes, and a
+heightened colour, and, in a somewhat breathless voice, expressed a high
+opinion of their merits. She praised the effective disposition of the
+rockery, and in the bedroom, of which Somerset had vainly endeavoured to
+defend the entry, she fairly broke forth in admiration. "How simple and
+manly!" she cried: "none of that effeminacy of neatness, which is so
+detestable in a man!" Hard upon this, telling him, before he had time to
+reply, that she very well knew her way, and would trouble him no
+further, she took her leave with an engaging smile, and ascended the
+staircase alone.
+
+For more than an hour the young lady remained closeted with Mr. Jones;
+and at the end of that time, the night being now come completely, they
+left the house in company. This was the first time since the arrival of
+his lodger that Somerset had found himself alone with the Irish widow;
+and without the loss of any more time than was required by decency, he
+stepped to the foot of the stairs and hailed her by her name. She came
+instantly, wreathed in weak smiles and with a nodding head; and when the
+young man politely offered to introduce her to the treasures of his art,
+she swore that nothing could afford her greater pleasure, for, though
+she had never crossed the threshold, she had frequently observed his
+beautiful pictures through the door. On entering the dining-room, the
+sight of a bottle and two glasses prepared her to be a gentle critic;
+and as soon as the pictures had been viewed and praised, she was easily
+persuaded to join the painter in a single glass. "Here," she said, "are
+my respects; and a pleasure it is, in this horrible house, to see a
+gentleman like yourself, so affable and free, and a very nice painter, I
+am sure." One glass so agreeably prefaced, was sure to lead to the
+acceptance of a second; at the third, Somerset was free to cease from
+the affectation of keeping her company; and as for the fourth, she
+asked it of her own accord. "For indeed," said she, "what with all these
+clocks and chemicals, without a drop of the creature life would be
+impossible entirely. And you seen yourself that even M'Guire was glad to
+beg for it. And even himself, when he is downhearted with all these
+cruel disappointments, though as temperate a man as any child, will be
+sometimes crying for a glass of it. And I'll thank you for a thimbleful
+to settle what I got." Soon after, she began with tears to narrate the
+deathbed dispositions and lament the trifling assets of her husband.
+Then she declared she heard "the master" calling her, rose to her feet,
+made but one lurch of it into the still-life rockery, and with her head
+upon the lobster, fell into stertorous slumbers.
+
+Somerset mounted at once to the first story, and opened the door of the
+drawing-room, which was brilliantly lit by several lamps. It was a great
+apartment; looking on the square with three tall windows, and joined by
+a pair of ample folding-doors to the next room; elegant in proportion,
+papered in sea-green, furnished in velvet of a delicate blue, and
+adorned with a majestic mantelpiece of variously tinted marbles. Such
+was the room that Somerset remembered; that which he now beheld was
+changed in almost every feature: the furniture covered with a figured
+chintz; the walls hung with a rhubarb-coloured paper, and diversified by
+the curtained recesses for no less than seven windows. It seemed to
+himself that he must have entered, without observing the transition,
+into the adjoining house. Presently from these more specious changes,
+his eye condescended to the many curious objects with which the floor
+was littered. Here were the locks of dismounted pistols; clocks and
+clockwork in every stage of demolition, some still busily ticking, some
+reduced to their dainty elements; a great company of carboys, jars, and
+bottles; a carpenter's bench and a laboratory-table.
+
+The back drawing-room, to which Somerset proceeded, had likewise
+undergone a change. It was transformed to the exact appearance of a
+common lodging-house bedroom; a bed with green curtains occupied one
+corner; and the window was blocked by the regulation table and mirror.
+The door of a small closet here attracted the young man's attention; and
+striking a vesta, he opened it and entered. On a table, several wigs and
+beards were lying spread; about the walls hung an incongruous display of
+suits and overcoats; and conspicuous among the last the young man
+observed a large overall of the most costly sealskin. In a flash his
+mind reverted to the advertisement in the _Standard_ newspaper. The
+great height of his lodger, the disproportionate breadth of his
+shoulders, and the strange particulars of his instalment, all pointed to
+the same conclusion.
+
+The vesta had now burned to his fingers; and taking the coat upon his
+arm, Somerset hastily returned to the lighted drawing-room. There, with
+a mixture of fear and admiration, he pored upon its goodly proportions
+and the regularity and softness of the pile. The sight of a large
+pier-glass put another fancy in his head. He donned the fur coat; and
+standing before the mirror in an attitude suggestive of a Russian
+prince, he thrust his hands into the ample pockets. There his fingers
+encountered a folded journal. He drew it out, and recognised the type
+and paper of the _Standard;_ and at the same instant his eyes alighted
+on the offer of two hundred pounds. Plainly then, his lodger, now no
+longer mysterious, had laid aside his coat on the very day of the
+appearance of the advertisement.
+
+He was thus standing, the tell-tale coat upon his back, the
+incriminating paper in his hand, when the door opened and the tall
+lodger, with a firm but somewhat pallid face, stepped into the room and
+closed the door again behind him. For some time the two looked upon each
+other in perfect silence; then Mr. Jones moved forward to the table,
+took a seat, and, still without once changing the direction of his eyes,
+addressed the young man.
+
+"You are right," he said. "It is for me the blood money is offered. And
+now what will you do?"
+
+It was a question to which Somerset was far from being able to reply.
+Taken as he was at unawares, masquerading in the man's own coat, and
+surrounded by a whole arsenal of diabolical explosives, the keeper of
+the lodging-house was silenced.
+
+"Yes," resumed the other, "I am he. I am that man, whom with impotent
+hate and fear they still hunt from den to den, from disguise to
+disguise. Yet, my landlord, you have it in your power, if you be poor,
+to lay the basis of your fortune; if you be unknown, to capture honour
+at one snatch. You have hocussed an innocent widow; and I find you here
+in my apartment, for whose use I pay you in stamped money, searching my
+wardrobe, and your hand--shame, sir!--your hand in my very pocket. You
+can now complete the cycle of your ignominious acts, by what will be at
+once the simplest, the safest, and the most remunerative." The speaker
+paused as if to emphasise his words; and then, with a great change of
+tone and manner, thus resumed: "And yet, sir, when I look upon your
+face, I feel certain that I cannot be deceived: certain that in spite of
+all, I have the honour and pleasure of speaking to a gentleman. Take off
+my coat, sir--which but cumbers you. Divest yourself of this confusion:
+that which is but thought upon, thank God, need be no burthen to the
+conscience; we have all harboured guilty thoughts; and if it flashed
+into your mind to sell my flesh and blood, my anguish in the dock, and
+the sweat of my death agony--it was a thought, dear sir, you were as
+incapable of acting on, as I of any further question of your honour." At
+these words the speaker, with a very open, smiling countenance, like a
+forgiving father, offered Somerset his hand.
+
+It was not in the young man's nature to refuse forgiveness or dissect
+generosity. He instantly, and almost without thought, accepted the
+proffered grasp.
+
+"And now," resumed the lodger, "now that I hold in mine your loyal hand,
+I lay by my apprehensions, I dismiss suspicion, I go further--by an
+effort of will, I banish the memory of what is past. How you came here,
+I care not: enough that you are here--as my guest. Sit ye down; and let
+us, with your good permission, improve acquaintance over a glass of
+excellent whisky."
+
+So speaking, he produced glasses and a bottle; and the pair pledged each
+other in silence.
+
+"Confess," observed the smiling host, "you were surprised at the
+appearance of the room."
+
+"I was indeed," said Somerset; "nor can I imagine the purpose of these
+changes."
+
+"These," replied the conspirator, "are the devices by which I continue
+to exist. Conceive me now, accused before one of your unjust tribunals;
+conceive the various witnesses appearing, and the singular variety of
+their reports! One will have visited me in this drawing-room as it
+originally stood; a second finds it as it is to-night; and to-morrow or
+next day, all may have been changed. If you love romance (as artists
+do), few lives are more romantic than that of the obscure individual now
+addressing you. Obscure yet famous. Mine is an anonymous, infernal
+glory. By infamous means, I work towards my bright purpose. I found the
+liberty and peace of a poor country desperately abused; the future
+smiles upon that land; yet, in the meantime, I lead the existence of a
+hunted brute, work towards appalling ends, and practise hell's
+dexterities."
+
+Somerset, glass in hand, contemplated the strange fanatic before him,
+and listened to his heated rhapsody, with indescribable bewilderment. He
+looked him in the face with curious particularity; saw there the marks
+of education; and wondered the more profoundly.
+
+"Sir," he said--"for I know not whether I should still address you as
+Mr. Jones--"
+
+"Jones, Breitman, Higginbotham, Pumpernickel, Daviot, Henderland, by all
+or any of these you may address me," said the plotter; "for all I have
+at some time borne. Yet that which I most prize, that which is most
+feared, hated, and obeyed, is not a name to be found in your
+directories; it is not a name current in post-offices or banks; and
+indeed, like the celebrated clan M'Gregor, I may justly describe myself
+as being nameless by day. But," he continued, rising to his feet, "by
+night, and among my desperate followers, I am the redoubted Zero."
+
+Somerset was unacquainted with the name; but he politely expressed
+surprise and gratification. "I am to understand," he continued, "that,
+under this alias, you follow the profession of a dynamiter?"[3]
+
+The plotter had resumed his seat and now replenished the glasses.
+
+"I do," he said. "In this dark period of time, a star--the star of
+dynamite--has risen for the oppressed; and among those who practise its
+use, so thick beset with dangers and attended by such incredible
+difficulties and disappointments, few have been more assiduous, and not
+many--" He paused, and a shade of embarrassment appeared upon his
+face--"not many have been more successful than myself."
+
+"I can imagine," observed Somerset, "that, from the sweeping
+consequences looked for, the career is not devoid of interest. You have,
+besides, some of the entertainment of the game of hide-and-seek. But it
+would still seem to me--I speak as a layman--that nothing could be
+simpler or safer than to deposit an infernal machine and retire to an
+adjacent county to await the painful consequences."
+
+"You speak, indeed," returned the plotter, with some evidence of warmth,
+"you speak, indeed, most ignorantly. Do you make nothing, then, of such
+a peril as we share this moment? Do you think it nothing to occupy a
+house like this one, mined, menaced, and, in a word, literally tottering
+to its fall?"
+
+"Good God!" ejaculated Somerset.
+
+"And when you speak of ease," pursued Zero, "in this age of scientific
+studies, you fill me with surprise. Are you not aware that chemicals are
+proverbially fickle as woman, and clockwork as capricious as the very
+devil? Do you see upon my brow these furrows of anxiety? do you observe
+the silver threads that mingle with my hair? Clockwork, clockwork has
+stamped them on my brow--chemicals have sprinkled them upon my locks!
+No, Mr. Somerset," he resumed, after a moment's pause, his voice still
+quivering with sensibility, "you must not suppose the dynamiter's life
+to be all gold. On the contrary: you cannot picture to yourself the
+bloodshot vigils and the staggering disappointments of a life like mine.
+I have toiled (let us say) for months, up early and down late; my bag is
+ready, my clock set; a daring agent has hurried with white face to
+deposit the instrument of ruin; we await the fall of England, the
+massacre of thousands, the yell of fear and execration; and lo! a snap
+like that of a child's pistol, an offensive smell, and the entire loss
+of so much time and plant! If," he concluded musingly, "we had been
+merely able to recover the lost bags, I believe, with but a touch or
+two, I could have remedied the peccant engine. But what with the loss of
+plant and the almost insuperable scientific difficulties of the task,
+our friends in France are almost ready to desert the chosen medium. They
+propose, instead, to break up the drainage system of cities and sweep
+off whole populations with the devastating typhoid pestilence: a
+tempting and a scientific project: a process, indiscriminate indeed, but
+of idyllical simplicity. I recognise its elegance; but, sir, I have
+something of the poet in my nature; something, possibly, of the tribune.
+And, for my small part, I shall remain devoted to that more emphatic,
+more striking, and (if you please) more popular method of the explosive
+bomb. Yes," he cried, with unshaken hope, "I will still continue and, I
+feel it in my bosom, I shall yet succeed."
+
+"Two things I remark," said Somerset. "The first somewhat staggers me.
+Have you, then--in all this course of life, which you have sketched so
+vividly--have you not once succeeded?"
+
+"Pardon me," said Zero. "I have had one success. You behold in me the
+author of the outrage of Red Lion Court."
+
+"But if I remember right," objected Somerset, "the thing was a _fiasco_.
+A scavenger's barrow and some copies of the _Weekly Budget_--these were
+the only victims."
+
+"You will pardon me again," returned Zero, with positive asperity: "a
+child was injured."
+
+"And that fitly brings me to my second point," said Somerset. "For I
+observed you to employ the word 'indiscriminate.' Now, surely, a
+scavenger's barrow and a child (if child there were) represent the very
+acme and top pin-point of indiscriminate and, pardon me, of ineffectual
+reprisal."
+
+"Did I employ the word?" asked Zero. "Well, I will not defend it. But
+for efficiency, you touch on graver matters; and before entering upon so
+vast a subject, permit me once more to fill our glasses. Disputation is
+dry work," he added, with a charming gaiety of manner.
+
+Once more accordingly the pair pledged each other in a stalwart grog;
+and Zero, leaning back with an air of some complacency, proceeded more
+largely to develop his opinions.
+
+"The indiscriminate?" he began. "War, my dear sir, is indiscriminate.
+War spares not the child; it spares not the barrow of the harmless
+scavenger. No more," he concluded, beaming, "no more do I. Whatever may
+strike fear, whatever may confound or paralyse the activities of the
+guilty nation, barrow or child, imperial Parliament or excursion
+steamer, is welcome to my simple plans. You are not," he inquired, with
+a shade of sympathetic interest, "you are not, I trust, a believer?"
+
+"Sir, I believe in nothing," said the young man.
+
+"You are then," replied Zero, "in a position to grasp my argument. We
+agree that humanity is the object, the glorious triumph of humanity; and
+being pledged to labour for that end, and face to face with the banded
+opposition of kings, parliaments, churches, and the members of the
+force, who am I--who are we, dear sir--to affect a nicety about the
+tools employed? You might, perhaps, expect us to attack the Queen, the
+sinister Gladstone, the rigid Derby, or the dexterous Granville; but
+there you would be in error. Our appeal is to the body of the people; it
+is these that we would touch and interest. Now, sir, have you observed
+the English housemaid?"
+
+"I should think I had," cried Somerset.
+
+"From a man of taste and a votary of art, I had expected it," returned
+the conspirator politely. "A type apart; a very charming figure; and
+thoroughly adapted to our ends. The neat cap, the clean print, the
+comely person, the engaging manner; her position between classes,
+parents in one, employers in another; the probability that she will have
+at least one sweetheart, whose feelings we shall address:--yes, I have a
+leaning--call it, if you will, a weakness--for the housemaid. Not that I
+would be understood to despise the nurse. For the child is a very
+interesting feature: I have long since marked out the child as the
+sensitive point in society." He wagged his head, with a wise, pensive
+smile. "And talking, sir, of children and of the perils of our trade,
+let me now narrate to you a little incident of an explosive bomb, that
+fell out some weeks ago under my own observation. It fell out thus."
+
+And Zero leaning back in his chair narrated the following simple tale.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [3] The Arabian author of the original has here a long passage
+    conceived in a style too oriental for the English reader. We subjoin
+    a specimen, and it seems doubtful whether it should be printed as
+    prose or verse: "Any writard who writes dynamitard shall find in me
+    a never-resting fightard"; and he goes on (if we correctly gather
+    his meaning) to object to such elegant and obviously correct
+    spellings as lamp-lightard, corn-dealard, apple-filchard (clearly
+    justified by the parallel--pilchard), and opera-dancard.
+    "Dynamitist," he adds, "I could understand."
+
+
+
+
+ZERO'S TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE BOMB[4]
+
+
+I dined by appointment with one of our most trusted agents, in a private
+chamber at St. James's Hall. You have seen the man: it was M'Guire, the
+most chivalrous of creatures, but not himself expert in our
+contrivances. Hence the necessity of our meeting; for I need not remind
+you what enormous issues depend upon the nice adjustment of the engine.
+I set our little petard for half an hour, the scene of action being hard
+by; and, the better to avert miscarriage, employed a device, a recent
+invention of my own, by which the opening of the Gladstone bag in which
+the bomb was carried should instantly determine the explosion. M'Guire
+was somewhat dashed by this arrangement, which was new to him: and
+pointed out, with excellent, clear good sense, that should he be
+arrested, it would probably involve him in the fall of our opponents.
+But I was not to be moved, made a strong appeal to his patriotism, gave
+him a good glass of whisky, and despatched him on his glorious errand.
+
+Our objective was the effigy of Shakespeare in Leicester Square: a spot,
+I think, admirably chosen; not only for the sake of the dramatist, still
+very foolishly claimed as a glory by the English race, in spite of his
+disgusting political opinions; but from the fact that the seats in the
+immediate neighbourhood are often thronged by children, errand-boys,
+unfortunate young ladies of the poorer class, and infirm old men--all
+classes making a direct appeal to public pity, and therefore suitable
+with our designs. As M'Guire drew near, his heart was inflamed by the
+most noble sentiment of triumph. Never had he seen the garden so
+crowded; children, still stumbling in the impotence of youth, ran to and
+fro, shouting and playing, round the pedestal; an old, sick pensioner
+sat upon the nearest bench, a medal on his breast, a stick with which he
+walked (for he was disabled by wounds) reclining on his knee. Guilty
+England would thus be stabbed in the most delicate quarters; the moment
+had, indeed, been well selected; and M'Guire, with a radiant prevision
+of the event, drew merrily nearer. Suddenly his eye alighted on the
+burly form of a policeman, standing hard by the effigy in an attitude of
+watch. My bold companion paused; he looked about him closely; here and
+there, at different points of the enclosure, other men stood or
+loitered, affecting an abstraction, feigning to gaze upon the shrubs,
+feigning to talk, feigning to be weary and to rest upon the benches.
+M'Guire was no child in these affairs; he instantly divined one of the
+plots of the Machiavellian Gladstone.
+
+A chief difficulty with which we have to deal is a certain nervousness
+in the subaltern branches of the corps; as the hour of some design draws
+near, these chicken-souled conspirators appear to suffer some revulsion
+of intent; and frequently despatch to the authorities, not indeed
+specific denunciations, but vague anonymous warnings. But for this
+purely accidental circumstance, England had long ago been an historical
+expression. On the receipt of such a letter, the Government lays a trap
+for its adversaries, and surrounds the threatened spot with hirelings.
+My blood sometimes boils in my veins, when I consider the case of those
+who sell themselves for money in such a cause. True, thanks to the
+generosity of our supporters, we patriots receive a very comfortable
+stipend; I myself, of course, touch a salary which puts me quite beyond
+the reach of any peddling, mercenary thoughts; M'Guire, again, ere he
+joined our ranks, was on the brink of starving, and now, thank God!
+receives a decent income. That is as it should be; the patriot must not
+be diverted from his task by any base consideration; and the distinction
+between our position and that of the police is too obvious to be stated.
+
+Plainly, however, our Leicester Square design had been divulged; the
+Government had craftily filled the place with minions; even the
+pensioner was not improbably a hireling in disguise; and our emissary,
+without other aid or protection than the simple apparatus in his bag,
+found himself confronted by force; brutal force; that strong hand which
+was a character of the ages of oppression. Should he venture to deposit
+the machine, it was almost certain that he would be observed and
+arrested; a cry would arise; and there was just a fear that the police
+might not be present in sufficient force to protect him from the
+savagery of the mob. The scheme must be delayed. He stood with his bag
+on his arm, pretending to survey the front of the Alhambra, when there
+flashed into his mind a thought to appal the bravest. The machine was
+set; at the appointed hour, it must explode; and how, in the interval,
+was he to be rid of it?
+
+Put yourself, I beseech you, into the body of that patriot. There he
+was, friendless and helpless; a man in the very flower of life, for he
+is not yet forty; with long years of happiness before him; and now
+condemned, in one moment, to a cruel and revolting death by dynamite!
+The square, he said, went round him like a thaumatrope; he saw the
+Alhambra leap into the air like a balloon; and reeled against the
+railing. It is probable he fainted.
+
+When he came to himself, a constable had him by the arm.
+
+"My God!" he cried.
+
+"You seem to be unwell, sir," said the hireling.
+
+"I feel better now," cried poor M'Guire: and with uneven steps, for the
+pavement of the square seemed to lurch and reel under his footing, he
+fled from the scene of this disaster. Fled? Alas, from what was he
+fleeing? Did he not carry that from which he fled, along with him? and
+had he the wings of the eagle, had he the swiftness of the ocean winds,
+could he have been rapt into the uttermost quarters of the earth, how
+should he escape the ruin that he carried? We have heard of living men
+who have been fettered to the dead; the grievance, soberly considered,
+is no more than sentimental; the case is but a flea-bite to that of him
+who should be linked, like poor M'Guire, to an explosive bomb.
+
+A thought struck him in Green Street, like a dart through his liver:
+suppose it were the hour already. He stopped as though he had been shot,
+and plucked his watch out. There was a howling in his ears, as loud as a
+winter tempest; his sight was now obscured as if by a cloud, now, as by
+a lightning flash, would show him the very dust upon the street. But so
+brief were these intervals of vision, and so violently did the watch
+vibrate in his hands, that it was impossible to distinguish the numbers
+on the dial. He covered his eyes for a few seconds; and in that space,
+it seemed to him that he had fallen to be a man of ninety. When he
+looked again, the watch-plate had grown legible: he had twenty minutes.
+Twenty minutes, and no plan!
+
+Green Street, at that time, was very empty; and he now observed a little
+girl of about six drawing near to him and, as she came, kicking in front
+of her, as children will, a piece of wood. She sang, too; and something
+in her accent recalling him to the past produced a sudden clearness in
+his mind. Here was a God-sent opportunity!
+
+"My dear," said he, "would you like a present of a pretty bag?"
+
+The child cried aloud with joy and put out her hands to take it. She had
+looked first at the bag, like a true child; but most unfortunately,
+before she had yet received the fatal gift, her eyes fell directly on
+M'Guire; and no sooner had she seen the poor gentleman's face than she
+screamed out and leaped backward, as though she had seen the devil.
+Almost at the same moment a woman appeared upon the threshold of a
+neighbouring shop, and called upon the child in anger. "Come here,
+colleen," she said, "and don't be plaguing the poor old gentleman!" With
+that she re-entered the house, and the child followed her, sobbing
+aloud.
+
+With the loss of this hope M'Guire's reason swooned within him. When
+next he awoke to consciousness, he was standing before St.
+Martin's-in-the-Fields, wavering like a drunken man; the passers-by
+regarded him with eyes in which he read, as in a glass, an image of the
+terror and horror that dwelt within his own.
+
+"I am afraid you are very ill, sir," observed a woman, stopping and
+gazing hard in his face. "Can I do anything to help you?"
+
+"Ill?" said M'Guire. "O God!" And then, recovering some shadow of his
+self-command, "Chronic, madam," said he: "a long course of the dumb
+ague. But since you are so compassionate--an errand that I lack the
+strength to carry out," he gasped--"this bag to Portman Square. O
+compassionate woman, as you hope to be saved, as you are a mother, in
+the name of your babes that wait to welcome you at home, oh, take this
+bag to Portman Square! I have a mother, too," he added, with a broken
+voice. "Number 19 Portman Square."
+
+I suppose he had expressed himself with too much energy of voice; for
+the woman was plainly taken with a certain fear of him. "Poor
+gentleman!" said she. "If I were you, I would go home." And she left him
+standing there in his distress.
+
+"Home!" thought M'Guire, "what a derision!" What home was there for him,
+the victim of philanthropy? He thought of his old mother, of his happy
+youth; of the hideous, rending pang of the explosion; of the possibility
+that he might not be killed, that he might be cruelly mangled, crippled
+for life, condemned to life-long pains, blinded perhaps, and almost
+surely deafened. Ah, you spoke lightly of the dynamiter's peril; but
+even waiving death, have you realised what it is for a fine, brave young
+man of forty, to be smitten suddenly with deafness, cut off from all the
+music of life, and from the voice of friendship and love? How little do
+we realise the sufferings of others! Even your brutal Government, in the
+heyday of its lust for cruelty, though it scruples not to hound the
+patriot with spies, to pack the corrupt jury, to bribe the hangman, and
+to erect the infamous gallows, would hesitate to inflict so horrible a
+doom: not, I am well aware, from virtue, not from philanthropy, but with
+the fear before it of the withering scorn of the good.
+
+But I wander from M'Guire. From this dread glance into the past and
+future, his thoughts returned at a bound upon the present. How had he
+wandered there? and how long--O heavens! how long had he been about it?
+He pulled out his watch; and found that but three minutes had elapsed.
+It seemed too bright a thing to be believed. He glanced at the church
+clock; and sure enough, it marked an hour four minutes in advance of the
+watch.
+
+Of all that he endured, M'Guire declares that pang was the most
+desolate. Till then, he had had one friend, one counsellor, in whom he
+plenarily trusted; by whose advertisement he numbered the minutes that
+remained to him of life; on whose sure testimony he could tell when the
+time was come to risk the last adventure, to cast the bag away from him,
+and take to flight. And now in what was he to place reliance? His watch
+was slow; it might be losing time; if so, in what degree? What limit
+could he set to its derangement? and how much was it possible for a
+watch to lose in thirty minutes? Five? ten? fifteen? It might be so;
+already, it seemed years since he had left St. James's Hall on this so
+promising enterprise; at any moment, then, the blow was to be looked
+for.
+
+In the face of this new distress, the wild disorder of his pulses
+settled down; and a broken weariness succeeded, as though he had lived
+for centuries and for centuries been dead. The buildings and the people
+in the street became incredibly small, and far-away, and bright; London
+sounded in his ears stilly, like a whisper; and the rattle of the cab
+that nearly charged him down was like a sound from Africa. Meanwhile, he
+was conscious of a strange abstraction from himself; and heard and felt
+his footfalls on the ground, as those of a very old, small, debile, and
+tragically fortuned man, whom he sincerely pitied.
+
+As he was thus moving forward past the National Gallery, in a medium, it
+seemed, of greater rarity and quiet than ordinary air, there slipped
+into his mind the recollection of a certain entry in Whitcomb Street
+hard by, where he might perhaps lay down his tragic cargo unremarked.
+Thither, then, he bent his steps, seeming, as he went, to float above
+the pavement; and there, in the mouth of the entry, he found a man in a
+sleeved waistcoat, gravely chewing a straw. He passed him by, and twice
+patrolled the entry, scouting for the barest chance; but the man had
+faced about and continued to observe him curiously.
+
+Another hope was gone. M'Guire re-issued from the entry, still followed
+by the wondering eyes of the man in the sleeved waistcoat. He once more
+consulted his watch: there were but fourteen minutes left to him. At
+that, it seemed as if a sudden, genial heat were spread about his brain;
+for a second or two, he saw the world as red as blood; and thereafter
+entered into a complete possession of himself, with an incredible
+cheerfulness of spirits, prompting him to sing and chuckle as he walked.
+And yet this mirth seemed to belong to things external; and within, like
+a black and leaden-heavy kernel, he was conscious of the weight upon his
+soul.
+
+  "I care for nobody, no, not I,
+   And nobody cares for me,"
+
+he sang, and laughed at the appropriate burthen, so that the passengers
+stared upon him on the street. And still the warmth seemed to increase
+and to become more genial. What was life? he considered, and what he,
+M'Guire? What even Erin, our green Erin? All seemed so incalculably
+little that he smiled as he looked down upon it. He would have given
+years, had he possessed them, for a glass of spirits; but time failed,
+and he must deny himself this last indulgence.
+
+At the corner of the Haymarket, he very jauntily hailed a hansom cab;
+jumped in; bade the fellow drive him to a part of the Embankment, which
+he named; and as soon as the vehicle was in motion, concealed the bag as
+completely as he could under the vantage of the apron, and once more
+drew out his watch. So he rode for five interminable minutes, his heart
+in his mouth at every jolt, scarce able to possess his terrors, yet
+fearing to wake the attention of the driver by too obvious a change of
+plan, and willing, if possible, to leave him time to forget the
+Gladstone bag.
+
+At length, at the head of some stairs on the Embankment, he hailed; the
+cab was stopped; and he alighted--with how glad a heart! He thrust his
+hand into his pocket. All was now over; he had saved his life; nor that
+alone, but he had engineered a striking act of dynamite; for what could
+be more pictorial, what more effective, than the explosion of a hansom
+cab, as it sped rapidly along the streets of London? He felt in one
+pocket; then in another. The most crushing seizure of despair descended
+on his soul; and, struck into abject dumbness, he stared upon the
+driver. He had not one penny.
+
+"Hillo," said the driver, "don't seem well."
+
+"Lost my money," said M'Guire, in tones so faint and strange that they
+surprised his hearing.
+
+The man looked through the trap. "I dessay," said he: "you've left your
+bag."
+
+M'Guire half unconsciously fetched it out; and looking on that black
+continent at arm's length, withered inwardly and felt his features
+sharpen as with mortal sickness.
+
+"This is not mine," said he. "Your last fare must have left it. You had
+better take it to the station."
+
+"Now look here," returned the cabman: "are you off your chump? or am I?"
+
+"Well, then, I'll tell you what," exclaimed M'Guire: "you take it for
+your fare!"
+
+"Oh, I dessay," replied the driver. "Anything else? What's _in_ your
+bag? Open it, and let me see."
+
+"No, no," returned M'Guire. "O no, not that. It's a surprise; it's
+prepared expressly: a surprise for honest cabmen."
+
+"No, you don't," said the man, alighting from his perch, and coming very
+close to the unhappy patriot. "You're either going to pay my fare, or
+get in again and drive to the office."
+
+It was at this supreme hour of his distress, that M'Guire spied the
+stout figure of one Godall, a tobacconist of Rupert Street, drawing near
+along the Embankment. The man was not unknown to him; he had bought of
+his wares, and heard him quoted for the soul of liberality; and such was
+now the nearness of his peril, that even at such a straw of hope he
+clutched with gratitude.
+
+"Thank God!" he cried. "Here comes a friend of mine. I'll borrow." And
+he dashed to meet the tradesman. "Sir," said he, "Mr. Godall, I have
+dealt with you--you doubtless know my face--calamities for which I
+cannot blame myself have overwhelmed me. Oh, sir, for the love of
+innocence, for the sake of the bonds of humanity, and as you hope for
+mercy at the throne of grace, lend me two-and-six!"
+
+"I do not recognise your face," replied Mr. Godall; "but I remember the
+cut of your beard, which I have the misfortune to dislike. Here, sir, is
+a sovereign; which I very willingly advance to you, on the single
+condition that you shave your chin."
+
+M'Guire grasped the coin without a word; cast it to the cabman, calling
+out to him to keep the change; bounded down the steps, flung the bag far
+forth into the river, and fell headlong after it. He was plucked from a
+watery grave, it is believed, by the hands of Mr. Godall. Even as he was
+being hoisted dripping to the shore, a dull and choked explosion shook
+the solid masonry of the Embankment, and far out in the river a
+momentary fountain rose and disappeared.
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+  [4] The Arabian author, with that quaint particularity of touch
+    which our translation usually praetermits, here registers a somewhat
+    interesting detail. Zero pronounced the word "boom"; and the reader,
+    if but for the nonce, will possibly consent to follow him.
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)
+
+
+Somerset in vain strove to attach a meaning to these words. He had, in
+the meanwhile, applied himself assiduously to the flagon; the plotter
+began to melt in twain, and seemed to expand and hover on his seat; and
+with a vague sense of nightmare, the young man rose unsteadily to his
+feet, and, refusing the proffer of a third grog, insisted that the hour
+was late and he must positively get to bed.
+
+"Dear me," observed Zero, "I find you very temperate. But I will not be
+oppressive. Suffice it that we are now fast friends; and, my dear
+landlord, _au revoir_!"
+
+So saying the plotter once more shook hands; and with the politest
+ceremonies, and some necessary guidance, conducted the bewildered young
+gentleman to the top of the stair.
+
+Precisely how he got to bed was a point on which Somerset remained in
+utter darkness; but the next morning when, at a blow, he started broad
+awake, there fell upon his mind a perfect hurricane of horror and
+wonder. That he should have suffered himself to be led into the
+semblance of intimacy with such a man as his abominable lodger,
+appeared, in the cold light of day, a mystery of human weakness. True,
+he was caught in a situation that might have tested the aplomb of
+Talleyrand. That was perhaps a palliation; but it was no excuse. For so
+wholesale a capitulation of principle, for such a fall into criminal
+familiarity, no excuse indeed was possible; nor any remedy, but to
+withdraw at once from the relation.
+
+As soon as he was dressed, he hurried upstairs, determined on a rupture.
+Zero hailed him with the warmth of an old friend.
+
+"Come in," he cried, "dear Mr. Somerset! Come in, sit down, and, without
+ceremony, join me at my morning meal."
+
+"Sir," said Somerset, "you must permit me first to disengage my honour.
+Last night, I was surprised into a certain appearance of complicity; but
+once for all, let me inform you that I regard you and your machinations
+with unmingled horror and disgust, and I will leave no stone unturned to
+crush your vile conspiracy."
+
+"My dear fellow," replied Zero, with an air of some complacency, "I am
+well accustomed to these human weaknesses. Disgust? I have felt it
+myself; it speedily wears off. I think none the worse, I think the more
+of you, for this engaging frankness. And in the meanwhile, what are you
+to do? You find yourself, if I interpret rightly, in very much the same
+situation as Charles the Second (possibly the least degraded of your
+British sovereigns) when he was taken into the confidence of the thief.
+To denounce me is out of the question; and what else can you attempt?
+No, dear Mr. Somerset, your hands are tied; and you find yourself
+condemned, under pain of behaving like a cad, to be that same charming
+and intellectual companion who delighted me last night."
+
+"At least," cried Somerset, "I can, and do, order you to leave this
+house."
+
+"Ah!" cried the plotter, "but there I fail to follow you. You may, if
+you please, enact the part of Judas; but if, as I suppose, you recoil
+from that extremity of meanness, I am, on my side, far too intelligent
+to leave these lodgings, in which I please myself exceedingly, and from
+which you lack the power to drive me. No, no, dear sir; here I am, and
+here I propose to stay."
+
+"I repeat," cried Somerset, beside himself with a sense of his own
+weakness, "I repeat that I give you warning. I am master of this house;
+and I emphatically give you warning."
+
+"A week's warning?" said the imperturbable conspirator. "Very well: we
+will talk of it a week from now. That is arranged; and, in the
+meanwhile, I observe my breakfast growing cold. Do, dear Mr. Somerset,
+since you find yourself condemned, for a week at least, to the society
+of a very interesting character, display some of that open favour, some
+of that interest in life's obscurer sides, which stamp the character of
+the true artist. Hang me, if you will, to-morrow; but to-day show
+yourself divested of the scruple of the burgess, and sit down pleasantly
+to share my meal."
+
+"Man!" cried Somerset, "do you understand my sentiments?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Zero; "and I respect them! Would you be outdone in
+such a contest? will you alone be partial? and in this nineteenth
+century, cannot two gentlemen of education agree to differ on a point of
+politics? Come, sir: all your hard words have left me smiling; judge
+then, which of us is the philosopher!"
+
+Somerset was a young man of a very tolerant disposition and by nature
+easily amenable to sophistry. He threw up his hands with a gesture of
+despair, and took the seat to which the conspirator invited him. The
+meal was excellent; the host not only affable, but primed with curious
+information. He seemed, indeed, like one who had too long endured the
+torture of silence, to exult in the most wholesale disclosures. The
+interest of what he had to tell was great; his character, besides,
+developed step by step; and Somerset, as the time fled, not only outgrew
+some of the discomfort of his false position, but began to regard the
+conspirator with a familiarity that verged upon contempt. In any
+circumstances, he had a singular inability to leave the society in which
+he found himself; company, even if distasteful, held him captive like a
+limed sparrow; and on this occasion, he suffered hour to follow hour,
+was easily persuaded to sit down once more to table, and did not even
+attempt to withdraw till, on the approach of evening, Zero, with many
+apologies, dismissed his guest. His fellow-conspirators, the dynamiter
+handsomely explained, as they were unacquainted with the sterling
+qualities of the young man, would be alarmed at the sight of a strange
+face.
+
+As soon as he was alone, Somerset fell back upon the humour of the
+morning. He raged at the thought of his facility; he paced the
+dining-room, forming the sternest resolutions for the future; he wrung
+the hand which had been dishonoured by the touch of an assassin; and
+among all these whirling thoughts, there flashed in from time to time,
+and ever with a chill of fear, the thought of the confounded ingredients
+with which the house was stored. A powder magazine seemed a secure
+smoking-room alongside of the Superfluous Mansion.
+
+He sought refuge in flight, in locomotion, in the flowing bowl. As long
+as the bars were open, he travelled from one to another, seeking light,
+safety, and the companionship of human faces; when these resources
+failed him, he fell back on the belated baked-potato man; and at length,
+still pacing the streets, he was goaded to fraternise with the police.
+Alas, with what a sense of guilt he conversed with these guardians of
+the law; how gladly had he wept upon their ample bosoms; and how the
+secret fluttered to his lips and was still denied an exit! Fatigue began
+at last to triumph over remorse; and about the hour of the first
+milkman, he returned to the door of the mansion; looked at it with a
+horrid expectation, as though it should have burst that instant into
+flames; drew out his key, and when his foot already rested on the steps,
+once more lost heart and fled for repose to the grisly shelter of a
+coffee-shop.
+
+It was on the stroke of noon when he awoke. Dismally searching in his
+pockets, he found himself reduced to half-a-crown; and, when he had paid
+the price of his distasteful couch, saw himself obliged to return to the
+Superfluous Mansion. He sneaked into the hall and stole on tiptoe to the
+cupboard where he kept his money. Yet half a minute, he told himself,
+and he would be free for days from his obseding lodger, and might decide
+at leisure on the course he should pursue. But fate had otherwise
+designed: there came a tap at the door and Zero entered.
+
+"Have I caught you?" he cried, with innocent gaiety. "Dear fellow, I was
+growing quite impatient." And on the speaker's somewhat stolid face
+there came a glow of genuine affection. "I am so long unused to have a
+friend," he continued, "that I begin to be afraid I may prove jealous."
+And he wrung the hand of his landlord.
+
+Somerset was, of all men, least fit to deal with such a greeting. To
+reject these kind advances was beyond his strength. That he could not
+return cordiality for cordiality was already almost more than he could
+carry. That inequality between kind sentiments which, to generous
+characters, will always seem to be a sort of guilt, oppressed him to the
+ground; and he stammered vague and lying words.
+
+"That is all right," cried Zero--"that is as it should be--say no more!
+I had a vague alarm; I feared you had deserted me; but I now own that
+fear to have been unworthy, and apologise. To doubt of your forgiveness
+were to repeat my sin. Come, then; dinner waits; join me again and tell
+me your adventures of the night."
+
+Kindness still sealed the lips of Somerset; and he suffered himself once
+more to be set down to table with his innocent and criminal
+acquaintance. Once more the plotter plunged up to the neck in damaging
+disclosures: now it would be the name and biography of an individual,
+now the address of some important centre, that rose, as if by accident,
+upon his lips; and each word was like another turn of the thumbscrew to
+his unhappy guest. Finally, the course of Zero's bland monologue led him
+to the young lady of two days ago; that young lady, who had flashed on
+Somerset for so brief a while but with so conquering a charm; and whose
+engaging grace, communicative eyes, and admirable conduct of the
+sweeping skirt, remained imprinted on his memory.
+
+"You saw her?" said Zero. "Beautiful, is she not? She, too, is one of
+ours: a true enthusiast: nervous, perhaps, in presence of the chemicals;
+but in matters of intrigue the very soul of skill and daring. Lake,
+Fonblanque, de Marly, Valdevia, such are some of the names that she
+employs; her true name--but there, perhaps, I go too far. Suffice it,
+that it is to her I owe my present lodging, and, dear Somerset, the
+pleasure of your acquaintance. It appears she knew the house. You see,
+dear fellow, I make no concealment: all that you can care to hear, I
+tell you openly."
+
+"For God's sake," cried the wretched Somerset, "hold your tongue! You
+cannot imagine how you torture me!"
+
+A shade of serious discomposure crossed the open countenance of Zero.
+
+"There are times," he said, "when I begin to fancy that you do not like
+me. Why, why, dear Somerset, this lack of cordiality? I am depressed;
+the touchstone of my life draws near; and if I fail"--he gloomily
+nodded--"from all the height of my ambitious schemes, I fall, dear boy,
+into contempt. These are grave thoughts, and you may judge my need of
+your delightful company. Innocent prattler, you relieve the weight of my
+concerns. And yet ... and yet...." The speaker pushed away his plate,
+and rose from table. "Follow me," said he, "follow me. My mood is on; I
+must have air, I must behold the plain of battle."
+
+So saying, he led the way hurriedly to the top flat of the mansion, and
+thence, by ladder and trap, to a certain leaded platform, sheltered at
+one end by a great stalk of chimneys and occupying the actual summit of
+the roof. On both sides, it bordered, without parapet or rail, on the
+incline of slates; and, northward above all, commanded an extensive view
+of housetops, and, rising through the smoke, the distant spires of
+churches.
+
+"Here," cried Zero, "you behold this field of city, rich, crowded,
+laughing with the spoil of continents; but soon, how soon, to be laid
+low! Some day, some night, from this coign of vantage, you shall perhaps
+be startled by the detonation of the judgment gun--not sharp and empty
+like the crack of cannon, but deep-mouthed and unctuously solemn.
+Instantly thereafter, you shall behold the flames break forth. Ay," he
+cried, stretching forth his hand, "ay, that will be a day of
+retribution. Then shall the pallid constable flee side by side with the
+detected thief. Blaze!" he cried, "blaze, derided city! Fall, flatulent
+monarchy, fall like Dagon!"
+
+With these words his foot slipped upon the lead; and but for Somerset's
+quickness, he had been instantly precipitated into space. Pale as a
+sheet, and limp as a pocket-handkerchief, he was dragged from the edge
+of downfall by one arm; helped, or rather carried, down the ladder; and
+deposited in safety on the attic landing. Here he began to come to
+himself, wiped his brow, and at length, seizing Somerset's hand in both
+of his, began to utter his acknowledgments.
+
+"This seals it," said he. "Ours is a life and death connection. You have
+plucked me from the jaws of death; and if I were before attracted by
+your character, judge now of the ardour of my gratitude and love! But I
+perceive I am still greatly shaken. Lend me, I beseech you, lend me your
+arm as far as my apartment."
+
+A dram of spirits restored the plotter to something of his customary
+self-possession; and he was standing, glass in hand and genially
+convalescent, when his eye was attracted by the dejection of the
+unfortunate young man.
+
+"Good Heavens, dear Somerset," he cried, "what ails you? Let me offer
+you a touch of spirits."
+
+But Somerset had fallen below the reach of this material comfort.
+
+"Let me be," he said. "I am lost; you have caught me in the toils. Up to
+this moment, I have lived all my life in the most reckless manner, and
+done exactly what I pleased, with the most perfect innocence. And
+now--what am I? Are you so blind and wooden that you do not see the
+loathing you inspire me with? Is it possible you can suppose me willing
+to continue to exist upon such terms? To think," he cried, "that a young
+man, guilty of no fault on earth but amiability, should find himself
+involved in such a damned imbroglio!" And, placing his knuckles in his
+eyes, Somerset rolled upon the sofa.
+
+"My God," said Zero, "is this possible? And I so filled with tenderness
+and interest! Can it be, dear Somerset, that you are under the empire of
+these outworn scruples? or that you judge a patriot by the morality of
+the religious tract? I thought you were a good agnostic."
+
+"Mr. Jones," said Somerset, "it is in vain to argue. I boast myself a
+total disbeliever not only in revealed religion, but in the data,
+method, and conclusions of the whole of ethics. Well! what matters it?
+what signifies a form of words? I regard you as a reptile, whom I would
+rejoice, whom I long, to stamp under my heel. You would blow up others?
+Well then, understand: I want, with every circumstance of infamy and
+agony, to blow up you!"
+
+"Somerset, Somerset!" said Zero, turning very pale, "this is wrong; this
+is very wrong. You pain, you wound me, Somerset."
+
+"Give me a match!" cried Somerset wildly. "Let me set fire to this
+incomparable monster! Let me perish with him in his fall!"
+
+"For God's sake," cried Zero, clutching hold of the young man, "for
+God's sake command yourself! We stand upon the brink; death yawns around
+us; a man--a stranger in this foreign land--one whom you have called
+your friend----"
+
+"Silence!" cried Somerset, "you are no friend, no friend of mine. I look
+on you with loathing, like a toad: my flesh creeps with physical
+repulsion; my soul revolts against the sight of you."
+
+Zero burst into tears. "Alas!" he sobbed, "this snaps the last link that
+bound me to humanity. My friend disowns--he insults me. I am indeed
+accurst."
+
+Somerset stood for an instant staggered by this sudden change of front.
+The next moment, with a despairing gesture, he fled from the room and
+from the house. The first dash of his escape carried him hard upon half
+way to the next police-office; but presently began to droop; and before
+he reached the house of lawful intervention, he fell once more among
+doubtful counsels. Was he an agnostic? had he a right to act? Away with
+such nonsense, and let Zero perish! ran his thoughts. And then again:
+had he not promised, had he not shaken hands and broken bread? and that
+with open eyes? and if so, how could he take action, and not forfeit
+honour? But honour? what was honour? A figment, which, in the hot
+pursuit of crime, he ought to dash aside. Ay, but crime? A figment, too,
+which his enfranchised intellect discarded. All day, he wandered in the
+parks, a prey to whirling thoughts; all night, patrolled the city; and
+at the peep of day he sat down by the wayside in the neighbourhood of
+Peckham and bitterly wept. His gods had fallen. He who had chosen the
+broad, daylit, unencumbered paths of universal scepticism, found himself
+still the bondslave of honour. He who had accepted life from a point of
+view as lofty as the predatory eagle's, though with no design to prey;
+he who had clearly recognised the common moral basis of war, of
+commercial competition, and of crime; he who was prepared to help the
+escaping murderer or to embrace the impenitent thief, found, to the
+overthrow of all his logic, that he objected to the use of dynamite. The
+dawn crept among the sleeping villas and over the smokeless fields of
+city; and still the unfortunate sceptic sobbed over his fall from
+consistency.
+
+At length he rose and took the rising sun to witness. "There is no
+question as to fact," he cried; "right and wrong are but figments and
+the shadow of a word; but for all that, there are certain things that I
+cannot do, and there are certain others that I will not stand."
+Thereupon he decided to return, to make one last effort of persuasion,
+and, if he could not prevail on Zero to desist from his infernal trade,
+throw delicacy to the winds, give the plotter an hour's start, and
+denounce him to the police. Fast as he went, being winged by this
+resolution, it was already well on in the morning when he came in sight
+of the Superfluous Mansion. Tripping down the steps, was the young lady
+of the various aliases; and he was surprised to see upon her countenance
+the marks of anger and concern.
+
+"Madam," he began, yielding to impulse and with no clear knowledge of
+what he was to add.
+
+But at the sound of his voice she seemed to experience a shock of fear
+or horror; started back; lowered her veil with a sudden movement; and
+fled, without turning, from the square.
+
+Here, then, we step aside a moment from following the fortunes of
+Somerset, and proceed to relate the strange and romantic episode of THE
+BROWN BOX.
+
+
+
+
+DESBOROUGH'S ADVENTURE
+
+THE BROWN BOX
+
+
+Mr. Harry Desborough lodged in the fine and grave old quarter of
+Bloomsbury, roared about on every side by the high tides of London, but
+itself rejoicing in romantic silences and city peace. It was in Queen
+Square that he had pitched his tent, next door to the Children's
+Hospital, on your left hand as you go north: Queen Square, sacred to
+humane and liberal arts, whence homes were made beautiful, where the
+poor were taught, where the sparrows were plentiful and loud, and where
+groups of patient little ones would hover all day long before the
+hospital, if by chance they might kiss their hand or speak a word to
+their sick brother at the window. Desborough's room was on the first
+floor and fronted to the square; but he enjoyed besides, a right by
+which he often profited, to sit and smoke upon a terrace at the back,
+which looked down upon a fine forest of back gardens, and was in turn
+commanded by the windows of an empty room.
+
+On the afternoon of a warm day, Desborough sauntered forth upon this
+terrace, somewhat out of hope and heart, for he had been now some weeks
+on the vain quest of situations, and prepared for melancholy and
+tobacco. Here, at least, he told himself that he would be alone; for,
+like most youths who are neither rich, nor witty, nor successful, he
+rather shunned than courted the society of other men. Even as he
+expressed the thought, his eye alighted on the window of the room that
+looked upon the terrace; and, to his surprise and annoyance, he beheld
+it curtained with a silken hanging. It was like his luck, he thought;
+his privacy was gone, he could no longer brood and sigh unwatched, he
+could no longer suffer his discouragement to find a vent in words or
+soothe himself with sentimental whistling; and in the irritation of the
+moment, he struck his pipe upon the rail with unnecessary force. It was
+an old, sweet, seasoned briar-root, glossy and dark with long
+employment, and justly dear to his fancy. What, then, was his chagrin,
+when the head snapped from the stem, leaped airily in space, and fell
+and disappeared among the lilacs of the garden?
+
+He threw himself savagely into the garden chair, pulled out the
+story-paper which he had brought with him to read, tore off a fragment
+of the last sheet, which contains only the answers to correspondents,
+and set himself to roll a cigarette. He was no master of the art; again
+and again, the paper broke between his fingers and the tobacco showered
+upon the ground; and he was already on the point of angry resignation,
+when the window swung slowly inward, the silken curtain was thrust
+aside, and a lady somewhat strangely attired stepped forth upon the
+terrace.
+
+"Senorito," said she, and there was a rich thrill in her voice, like an
+organ note, "Senorito, you are in difficulties. Suffer me to come to
+your assistance."
+
+With the words, she took the paper and tobacco from his unresisting
+hands; and with a facility that, in Desborough's eyes, seemed magical,
+rolled and presented him a cigarette. He took it, still seated, still
+without a word; staring with all his eyes upon that apparition. Her face
+was warm and rich in colour; in shape, it was that piquant triangle, so
+innocently sly, so saucily attractive, so rare in our more northern
+climates; her eyes were large, starry, and visited by changing lights;
+her hair was partly covered by a lace mantilla, through which her arms,
+bare to the shoulder, gleamed white; her figure, full and soft in all
+the womanly contours, was yet alive and active, light with excess of
+life, and slender by grace of some divine proportion.
+
+"You do not like my cigarrito, Senor?" she asked. "Yet it is better made
+than yours." At that she laughed, and her laughter trilled in his ear
+like music; but the next moment her face fell. "I see," she cried. "It
+is my manner that repels you. I am too constrained, too cold. I am not,"
+she added, with a more engaging air, "I am not the simple English maiden
+I appear."
+
+"Oh!" murmured Harry, filled with inexpressible thoughts.
+
+"In my own dear land," she pursued, "things are differently ordered.
+There, I must own, a girl is bound by many and rigorous restrictions;
+little is permitted her; she learns to be distant, she learns to appear
+forbidding. But here, in free England--oh, glorious liberty!" she cried,
+and threw up her arms with a gesture of inimitable grace--"here there
+are no fetters; here the woman may dare to be herself entirely, and the
+men, the chivalrous men--is it not written on the very shield of your
+nation, _honi soit_? Ah, it is hard for me to learn, hard for me to dare
+to be myself. You must not judge me yet awhile; I shall end by
+conquering this stiffness, I shall end by growing English. Do I speak
+the language well?"
+
+"Perfectly--oh, perfectly!" said Harry, with a fervency of conviction
+worthy of a graver subject.
+
+"Ah, then," she said, "I shall soon learn; English blood ran in my
+father's veins; and I have had the advantage of some training in your
+expressive tongue. If I speak already without accent, with my thorough
+English appearance, there is nothing left to change except my manners."
+
+"Oh no," said Desborough. "Oh, pray not! I--madam----"
+
+"I am," interrupted the lady, "the Senorita Teresa Valdevia. The evening
+air grows chill. Adios, Senorito." And before Harry could stammer out a
+word, she had disappeared into her room.
+
+He stood transfixed, the cigarette still unlighted in his hand. His
+thoughts had soared above tobacco, and still recalled and beautified the
+image of his new acquaintance. Her voice re-echoed in his memory; her
+eyes, of which he could not tell the colour, haunted his soul. The
+clouds had risen at her coming, and he beheld a new-created world. What
+she was, he could not fancy, but he adored her. Her age, he durst not
+estimate; fearing to find her older than himself, and thinking sacrilege
+to couple that fair favour with the thought of mortal changes. As for
+her character, beauty, to the young, is always good. So the poor lad
+lingered late upon the terrace, stealing timid glances at the curtained
+window, sighing to the gold laburnums, rapt into the country of romance;
+and when at length he entered and sat down to dine, on cold boiled
+mutton and a pint of ale, he feasted on the food of gods.
+
+Next day when he returned to the terrace, the window was a little ajar
+and he enjoyed a view of the lady's shoulder, as she sat patiently
+sewing and all unconscious of his presence. On the next, he had scarce
+appeared when the window opened, and the Senorita tripped forth into the
+sunlight, in a morning disorder, delicately neat, and yet somehow
+foreign, tropical, and strange. In one hand she held a packet.
+
+"Will you try," she said, "some of my father's tobacco--from dear Cuba?
+There, as I suppose you know, all smoke, ladies as well as gentlemen. So
+you need not fear to annoy me. The fragrance will remind me of home. My
+home, Senor, was by the sea." And as she uttered these few words,
+Desborough, for the first time in his life, realised the poetry of the
+great deep. "Awake or asleep, I dream of it; dear home, dear Cuba!"
+
+"But some day," said Desborough, with an inward pang, "some day you will
+return!"
+
+"Never!" she cried; "ah, never, in Heaven's name!"
+
+"Are you then resident for life in England?" he inquired, with a strange
+lightening of spirit.
+
+"You ask too much, for you ask more than I know," she answered sadly;
+and then, resuming her gaiety of manner: "But you have not tried my
+Cuban tobacco," she said.
+
+"Senorita," said he, shyly abashed by some shadow of coquetry in her
+manner, "whatever comes to me--you--I mean," he concluded, deeply
+flushing, "that I have no doubt the tobacco is delightful."
+
+"Ah, Senor," she said, with almost mournful gravity, "you seemed so
+simple and good, and already you are trying to pay compliments--and
+besides," she added, brightening, with a quick upward glance, into a
+smile, "you do it so badly! English gentlemen, I used to hear, could be
+fast friends, respectful, honest friends; could be companions,
+comforters, if the need arose, or champions, and yet never encroach. Do
+not seek to please me by copying the graces of my countrymen. Be
+yourself: the frank, kindly, honest English gentleman that I have heard
+of since my childhood and still longed to meet."
+
+Harry, much bewildered, and far from clear as to the manners of the
+Cuban gentlemen, strenuously disclaimed the thought of plagiarism.
+
+"Your national seriousness of bearing best becomes you, Senor," said the
+lady. "See!" marking a line with her dainty, slippered foot, "thus far
+it shall be common ground; there, at my window-sill, begins the
+scientific frontier. If you choose, you may drive me to my forts; but
+if, on the other hand, we are to be real English friends, I may join you
+here when I am not too sad; or, when I am yet more graciously inclined,
+you may draw your chair beside the window and teach me English customs,
+while I work. You will find me an apt scholar, for my heart is in the
+task." She laid her hand lightly upon Harry's arm, and looked into his
+eyes. "Do you know," said she, "I am emboldened to believe that I have
+already caught something of your English aplomb? Do you not perceive a
+change, Senor? Slight, perhaps, but still a change? Is my deportment not
+more open, more free, more like that of the dear 'British Miss,' than
+when you saw me first?" She gave a radiant smile; withdrew her hand from
+Harry's arm; and before the young man could formulate in words the
+eloquent emotions that ran riot through his brain--with an "Adios,
+Senor: good-night, my English friend," she vanished from his sight
+behind the curtain.
+
+The next day, Harry consumed an ounce of tobacco in vain upon the
+neutral terrace; neither sight nor sound rewarded him, and the
+dinner-hour summoned him at length from the scene of disappointment. On
+the next, it rained; but nothing, neither business nor weather, neither
+prospective poverty nor present hardship, could now divert the young man
+from the service of his lady; and wrapt in a long ulster, with the
+collar raised, he took his stand against the balustrade, awaiting
+fortune, the picture of damp and discomfort to the eye, but glowing
+inwardly with tender and delightful ardours. Presently the window
+opened; and the fair Cuban, with a smile imperfectly dissembled,
+appeared upon the sill.
+
+"Come here," she said, "here, beside my window. The small verandah gives
+a belt of shelter." And she graciously handed him a folding-chair.
+
+As he sat down, visibly aglow with shyness and delight, a certain
+bulkiness in his pocket reminded him that he was not come empty-handed.
+
+"I have taken the liberty," said he, "of bringing you a little book. I
+thought of you, when I observed it on the stall, because I saw it was in
+Spanish. The man assured me it was by one of the best authors, and quite
+proper." As he spoke, he placed the little volume in her hand. Her eyes
+fell as she turned the pages, and a flush rose and died again upon her
+cheeks, as deep as it was fleeting. "You are angry," he cried in agony.
+"I have presumed."
+
+"No, Senor, it is not that," returned the lady. "I"--and a flood of
+colour once more mounted to her brow--"I am confused and ashamed because
+I have deceived you. Spanish," she began, and paused--"Spanish is of
+course my native tongue," she resumed, as though suddenly taking
+courage; "and this should certainly put the highest value on your
+thoughtful present; but alas, sir, of what use is it to me? And how
+shall I confess to you the truth--the humiliating truth--that I cannot
+read?"
+
+As Harry's eyes met hers in undisguised amazement, the fair Cuban seemed
+to shrink before his gaze. "Read?" repeated Harry. "You!"
+
+She pushed the window still more widely open with a large and noble
+gesture. "Enter, Senor," said she. "The time has come to which I have
+long looked forward, not without alarm; when I must either fear to lose
+your friendship, or tell you without disguise the story of my life."
+
+It was with a sentiment bordering on devotion that Harry passed the
+window. A semi-barbarous delight in form and colour had presided over
+the studied disorder of the room in which he found himself. It was
+filled with dainty stuffs, furs and rugs and scarves of brilliant hues,
+and set with elegant and curious trifles--fans on the mantelshelf, an
+antique lamp upon a bracket, and on the table a silver-mounted bowl of
+cocoa-nut about half full of unset jewels. The fair Cuban, herself a gem
+of colour and the fit masterpiece for that rich frame, motioned Harry to
+a seat, and, sinking herself into another, thus began her history.
+
+
+
+
+STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN
+
+
+I am not what I seem. My father drew his descent, on the one hand, from
+grandees of Spain, and on the other, through the maternal line, from the
+patriot Bruce. My mother, too, was the descendant of a line of kings;
+but, alas! these kings were African. She was fair as the day: fairer
+than I, for I inherited a darker stain of blood from the veins of my
+European father; her mind was noble, her manners queenly and
+accomplished; and seeing her more than the equal of her neighbours and
+surrounded by the most considerate affection and respect, I grew up to
+adore her, and when the time came, received her last sigh upon my lips,
+still ignorant that she was a slave and alas! my father's mistress. Her
+death, which befell me in my sixteenth year, was the first sorrow I had
+known: it left our home bereaved of its attractions, cast a shade of
+melancholy on my youth, and wrought in my father a tragic and durable
+change. Months went by: with the elasticity of my years, I regained some
+of the simple mirth that had before distinguished me; the plantation
+smiled with fresh crops; the negroes on the estate had already forgotten
+my mother and transferred their simple obedience to myself; but still
+the cloud only darkened on the brows of Senor Valdevia. His absences
+from home had been frequent even in the old days, for he did business in
+precious gems in the city of Havana; they now became almost continuous;
+and when he returned, it was but for the night and with the manner of a
+man crushed down by adverse fortune.
+
+The place where I was born and passed my days was an isle set in the
+Caribbean Sea, some half-hour's rowing from the coasts of Cuba. It was
+steep, rugged, and, except for my father's family and plantation,
+uninhabited and left to nature. The house, a low building surrounded by
+spacious verandahs, stood upon a rise of ground and looked across the
+sea to Cuba. The breezes blew about it gratefully, fanned us as we lay
+swinging in our silken hammocks, and tossed the boughs and flowers of
+the magnolia. Behind and to the left, the quarter of the negroes and the
+waving fields of the plantation covered an eighth part of the surface of
+the isle. On the right and closely bordering on the garden, lay a vast
+and deadly swamp, densely covered with wood, breathing fever, dotted
+with profound sloughs, and inhabited by poisonous oysters, man-eating
+crabs, snakes, alligators, and sickly fishes. Into the recesses of that
+jungle none could penetrate but those of African descent; an invisible,
+unconquerable foe lay there in wait for the European; and the air was
+death.
+
+One morning (from which I must date the beginning of my ruinous
+misfortune) I left my room a little after day, for in that warm climate
+all are early risers, and found not a servant to attend upon my wants. I
+made the circuit of the house, still calling; and my surprise had almost
+changed into alarm, when, coming at last into a large verandahed court,
+I found it thronged with negroes. Even then, even when I was amongst
+them, not one turned or paid the least regard to my arrival. They had
+eyes and ears for but one person: a woman, richly and tastefully
+attired; of elegant carriage, and a musical speech; not so much old in
+years, as worn and marred by self-indulgence: her face, which was still
+attractive, stamped with the most cruel passions, her eye burning with
+the greed of evil. It was not from her appearance, I believe, but from
+some emanation of her soul, that I recoiled in a kind of fainting
+terror; as we hear of plants that blight and snakes that fascinate, the
+woman shocked and daunted me. But I was of a brave nature; trod the
+weakness down; and forcing my way through the slaves, who fell back
+before me in embarrassment, as though in the presence of rival
+mistresses, I asked, in imperious tones: "Who is this person?"
+
+A slave girl, to whom I had been kind, whispered in my ear to have a
+care, for that was Madam Mendizabal; but the name was new to me.
+
+In the meanwhile the woman, applying a pair of glasses to her eyes,
+studied me with insolent particularity from head to foot.
+
+"Young woman," said she at last, "I have had a great experience in
+refractory servants, and take a pride in breaking them. You really tempt
+me; and if I had not other affairs, and these of more importance, on my
+hand, I should certainly buy you at your father's sale."
+
+"Madam----" I began, but my voice failed me.
+
+"Is it possible that you do not know your position?" she returned, with
+a hateful laugh. "How comical! Positively, I must buy her.
+Accomplishments, I suppose?" she added, turning to the servants.
+
+Several assured her that the young mistress had been brought up like
+any lady, for so it seemed in their inexperience.
+
+"She would do very well for my place of business in Havana," said Senora
+Mendizabal, once more studying me through her glasses; "and I should
+take a pleasure," she pursued, more directly addressing myself, "in
+bringing you acquainted with a whip." And she smiled at me with a
+savoury lust of cruelty upon her face.
+
+At this, I found expression. Calling by name upon the servants, I bade
+them turn this woman from the house, fetch her to the boat, and set her
+back upon the mainland. But with one voice they protested that they
+durst not obey, coming close about me, pleading and beseeching me to be
+more wise; and when I insisted, rising higher in passion and speaking of
+this foul intruder in the terms she had deserved, they fell back from me
+as from one who had blasphemed. A superstitious reverence plainly
+encircled the stranger; I could read it in their changed demeanour, and
+in the paleness that prevailed upon the natural colour of their faces;
+and their fear perhaps reacted on myself. I looked again at Madam
+Mendizabal. She stood perfectly composed, watching my face through her
+glasses with a smile of scorn; and at the sight of her assured
+superiority to all my threats, a cry broke from my lips, a cry of rage,
+fear, and despair, and I fled from the verandah and the house.
+
+I ran I knew not where, but it was towards the beach. As I went, my head
+whirled; so strange, so sudden, were these events and insults. Who was
+she? what, in Heaven's name, the power she wielded over my obedient
+negroes? Why had she addressed me as a slave? why spoken of my father's
+sale? To all these tumultuary questions I could find no answer; and, in
+the turmoil of my mind, nothing was plain except the hateful, leering
+image of the woman.
+
+I was still running, mad with fear and anger, when I saw my father
+coming to meet me from the landing-place; and, with a cry that I
+thought would have killed me, leaped into his arms and broke into a
+passion of sobs and tears upon his bosom. He made me sit down below a
+tall palmetto that grew not far off; comforted me, but with some
+abstraction in his voice; and, as soon as I regained the least command
+upon my feelings, asked me, not without harshness, what this grief
+betokened. I was surprised by his tone into a still greater measure of
+composure; and in firm tones, though still interrupted by sobs, I told
+him there was a stranger in the island, at which I thought he started
+and turned pale; that the servants would not obey me; that the
+stranger's name was Madam Mendizabal, and, at that, he seemed to me both
+troubled and relieved; that she had insulted me, treated me as a slave
+(and here my father's brow began to darken), threatened to buy me at a
+sale, and questioned my own servants before my face; and that, at last,
+finding myself quite helpless and exposed to these intolerable
+liberties, I had fled from the house in terror, indignation, and
+amazement.
+
+"Teresa," said my father, with singular gravity of voice, "I must make
+to-day a call upon your courage; much must be told you, there is much
+that you must do to help me; and my daughter must prove herself a woman
+by her spirit. As for this Mendizabal, what shall I say? or how am I to
+tell you what she is? Twenty years ago, she was the loveliest of slaves;
+to-day she is what you see her--prematurely old, disgraced by the
+practice of every vice and every nefarious industry, but free, rich,
+married, they say, to some reputable man, whom may Heaven assist! and
+exercising among her ancient mates, the slaves of Cuba, an influence as
+unbounded as its reason is mysterious. Horrible rites, it is supposed,
+cement her empire: the rites of Hoodoo. Be that as it may, I would have
+you dismiss the thought of this incomparable witch; it is not from her
+that danger threatens us; and into her hands, I make bold to promise,
+you shall never fall."
+
+"Father!" I cried. "Fall? Was there any truth, then, in her words? Am
+I--O father, tell me plain; I can bear anything but this suspense."
+
+"I will tell you," he replied, "with merciful bluntness. Your mother was
+a slave; it was my design, so soon as I had saved a competence, to sail
+to the free land of Britain, where the law would suffer me to marry her:
+a design too long procrastinated; for death, at the last moment,
+intervened. You will now understand the heaviness with which your
+mother's memory hangs about my neck."
+
+I cried out aloud, in pity for my parents; and, in seeking to console
+the survivor, I forgot myself.
+
+"It matters not," resumed my father. "What I have left undone can never
+be repaired, and I must bear the penalty of my remorse. But, Teresa,
+with so cutting a reminder of the evils of delay, I set myself at once
+to do what was still possible: to liberate yourself."
+
+I began to break forth in thanks, but he checked me with a sombre
+roughness.
+
+"Your mother's illness," he resumed, "had engaged too great a portion of
+my time; my business in the city had lain too long at the mercy of
+ignorant underlings; my head, my taste, my unequalled knowledge of the
+more precious stones, that art by which I can distinguish, even on the
+darkest night, a sapphire from a ruby and tell at a glance in what
+quarter of the earth a gem was disinterred--all these had been too long
+absent from the conduct of affairs. Teresa, I was insolvent."
+
+"What matters that?" I cried. "What matters poverty, if we be left
+together with our love and sacred memories?"
+
+"You do not comprehend," he said gloomily. "Slave as you are,
+young--alas! scarce more than child!--accomplished, beautiful with the
+most touching beauty, innocent as an angel--all these qualities that
+should disarm the very wolves and crocodiles, are, in the eyes of those
+to whom I stand indebted, commodities to buy and sell. You are a
+chattel; a marketable thing; and worth--heavens, that I should say such
+words!--worth money. Do you begin to see? If I were to give you freedom,
+I should defraud my creditors; the manumission would be certainly
+annulled; you would be still a slave, and I a criminal."
+
+I caught his hand in mine, kissed it, and moaned in pity for myself, in
+sympathy for my father.
+
+"How I have toiled," he continued, "how I have dared and striven to
+repair my losses, Heaven has beheld and will remember. Its blessing was
+denied to my endeavours, or, as I please myself by thinking, but delayed
+to descend upon my daughter's head. At length, all hope was at an end; I
+was ruined beyond retrieve; a heavy debt fell due upon the morrow, which
+I could not meet; I should be declared a bankrupt, and my goods, my
+lands, my jewels that I so much loved, my slaves whom I have spoiled and
+rendered happy, and oh! tenfold worse, you, my beloved daughter, would
+be sold and pass into the hands of ignorant and greedy traffickers. Too
+long, I saw, had I accepted and profited by this great crime of slavery;
+but was my daughter, my innocent, unsullied daughter, was _she_ to pay
+the price? I cried out--no!--I took Heaven to witness my temptation; I
+caught up this bag and fled. Close upon my track are the pursuers;
+perhaps to-night, perhaps to-morrow, they will land upon this isle,
+sacred to the memory of the dear soul that bore you, to consign your
+father to an ignominious prison, and yourself to slavery and dishonour.
+We have not many hours before us. Off the north coast of our isle, by
+strange good fortune, an English yacht has for some days been hovering.
+It belongs to Sir George Greville, whom I slightly know, to whom ere now
+I have rendered unusual services, and who will not refuse to help in our
+escape. Or if he did, if his gratitude were in default, I have the power
+to force him. For what does it mean my child--what means this
+Englishman, who hangs for years upon the shores of Cuba, and returns
+from every trip with new and valuable gems?"
+
+"He may have found a mine," I hazarded.
+
+"So he declares," returned my father; "but the strange gift I have
+received from nature easily transpierced the fable. He brought me
+diamonds only, which I bought, at first, in innocence; at a second
+glance, I started; for of these stones, my child, some had first seen
+the day in Africa, some in Brazil; while others, from their peculiar
+water and rude workmanship, I divined to be the spoil of ancient
+temples. Thus put upon the scent, I made inquiries: Oh, he is cunning,
+but I was cunninger than he. He visited, I found, the shop of every
+jeweller in town; to one he came with rubies, to one with emeralds, to
+one with precious beryl; to all, with this same story of the mine. But
+in what mine, what rich epitome of the earth's surface, were there
+conjoined the rubies of Ispahan, the pearls of Coromandel, and the
+diamonds of Golconda? No, child, that man, for all his yacht and title,
+that man must fear and must obey me. To-night, then, as soon as it is
+dark, we must take our way through the swamp by the path which I shall
+presently show you; thence, across the highlands of the isle, a track is
+blazed, which shall conduct us to the haven on the north; and close by
+the yacht is riding. Should my pursuers come before the hour at which I
+look to see them, they will still arrive too late; a trusty man attends
+on the mainland; as soon as they appear, we shall behold, if it be dark,
+the redness of a fire--if it be day, a pillar of smoke, on the opposing
+headland; and thus warned, we shall have time to put the swamp between
+ourselves and danger. Meantime, I would conceal this bag; I would,
+before all things, be seen to arrive at the house with empty hands; a
+babbling slave might else undo us. For see!" he added; and holding up
+the bag, which he had already shown me, he poured into my lap a shower
+of unmounted jewels, brighter than flowers, of every size and colour,
+and catching, as they fell, upon a million dainty facets, the ardour of
+the sun.
+
+I could not restrain a cry of admiration.
+
+"Even in your ignorant eyes," pursued my father, "they command respect.
+Yet what are they but pebbles, passive to the tool, cold as death?
+Ingrate!" he cried. "Each one of these--miracles of nature's patience,
+conceived out of the dust in centuries of microscopical activity, each
+one is, for you and me, a year of life, liberty, and mutual affection.
+How, then, should I cherish them! and why do I delay to place them
+beyond reach! Teresa, follow me."
+
+He rose to his feet, and led me to the borders of the great jungle,
+where they overhung, in a wall of poisonous and dusky foliage, the
+declivity of the hill on which my father's house stood planted. For some
+while he skirted, with attentive eyes, the margin of the thicket. Then,
+seeming to recognise some mark, for his countenance became immediately
+lightened of a load of thought, he paused and addressed me. "Here," said
+he, "is the entrance of the secret path that I have mentioned, and here
+you shall await me. I but pass some hundreds of yards into the swamp to
+bury my poor treasure; as soon as that is safe I will return." It was in
+vain that I sought to dissuade him, urging the dangers of the place; in
+vain that I begged to be allowed to follow, pleading the black blood
+that I now knew to circulate in my veins: to all my appeals he turned a
+deaf ear, and, bending back a portion of the screen of bushes,
+disappeared into the pestilential silence of the swamp.
+
+At the end of a full hour, the bushes were once more thrust aside; and
+my father stepped from out the thicket, and paused, and almost staggered
+in the first shock of the blinding sunlight. His face was of a singular
+dusky red; and yet, for all the heat of the tropical noon, he did not
+seem to sweat.
+
+"You are tired," I cried, springing to meet him. "You are ill."
+
+"I am tired," he replied; "the air in that jungle stifles one; my eyes,
+besides, have grown accustomed to its gloom, and the strong sunshine
+pierces them like knives. A moment, Teresa, give me but a moment. All
+shall yet be well. I have buried the hoard under a cypress, immediately
+beyond the bayou, on the left-hand margin of the path; beautiful, bright
+things, they now lie whelmed in slime; you shall find them there, if
+needful. But come, let us to the house; it is time to eat against our
+journey of the night; to eat and then to sleep, my poor Teresa: then to
+sleep." And he looked upon me out of bloodshot eyes, shaking his head as
+if in pity.
+
+We went hurriedly, for he kept murmuring that he had been gone too long
+and that the servants might suspect; passed through the airy stretch of
+the verandah; and came at length into the grateful twilight of the
+shuttered house. The meal was spread; the house servants, already
+informed by the boatmen of the master's return, were all back at their
+posts, and terrified, as I could see, to face me. My father still
+murmuring of haste with weary and feverish pertinacity, I hurried at
+once to take my place at table; but I had no sooner left his arm than he
+paused and thrust forth both his hands with a strange gesture of
+groping. "How is this?" he cried, in a sharp, unhuman voice. "Am I
+blind?" I ran to him and tried to lead him to the table; but he resisted
+and stood stiffly where he was, opening and shutting his jaws, as if in
+a painful effort after breath. Then suddenly he raised both hands to his
+temples, cried out, "My head, my head!" and reeled and fell against the
+wall.
+
+I knew too well what it must be. I turned and begged the servants to
+relieve him. But they, with one accord, denied the possibility of hope;
+the master had gone into the swamp, they said, the master must die; all
+help was idle. Why should I dwell upon his sufferings? I had him carried
+to a bed, and watched beside him. He lay still, and at times ground his
+teeth, and talked at times unintelligibly, only that one word of hurry,
+hurry, coming distinctly to my ears, and telling me that, even in the
+last struggle with the powers of death, his mind was still tortured by
+his daughter's peril. The sun had gone down, the darkness had fallen,
+when I perceived that I was alone on this unhappy earth. What thoughts
+had I of flight, of safety, of the impending dangers of my situation?
+Beside the body of my last friend, I had forgotten all except the
+natural pangs of my bereavement.
+
+The sun was some four hours above the eastern line when I was recalled
+to a knowledge of the things of earth by the entrance of the slave-girl
+to whom I have already referred. The poor soul was indeed devotedly
+attached to me; and it was with streaming tears that she broke to me the
+import of her coming. With the first light of dawn a boat had reached
+our landing-place, and set on shore upon our isle (till now so
+fortunate) a party of officers bearing a warrant to arrest my father's
+person, and a man of a gross body and low manners, who declared the
+island, the plantation, and all its human chattels, to be now his own.
+"I think," said my slave-girl, "he must be a politician or some very
+powerful sorcerer; for Madam Mendizabal had no sooner seen them coming
+than she took to the woods."
+
+"Fool," said I, "it was the officer she feared; and at any rate why does
+that beldam still dare to pollute the island with her presence? And oh,
+Cora," I exclaimed, remembering my grief, "what matter all these
+troubles to an orphan?"
+
+"Mistress," said she, "I must remind you of two things. Never speak as
+you do now of Madam Mendizabal; or never to a person of colour; for she
+is the most powerful woman in this world, and her real name even, if one
+durst pronounce it, were a spell to raise the dead. And whatever you do,
+speak no more of her to your unhappy Cora; for though it is possible she
+may be afraid of the police (and indeed I think that I have heard she is
+in hiding), and though I know that you will laugh and not believe, yet
+it is true, and proved, and known that she hears every word that people
+utter in this whole, vast world; and your poor Cora is already deep
+enough in her black books. She looks at me, mistress, till my blood
+turns ice. That is the first I had to say; and now for the second; do,
+pray, for Heaven's sake, bear in mind that you are no longer the poor
+Senor's daughter. He is gone, dear gentleman; and now you are no more
+than a common slave-girl like myself. The man to whom you belong calls
+for you; oh, my dear mistress, go at once! With your youth and beauty,
+you may still, if you are winning and obedient, secure yourself an easy
+life."
+
+For the moment I looked on the creature with the indignation you may
+conceive; the next, it was gone: she did but speak after her kind, as
+the bird sings or cattle bellow. "Go," said I. "Go, Cora. I thank you
+for your kind intentions. Leave me alone one moment with my dead father;
+and tell this man that I will come at once."
+
+She went; and I, turning to the bed of death, addressed to those deaf
+ears the last appeal and defence of my beleaguered innocence. "Father,"
+I said, "it was your last thought, even in the pangs of dissolution,
+that your daughter should escape disgrace. Here, at your side, I swear
+to you that purpose shall be carried out; by what means, I know not; by
+crime, if need be; and Heaven forgive both you and me and our
+oppressors, and Heaven help my helplessness!" Thereupon I felt
+strengthened as by long repose; stepped to the mirror, ay, even in that
+chamber of the dead; hastily arranged my hair, refreshed my tear-worn
+eyes, breathed a dumb farewell to the originator of my days and sorrows;
+and, composing my features to a smile, went forth to meet my master.
+
+He was in a great, hot bustle, reviewing that house, once ours, to which
+he had but now succeeded; a corpulent, sanguine man of middle age,
+sensual, vulgar, humorous, and, if I judged rightly, not ill-disposed by
+nature. But the sparkle that came into his eye as he observed me enter
+warned me to expect the worse.
+
+"Is this your late mistress?" he inquired of the slaves; and, when he
+had learnt it was so, instantly dismissed them. "Now, my dear," said he,
+"I am a plain man: none of your damned Spaniards, but a true blue,
+hard-working, honest Englishman. My name is Caulder."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said I, and curtsied very smartly as I had seen the
+servants.
+
+"Come," said he, "this is better than I had expected; and if you choose
+to be dutiful in the station to which it has pleased God to call you,
+you will find me a very kind old fellow. I like your looks," he added,
+calling me by my name, which he scandalously mispronounced. "Is your
+hair all your own?" he then inquired with a certain sharpness, and
+coming up to me, as though I were a horse, he grossly satisfied his
+doubts. I was all one flame from head to foot, but I contained my
+righteous anger and submitted. "That is very well," he continued,
+chucking me good-humouredly under the chin. "You will have no cause to
+regret coming to old Caulder, eh? But that is by the way. What is more
+to the point is this: your late master was a most dishonest rogue and
+levanted with some valuable property that belonged of rights to me. Now,
+considering your relation to him, I regard you as the likeliest person
+to know what has become of it; and I warn you, before you answer, that
+my whole future kindness will depend upon your honesty. I am an honest
+man myself, and expect the same in my servants."
+
+"Do you mean the jewels?" said I, sinking my voice into a whisper.
+
+"That is just precisely what I do," said he, and chuckled.
+
+"Hush!" said I.
+
+"Hush?" he repeated. "And why hush? I am on my own place, I would have
+you to know, and surrounded by my own lawful servants."
+
+"Are the officers gone?" I asked; and, oh! how my hopes hung upon the
+answer!
+
+"They are," said he, looking somewhat disconcerted. "Why do you ask?"
+
+"I wish you had kept them," I answered, solemnly enough, although my
+heart at that same moment leaped with exultation. "Master, I must not
+conceal from you the truth. The servants on this estate are in a
+dangerous condition, and mutiny has long been brewing."
+
+"Why," he cried, "I never saw a milder-looking lot of niggers in my
+life." But for all that he turned somewhat pale.
+
+"Did they tell you," I continued, "that Madam Mendizabal is on the
+island? that, since her coming, they obey none but her? that if, this
+morning, they have received you with even decent civility, it was only
+by her orders--issued with what after-thought I leave you to consider?"
+
+"Madam Jezebel?" said he. "Well, she is a dangerous devil; the police
+are after her, besides, for a whole series of murders; but after all,
+what then? To be sure, she has a great influence with you coloured folk.
+But what in fortune's name can be her errand here?"
+
+"The jewels," I replied. "Ah, sir, had you seen that treasure, sapphire
+and emerald and opal, and the golden topaz, and rubies, red as the
+sunset--of what incalculable worth, of what unequalled beauty to the
+eye!--had you seen it, as I have, and alas! as _she_ has--you would
+understand and tremble at your danger."
+
+"She has seen them!" he cried, and I could see by his face that my
+audacity was justified by its success.
+
+I caught his hand in mine. "My master," said I, "I am now yours; it is
+my duty, it should be my pleasure, to defend your interests and life.
+Hear my advice then; and, I conjure you, be guided by my prudence.
+Follow me privily; let none see where we are going; I will lead you to
+the place where the treasure has been buried; that once disinterred, let
+us make straight for the boat, escape to the mainland, and not return to
+this dangerous isle without the countenance of soldiers."
+
+What free man in a free land would have credited so sudden a devotion?
+But this oppressor, through the very arts and sophistries he had abused,
+to quiet the rebellion of his conscience and to convince himself that
+slavery was natural, fell like a child into the trap I laid for him. He
+praised and thanked me; told me I had all the qualities he valued in a
+servant; and when he had questioned me further as to the nature and
+value of the treasure, and I had once more artfully inflamed his greed,
+bade me, without delay, proceed to carry out my plan of action.
+
+From a shed in the garden I took a pick and shovel; and thence, by
+devious paths among the magnolias, led my master to the entrance of the
+swamp. I walked first, carrying, as I was now in duty bound, the tools,
+and glancing continually behind me, lest we should be spied upon and
+followed. When we were come as far as the beginning of the path, it
+flashed into my mind I had forgotten meat; and leaving Mr. Caulder in
+the shadow of a tree, I returned alone to the house for a basket of
+provisions. Were they for him? I asked myself. And a voice within me
+answered, No. While we were face to face, while I still saw before my
+eyes the man to whom I belonged as the hand belongs to the body, my
+indignation held me bravely up. But now that I was alone, I conceived a
+sickness at myself and my designs that I could scarce endure; I longed
+to throw myself at his feet, avow my intended treachery, and warn him
+from that pestilential swamp, to which I was decoying him to die; but my
+vow to my dead father, my duty to my innocent youth, prevailed upon
+these scruples; and though my face was pale and must have reflected the
+horror that oppressed my spirits, it was with a firm step that I
+returned to the borders of the swamp, and with smiling lips that I bade
+him rise and follow me.
+
+The path on which we now entered was cut, like a tunnel, through the
+living jungle. On either hand and overhead, the mass of foliage was
+continuously joined; the day sparingly filtered through the depth of
+superimpending wood; and the air was hot like steam, and heady with
+vegetable odours, and lay like a load upon the lungs and brain.
+Underfoot, a great depth of mould received our silent footprints; on
+each side, mimosas, as tall as a man, shrank from my passing skirts
+with a continuous hissing rustle; and, but for these sentient
+vegetables, all in that den of pestilence was motionless and noiseless.
+
+We had gone but a little way in, when Mr. Caulder was seized with sudden
+nausea, and must sit down a moment on the path. My heart yearned, as I
+beheld him; and I seriously begged the doomed mortal to return upon his
+steps. What were a few jewels in the scales with life? I asked. But no,
+he said; that witch Madam Jezebel would find them out; he was an honest
+man, and would not stand to be defrauded, and so forth, panting the
+while, like a sick dog. Presently he got to his feet again, protesting
+he had conquered his uneasiness; but as we again began to go forward, I
+saw in his changed countenance the first approaches of death.
+
+"Master," said I, "you look pale, deathly pale; your pallor fills me
+with dread. Your eyes are bloodshot; they are red like the rubies that
+we seek."
+
+"Wench," he cried, "look before you; look at your steps. I declare to
+Heaven, if you annoy me once again by looking back, I shall remind you
+of the change in your position."
+
+A little after, I observed a worm upon the ground, and told, in a
+whisper, that its touch was death. Presently a great green serpent,
+vivid as the grass in spring, wound rapidly across the path; and once
+again I paused and looked back at my companion with a horror in my eyes.
+"The coffin snake," said I, "the snake that dogs its victim like a
+hound."
+
+But he was not to be dissuaded. "I am an old traveller," said he. "This
+is a foul jungle indeed; but we shall soon be at an end."
+
+"Ay," said I, looking at him with a strange smile, "what end?"
+
+Thereupon he laughed again and again, but not very heartily; and then,
+perceiving that the path began to widen and grow higher, "There!" said
+he. "What did I tell you? We are past the worst."
+
+Indeed, we had now come to the bayou, which was in that place very
+narrow and bridged across by a fallen trunk; but on either hand we could
+see it broaden out, under a cavern of great arms of trees and hanging
+creepers: sluggish, putrid, of a horrible and sickly stench, floated on
+by the flat heads of alligators, and its banks alive with scarlet crabs.
+
+"If we fall from that unsteady bridge," said I, "see, where the caiman
+lies ready to devour us! If, by the least divergence from the path, we
+should be snared in a morass, see, where those myriads of scarlet vermin
+scour the border of the thicket! Once helpless, how they would swarm
+together to the assault! What could man do against a thousand of such
+mailed assailants? And what a death were that, to perish alive under
+their claws!"
+
+"Are you mad, girl?" he cried. "I bid you be silent and lead on."
+
+Again I looked upon him, half relenting; and at that he raised the stick
+that was in his hand and cruelly struck me on the face. "Lead on!" he
+cried again. "Must I be all day, catching my death in this vile slough,
+and all for a prating slave-girl?"
+
+I took the blow in silence, I took it smiling; but the blood welled back
+upon my heart. Something, I know not what, fell at that moment with a
+dull plunge in the waters of the lagoon, and I told myself it was my
+pity that had fallen.
+
+On the farther side, to which we now hastily scrambled, the wood was not
+so dense, the web of creepers not so solidly convolved. It was possible,
+here and there, to mark a patch of somewhat brighter daylight, or to
+distinguish, through the lighter web of parasites, the proportions of
+some soaring tree. The cypress on the left stood very visibly forth,
+upon the edge of such a clearing; the path in that place widened
+broadly; and there was a patch of open ground, beset with horrible
+ant-heaps, thick with their artificers. I laid down the tools and basket
+by the cypress root, where they were instantly blackened over with the
+crawling ants; and looked once more in the face of my unconscious
+victim. Mosquitoes and foul flies wove so close a veil between us that
+his features were obscured; and the sound of their flight was like the
+turning of a mighty wheel.
+
+"Here," I said, "is the spot. I cannot dig, for I have not learned to
+use such instruments; but, for your own sake, I beseech you to be swift
+in what you do."
+
+He had sunk once more upon the ground, panting like a fish; and I saw
+rising in his face the same dusky flush that had mantled on my father's.
+"I feel ill," he gasped, "horribly ill; the swamp turns around me; the
+drone of these carrion flies confounds me. Have you not wine?"
+
+I gave him a glass, and he drank greedily. "It is for you to think,"
+said I, "if you should further persevere. The swamp has an ill name."
+And at the word I ominously nodded.
+
+"Give me the pick," said he. "Where are the jewels buried?"
+
+I told him vaguely; and in the sweltering heat and closeness, and dim
+twilight of the jungle, he began to wield the pickaxe, swinging it
+overhead with the vigour of a healthy man. At first, there broke forth
+upon him a strong sweat, that made his face to shine, and in which the
+greedy insects settled thickly.
+
+"To sweat in such a place," said I. "O master, is this wise? Fever is
+drunk in through open pores."
+
+"What do you mean?" he screamed, pausing with the pick buried in the
+soil. "Do you seek to drive me mad? Do you think I do not understand the
+danger that I run?"
+
+"That is all I want," said I: "I only wish you to be swift." And then,
+my mind flitting to my father's deathbed, I began to murmur, scarce
+above my breath, the same vain repetition of words, "Hurry, hurry,
+hurry."
+
+Presently, to my surprise, the treasure-seeker took them up; and while
+he still wielded the pick, but now with staggering and uncertain blows,
+repeated to himself, as it were the burthen of a song, "Hurry, hurry,
+hurry"; and then again, "There is no time to lose; the marsh has an ill
+name, ill name"; and then back to "Hurry, hurry, hurry," with a dreadful
+mechanical, hurried, and yet wearied utterance, as a sick man rolls upon
+his pillow. The sweat had disappeared; he was now dry, but, all that I
+could see of him, of the same dull brick-red. Presently his pick
+unearthed the bag of jewels; but he did not observe it, and continued
+hewing at the soil.
+
+"Master," said I, "there is the treasure."
+
+He seemed to waken from a dream. "Where?" he cried; and then, seeing it
+before his eyes, "Can this be possible?" he added. "I must be
+light-headed. Girl," he cried suddenly, with the same screaming tone of
+voice that I had once before observed, "what is wrong? is this swamp
+accursed?"
+
+"It is a grave," I answered. "You will not go out alive; and as for me,
+my life is in God's hands."
+
+He fell upon the ground like a man struck by a blow, but whether from
+the effect of my words, or from sudden seizure of the malady, I cannot
+tell. Pretty soon he raised his head. "You have brought me here to die,"
+he said; "at the risk of your own days, you have condemned me. Why?"
+
+"To save my honour," I replied. "Bear me out that I have warned you.
+Greed of these pebbles, and not I, has been your undoer."
+
+He took out his revolver and handed it to me. "You see," he said, "I
+could have killed you even yet. But I am dying, as you say; nothing
+could save me; and my bill is long enough already. Dear me, dear me," he
+said, looking in my face with a curious, puzzled, and pathetic look,
+like a dull child at school, "if there be a judgment afterwards, my bill
+is long enough."
+
+At that, I broke into a passion of weeping, crawled at his feet, kissed
+his hands, begged his forgiveness, put the pistol back into his grasp,
+and besought him to avenge his death; for indeed, if with my life I
+could have bought back his, I had not balanced at the cost. But he was
+determined, the poor soul, that I should yet more bitterly regret my
+act.
+
+"I have nothing to forgive," said he. "Dear Heaven, what a thing is an
+old fool! I thought, upon my word, you had taken quite a fancy to me."
+
+He was seized, at the same time, with a dreadful, swimming dizziness,
+clung to me like a child, and called upon the name of some woman.
+Presently this spasm, which I watched with choking tears, lessened and
+died away; and he came again to the full possession of his mind. "I must
+write my will," he said. "Get out my pocket-book." I did so, and he
+wrote hurriedly on one page with a pencil. "Do not let my son know," he
+said; "he is a cruel dog, is my son Philip; do not let him know how you
+have paid me out"; and then all of a sudden, "God," he cried, "I am
+blind," and clapped both hands before his eyes; and then again, and in a
+groaning whisper, "Don't leave me to the crabs!" I swore I would be true
+to him so long as a pulse stirred; and I redeemed my promise. I sat
+there and watched him, as I had watched my father; but with what
+different, with what appalling thoughts! Through the long afternoon, he
+gradually sank. All that while, I fought an uphill battle to shield him
+from the swarms of ants and the clouds of mosquitoes: the prisoner of my
+crime. The night fell, the roar of insects instantly redoubled in the
+dark arcades of the swamp; and still I was not sure that he had breathed
+his last. At length, the flesh of his hand, which I yet held in mine,
+grew chill between my fingers, and I knew that I was free.
+
+I took his pocket-book and the revolver, being resolved rather to die
+than to be captured, and, laden besides with the basket and the bag of
+gems, set forward towards the north. The swamp, at that hour of the
+night, was filled with a continuous din: animals and insects of all
+kinds and all inimical to life, contributing their parts. Yet in the
+midst of this turmoil of sound, I walked as though my eyes were
+bandaged, beholding nothing. The soil sank under my foot, with a horrid,
+slippery consistence, as though I were walking among toads; the touch of
+the thick wall of foliage, by which alone I guided myself, affrighted me
+like the touch of serpents; the darkness checked my breathing like a
+gag; indeed, I have never suffered such extremes of fear as during that
+nocturnal walk, nor have I ever known a more sensible relief than when I
+found the path beginning to mount and to grow firmer under foot, and
+saw, although still some way in front of me, the silver brightness of
+the moon.
+
+Presently I had crossed the last of the jungle, and come forth amongst
+noble and lofty woods, clean rock, the clean, dry dust, the aromatic
+smell of mountain plants that had been baked all day in sunlight, and
+the expressive silence of the night. My negro blood had carried me
+unhurt across that reeking and pestiferous morass; by mere good fortune,
+I had escaped the crawling and stinging vermin with which it was alive;
+and I had now before me the easier portion of my enterprise, to cross
+the isle and to make good my arrival at the haven and my acceptance on
+the English yacht. It was impossible by night to follow such a track as
+my father had described; and I was casting about for any landmark and,
+in my ignorance, vainly consulting the disposition of the stars, when
+there fell upon my ear, from somewhere far in front, the sound of many
+voices hurriedly singing.
+
+I scarce knew upon what grounds I acted; but I shaped my steps in the
+direction of that sound; and in a quarter of an hour's walking, came
+unperceived to the margin of an open glade. It was lighted by the strong
+moon and by the flames of a fire. In the midst there stood a little low
+and rude building, surmounted by a cross: a chapel, as I then remembered
+to have heard, long since desecrated and given over to the rites of
+Hoodoo. Hard by the steps of entrance was a black mass, continually
+agitated and stirring to and fro as if with inarticulate life; and this
+I presently perceived to be a heap of cocks, hares, dogs, and other
+birds and animals, still struggling, but helplessly tethered and cruelly
+tossed one upon another. Both the fire and the chapel were surrounded by
+a ring of kneeling Africans, both men and women. Now they would raise
+their palms half closed to Heaven, with a peculiar, passionate gesture
+of supplication; now they would bow their heads and spread their hands
+before them on the ground. As the double movement passed and repassed
+along the line, the heads kept rising and falling, like waves upon the
+sea; and still, as if in time to these gesticulations, the hurried chant
+continued. I stood spell-bound, knowing that my life depended by a hair,
+knowing that I had stumbled on a celebration of the rites of Hoodoo.
+
+Presently the door of the chapel opened and there came forth a tall
+negro, entirely nude, and bearing in his hand the sacrificial knife. He
+was followed by an apparition still more strange and shocking: Madam
+Mendizabal, naked also, and carrying in both hands, and raised to the
+level of her face, an open basket of wicker. It was filled with coiling
+snakes; and these, as she stood there with the uplifted basket, shot
+through the osier grating and curled about her arms. At the sight of
+this, the fervour of the crowd seemed to swell suddenly higher; and the
+chant rose in pitch and grew more irregular in time and accent. Then, at
+a sign from the tall negro, where he stood, motionless and smiling, in
+the moon- and fire-light, the singing died away, and there began the
+second stage of this barbarous and bloody celebration. From different
+parts of the ring, one after another, man or woman, ran forth into the
+midst; ducked, with that same gesture of the thrown-up hand, before the
+priestess and her snakes; and, with various adjurations, uttered aloud
+the blackest wishes of the heart. Death and disease were the favours
+usually invoked: the death or the disease of enemies or rivals; some
+calling down these plagues upon the nearest of their own blood, and one,
+to whom I swear I had been never less than kind, invoking them upon
+myself. At each petition, the tall negro, still smiling, picked up some
+bird or animal from the heaving mass upon his left, slew it with the
+knife, and tossed its body on the ground. At length, it seemed, it
+reached the turn of the high priestess. She set down the basket on the
+steps, moved into the centre of the ring, grovelled in the dust before
+the reptiles, and still grovelling lifted up her voice, between speech
+and singing, and with so great, with so insane a fervour of excitement,
+as struck a sort of horror through my blood.
+
+"Power," she began, "whose name we do not utter; power that is neither
+good nor evil, but below them both; stronger than good, greater than
+evil--all my life long I have adored and served thee. Who has shed blood
+upon thine altars? whose voice is broken with the singing of thy
+praises? whose limbs are faint before their age with leaping in thy
+revels? Who has slain the child of her body? I," she cried, "I,
+Metamnbogu! By my own name, I name myself. I tear away the veil. I would
+be served or perish. Hear me, slime of the fat swamp, blackness of the
+thunder, venom of the serpent's udder--hear or slay me! I would have two
+things, O shapeless one, O horror of emptiness--two things, or die! The
+blood of my white-faced husband; oh! give me that; he is the enemy of
+Hoodoo; give me blood! And yet another, O racer of the blind winds, O
+germinator in the ruins of the dead, O root of life, root of corruption!
+I grow old, I grow hideous; I am known, I am hunted for my life: let thy
+servant then lay by this outworn body; let thy chief priestess turn
+again to the blossom of her days, and be a girl once more, and the
+desired of all men, even as in the past! And, O lord and master, as I
+here ask a marvel not yet wrought since we were torn from the old land,
+have I not prepared the sacrifice in which thy soul delighteth--the kid
+without the horns?"
+
+Even as she uttered the words, there was a great rumour of joy through
+all the circle of worshippers; it rose, and fell, and rose again; and
+swelled at last into rapture, when the tall negro, who had stepped an
+instant into the chapel, reappeared before the door, carrying in his
+arms the body of the slave-girl, Cora. I know not if I saw what
+followed. When next my mind awoke to a clear knowledge, Cora was laid
+upon the steps before the serpents; the negro with the knife stood over
+her; the knife rose; and at this I screamed out in my great horror,
+bidding them, in God's name, to pause.
+
+A stillness fell upon the mob of cannibals. A moment more, and they must
+have thrown off this stupor, and I infallibly have perished. But Heaven
+had designed to save me. The silence of these wretched men was not yet
+broken, when there arose, in the empty night, a sound louder than the
+roar of any European tempest, swifter to travel than the wings of any
+Eastern wind. Blackness engulfed the world: blackness, stabbed across
+from every side by intricate and blinding lightning. Almost in the same
+second, at one world-swallowing stride, the heart of the tornado reached
+the clearing. I heard an agonising crash, and the light of my reason was
+overwhelmed.
+
+When I recovered consciousness, the day was come. I was unhurt; the
+trees close about me had not lost a bough; and I might have thought at
+first that the tornado was a feature in a dream. It was otherwise
+indeed; for when I looked abroad, I perceived I had escaped destruction
+by a hand's-breadth. Right through the forest, which here covered hill
+and dale, the storm had ploughed a lane of ruin. On either hand, the
+trees waved uninjured in the air of the morning; but in the forthright
+course of its advance, the hurricane had left no trophy standing.
+Everything in that line, tree, man, or animal, the desecrated chapel and
+the votaries of Hoodoo, had been subverted and destroyed in that brief
+spasm of anger of the powers of air. Everything but a yard or two beyond
+the line of its passage, humble flower, lofty tree, and the poor
+vulnerable maid who now knelt to pay her gratitude to Heaven, awoke
+unharmed in the crystal purity and peace of the new day.
+
+To move by the path of the tornado was a thing impossible to man, so
+wildly were the wrecks of the tall forest piled together by that
+fugitive convulsion. I crossed it indeed; with such labour and patience,
+with so many dangerous slips and falls, as left me, at the farther side,
+bankrupt alike of strength and courage. There I sat down awhile to
+recruit my forces; and as I ate (how should I bless the kindliness of
+Heaven!), my eye, flitting to and fro in the colonnade of the great
+trees, alighted on a trunk that had been blazed. Yes, by the directing
+hand of Providence, I had been conducted to the very track I was to
+follow. With what a light heart I now set forth, and walking with how
+glad a step traversed the uplands of the isle!
+
+It was hard upon the hour of noon when I came, all tattered and wayworn,
+to the summit of a steep descent, and looked below me on the sea. About
+all the coast, the surf, roused by the tornado of the night, beat with a
+particular fury and made a fringe of snow. Close at my feet I saw a
+haven, set in precipitous and palm-crowned bluffs of rock. Just outside,
+a ship was heaving on the surge, so trimly sparred, so glossily painted,
+so elegant and _point-device_ in every feature, that my heart was seized
+with admiration. The English colours blew from her masthead; and, from
+my high station, I caught glimpses of her snowy planking, as she rolled
+on the uneven deep, and saw the sun glitter on the brass of her deck
+furniture. There, then, was my ship of refuge; and of all my
+difficulties only one remained: to get on board of her.
+
+Half an hour later, I issued at last out of the woods on the margin of a
+cove, into whose jaws the tossing and blue billows entered, and along
+whose shores they broke with a surprising loudness. A wooded promontory
+hid the yacht; and I had walked some distance round the beach, in what
+appeared to be a virgin solitude, when my eye fell on a boat, drawn into
+a natural harbour, where it rocked in safety, but deserted. I looked
+about for those who should have manned her; and presently, in the
+immediate entrance of the wood, spied the red embers of a fire and,
+stretched around in various attitudes, a party of slumbering mariners.
+To these I drew near: most were black, a few white; but all were dressed
+with the conspicuous decency of yachtsmen; and one, from his peaked cap
+and glittering buttons, I rightly divined to be an officer. Him, then, I
+touched upon the shoulder. He started up; the sharpness of his movement
+woke the rest; and they all stared upon me in surprise.
+
+"What do you want?" inquired the officer.
+
+"To go on board the yacht," I answered.
+
+I thought they all seemed disconcerted at this; and the officer, with
+something of sharpness, asked me who I was. Now I had determined to
+conceal my name until I met Sir George; and the first name that rose to
+my lips was that of the Senora Mendizabal. At the word, there went a
+shock about the little party of seamen; the negroes stared at me with
+indescribable eagerness, the whites themselves with something of a
+scared surprise; and instantly the spirit of mischief prompted me to
+add: "And if the name is new to your ears, call me Metamnbogu."
+
+I had never seen an effect so wonderful. The negroes threw their hands
+into the air, with the same gesture I remarked the night before about
+the Hoodoo camp-fire; first one, and then another, ran forward and
+kneeled down and kissed the skirts of my torn dress; and when the white
+officer broke out swearing and calling to know if they were mad, the
+coloured seamen took him by the shoulders, dragged him on one side till
+they were out of hearing, and surrounded him with open mouths and
+extravagant pantomime. The officer seemed to struggle hard; he laughed
+aloud, and I saw him make gestures of dissent and protest; but in the
+end, whether overcome by reason or simply weary of resistance, he gave
+in--approached me civilly enough, but with something of a sneering
+manner underneath--and touching his cap, "My lady," said he, "if that
+is what you are, the boat is ready."
+
+My reception on board the _Nemorosa_ (for so the yacht was named)
+partook of the same mingled nature. We were scarcely within hail of that
+great and elegant fabric, where she lay rolling gunwale under and
+churning the blue sea to snow, before the bulwarks were lined with the
+heads of a great crowd of seamen, black, white, and yellow; and these
+and the few who manned the boat began exchanging shouts in some _lingua
+franca_ incomprehensible to me. All eyes were directed on the passenger;
+and once more I saw the negroes toss up their hands to Heaven, but now
+as if with passionate wonder and delight.
+
+At the head of the gangway, I was received by another officer, a
+gentlemanly man with blond and bushy whiskers; and to him I addressed my
+demand to see Sir George.
+
+"But this is not----" he cried, and paused.
+
+"I know it," returned the other officer, who had brought me from the
+shore. "But what the devil can we do? Look at all the niggers!"
+
+I followed his direction; and as my eye lighted upon each, the poor
+ignorant Africans ducked, and bowed, and threw their hands into the air,
+as though in the presence of a creature half divine. Apparently the
+officer with the whiskers had instantly come round to the opinion of his
+subaltern; for he now addressed me with every signal of respect.
+
+"Sir George is at the island, my lady," said he: "for which, with your
+ladyship's permission, I shall immediately make all sail. The cabins are
+prepared. Steward, take Lady Greville below."
+
+Under this new name, then, and so captivated by surprise that I could
+neither think nor speak, I was ushered into a spacious and airy cabin,
+hung about with weapons and surrounded by divans. The steward asked for
+my commands; but I was by this time so wearied, bewildered, and
+disturbed, that I could only wave him to leave me to myself, and sink
+upon a pile of cushions. Presently, by the changed motion of the ship, I
+knew her to be under way; my thoughts, so far from clarifying, grew the
+more distracted and confused; dreams began to mingle and confound them;
+and at length, by insensible transition, I sank into a dreamless
+slumber.
+
+When I awoke, the day and night had passed, and it was once more
+morning. The world on which I reopened my eyes swam strangely up and
+down; the jewels in the bag that lay beside me clinked together
+ceaselessly; the clock and the barometer wagged to and fro like
+pendulums; and overhead, seamen were singing out at their work, and
+coils of rope clattering and thumping on the deck. Yet it was long
+before I had divined that I was at sea; long before I had recalled, one
+after another, the tragical, mysterious, and inexplicable events that
+had brought me where I was.
+
+When I had done so, I thrust the jewels, which I was surprised to find
+had been respected, into the bosom of my dress; and, seeing a silver
+bell hard by upon a table, rang it loudly. The steward instantly
+appeared; I asked for food; and he proceeded to lay the table, regarding
+me the while with a disquieting and pertinacious scrutiny. To relieve
+myself of my embarrassment, I asked him, with as fair a show of ease as
+I could muster, if it were usual for yachts to carry so numerous a crew?
+
+"Madam," said he, "I know not who you are, nor what mad desire has
+induced you to usurp a name and an appalling destiny that are not yours.
+I warn you from the soul. No sooner arrived at the island----"
+
+At this moment he was interrupted by the whiskered officer, who had
+entered unperceived behind him, and now laid a hand upon his shoulder.
+The sudden pallor, the deadly and sick fear that was imprinted on the
+steward's face, formed a startling addition to his words.
+
+"Parker!" said the officer, and pointed towards the door.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Kentish," said the steward. "For God's sake, Mr. Kentish!"
+And vanished, with a white face, from the cabin.
+
+Thereupon the officer bade me sit down, and began to help me, and join
+in the meal. "I fill your ladyship's glass," said he, and handed me a
+tumbler of neat rum.
+
+"Sir," cried I, "do you expect me to drink this?"
+
+He laughed heartily. "Your ladyship is so much changed," said he, "that
+I no longer expect any one thing more than any other."
+
+Immediately after, a white seaman entered the cabin, saluted both Mr.
+Kentish and myself, and informed the officer there was a sail in sight,
+which was bound to pass us very close, and that Mr. Harland was in doubt
+about the colours.
+
+"Being so near the island?" asked Mr. Kentish.
+
+"That was what Mr. Harland said, sir," returned the sailor, with a
+scrape.
+
+"Better not, I think," said Mr. Kentish. "My compliments to Mr. Harland;
+and if she seem a lively boat, give her the stars and stripes; but if
+she be dull, and we can easily outsail her, show John Dutchman. That is
+always another word for incivility at sea; so we can disregard a hail or
+a flag of distress, without attracting notice."
+
+As soon as the sailor had gone on deck, I turned to the officer in
+wonder. "Mr. Kentish, if that be your name," said I, "are you ashamed of
+your own colours?"
+
+"Your ladyship refers to the 'Jolly Roger'?" he inquired, with perfect
+gravity; and, immediately after, went into peals of laughter. "Pardon
+me," said he; "but here for the first time, I recognise your ladyship's
+impetuosity." Nor, try as I pleased, could I extract from him any
+explanation of this mystery, but only oily and commonplace evasion.
+
+While we were thus occupied, the movement of the _Nemorosa_ gradually
+became less violent; its speed at the same time diminished; and
+presently after, with a sullen plunge, the anchor was discharged into
+the sea. Kentish immediately rose, offered his arm, and conducted me on
+deck; where I found we were lying in a roadstead among many low and
+rocky islets, hovered about by an innumerable cloud of sea-fowl.
+Immediately under our board, a somewhat larger isle was green with
+trees, set with a few low buildings and approached by a pier of very
+crazy workmanship; and a little inshore of us, a smaller vessel lay at
+anchor.
+
+I had scarce time to glance to the four quarters ere a boat was lowered.
+I was handed in, Kentish took place beside me, and we pulled briskly to
+the pier. A crowd of villainous, armed loiterers, both black and white,
+looked on upon our landing; and again the word passed about among the
+negroes, and again I was received with prostrations and the same gesture
+of the flung-up hand. By this, what with the appearance of these men and
+the lawless, seagirt spot in which I found myself, my courage began a
+little to decline, and, clinging to the arm of Mr. Kentish, I begged him
+to tell me what it meant.
+
+"Nay, madam," he returned, "_you_ know." And leading me smartly through
+the crowd, which continued to follow at a considerable distance, and at
+which he still kept looking back, I thought, with apprehension, he
+brought me to a low house that stood alone in an encumbered yard, opened
+the door, and begged me to enter.
+
+"But why?" said I. "I demand to see Sir George."
+
+"Madam," returned Mr. Kentish, looking suddenly as black as thunder, "to
+drop all fence, I know neither who nor what you are; beyond the fact
+that you are not the person whose name you have assumed. But be what you
+please, spy, ghost, devil, or most ill-judging jester, if you do not
+immediately enter that house, I will cut you to the earth." And even as
+he spoke, he threw an uneasy glance behind him at the following crowd of
+blacks.
+
+I did not wait to be twice threatened; I obeyed at once and with a
+palpitating heart; and the next moment, the door was locked from the
+outside and the key withdrawn. The interior was long, low, and quite
+unfurnished, but filled, almost from end to end, with sugar-cane,
+tar-barrels, old tarry rope, and other incongruous and highly
+inflammable material; and not only was the door locked, but the solitary
+window barred with iron.
+
+I was by this time so exceedingly bewildered and afraid, that I would
+have given years of my life to be once more the slave of Mr. Caulder. I
+still stood, with my hands clasped, the image of despair, looking about
+me on the lumber of the room or raising my eyes to Heaven; when there
+appeared, outside the window bars, the face of a very black negro, who
+signed to me imperiously to draw near. I did so, and he instantly, and
+with every mark of fervour, addressed me a long speech in some unknown
+and barbarous tongue.
+
+"I declare," I cried, clasping my brow, "I do not understand one
+syllable."
+
+"Not?" he said in Spanish. "Great, great, are the powers of Hoodoo! Her
+very mind is changed! But, O chief priestess, why have you suffered
+yourself to be shut into this cage? why did you not call your slaves at
+once to your defence? Do you not see that all has been prepared to
+murder you? at a spark, this flimsy house will go in flames; and alas!
+who shall then be the chief priestess? and what shall be the profit of
+the miracle?"
+
+"Heavens!" cried I, "can I not see Sir George? I must, I must, come by
+speech of him. Oh, bring me to Sir George!" And, my terror fairly
+mastering my courage, I fell upon my knees and began to pray to all the
+saints.
+
+"Lordy!" cried the negro, "here they come!" And his black head was
+instantly withdrawn from the window.
+
+"I never heard such nonsense in my life," exclaimed a voice.
+
+"Why, so we all say, Sir George," replied the voice of Mr. Kentish. "But
+put yourself in our place. The niggers were near two to one. And upon my
+word, if you'll excuse me, sir, considering the notion they have taken
+in their heads, I regard it as precious fortunate for all of us that
+the mistake occurred."
+
+"This is no question of fortune, sir," returned Sir George. "It is a
+question of my orders, and you may take my word for it, Kentish, either
+Harland, or yourself, or Parker--or, by George, all three of you!--shall
+swing for this affair. These are my sentiments. Give me the key and be
+off."
+
+Immediately after, the key turned in the lock; and there appeared upon
+the threshold a gentleman, between forty and fifty, with a very open
+countenance and of a stout and personable figure.
+
+"My dear young lady," said he, "who the devil may you be?"
+
+I told him all my story in one rush of words. He heard me, from the
+first, with an amazement you can scarcely picture, but when I came to
+the death of the Senora Mendizabal in the tornado, he fairly leaped into
+the air.
+
+"My dear child," he cried, clasping me in his arms, "excuse a man who
+might be your father! This is the best news I ever had since I was born;
+for that hag of a mulatto was no less a person than my wife." He sat
+down upon a tar-barrel, as if unmanned by joy. "Dear me," said he, "I
+declare this tempts me to believe in Providence. And what," he added,
+"can I do for you?"
+
+"Sir George," said I, "I am already rich: all that I ask is your
+protection."
+
+"Understand one thing," he said, with great energy: "I will never
+marry."
+
+"I had not ventured to propose it," I exclaimed, unable to restrain my
+mirth; "I only seek to be conveyed to England, the natural home of the
+escaped slave."
+
+"Well," returned Sir George, "frankly I owe you something for this
+exhilarating news; besides, your father was of use to me. Now, I have
+made a small competence in business--a jewel mine, a sort of naval
+agency, et caetera, and I am on the point of breaking up my company, and
+retiring to my place in Devonshire to pass a plain old age, unmarried.
+One good turn deserves another: if you swear to hold your tongue about
+this island, these little bonfire arrangements, and the whole episode of
+my unfortunate marriage, why, I'll carry you home aboard the
+_Nemorosa_."
+
+I eagerly accepted his conditions.
+
+"One thing more," said he. "My late wife was some sort of a sorceress
+among the blacks; and they are all persuaded she has come alive again in
+your agreeable person. Now, you will have the goodness to keep up that
+fancy, if you please; and to swear to them, on the authority of Hoodoo
+or whatever his name may be, that I am from this moment quite a sacred
+character."
+
+"I swear it," said I, "by my father's memory; and that is a vow that I
+will never break."
+
+"I have considerably better hold on you than any oath," returned Sir
+George, with a chuckle; "for you are not only an escaped slave, but
+have, by your own account, a considerable amount of stolen property."
+
+I was struck dumb; I saw it was too true; in a glance, I recognised that
+these jewels were no longer mine; with similar quickness, I decided they
+should be restored, ay, if it cost me the liberty that I had just
+regained. Forgetful of all else, forgetful of Sir George, who sat and
+watched me with a smile, I drew out Mr. Caulder's pocket-book and turned
+to the page on which the dying man had scrawled his testament. How shall
+I describe the agony of happiness and remorse with which I read it! for
+my victim had not only set me free, but bequeathed to me the bag of
+jewels.
+
+My plain tale draws towards a close. Sir George and I, in my character
+of his rejuvenated wife, displayed ourselves arm-in-arm among the
+negroes, and were cheered and followed to the place of embarkation.
+There, Sir George, turning about, made a speech to his old companions,
+in which he thanked and bade them farewell with a very manly spirit; and
+towards the end of which he fell on some expressions which I still
+remember. "If any of you gentry lose your money," he said, "take care
+you do not come to me; for in the first place, I shall do my best to
+have you murdered; and if that fails, I hand you over to the law.
+Blackmail won't do for me. I'll rather risk all upon a cast, than be
+pulled to pieces by degrees. I'll rather be found out and hang, than
+give a doit to one man-jack of you." That same night we got under way
+and crossed to the port of New Orleans, whence, as a sacred trust, I
+sent the pocket-book to Mr. Caulder's son. In a week's time, the men
+were all paid off; new hands were shipped; and the _Nemorosa_ weighed
+her anchor for Old England.
+
+A more delightful voyage it were hard to fancy. Sir George, of course,
+was not a conscientious man; but he had an unaffected gaiety of
+character that naturally endeared him to the young; and it was
+interesting to hear him lay out his projects for the future, when he
+should be returned to parliament, and place at the service of the nation
+his experience of marine affairs. I asked him if his notion of piracy
+upon a private yacht were not original. But he told me, no. "A yacht,
+Miss Valdevia," he observed, "is a chartered nuisance. Who smuggles? Who
+robs the salmon rivers of the west of Scotland? Who cruelly beats the
+keepers if they dare to intervene? The crews and the proprietors of
+yachts. All I have done is to extend the line a trifle; and if you ask
+me for my unbiassed opinion, I do not suppose that I am in the least
+alone."
+
+In short we were the best of friends, and lived like father and
+daughter; though I still withheld from him, of course, that respect
+which is only due to moral excellence.
+
+We were still some days' sail from England, when Sir George obtained,
+from an outward-bound ship, a packet of newspapers; and from that fatal
+hour my misfortunes recommenced. He sat, the same evening, in the cabin,
+reading the news, and making savoury comments on the decline of England
+and the poor condition of the navy; when I suddenly observed him to
+change countenance.
+
+"Hullo!" said he, "this is bad; this is deuced bad, Miss Valdevia. You
+would not listen to sound sense, you would send that pocket-book to
+that man Caulder's son."
+
+"Sir George," said I, "it was my duty."
+
+"You are prettily paid for it, at least," says he; "and much as I regret
+it, I, for one, am done with you. This fellow Caulder demands your
+extradition."
+
+"But a slave," I returned, "is safe in England."
+
+"Yes, by George!" replied the baronet; "but it's not a slave, Miss
+Valdevia, it's a thief that he demands. He has quietly destroyed the
+will; and now accuses you of robbing your father's bankrupt estate of
+jewels to the value of a hundred thousand pounds."
+
+I was so much overcome by indignation at this hateful charge and concern
+for my unhappy fate that the genial baronet made haste to put me more at
+ease.
+
+"Do not be cast down," said he. "Of course, I wash my hands of you
+myself. A man in my position--baronet, old family, and all that--cannot
+possibly be too particular about the company he keeps. But I am a deuced
+good-humoured old boy, let me tell you, when not ruffled; and I will do
+the best I can to put you right. I will lend you a trifle of ready
+money, give you the address of an excellent lawyer in London, and find a
+way to set you on shore unsuspected."
+
+He was in every particular as good as his word. Four days later, the
+_Nemorosa_ sounded her way, under the cloak of a dark night, into a
+certain haven of the coast of England; and a boat, rowing with muffled
+oars, set me ashore upon the beach within a stone's throw of a railway
+station. Thither, guided by Sir George's directions, I groped a devious
+way; and, finding a bench upon the platform, sat me down, wrapped in a
+man's fur greatcoat, to await the coming of the day. It was still dark
+when a light was struck behind one of the windows of the building; nor
+had the east begun to kindle to the warmer colours of the dawn, before a
+porter, carrying a lantern, issued from the door and found himself face
+to face with the unfortunate Teresa. He looked all about him; in the
+grey twilight of the dawn, the haven was seen to lie deserted, and the
+yacht had long since disappeared.
+
+"Who are you?" he cried.
+
+"I am a traveller," said I.
+
+"And where do you come from?" he asked.
+
+"I'm going, by the first train, to London," I replied.
+
+In such manner, like a ghost or a new creation, was Teresa with her bag
+of jewels landed on the shores of England; in this silent fashion,
+without history or name, she took her place among the millions of a new
+country.
+
+Since then, I have lived by the expedients of my lawyer, lying concealed
+in quiet lodgings, dogged by the spies of Cuba, and not knowing at what
+hour my liberty and honour may be lost.
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN BOX (_concluded_)
+
+
+The effect of this tale on the mind of Harry Desborough was instant and
+convincing. The Fair Cuban had been already the loveliest, she now
+became, in his eyes, the most romantic, the most innocent and the most
+unhappy of her sex. He was bereft of words to utter what he felt: what
+pity, what admiration, what youthful envy of a career so vivid and
+adventurous. "Oh, madam!" he began; and finding no language adequate to
+that apostrophe, caught up her hand and wrung it in his own. "Count upon
+me," he added, with bewildered fervour; and, getting somehow or other
+out of the apartment and from the circle of that radiant sorceress, he
+found himself in the strange out-of-doors, beholding dull houses,
+wondering at dull passers-by, a fallen angel. She had smiled upon him as
+he left, and with how significant, how beautiful a smile! The memory
+lingered in his heart; and when he found his way to a certain restaurant
+where music was performed, flutes (as it were of Paradise) accompanied
+his meal. The strings went to the melody of that parting smile; they
+paraphrased and glossed it in the sense that he desired; and for the
+first time in his plain and somewhat dreary life, he perceived himself
+to have a taste for music.
+
+The next day, and the next, his meditations moved to that delectable
+air. Now he saw her, and was favoured; now saw her not at all; now saw
+her and was put by. The fall of her foot upon the stair entranced him;
+the books that he sought out and read were books on Cuba and spoke of
+her indirectly; nay, and in the very landlady's parlour, he found one
+that told of precisely such a hurricane and, down to the smallest
+detail, confirmed (had confirmation been required) the truth of her
+recital. Presently he began to fall into that prettiest mood of a young
+love, in which the lover scorns himself for his presumption. Who was he,
+the dull one, the commonplace unemployed, the man without adventure, the
+impure, the untruthful, to aspire to such a creature made of fire and
+air, and hallowed and adorned by such incomparable passages of life?
+What should he do, to be more worthy? by what devotion, call down the
+notice of these eyes to so terrene a being as himself?
+
+He betook himself, thereupon, to the rural privacy of the square, where,
+being a lad of a kind heart, he had made himself a circle of
+acquaintances among its shy frequenters, the half-domestic cats and the
+visitors that hung before the windows of the Children's Hospital. There
+he walked, considering the depth of his demerit and the height of the
+adored one's super-excellence; now lighting upon earth to say a pleasant
+word to the brother of some infant invalid; now, with a great heave of
+breath remembering the queen of women, and the sunshine of his life.
+
+What was he to do? Teresa, he had observed, was in the habit of leaving
+the house towards afternoon: she might, perchance, run danger from some
+Cuban emissary, when the presence of a friend might turn the balance in
+her favour: how, then, if he should follow her? To offer his company
+would seem like an intrusion; to dog her openly were a manifest
+impertinence; he saw himself reduced to a more stealthy part, which,
+though in some ways distasteful to his mind, he did not doubt that he
+could practise with the skill of a detective.
+
+The next day he proceeded to put his plan in action. At the corner of
+Tottenham Court Road, however, the Senorita suddenly turned back, and
+met him face to face, with every mark of pleasure and surprise.
+
+"Ah, Senor, I am sometimes fortunate!" she cried. "I was looking for a
+messenger"; and with the sweetest of smiles she despatched him to the
+east end of London, to an address which he was unable to find. This was
+a bitter pill to the knight-errant; but when he returned at night, worn
+out with fruitless wandering and dismayed by his _fiasco_, the lady
+received him with a friendly gaiety, protesting that all was for the
+best, since she had changed her mind and long since repented of her
+message.
+
+Next day he resumed his labours, glowing with pity and courage, and
+determined to protect Teresa with his life. But a painful shock awaited
+him. In the narrow and silent Hanway Street, she turned suddenly about
+and addressed him with a manner and a light in her eyes, that were new
+to the young man's experience.
+
+"Do I understand that you follow me, Senor?" she cried. "Are these the
+manners of the English gentleman?"
+
+Harry confounded himself in the most abject apologies and prayers to be
+forgiven, vowed to offend no more, and was at length dismissed,
+crestfallen and heavy of heart. The check was final; he gave up that
+road to service; and began once more to hang about the square or on the
+terrace, filled with remorse and love, admirable and idiotic, a fit
+object for the scorn and envy of older men. In these idle hours, while
+he was courting fortune for a sight of the beloved, it fell out
+naturally that he should observe the manners and appearance of such as
+came about the house. One person alone was the occasional visitor of the
+young lady: a man of considerable stature and distinguished only by the
+doubtful ornament of a chin-beard in the style of an American deacon.
+Something in his appearance grated upon Harry; this distaste grew upon
+him in the course of days; and when at length he mustered courage to
+inquire of the Fair Cuban who this was, he was yet more dismayed by her
+reply.
+
+"That gentleman," said she, a smile struggling to her face, "that
+gentleman, I will not attempt to conceal from you, desires my hand in
+marriage, and presses me with the most respectful ardour. Alas, what am
+I to say? I, the forlorn Teresa, how shall I refuse or accept such
+protestations?"
+
+Harry feared to say more; a horrid pang of jealousy transfixed him; and
+he had scarce the strength of mind to take his leave with decency. In
+the solitude of his own chamber, he gave way to every manifestation of
+despair. He passionately adored the Senorita; but it was not only the
+thought of her possible union with another that distressed his soul, it
+was the indefeasible conviction that her suitor was unworthy. To a duke,
+a bishop, a victorious general, or any man adorned with obvious
+qualities, he had resigned her with a sort of bitter joy; he saw himself
+follow the wedding party from a great way off; he saw himself return to
+the poor house, then robbed of its jewel; and while he could have wept
+for his despair, he felt he could support it nobly. But this affair
+looked otherwise. The man was patently no gentleman; he had a startled,
+skulking, guilty bearing; his nails were black, his eyes evasive, his
+love perhaps was a pretext; he was perhaps, under this deep disguise, a
+Cuban emissary! Harry swore that he would satisfy these doubts; and the
+next evening, about the hour of the usual visit, he posted himself at a
+spot whence his eye commanded the three issues of the square.
+
+Presently after, a four-wheeler rumbled to the door; and the man with
+the chin-beard alighted, paid off the cabman, and was seen by Harry to
+enter the house with a brown box hoisted on his back. Half an hour
+later, he came forth again without the box, and struck eastward at a
+rapid walk; and Desborough, with the same skill and caution that he had
+displayed in following Teresa, proceeded to dog the steps of her
+admirer. The man began to loiter, studying with apparent interest the
+wares of the small fruiterer or tobacconist; twice he returned hurriedly
+upon his former course; and then, as though he had suddenly conquered a
+moment's hesitation, once more set forth with resolute and swift steps
+in the direction of Lincoln's Inn. At length, in a deserted by-street,
+he turned; and coming up to Harry with a countenance which seemed to
+have become older and whiter, inquired with some severity of speech if
+he had not had the pleasure of seeing the gentleman before.
+
+"You have, sir," said Harry, somewhat abashed, but with a good show of
+stoutness; "and I will not deny that I was following you on purpose.
+Doubtless," he added, for he supposed that all men's minds must still be
+running on Teresa, "you can divine my reason."
+
+At these words, the man with the chin-beard was seized with a palsied
+tremor. He seemed, for some seconds, to seek the utterance which his
+fear denied him; and then, whipping sharply about, he took to his heels
+at the most furious speed of running.
+
+Harry was at first so taken aback that he neglected to pursue; and by
+the time he had recovered his wits, his best expedition was only
+rewarded by a glimpse of the man with the chin-beard mounting into a
+hansom, which immediately after disappeared into the moving crowds of
+Holborn.
+
+Puzzled and dismayed by this unusual behaviour, Harry returned to the
+house in Queen Square, and ventured for the first time to knock at the
+fair Cuban's door. She bade him enter, and he found her kneeling with
+rather a disconsolate air beside a brown wooden trunk.
+
+"Senorita," he broke out, "I doubt whether that man's character is what
+he wishes you to believe. His manner, when he found, and indeed when I
+admitted, that I was following him, was not the manner of an honest
+man."
+
+"Oh!" she cried, throwing up her hands as in desperation, "Don Quixote,
+Don Quixote, have you again been tilting against windmills?" And then,
+with a laugh, "Poor soul!" she added, "how you must have terrified him!
+For know that the Cuban authorities are here, and your poor Teresa may
+soon be hunted down. Even yon humble clerk from my solicitor's office
+may find himself at any moment the quarry of armed spies."
+
+"A humble clerk!" cried Harry, "why, you told me yourself that he wished
+to marry you!"
+
+"I thought you English like what you call a joke," replied the lady
+calmly. "As a matter of fact he is my lawyer's clerk, and has been here
+to-night charged with disastrous news. I am in sore straits, Senor
+Harry. Will you help me?"
+
+At this most welcome word, the young man's heart exulted; and in the
+hope, pride, and self-esteem, that kindled with the very thought of
+service, he forgot to dwell upon the lady's jest. "Can you ask?" he
+cried. "What is there that I can do? Only tell me that."
+
+With signs of an emotion that was certainly unfeigned, the Fair Cuban
+laid her hand upon the box. "This box," she said, "contains my jewels,
+papers, and clothes; all, in a word, that still connects me with Cuba
+and my dreadful past. They must now be smuggled out of England; or, by
+the opinion of my lawyer, I am lost beyond remedy. To-morrow, on board
+the Irish packet, a sure hand awaits the box; the problem still unsolved
+is to find some one to carry it as far as Holyhead, to see it placed on
+board the steamer, and instantly return to town. Will you be he? Will
+you leave to-morrow by the first train, punctually obey orders, bear
+still in mind that you are surrounded by Cuban spies; and without so
+much as a look behind you, or a single movement to betray your interest,
+leave the box where you have put it and come straight on shore? Will
+you do this, and so save your friend?"
+
+"I do not clearly understand ..." began Harry.
+
+"No more do I," replied the Cuban. "It is not necessary that we should,
+so long as we obey the lawyer's orders."
+
+"Senorita," returned Harry gravely, "I think this, of course, a very
+little thing to do for you, when I would willingly do all. But suffer me
+to say one word. If London is unsafe for your treasures, it cannot long
+be safe for you; and indeed, if I at all fathom the plan of your
+solicitor, I fear I may find you already fled on my return. I am not
+considered clever, and can only speak out plainly what is in my heart:
+that I love you, and that I cannot bear to lose all knowledge of you. I
+hope no more than to be your servant; I ask no more than just that I
+shall hear of you. Oh, promise me so much!"
+
+"You shall," she said, after a pause. "I promise you, you shall." But
+though she spoke with earnestness, the marks of great embarrassment and
+a strong conflict of emotions appeared upon her face.
+
+"I wish to tell you," resumed Desborough, "in case of accidents...."
+
+"Accidents!" she cried: "why do you say that?"
+
+"I do not know," said he, "you may be gone before my return, and we may
+not meet again for long. And so I wished you to know this: That since
+the day you gave me the cigarette, you have never once, not once, been
+absent from my mind; and if it will in any way serve you, you may
+crumple me up like that piece of paper, and throw me on the fire. I
+would love to die for you."
+
+"Go!" she said, "Go now at once! My brain is in a whirl. I scarce know
+what we are talking. Go; and good-night; and oh, may you come safe!"
+
+Once back in his own room a fearful joy possessed the young man's mind;
+and as he recalled her face struck suddenly white and the broken
+utterance of her last words, his heart at once exulted and misgave him.
+Love had indeed looked upon him with a tragic mask; and yet what
+mattered, since at least it was love--since at least she was commoved at
+their division? He got to bed with these parti-coloured thoughts; passed
+from one dream to another all night long, the white face of Teresa still
+haunting him, wrung with unspoken thoughts; and, in the grey of the
+dawn, leaped suddenly out of bed, in a kind of horror. It was already
+time for him to rise. He dressed, made his breakfast on cold food that
+had been laid for him the night before; and went down to the room of his
+idol for the box. The door was open; a strange disorder reigned within;
+the furniture all pushed aside, and the centre of the room left bare of
+impediment, as though for the pacing of a creature with a tortured mind.
+There lay the box, however, and upon the lid a paper with these words:
+"Harry, I hope to be back before you go. Teresa."
+
+He sat down to wait, laying his watch before him on the table. She had
+called him Harry: that should be enough, he thought, to fill the day
+with sunshine; and yet somehow the sight of that disordered room still
+poisoned his enjoyment. The door of the bedchamber stood gaping open;
+and though he turned aside his eyes as from a sacrilege, he could not
+but observe the bed had not been slept in. He was still pondering what
+this should mean, still trying to convince himself that all was well,
+when the moving needle of his watch summoned him to set forth without
+delay. He was before all things a man of his word; ran round to
+Southampton Row to fetch a cab; and, taking the box on the front seat,
+drove off towards the terminus.
+
+The streets were scarcely awake; there was little to amuse the eye; and
+the young man's attention centred on the dumb companion of his drive. A
+card was nailed upon one side, bearing the superscription: "Miss Doolan,
+passenger to Dublin. Glass. With care." He thought with a sentimental
+shock that the fair idol of his heart was perhaps driven to adopt the
+name of Doolan; and, as he still studied the card, he was aware of a
+deadly black depression settling steadily upon his spirits. It was in
+vain for him to contend against the tide; in vain that he shook himself
+or tried to whistle: the sense of some impending blow was not to be
+averted. He looked out; in the long, empty streets, the cab pursued its
+way without a trace of any follower. He gave ear; and over and above the
+jolting of the wheels upon the road, he was conscious of a certain
+regular and quiet sound that seemed to issue from the box. He put his
+ear to the cover; at one moment, he seemed to perceive a delicate
+ticking; the next, the sound was gone, nor could his closest hearkening
+recapture it. He laughed at himself; but still the gloom continued; and
+it was with more than the common relief of an arrival, that he leaped
+from the cab before the station.
+
+Probably enough on purpose, Teresa had named an hour some thirty minutes
+earlier than needful; and when Harry had given the box into the charge
+of a porter, who set it on a truck, he proceeded briskly to pace the
+platform. Presently the bookstall opened; and the young man was looking
+at the books when he was seized by the arm. He turned and, though she
+was closely veiled, at once recognised the Fair Cuban.
+
+"Where is it?" she asked; and the sound of her voice surprised him.
+
+"It?" he said. "What?"
+
+"The box. Have it put on a cab instantly. I am in fearful haste."
+
+He hurried to obey, marvelling at these changes, but not daring to
+trouble her with questions; and when the cab had been brought round, and
+the box mounted on the front, she passed a little way off upon the
+pavement and beckoned him to follow.
+
+"Now," said she, still in those mechanical and hushed tones that had at
+first affected him, "you must go on to Holyhead alone; go on board the
+steamer; and if you see a man in tartan trousers and a pink scarf, say
+to him that all has been put off: if not," she added, with a sobbing
+sigh, "it does not matter. So, good-bye."
+
+"Teresa," said Harry, "get into your cab, and I will go along with you.
+You are in some distress, perhaps some danger; and till I know the
+whole, not even you can make me leave you."
+
+"You will not?" she asked. "Oh, Harry, it were better!"
+
+"I will not," said Harry stoutly.
+
+She looked at him for a moment through her veil; took his hand suddenly
+and sharply, but more as if in fear than tenderness; and, still holding
+him, walked to the cab-door.
+
+"Where are we to drive?" asked Harry.
+
+"Home, quickly," she answered; "double fare!" And as soon as they had
+both mounted to their places, the vehicle crazily trundled from the
+station.
+
+Teresa leaned back in a corner. The whole way Harry could perceive her
+tears to flow under her veil; but she vouchsafed no explanation. At the
+door of the house in Queen Square, both alighted; and the cabman lowered
+the box, which Harry, glad to display his strength, received upon his
+shoulders.
+
+"Let the man take it," she whispered. "Let the man take it."
+
+"I will do no such thing," said Harry cheerfully; and having paid the
+fare, he followed Teresa through the door which she had opened with her
+key. The landlady and maid were gone upon their morning errands; the
+house was empty and still; and as the rattling of the cab died away down
+Gloucester Street, and Harry continued to ascend the stair with his
+burthen, he heard close against his shoulders the same faint and muffled
+ticking as before. The lady, still preceding him, opened the door of her
+room, and helped him to lower the box tenderly in the corner by the
+window.
+
+"And now," said Harry, "what is wrong?"
+
+"You will not go away?" she cried, with a sudden break in her voice and
+beating her hands together in the very agony of impatience. "Oh, Harry,
+Harry, go away! Oh, go, and leave me to the fate that I deserve!"
+
+"The fate?" repeated Harry. "What is this?"
+
+"No fate," she resumed. "I do not know what I am saying. But I wish to
+be alone. You may come back this evening, Harry; come again when you
+like; but leave me now, only leave me now!" And then suddenly, "I have
+an errand," she exclaimed; "you cannot refuse me that!"
+
+"No," replied Harry, "you have no errand. You are in grief or danger.
+Lift your veil and tell me what it is."
+
+"Then," she said, with a sudden composure, "you leave but one course
+open to me." And raising the veil, she showed him a countenance from
+which every trace of colour had fled, eyes marred with weeping, and a
+brow on which resolve had conquered fear. "Harry," she began, "I am not
+what I seem."
+
+"You have told me that before," said Harry, "several times."
+
+"Oh, Harry, Harry," she cried, "how you shame me! But this is the God's
+truth. I am a dangerous and wicked girl. My name is Clara Luxmore. I was
+never nearer Cuba than Penzance. From first to last I have cheated and
+played with you. And what I am I dare not even name to you in words.
+Indeed, until to-day, until the sleepless watches of last night, I never
+grasped the depth and foulness of my guilt."
+
+The young man looked upon her aghast. Then a generous current poured
+along his veins. "That is all one," he said. "If you be all you say, you
+have the greater need of me."
+
+"Is it possible," she exclaimed, "that I have schemed in vain? And will
+nothing drive you from this house of death?"
+
+"Of death?" he echoed.
+
+"Death!" she cried: "death! In that box which you have dragged about
+London and carried on your defenceless shoulders, sleep, at the
+trigger's mercy, the destroying energies of dynamite."
+
+"My God!" cried Harry.
+
+"Ah!" she continued wildly, "will you flee now? At any moment you may
+hear the click that sounds the ruin of this building. I was sure M'Guire
+was wrong; this morning, before day, I flew to Zero; he confirmed my
+fears; I beheld you, my beloved Harry, fall a victim to my own
+contrivances. I knew then I loved you--Harry, will you go now? Will you
+not spare me this unwilling crime?"
+
+Harry remained speechless, his eyes fixed upon the box: at last he
+turned to her.
+
+"Is it," he asked hoarsely, "an infernal machine?"
+
+Her lips formed the word "yes"; which her voice refused to utter.
+
+With fearful curiosity, he drew near and bent above the box; in that
+still chamber, the ticking was distinctly audible; and at the measured
+sound, the blood flowed back upon his heart.
+
+"For whom?" he asked.
+
+"What matters it?" she cried, seizing him by the arm. "If you may still
+be saved, what matter questions?"
+
+"God in Heaven!" cried Harry. "And the Children's Hospital! At whatever
+cost, this damned contrivance must be stopped!"
+
+"It cannot," she gasped. "The power of man cannot avert the blow. But
+you, Harry--you, my beloved--you may still----"
+
+And then from the box that lay so quietly in the corner, a sudden catch
+was audible, like the catch of a clock before it strikes the hour. For
+one second, the two stared at each other with lifted brows and stony
+eyes. Then Harry, throwing one arm over his face, with the other
+clutched the girl to his breast and staggered against the wall.
+
+A dull and startling thud resounded through the room; their eyes blinked
+against the coming horror; and still clinging together like drowning
+people, they fell to the floor. Then followed a prolonged and strident
+hissing as from the indignant pit; an offensive stench seized them by
+the throat; the room was filled with dense and choking fumes.
+
+Presently these began a little to disperse: and when at length they drew
+themselves, all limp and shaken, to a sitting posture, the first object
+that greeted their vision was the box reposing uninjured in its corner,
+but still leaking little wreaths of vapour round the lid.
+
+"Oh, poor Zero!" cried the girl with a strange sobbing laugh. "Alas,
+poor Zero! This will break his heart!"
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_concluded_)
+
+
+Somerset ran straight upstairs; the door of the drawing-room, contrary
+to all custom, was unlocked; and, bursting in, the young man found Zero
+seated on a sofa in an attitude of singular dejection. Close beside him
+stood an untasted grog, the mark of strong preoccupation. The room
+besides was in confusion: boxes had been tumbled to and fro; the floor
+was strewn with keys and other implements; and in the midst of this
+disorder lay a lady's glove.
+
+"I have come," cried Somerset, "to make an end of this. Either you will
+instantly abandon all your schemes, or (cost what it may) I will
+denounce you to the police."
+
+"Ah!" replied Zero, slowly shaking his head. "You are too late, dear
+fellow! I am already at the end of all my hopes and fallen to be a
+laughing-stock and mockery. My reading," he added, with a gentle
+despondency of manner, "has not been much among romances; yet I recall
+from one a phrase that depicts my present state with critical
+exactitude; and you behold me sitting here 'like a burst drum.'"
+
+"What has befallen you?" cried Somerset.
+
+"My last batch," retorted the plotter wearily, "like all the others, is
+a hollow mockery and a fraud. In vain do I combine the elements; in vain
+adjust the springs; and I have now arrived at such a pitch of
+disconsideration that (except yourself, dear fellow) I do not know a
+soul that I can face. My subordinates themselves have turned upon me.
+What language have I heard to-day, what illiberality of sentiment, what
+pungency of expression! She came once; I could have pardoned that, for
+she was moved; but she returned, returned to announce to me this
+crushing blow; and, Somerset, she was very inhumane. Yes, dear fellow, I
+have drunk a bitter cup; the speech of females is remarkable for ...
+well, well! Denounce me, if you will; you but denounce the dead. I am
+extinct. It is strange how, at this supreme crisis of my life, I should
+be haunted by quotations from works of an inexact and even fanciful
+description; but here," he added, "is another: 'Othello's occupation's
+gone.' Yes, dear Somerset, it is gone; I am no more a dynamiter; and
+how, I ask you, after having tasted of these joys, am I to condescend to
+a less glorious life?"
+
+"I cannot describe how you relieve me," returned Somerset, sitting down
+on one of several boxes that had been drawn out into the middle of the
+floor. "I had conceived a sort of maudlin toleration for your character;
+I have a great distaste, besides, for anything in the nature of a duty;
+and upon both grounds, your news delights me. But I seem to perceive,"
+he added, "a certain sound of ticking in this box."
+
+"Yes," replied Zero, with the same slow weariness of manner, "I have set
+several of them going."
+
+"My God!" cried Somerset, bounding to his feet. "Machines?"
+
+"Machines!" returned the plotter bitterly. "Machines indeed! I blush to
+be their author. Alas!" he said, burying his face in his hands, "that I
+should live to say it!"
+
+"Madman!" cried Somerset, shaking him by the arm. "What am I to
+understand? Have you, indeed, set these diabolical contrivances in
+motion? and do we stay here to be blown up?"
+
+"'Hoist with his own petard?'" returned the plotter musingly. "One more
+quotation: strange! But indeed my brain is struck with numbness. Yes,
+dear boy, I have, as you say, put my contrivances in motion. The one on
+which you are sitting, I have timed for half an hour. Yon other----"
+
+"Half an hour!" echoed Somerset, dancing with trepidation. "Merciful
+heavens, in half an hour?"
+
+"Dear fellow, why so much excitement?" inquired Zero. "My dynamite is
+not more dangerous than toffy; had I an only child, I would give it him
+to play with. You see this brick?" he continued, lifting a cake of the
+infernal compound from the laboratory-table. "At a touch it should
+explode, and that with such unconquerable energy as should bestrew the
+square with ruins. Well, now, behold! I dash it on the floor."
+
+Somerset sprang forward, and, with the strength of the very ecstasy of
+terror, wrested the brick from his possession. "Heavens!" he cried,
+wiping his brow; and then with more care than ever mother handled her
+first-born withal, gingerly transported the explosive to the far end of
+the apartment; the plotter, his arms once more fallen to his side,
+dispiritedly watching him.
+
+"It was entirely harmless," he sighed. "They describe it as burning like
+tobacco."
+
+"In the name of fortune," cried Somerset, "what have I done to you, or
+what have you done to yourself, that you should persist in this insane
+behaviour? If not for your own sake, then for mine, let us depart from
+this doomed house, where I profess I have not the heart to leave you;
+and then, if you will take my advice, and if your determination be
+sincere, you will instantly quit this city, where no further occupation
+can detain you."
+
+"Such, dear fellow, was my own design," replied the plotter. "I have, as
+you observe, no further business here; and once I have packed a little
+bag, I shall ask you to share a frugal meal, to go with me as far as to
+the station, and see the last of a broken-hearted man. And yet," he
+added, looking on the boxes with a lingering regret, "I should have
+liked to make quite certain. I cannot but suspect my underlings of some
+mismanagement; it may be fond, but yet I cherish that idea: it may be
+the weakness of a man of science, but yet," he cried, rising into some
+energy, "I will never, I cannot if I try, believe that my poor dynamite
+has had fair usage!"
+
+"Five minutes!" said Somerset, glancing with horror at the timepiece.
+"If you do not instantly buckle to your bag, I leave you."
+
+"A few necessaries," returned Zero, "only a few necessaries, dear
+Somerset, and you behold me ready."
+
+He passed into the bedroom, and after an interval which seemed to draw
+out into eternity for his unfortunate companion, he returned, bearing in
+his hand an open Gladstone bag. His movements were still horribly
+deliberate, and his eyes lingered gloatingly on his dear boxes, as he
+moved to and fro about the drawing-room, gathering a few small trifles.
+Last of all, he lifted one of the squares of dynamite.
+
+"Put that down!" cried Somerset. "If what you say be true, you have no
+call to load yourself with that ungodly contraband."
+
+"Merely a curiosity, dear boy," he said persuasively, and slipped the
+brick into his bag; "merely a memento of the past--ah, happy past,
+bright past! You will not take a touch of spirits? no? I find you very
+abstemious. Well," he added, "if you have really no curiosity to await
+the event----"
+
+"I!" cried Somerset. "My blood boils to get away."
+
+"Well, then," said Zero, "I am ready; I would I could say, willing; but
+thus to leave the scene of my sublime endeavours----"
+
+Without further parley, Somerset seized him by the arm, and dragged him
+downstairs; the hall-door shut with a clang on the deserted mansion; and
+still towing his laggardly companion, the young man sped across the
+square in the Oxford Street direction. They had not yet passed the
+corner of the garden, when they were arrested by a dull thud of an
+extraordinary amplitude of sound, accompanied and followed by a
+shattering _fracas_. Somerset turned in time to see the mansion rend in
+twain, vomit forth flames and smoke, and instantly collapse into its
+cellars. At the same moment, he was thrown violently to the ground. His
+first glance was towards Zero. The plotter had but reeled against the
+garden rail; he stood there, the Gladstone bag clasped tight upon his
+heart, his whole face radiant with relief and gratitude; and the young
+man heard him murmur to himself: "_Nunc dimittis, nunc dimittis!_"
+
+The consternation of the populace was indescribable: the whole of Golden
+Square was alive with men, women, and children, running wildly to and
+fro, and, like rabbits in a warren, dashing in and out of the house
+doors, and under favour of this confusion, Somerset dragged away the
+lingering plotter.
+
+"It was grand," he continued to murmur: "it was indescribably grand. Ah,
+green Erin, green Erin, what a day of glory! and, oh, my calumniated
+dynamite, how triumphantly hast thou prevailed!"
+
+Suddenly a shade crossed his face; and pausing in the middle of the
+footway, he consulted the dial of his watch.
+
+"Good God!" he cried, "how mortifying! seven minutes too early! The
+dynamite surpassed my hopes; but the clockwork, fickle clockwork, has
+once more betrayed me. Alas, can there be no success unmixed with
+failure? and must even this red-letter day be chequered by a shadow?"
+
+"Incomparable ass!" said Somerset, "what have you done? Blown up the
+house of an unoffending old lady, and the whole earthly property of the
+only person who is fool enough to befriend you!"
+
+"You do not understand these matters," replied Zero, with an air of
+great dignity. "This will shake England to the heart. Gladstone, the
+truculent old man, will quail before the pointing finger of revenge. And
+now that my dynamite is proved effective----"
+
+"Heavens, you remind me!" ejaculated Somerset. "That brick in your bag
+must be instantly disposed of. But how? If we could throw it in the
+river----"
+
+"A torpedo," cried Zero, brightening, "a torpedo in the Thames! Superb,
+dear fellow! I recognise in you the marks of an accomplished anarch."
+
+"True!" returned Somerset. "It cannot so be done; and there is no help
+but you must carry it away with you. Come on, then, and let me at once
+consign you to a train."
+
+"Nay, nay, dear boy," protested Zero. "There is now no call for me to
+leave. My character is now reinstated; my fame brightens; this is the
+best thing I have done yet; and I see from here the ovations that await
+the author of the Golden Square Atrocity."
+
+"My young friend," returned the other, "I give you your choice. I will
+either see you safe on board a train or safe in gaol."
+
+"Somerset, this is unlike you!" said the chemist. "You surprise me,
+Somerset."
+
+"I shall considerably more surprise you at the next police office,"
+returned Somerset, with something bordering on rage. "For on one point
+my mind is settled: either I see you packed off to America, brick and
+all, or else you dine in prison."
+
+"You have perhaps neglected one point," returned the unoffended Zero:
+"for, speaking as a philosopher, I fail to see what means you can employ
+to force me. The will, my dear fellow----"
+
+"Now, see here," interrupted Somerset. "You are ignorant of anything but
+science, which I can never regard as being truly knowledge; I, sir, have
+studied life; and allow me to inform you that I have but to raise my
+hand and voice--here in this street--and the mob----"
+
+"Good God in Heaven, Somerset," cried Zero, turning deadly white and
+stopping in his walk, "great God in Heaven, what words are these? Oh,
+not in jest, not even in jest, should they be used! The brutal mob, the
+savage passions.... Somerset, for God's sake, a public-house!"
+
+Somerset considered him with freshly awakened curiosity. "This is very
+interesting," said he. "You recoil from such a death?"
+
+"Who would not?" asked the plotter.
+
+"And to be blown up by dynamite," inquired the young man, "doubtless
+strikes you as a form of euthanasia?"
+
+"Pardon me," returned Zero: "I own, and, since I have braved it daily in
+my professional career, I own it even with pride: it is a death
+unusually distasteful to the mind of man."
+
+"One more question," said Somerset; "you object to Lynch Law? why?"
+
+"It is assassination," said the plotter calmly; but with eyebrows a
+little lifted, as in wonder at the question.
+
+"Shake hands with me," cried Somerset. "Thank God, I have now no
+ill-feeling left; and though you cannot conceive how I burn to see you
+on the gallows, I can quite contentedly assist at your departure."
+
+"I do not very clearly take your meaning," said Zero, "but I am sure you
+mean kindly. As to my departure, there is another point to be
+considered. I have neglected to supply myself with funds; my little all
+has perished in what history will love to relate under the name of the
+Golden Square Atrocity; and without what is coarsely if vigorously
+called stamps, you must be well aware it is impossible for me to pass
+the ocean."
+
+"For me," said Somerset, "you have now ceased to be a man. You have no
+more claim upon me than a door-scraper; but the touching confusion of
+your mind disarms me from extremities. Until to-day, I always thought
+stupidity was funny; I now know otherwise; and when I look upon your
+idiot face, laughter rises within me like a deadly sickness, and the
+tears spring up into my eyes as bitter as blood. What should this
+portend? I begin to doubt; I am losing faith in scepticism. Is it
+possible," he cried, in a kind of horror of himself--"is it conceivable
+that I believe in right and wrong? Already I have found myself, with
+incredulous surprise, to be the victim of a prejudice of personal
+honour. And must this change proceed? Have you robbed me of my youth?
+Must I fall, at my time of life, into the Common Banker? But why should
+I address that head of wood? Let this suffice. I dare not let you stay
+among women and children; I lack the courage to denounce you, if by any
+means I may avoid it; you have no money; well then, take mine, and go;
+and if ever I behold your face after to-day, that day will be your
+last."
+
+"Under the circumstances," replied Zero, "I scarce see my way to refuse
+your offer. Your expressions may pain, they cannot surprise me; I am
+aware our point of view requires a little training, a little moral
+hygiene, if I may so express it; and one of the points that has always
+charmed me in your character is this delightful frankness. As for the
+small advance, it shall be remitted you from Philadelphia."
+
+"It shall not," said Somerset.
+
+"Dear fellow, you do not understand," returned the plotter. "I shall now
+be received with fresh confidence by my superiors; and my experiments
+will be no longer hampered by pitiful conditions of the purse."
+
+"What I am now about, sir, is a crime," replied Somerset; "and were you
+to roll in wealth like Vanderbilt, I should scorn to be reimbursed of
+money I had so scandalously misapplied. Take it, and keep it. By George,
+sir, three days of you have transformed me to an ancient Roman."
+
+With these words, Somerset hailed a passing hansom; and the pair were
+driven rapidly to the railway terminus. There, an oath having been
+extracted, the money changed hands.
+
+"And now," said Somerset, "I have bought back my honour with every penny
+I possess. And I thank God, though there is nothing before me but
+starvation, I am free from all entanglement with Mr. Zero Pumpernickel
+Jones."
+
+"To starve?" cried Zero. "Dear fellow, I cannot endure the thought."
+
+"Take your ticket!" returned Somerset.
+
+"I think you display temper," said Zero.
+
+"Take your ticket," reiterated the young man.
+
+"Well," said the plotter, as he returned, ticket in hand, "your attitude
+is so strange and painful, that I scarce know if I should ask you to
+shake hands."
+
+"As a man, no," replied Somerset; "but I have no objection to shake
+hands with you, as I might with a pump-well that ran poison or
+hell-fire."
+
+"This is a very cold parting," sighed the dynamiter; and still followed
+by Somerset, he began to descend the platform. This was now bustling
+with passengers; the train for Liverpool was just about to start,
+another had but recently arrived; and the double tide made movement
+difficult. As the pair reached the neighbourhood of the bookstall,
+however, they came into an open space; and here the attention of the
+plotter was attracted by a Standard broadside bearing the words: "Second
+Edition: Explosion in Golden Square." His eye lighted; groping in his
+pocket for the necessary coin, he sprang forward--his bag knocked
+sharply on the corner of the stall--and instantly, with a formidable
+report, the dynamite exploded. When the smoke cleared away the stall was
+seen much shattered, and the stall-keeper running forth in terror from
+the ruins; but of the Irish patriot or the Gladstone bag no adequate
+remains were to be found.
+
+In the first scramble of the alarm, Somerset made good his escape, and
+came out upon the Euston Road, his head spinning, his body sick with
+hunger, and his pockets destitute of coin. Yet as he continued to walk
+the pavements, he wondered to find in his heart a sort of peaceful
+exultation, a great content, a sense, as it were, of divine presence and
+the kindliness of fate; and he was able to tell himself that even if
+the worst befell, he could now starve with a certain comfort since Zero
+was expunged.
+
+Late in the afternoon he found himself at the door of Mr. Godall's shop;
+and being quite unmanned by his long fast, and scarce considering what
+he did, he opened the glass door and entered.
+
+"Ha!" said Mr. Godall, "Mr. Somerset! Well, have you met with an
+adventure? Have you the promised story? Sit down, if you please; suffer
+me to choose you a cigar of my own special brand; and reward me with a
+narrative in your best style."
+
+"I must not take a cigar," said Somerset.
+
+"Indeed!" said Mr. Godall. "But now I come to look at you more closely,
+I perceive that you are changed. My poor boy, I hope there is nothing
+wrong?"
+
+Somerset burst into tears.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN
+
+
+On a certain day of lashing rain in the December of last year, and
+between the hours of nine and ten in the morning, Mr. Edward Challoner
+pioneered himself under an umbrella to the door of the Cigar Divan in
+Rupert Street. It was a place he had visited but once before: the memory
+of what had followed on that visit and the fear of Somerset having
+prevented his return. Even now, he looked in before he entered; but the
+shop was free of customers.
+
+The young man behind the counter was so intently writing in a penny
+version-book, that he paid no heed to Challoner's arrival. On a second
+glance, it seemed to the latter that he recognised him.
+
+"By Jove," he thought, "unquestionably Somerset!"
+
+And though this was the very man he had been so sedulously careful to
+avoid, his unexplained position at the receipt of custom changed
+distaste to curiosity.
+
+"'Or opulent rotunda strike the sky,'" said the shopman to himself, in
+the tone of one considering a verse. "I suppose it would be too much to
+say 'orotunda,' and yet how noble it were! 'Or opulent orotunda strike
+the sky.' But that is the bitterness of arts; you see a good effect, and
+some nonsense about sense continually intervenes."
+
+"Somerset, my dear fellow," said Challoner, "is this a masquerade?"
+
+"What? Challoner!" cried the shopman. "I am delighted to see you. One
+moment, till I finish the octave of my sonnet: only the octave." And
+with a friendly waggle of the hand, he once more buried himself in the
+commerce of the Muses. "I say," he said presently, looking up, "you seem
+in wonderful preservation: how about the hundred pounds?"
+
+"I have made a small inheritance from a great aunt in Wales," replied
+Challoner modestly.
+
+"Ah," said Somerset, "I very much doubt the legitimacy of inheritance.
+The State, in my view, should collar it. I am now going through a stage
+of socialism and poetry," he added apologetically, as one who spoke of a
+course of medicinal waters.
+
+"And are you really the person of the--establishment?" inquired
+Challoner, deftly evading the word "shop."
+
+"A vendor, sir, a vendor," returned the other, pocketing his poesy. "I
+help old Happy and Glorious. Can I offer you a weed?"
+
+"Well, I scarcely like ..." began Challoner.
+
+"Nonsense, my dear fellow," cried the shopman. "We are very proud of the
+business; and the old man, let me inform you, besides being the most
+egregious of created beings from the point of view of ethics, is
+literally sprung from the loins of kings. '_De Godall je suis le
+fervent._' There is only one Godall.--By the way," he added, as
+Challoner lit his cigar, "how did you get on with the detective trade?"
+
+"I did not try," said Challoner curtly.
+
+"Ah, well, I did," returned Somerset, "and made the most incomparable
+mess of it; lost all my money and fairly covered myself with odium and
+ridicule. There is more in that business, Challoner, than meets the eye;
+there is more, in fact, in all businesses. You must believe in them, or
+get up the belief that you believe. Hence," he added, "the recognised
+inferiority of the plumber, for no one could believe in plumbing."
+
+"_A propos_," asked Challoner, "do you still paint?"
+
+"Not now," replied Paul; "but I think of taking up the violin."
+
+Challoner's eye, which had been somewhat restless since the trade of the
+detective had been named, now rested for a moment on the columns of the
+morning paper, where it lay spread upon the counter.
+
+"By Jove," he cried, "that's odd!"
+
+"What is odd?" asked Paul.
+
+"Oh, nothing," returned the other: "only I once met a person called
+M'Guire."
+
+"So did I!" cried Somerset. "Is there anything about him?"
+
+Challoner read as follows: "_Mysterious death in Stepney._ An inquest
+was held yesterday on the body of Patrick M'Guire, described as a
+carpenter. Dr. Dovering stated that he had for some time treated the
+deceased as a dispensary patient, for sleeplessness, loss of appetite,
+and nervous depression. There was no cause of death to be found. He
+would say the deceased had sunk. Deceased was not a temperate man, which
+doubtless accelerated death. Deceased complained of dumb ague, but
+witness had never been able to detect any positive disease. He did not
+know that he had any family. He regarded him as a person of unsound
+intellect, who believed himself a member and the victim of some secret
+society. If he were to hazard an opinion, he would say deceased had died
+of fear."
+
+"And the doctor would be right," cried Somerset; "and my dear Challoner,
+I am so relieved to hear of his demise, that I will----. Well, after
+all," he added, "poor devil, he was well served."
+
+The door at this moment opened, and Desborough appeared upon the
+threshold. He was wrapped in a long waterproof, imperfectly supplied
+with buttons; his boots were full of water, his hat greasy with service;
+and yet he wore the air of one exceeding well content with life. He was
+hailed by the two others with exclamations of surprise and welcome.
+
+"And did you try the detective business?" inquired Paul.
+
+"No," returned Harry. "Oh yes, by the way, I did though: twice, and got
+caught out both times. But I thought I should find my--my wife here?" he
+added, with a kind of proud confusion.
+
+"What? are you married?" cried Somerset.
+
+"Oh yes," said Harry, "quite a long time: a month at least."
+
+"Money?" asked Challoner.
+
+"That's the worst of it," Desborough admitted. "We are deadly hard up.
+But the Pri--Mr. Godall is going to do something for us. That is what
+brings us here."
+
+"Who was Mrs. Desborough?" said Challoner, in the tone of a man of
+society.
+
+"She was a Miss Luxmore," returned Harry. "You fellows will be sure to
+like her, for she is much cleverer than I. She tells wonderful stories,
+too; better than a book."
+
+And just then the door opened, and Mrs. Desborough entered. Somerset
+cried out aloud to recognise the young lady of the Superfluous Mansion,
+and Challoner fell back a step and dropped his cigar as he beheld the
+sorceress of Chelsea.
+
+"What!" cried Harry, "do you both know my wife?"
+
+"I believe I have seen her," said Somerset, a little wildly.
+
+"I think I have met the gentleman," said Mrs. Desborough sweetly; "but I
+cannot imagine where it was."
+
+"Oh no," cried Somerset fervently; "I have no notion--I cannot
+conceive--where it could have been. Indeed," he continued, growing in
+emphasis, "I think it highly probable that it's a mistake."
+
+"And you, Challoner?" asked Harry, "you seemed to recognise her, too."
+
+"These are both friends of yours, Harry?" said the lady. "Delighted, I
+am sure. I do not remember to have met Mr. Challoner."
+
+Challoner was very red in the face, perhaps from having groped after his
+cigar. "I do not remember to have had the pleasure," he responded
+huskily.
+
+"Well, and Mr. Godall?" asked Mrs. Desborough.
+
+"Are you the lady that has an appointment with old ..." began Somerset,
+and paused, blushing. "Because if so," he resumed, "I was to announce
+you at once."
+
+And the shopman raised a curtain, opened a door, and passed into a small
+pavilion which had been added to the back of the house. On the roof, the
+rain resounded musically. The walls were lined with maps and prints and
+a few works of reference. Upon a table was a large-scale map of Egypt
+and the Soudan, and another of Tonkin, on which, by the aid of coloured
+pins, the progress of the different wars was being followed day by day.
+A light, refreshing odour of the most delicate tobacco hung upon the
+air; and a fire, not of foul coal, but of clear-flaming resinous
+billets, chattered upon silver dogs. In this elegant and plain
+apartment, Mr. Godall sat in a morning muse, placidly gazing at the fire
+and hearkening to the rain upon the roof.
+
+"Ha, my dear Mr. Somerset," said he, "and have you since last night
+adopted any fresh political principle?"
+
+"The lady, sir," said Somerset, with another blush.
+
+"You have seen her, I believe?" returned Mr. Godall; and on Somerset's
+replying in the affirmative: "You will excuse me, my dear sir," he
+resumed, "if I offer you a hint. I think it not improbable this lady may
+desire entirely to forget the past. From one gentleman to another, no
+more words are necessary."
+
+A moment after, he had received Mrs. Desborough with that grave and
+touching urbanity that so well became him.
+
+"I am pleased, madam, to welcome you to my poor house," he said; "and
+shall be still more so, if what were else a barren courtesy and a
+pleasure personal to myself, shall prove to be of serious benefit to you
+and Mr. Desborough."
+
+"Your highness," replied Clara, "I must begin with thanks; it is like
+what I have heard of you, that you should thus take up the case of the
+unfortunate; and as for my Harry, he is worthy of all that you can do."
+She paused.
+
+"But for yourself?" suggested Mr. Godall--"it was thus you were about to
+continue, I believe."
+
+"You take the words out of my mouth," she said. "For myself, it is
+different."
+
+"I am not here to be a judge of men," replied the prince; "still less of
+women. I am now a private person like yourself and many million others;
+but I am one who still fights upon the side of quiet. Now, madam, you
+know better than I, and God better than you, what you have done to
+mankind in the past; I pause not to inquire; it is with the future I
+concern myself, it is for the future I demand security. I would not
+willingly put arms into the hands of a disloyal combatant; and I dare
+not restore to wealth one of the levyers of a private and a barbarous
+war. I speak with some severity, and yet I pick my terms. I tell myself
+continually that you are a woman; and a voice continually reminds me of
+the children whose lives and limbs you have endangered. A woman," he
+repeated solemnly--"and children. Possibly, madam, when you are yourself
+a mother, you will feel the bite of that antithesis: possibly when you
+kneel at night beside a cradle, a fear will fall upon you, heavier than
+any shame; and when your child lies in the pain and danger of disease,
+you shall hesitate to kneel before your Maker."
+
+"You look at the fault," she said, "and not at the excuse. Has your own
+heart never leaped within you at some story of oppression? But, alas,
+no! for you were born upon a throne."
+
+"I was born of woman," said the prince; "I came forth from my mother's
+agony, helpless as a wren, like other nurselings. This, which you
+forgot, I have still faithfully remembered. Is it not one of your
+English poets, that looked abroad upon the earth and saw vast
+circumvallations, innumerable troops manoeuvring, warships at sea, and a
+great dust of battles on shore; and, casting anxiously about for what
+should be the cause of so many and painful preparations, spied at last,
+in the centre of all, a mother and her babe? These, madam, are my
+politics; and the verses, which are by Mr. Coventry Patmore, I have
+caused to be translated into the Bohemian tongue. Yes, these are my
+politics: to change what we can, to better what we can; but still to
+bear in mind that man is but a devil weakly fettered by some generous
+beliefs and impositions; and for no word however nobly sounding, and no
+cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture of these bonds."
+
+There was a silence of a moment.
+
+"I fear, madam," resumed the prince, "that I but weary you. My views are
+formal like myself; and like myself, they also begin to grow old. But I
+must still trouble you for some reply."
+
+"I can say but one thing," said Mrs. Desborough: "I love my husband."
+
+"It is a good answer," returned the prince; "and you name a good
+influence, but one that need not be conterminous with life."
+
+"I will not play at pride with such a man as you," she answered. "What
+do you ask of me? not protestations, I am sure. What shall I say? I have
+done much that I cannot defend and that I would not do again. Can I say
+more? Yes: I can say this: I never abused myself with the muddle-headed
+fairy tales of politics. I was at least prepared to meet reprisals.
+While I was levying war myself--or levying murder, if you choose the
+plainer term--I never accused my adversaries of assassination. I never
+felt or feigned a righteous horror, when a price was put upon my life by
+those whom I attacked. I never called the policeman a hireling. I may
+have been a criminal, in short; but I never was a fool."
+
+"Enough, madam," returned the prince: "more than enough! Your words are
+most reviving to my spirits; for in this age, when even the assassin is
+a sentimentalist, there is no virtue greater in my eyes than
+intellectual clarity. Suffer me then to ask you to retire; for by the
+signal of that bell, I perceive my old friend, your mother, to be close
+at hand. With her I promise you to do my utmost."
+
+And as Mrs. Desborough returned to the Divan, the prince, opening a door
+upon the other side, admitted Mrs. Luxmore.
+
+"Madam, and my very good friend," said he, "is my face so much changed
+that you no longer recognise Prince Florizel in Mr. Godall?"
+
+"To be sure!" she cried, looking at him through her glasses. "I have
+always regarded your highness as a perfect man; and in your altered
+circumstances, of which I have already heard with deep regret, I will
+beg you to consider my respect increased instead of lessened."
+
+"I have found it so," returned the prince, "with every class of my
+acquaintance. But, madam, I pray you to be seated. My business is of a
+delicate order, and regards your daughter."
+
+"In that case," said Mrs. Luxmore, "you may save yourself the trouble of
+speaking, for I have fully made up my mind to have nothing to do with
+her. I will not hear one word in her defence; but as I value nothing so
+particularly as the virtue of justice, I think it my duty to explain to
+you the grounds of my complaint. She deserted me, her natural protector;
+for years she has consorted with the most disreputable persons; and, to
+fill the cup of her offence, she has recently married. I refuse to see
+her, or the being to whom she has linked herself. One hundred and twenty
+pounds a year, I have always offered her: I offer it again. It is what I
+had myself when I was her age."
+
+"Very well, madam," said the prince; "and be that so! But to touch upon
+another matter: what was the income of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe?"
+
+"My father?" asked the spirited old lady. "I believe he had seven
+hundred pounds in the year."
+
+
+"You were one, I think, of several?" pursued the prince.
+
+"Of four," was the reply. "We were four daughters; and, painful as the
+admission is to make, a more detestable family could scarce be found in
+England."
+
+"Dear me!" said the prince. "And you, madam, have an income of eight
+thousand?"
+
+"Not more than five," returned the old lady; "but where on earth are you
+conducting me?"
+
+"To an allowance of one thousand pounds a year," replied Florizel,
+smiling. "For I must not suffer you to take your father for a rule. He
+was poor, you are rich. He had many calls upon his poverty: there are
+none upon your wealth. And indeed, madam, if you will let me touch this
+matter with a needle, there is but one point in common to your two
+positions: that each had a daughter more remarkable for liveliness than
+duty."
+
+"I have been entrapped into this house," said the old lady, getting to
+her feet. "But it shall not avail. Not all the tobacconists in
+Europe...."
+
+"Ah, madam," interrupted Florizel, "before what is referred to as my
+fall, you had not used such language! And since you so much object to
+the simple industry by which I live, let me give you a friendly hint. If
+you will not consent to support your daughter, I shall be constrained to
+place that lady behind my counter, where I doubt not she would prove a
+great attraction; and your son-in-law shall have a livery and run the
+errands. With such young blood my business might be doubled, and I might
+be bound, in common gratitude, to place the name of Luxmore beside that
+of Godall."
+
+"Your highness," said the old lady, "I have been very rude, and you are
+very cunning. I suppose the minx is on the premises. Produce her."
+
+"Let us rather observe them unperceived," said the prince; and so saying
+he rose and quietly drew back the curtain.
+
+Mrs. Desborough sat with her back to them on a chair; Somerset and Harry
+were hanging on her words with extraordinary interest; Challoner,
+alleging some affair, had long ago withdrawn from the detested
+neighbourhood of the enchantress.
+
+"At that moment," Mrs. Desborough was saying, "Mr. Gladstone detected
+the features of his cowardly assailant. A cry rose to his lips: a cry of
+mingled triumph...."
+
+"That is Mr. Somerset!" interrupted the spirited old lady, in the
+highest note of her register. "Mr. Somerset, what have you done with my
+house-property?"
+
+"Madam," said the prince, "let it be mine to give the explanation; and
+in the meanwhile, welcome your daughter."
+
+"Well, Clara, how do you do?" said Mrs. Luxmore. "It appears I am to
+give you an allowance. So much the better for you. As for Mr. Somerset,
+I am very ready to have an explanation; for the whole affair, though
+costly, was eminently humorous. And at any rate," she added, nodding to
+Paul, "he is a young gentleman for whom I have a great affection, and
+his pictures were the funniest I ever saw."
+
+"I have ordered a collation," said the prince. "Mr. Somerset, as these
+are all your friends, I propose, if you please, that you should join
+them at table. I will take the shop."
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
+
+
+  _TO
+  KATHARINE DE MATTOS_
+
+  _It's ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind;
+  Still will we be the children of the heather and the wind.
+  Far away from home, O it's still for you and me
+  That the broom is blowing bonnie in the north countrie._
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
+
+STORY OF THE DOOR
+
+
+Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was
+never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse;
+backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow
+lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste,
+something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which
+never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these
+silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in
+the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was
+alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the
+theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had
+an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy,
+at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any
+extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. "I incline to Cain's
+heresy," he used to say quaintly: "I let my brother go to the devil in
+his own way." In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the
+last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of
+down-going men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his
+chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.
+
+No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson; for he was undemonstrative
+at the best, and even his friendships seemed to be founded in a similar
+catholicity of good-nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his
+friendly circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was
+the lawyer's way. His friends were those of his own blood, or those whom
+he had known the longest; his affections, like ivy, were the growth of
+time, they implied no aptness in the object. Hence, no doubt, the bond
+that united him to Mr. Richard Enfield, his distant kinsman, the
+well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack for many, what these
+two could see in each other or what subject they could find in common.
+It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks that
+they said nothing, looked singularly dull, and would hail with obvious
+relief the appearance of a friend. For all that, the two men put the
+greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each
+week, and not only set aside occasions of pleasure, but even resisted
+the calls of business, that they might enjoy them uninterrupted.
+
+It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a
+by-street in a busy quarter of London. The street was small, and what is
+called quiet, but it drove a thriving trade on the week-days. The
+inhabitants were all doing well, it seemed, and all emulously hoping to
+do better still, and laying out the surplus of their gains in coquetry;
+so that the shop-fronts stood along that thoroughfare with an air of
+invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen. Even on Sunday, when it
+veiled its more florid charms and lay comparatively empty of passage,
+the street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood, like a fire
+in a forest; and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished
+brasses, and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught
+and pleased the eye of the passenger.
+
+Two doors from one corner on the left hand going east, the line was
+broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point a certain
+sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It
+was two stories high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower
+story and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in
+every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door,
+which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and
+distained. Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the
+panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his
+knife on the mouldings; and for close on a generation no one had
+appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.
+
+Mr. Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the by-street, but
+when they came abreast of the entry, the former lifted up his cane and
+pointed.
+
+"Did you ever remark that door?" he asked; and when his companion had
+replied in the affirmative, "it is connected in my mind," added he,
+"with a very odd story."
+
+"Indeed?" said Mr. Utterson, with a slight change of voice, "and what
+was that?"
+
+"Well, it was this way," returned Mr. Enfield: "I was coming home from
+some place at the end of the world, about three o'clock of a black
+winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was
+literally nothing to be seen but lamps. Street after street, and all the
+folks asleep--street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession
+and all as empty as a church--till at last I got into that state of mind
+when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a
+policeman. All at once I saw two figures: one a little man who was
+stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe
+eight or ten, who was running as hard as she was able down a cross
+street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the
+corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man
+trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the
+ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn't
+like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut. I gave a view-holloa,
+took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and brought him back to where
+there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was
+perfectly cool, and made no resistance, but gave me one look so ugly
+that it brought out the sweat on me like running. The people who had
+turned out were the girl's own family; and pretty soon, the doctor, for
+whom she had been sent, put in his appearance. Well, the child was not
+much the worse, more frightened, according to the Sawbones; and there
+you might have supposed would be an end to it. But there was one curious
+circumstance. I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight. So
+had the child's family, which was only natural. But the doctor's case
+was what struck me. He was the usual cut-and-dry apothecary, of no
+particular age and colour, with a strong Edinburgh accent, and about as
+emotional as a bagpipe. Well, sir, he was like the rest of us; every
+time he looked at my prisoner, I saw that Sawbones turn sick and white
+with the desire to kill him. I knew what was in his mind, just as he
+knew what was in mine; and killing being out of the question, we did the
+next best. We told the man we could and would make such a scandal out of
+this as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other.
+If he had any friends or any credit, we undertook that he should lose
+them. And all the time, as we were pitching it in red-hot, we were
+keeping the women off him as best we could, for they were as wild as
+harpies. I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the
+man in the middle, with a kind of black sneering coolness--frightened,
+too, I could see that--but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan. 'If
+you choose to make capital out of this accident,' said he, 'I am
+naturally helpless. No gentleman but wishes to avoid a scene,' says he.
+'Name your figure.' Well, we screwed him up to a hundred pounds for the
+child's family; he would have clearly liked to stick out; but there was
+something about the lot of us that meant mischief, and at last he
+struck. The next thing was to get the money; and where do you think he
+carried us but to that place with the door?--whipped out a key, went in,
+and presently came back with the matter of ten pounds in gold and a
+cheque for the balance on Coutts's, drawn payable to bearer and signed
+with a name that I can't mention, though it's one of the points of my
+story, but it was a name at least very well known and often printed. The
+figure was stiff; but the signature was good for more than that, if it
+was only genuine. I took the liberty of pointing out to my gentleman
+that the whole business looked apocryphal, and that a man does not, in
+real life, walk into a cellar-door at four in the morning and come out
+of it with another man's cheque for close upon a hundred pounds. But he
+was quite easy and sneering. 'Set your mind at rest,' says he, 'I will
+stay with you till the banks open and cash the cheque myself.' So we all
+set off, the doctor, and the child's father, and our friend and myself,
+and passed the rest of the night in my chambers; and next day, when we
+had breakfasted, went in a body to the bank. I gave in the cheque
+myself, and said I had every reason to believe it was a forgery. Not a
+bit of it. The cheque was genuine."
+
+"Tut-tut," said Mr. Utterson.
+
+"I see you feel as I do," said Mr. Enfield. "Yes, it's a bad story. For
+my man was a fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable
+man: and the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of the
+proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your
+fellows who do what they call good. Blackmail, I suppose; an honest man
+paying through the nose for some of the capers of his youth. Black Mail
+House is what I call that place with the door, in consequence. Though
+even that, you know, is far from explaining all," he added, and with the
+words fell into a vein of musing.
+
+From this he was recalled by Mr. Utterson asking rather suddenly: "And
+you don't know if the drawer of the cheque lives there?"
+
+"A likely place, isn't it?" returned Mr. Enfield. "But I happened to
+have noticed his address; he lives in some square or other."
+
+"And you never asked about--the place with the door?" said Mr. Utterson.
+
+
+"No, sir: I had a delicacy," was the reply. "I feel very strongly about
+putting questions; it partakes too much of the style of the day of
+judgment. You start a question, and it's like starting a stone. You sit
+quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others;
+and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of)
+is knocked on the head in his own back-garden and the family have to
+change their name. No, sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks
+like Queer Street, the less I ask."
+
+"A very good rule too," said the lawyer.
+
+"But I have studied the place for myself," continued Mr. Enfield. "It
+seems scarcely a house. There is no other door, and nobody goes in or
+out of that one but, once in a great while, the gentleman of my
+adventure. There are three windows looking on the court on the first
+floor; none below; the windows are always shut, but they're clean. And
+then there is a chimney which is generally smoking; so somebody must
+live there. Yet it's not so sure; for the buildings are so packed
+together about that court that it's hard to say where one ends and
+another begins."
+
+The pair walked on again for a while in silence; and then, "Enfield,"
+said Mr. Utterson, "that's a good rule of yours."
+
+"Yes, I think it is," returned Enfield.
+
+"But for all that," continued the lawyer, "there's one point I want to
+ask: I want to ask the name of that man who walked over the child."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Enfield, "I can't see what harm it would do. He was a
+man of the name of Hyde."
+
+"H'm," said Mr. Utterson. "What sort of a man is he to see?"
+
+"He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his
+appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I
+never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be
+deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I
+couldn't specify the point. He's an extraordinary-looking man, and yet
+I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of
+it; I can't describe him. And it's not want of memory; for I declare I
+can see him this moment."
+
+Mr. Utterson again walked some way in silence and obviously under a
+weight of consideration. "You are sure he used a key?" he inquired at
+last.
+
+"My dear sir----" began Enfield, surprised out of himself.
+
+"Yes, I know," said Utterson; "I know it must seem strange. The fact is,
+if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it
+already. You see, Richard, your tale has gone home. If you have been
+inexact in any point, you had better correct it."
+
+"I think you might have warned me," returned the other with a touch of
+sullenness. "But I have been pedantically exact, as you call it. The
+fellow had a key; and what's more, he has it still. I saw him use it not
+a week ago."
+
+Mr. Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word; and the young man
+presently resumed. "Here is another lesson to say nothing," said he. "I
+am ashamed of my long tongue. Let us make a bargain never to refer to
+this again."
+
+"With all my heart," said the lawyer. "I shake hands on that, Richard."
+
+
+
+
+SEARCH FOR MR. HYDE
+
+
+That evening Mr. Utterson came home to his bachelor house in sombre
+spirits and sat down to dinner without relish. It was his custom of a
+Sunday, when this meal was over, to sit close by the fire, a volume of
+some dry divinity on his reading-desk, until the clock of the
+neighbouring church rang out the hour of twelve, when he would go
+soberly and gratefully to bed. On this night, however, as soon as the
+cloth was taken away, he took up a candle and went into his
+business-room. There he opened his safe, took from the most private part
+of it a document endorsed on the envelope as Dr. Jekyll's Will, and sat
+down with a clouded brow to study its contents. The will was holograph,
+for Mr. Utterson, though he took charge of it now that it was made, had
+refused to lend the least assistance in the making of it; it provided
+not only that, in case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L.,
+LL.D., F.R.S., &c., all his possessions were to pass into the hands of
+his "friend and benefactor Edward Hyde," but that in case of Dr.
+Jekyll's "disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding
+three calendar months," the said Edward Hyde should step into the said
+Henry Jekyll's shoes without further delay and free from any burthen or
+obligation, beyond the payment of a few small sums to the members of the
+doctor's household. This document had long been the lawyer's eyesore. It
+offended him both as a lawyer and as a lover of the sane and customary
+sides of life, to whom the fanciful was the immodest. And hitherto it
+was his ignorance of Mr. Hyde that had swelled his indignation; now, by
+a sudden turn, it was his knowledge. It was already bad enough when the
+name was but a name of which he could learn no more. It was worse when
+it began to be clothed upon with detestable attributes; and out of the
+shifting, insubstantial mists that had so long baffled his eye, there
+leaped up the sudden, definite presentment of a fiend.
+
+"I thought it was madness," he said, as he replaced the obnoxious paper
+in the safe, "and now I begin to fear it is disgrace."
+
+With that he blew out his candle, put on a great-coat, and set forth in
+the direction of Cavendish Square, that citadel of medicine, where his
+friend, the great Dr. Lanyon, had his house and received his crowding
+patients. "If any one knows, it will be Lanyon," he had thought.
+
+The solemn butler knew and welcomed him; he was subjected to no stage of
+delay, but ushered direct from the door to the dining-room, where Dr.
+Lanyon sat alone over his wine. This was a hearty, healthy, dapper,
+red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a
+boisterous and decided manner. At sight of Mr. Utterson, he sprang up
+from his chair and welcomed him with both hands. The geniality, as was
+the way of the man, was somewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed
+on genuine feeling. For these two were old friends, old mates both at
+school and college, both thorough respecters of themselves and of each
+other, and, what does not always follow, men who thoroughly enjoyed each
+other's company.
+
+After a little rambling talk, the lawyer led up to the subject which so
+disagreeably preoccupied his mind.
+
+"I suppose, Lanyon," said he, "you and I must be the two oldest friends
+that Henry Jekyll has?"
+
+"I wish the friends were younger," chuckled Dr. Lanyon. "But I suppose
+we are. And what of that? I see little of him now."
+
+"Indeed?" said Utterson. "I thought you had a bond of common interest."
+
+"We had," was the reply. "But it is more than ten years since Henry
+Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind;
+and though of course I continue to take an interest in him for old
+sake's sake, as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the
+man. Such unscientific balderdash," added the doctor, flushing suddenly
+purple, "would have estranged Damon and Pythias."
+
+This little spirt of temper was somewhat of a relief to Mr. Utterson.
+"They have only differed on some point of science," he thought; and
+being a man of no scientific passions (except in the matter of
+conveyancing) he even added: "It is nothing worse than that!" He gave
+his friend a few seconds to recover his composure, and then approached
+the question he had come to put. "Did you ever come across a protege of
+his--one Hyde?" he asked.
+
+"Hyde," repeated Lanyon. "No. Never heard of him. Since my time."
+
+That was the amount of information that the lawyer carried back with him
+to the great, dark bed on which he tossed to and fro, until the small
+hours of the morning began to grow large. It was a night of little ease
+to his toiling mind, toiling in mere darkness and besieged by questions.
+
+Six o'clock struck on the bells of the church that was so conveniently
+near to Mr. Utterson's dwelling, and still he was digging at the
+problem. Hitherto it had touched him on the intellectual side alone; but
+now his imagination also was engaged, or rather enslaved; and as he lay
+and tossed in the gross darkness of the night and the curtained room,
+Mr. Enfield's tale went by before his mind in a scroll of lighted
+pictures. He would be aware of the great field of lamps of a nocturnal
+city; then of the figure of a man walking swiftly; then of a child
+running from the doctor's; and then these met, and that human Juggernaut
+trod the child down and passed on regardless of her screams. Or else he
+would see a room in a rich house, where his friend lay asleep, dreaming
+and smiling at his dreams; and then the door of that room would be
+opened, the curtains of the bed plucked apart, the sleeper recalled, and
+lo! there would stand by his side a figure to whom power was given, and
+even at that dead hour he must rise and do its bidding. The figure in
+these two phases haunted the lawyer all night; and if at any time he
+dozed over, it was but to see it glide more stealthily through sleeping
+houses, or move the more swiftly and still the more swiftly, even to
+dizziness, through wider labyrinths of lamplighted city, and at every
+street-corner crush a child and leave her screaming. And still the
+figure had no face by which he might know it; even in his dreams, it had
+no face, or one that baffled him and melted before his eyes; and thus it
+was that there sprang up and grew apace in the lawyer's mind a
+singularly strong, almost an inordinate, curiosity to behold the
+features of the real Mr. Hyde. If he could but once set eyes on him, he
+thought the mystery would lighten and perhaps roll altogether away, as
+was the habit of mysterious things when well examined. He might see a
+reason for his friend's strange preference or bondage (call it which you
+please) and even for the startling clauses of the will. And at least it
+would be a face worth seeing: the face of a man who was without bowels
+of mercy: a face which had but to show itself to raise up, in the mind
+of the unimpressionable Enfield, a spirit of enduring hatred.
+
+From that time forward, Mr. Utterson began to haunt the door in the
+by-street of shops. In the morning before office hours, at noon when
+business was plenty and time scarce, at night under the face of the
+fogged city moon, by all lights and at all hours of solitude or
+concourse, the lawyer was to be found on his chosen post.
+
+"If he be Mr. Hyde," he had thought, "I shall be Mr. Seek."
+
+And at last his patience was rewarded. It was a fine dry night; frost in
+the air; the streets as clean as a ballroom floor; the lamps, unshaken
+by any wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow. By ten
+o'clock, when the shops were closed, the by-street was very solitary
+and, in spite of the low growl of London from all round, very silent.
+Small sounds carried far; domestic sounds out of the houses were clearly
+audible on either side of the roadway; and the rumour of the approach of
+any passenger preceded him by a long time. Mr. Utterson had been some
+minutes at his post, when he was aware of an odd, light footstep drawing
+near. In the course of his nightly patrols he had long grown accustomed
+to the quaint effect with which the footfalls of a single person, while
+he is still a great way off, suddenly spring out distinct from the vast
+hum and clatter of the city. Yet his attention had never before been so
+sharply and decisively arrested; and it was with a strong, superstitious
+prevision of success that he withdrew into the entry of the court.
+
+The steps drew swiftly nearer, and swelled out suddenly louder as they
+turned the end of the street. The lawyer, looking forth from the entry,
+could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with. He was small and
+very plainly dressed, and the look of him, even at that distance, went
+somehow strongly against the watcher's inclination. But he made straight
+for the door, crossing the roadway to save time; and as he came, he drew
+a key from his pocket like one approaching home.
+
+Mr. Utterson stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as he passed.
+"Mr. Hyde, I think?"
+
+Mr. Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath. But his fear
+was only momentary; and though he did not look the lawyer in the face,
+he answered coolly enough: "That is my name. What do you want?"
+
+"I see you are going in," returned the lawyer. "I am an old friend of
+Dr. Jekyll's--Mr. Utterson of Gaunt Street--you must have heard my name;
+and meeting you so conveniently, I thought you might admit me."
+
+"You will not find Dr. Jekyll; he is from home," replied Mr. Hyde,
+blowing in the key. And then suddenly, but still without looking up,
+"How did you know me?" he asked.
+
+"On your side," said Mr. Utterson, "will you do me a favour?"
+
+"With pleasure," replied the other. "What shall it be?"
+
+"Will you let me see your face?" asked the lawyer.
+
+Mr. Hyde appeared to hesitate, and then, as if upon some sudden
+reflection, fronted about with an air of defiance; and the pair stared
+at each other pretty fixedly for a few seconds. "Now I shall know you
+again," said Mr. Utterson. "It may be useful."
+
+"Yes," returned Mr. Hyde, "it is as well we have met; and _a propos_,
+you should have my address." And he gave a number of a street in Soho.
+
+"Good God!" thought Mr. Utterson, "can he too have been thinking of the
+will?" But he kept his feelings to himself and only grunted in
+acknowledgment of the address.
+
+"And now," said the other, "how did you know me?"
+
+"By description," was the reply.
+
+"Whose description?"
+
+"We have common friends," said Mr. Utterson.
+
+"Common friends?" echoed Mr. Hyde, a little hoarsely. "Who are they?"
+
+"Jekyll, for instance," said the lawyer.
+
+"He never told you," cried Mr. Hyde, with a flush of anger. "I did not
+think you would have lied."
+
+"Come," said Mr. Utterson, "that is not fitting language."
+
+The other snarled aloud into a savage laugh; and the next moment, with
+extraordinary quickness, he had unlocked the door and disappeared into
+the house.
+
+The lawyer stood awhile when Mr. Hyde had left him, the picture of
+disquietude. Then he began slowly to mount the street, pausing every
+step or two and putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental
+perplexity. The problem he was thus debating as he walked was one of a
+class that is rarely solved. Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish. He gave an
+impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a
+displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of
+murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky,
+whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him,
+but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown
+disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. "There
+must be something else," said the perplexed gentleman. "There _is_
+something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man
+seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be
+the old story of Dr. Fell? or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul
+that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The
+last, I think; for O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan's
+signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend."
+
+Round the corner from the by-street there was a square of ancient,
+handsome houses, now for the most part decayed from their high estate
+and let in flats and chambers to all sorts and conditions of men:
+map-engravers, architects, shady lawyers, and the agents of obscure
+enterprises. One house, however, second from the corner, was still
+occupied entire; and at the door of this, which wore a great air of
+wealth and comfort, though it was now plunged in darkness except for the
+fan-light, Mr. Utterson stopped and knocked. A well-dressed elderly
+servant opened the door.
+
+"Is Dr. Jekyll at home, Poole?" asked the lawyer.
+
+"I will see, Mr. Utterson," said Poole, admitting the visitor, as he
+spoke, into a large, low-roofed, comfortable hall, paved with flags,
+warmed (after the fashion of a country house) by a bright, open fire,
+and furnished with costly cabinets of oak. "Will you wait here by the
+fire, sir? or shall I give you a light in the dining-room?"
+
+"Here, thank you," said the lawyer, and he drew near and leaned on the
+tall fender. This hall, in which he was now left alone, was a pet fancy
+of his friend the doctor's; and Utterson himself was wont to speak of it
+as the pleasantest room in London. But to-night there was a shudder in
+his blood; the face of Hyde sat heavy on his memory; he felt (what was
+rare with him) a nausea and distaste of life; and in the gloom of his
+spirits, he seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the firelight
+on the polished cabinets and the uneasy starting of the shadow on the
+roof. He was ashamed of his relief, when Poole presently returned to
+announce that Dr. Jekyll was gone out.
+
+"I saw Mr. Hyde go in by the old dissecting-room door, Poole," he said.
+"Is that right, when Dr. Jekyll is from home?"
+
+"Quite right, Mr. Utterson, sir," replied the servant. "Mr. Hyde has a
+key."
+
+"Your master seems to repose a great deal of trust in that young man,
+Poole," resumed the other musingly.
+
+"Yes, sir, he do indeed," said Poole. "We have all orders to obey him."
+
+"I do not think I ever met Mr. Hyde?" asked Utterson.
+
+"O dear no, sir. He never _dines_ here," replied the butler. "Indeed, we
+see very little of him on this side of the house; he mostly comes and
+goes by the laboratory."
+
+"Well, good-night, Poole."
+
+"Good-night, Mr. Utterson."
+
+And the lawyer set out homeward with a very heavy heart. "Poor Harry
+Jekyll," he thought, "my mind misgives me he is in deep waters! He was
+wild when he was young; a long while ago, to be sure; but in the law of
+God there is no statute of limitations. Ay, it must be that; the ghost
+of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace: punishment
+coming, _pede claudo_, years after memory has forgotten and self-love
+condoned the fault." And the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded
+awhile on his own past, groping in all the corners of memory, lest by
+chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light
+there. His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of
+their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the
+many ill things he had done, and raised up again into a sober and
+fearful gratitude by the many that he had come so near to doing, yet
+avoided. And then, by a return on his former subject, he conceived a
+spark of hope. "This Master Hyde, if he were studied," thought he, "must
+have secrets of his own: black secrets, by the look of him; secrets
+compared to which poor Jekyll's worst would be like sunshine. Things
+cannot continue as they are. It turns me cold to think of this creature
+stealing like a thief to Harry's bedside; poor Harry, what a wakening!
+And the danger of it; for if this Hyde suspects the existence of the
+will, he may grow impatient to inherit. Ay, I must put my shoulder to
+the wheel--if Jekyll will but let me," he added, "if Jekyll will only
+let me." For once more he saw before his mind's eye, as clear as a
+transparency, the strange clauses of the will.
+
+
+
+
+DR. JEKYLL WAS QUITE AT EASE
+
+
+A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his
+pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intelligent,
+reputable men, and all judges of good wine; and Mr. Utterson so
+contrived that he remained behind after the others had departed. This
+was no new arrangement, but a thing that had befallen many scores of
+times. Where Utterson was liked, he was liked well. Hosts loved to
+detain the dry lawyer, when the light-hearted and the loose-tongued had
+already their foot on the threshold; they liked to sit awhile in his
+unobtrusive company, practising for solitude, sobering their minds in
+the man's rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety. To this
+rule Dr. Jekyll was no exception; and as he now sat on the opposite side
+of the fire--a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with
+something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and
+kindness--you could see by his looks that he cherished for Mr. Utterson
+a sincere and warm affection.
+
+"I have been wanting to speak to you, Jekyll," began the latter. "You
+know that will of yours?"
+
+A close observer might have gathered that the topic was distasteful; but
+the doctor carried it off gaily. "My poor Utterson," said he, "you are
+unfortunate in such a client. I never saw a man so distressed as you
+were by my will; unless it were that hide-bound pedant, Lanyon, at what
+he called my scientific heresies. Oh, I know he's a good fellow--you
+needn't frown--an excellent fellow, and I always mean to see more of
+him; but a hide-bound pedant for all that; an ignorant, blatant pedant.
+I was never more disappointed in any man than Lanyon."
+
+"You know I never approved of it," pursued Utterson, ruthlessly
+disregarding the fresh topic.
+
+"My will? Yes, certainly, I know that," said the doctor, a trifle
+sharply. "You have told me so."
+
+"Well, I tell you so again," continued the lawyer. "I have been learning
+something of young Hyde."
+
+The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and
+there came a blackness about his eyes. "I do not care to hear more,"
+said he. "This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop."
+
+"What I heard was abominable," said Utterson.
+
+"It can make no change. You do not understand my position," returned the
+doctor, with a certain incoherency of manner. "I am painfully situated,
+Utterson; my position is a very strange--a very strange one. It is one
+of those affairs that cannot be mended by talking."
+
+"Jekyll," said Utterson, "you know me: I am a man to be trusted. Make a
+clean breast of this in confidence; and I make no doubt I can get you
+out of it."
+
+"My good Utterson," said the doctor, "this is very good of you, this is
+downright good of you, and I cannot find words to thank you in. I
+believe you fully; I would trust you before any man alive--ay, before
+myself, if I could make the choice; but indeed it isn't what you fancy;
+it is not so bad as that; and just to put your good heart at rest, I
+will tell you one thing: the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde.
+I give you my hand upon that; and I thank you again and again; and I
+will just add one little word, Utterson, that I'm sure you'll take in
+good part: this is a private matter, and I beg of you to let it sleep."
+
+Utterson reflected a little, looking in the fire.
+
+"I have no doubt you are perfectly right," he said at last, getting to
+his feet.
+
+"Well, but since we have touched upon this business, and for the last
+time I hope," continued the doctor, "there is one point I should like
+you to understand. I have really a very great interest in poor Hyde. I
+know you have seen him; he told me so; and I fear he was rude. But I do
+sincerely take a great, a very great interest in that young man; and if
+I am taken away, Utterson, I wish you to promise me that you will bear
+with him and get his rights for him. I think you would, if you knew all;
+and it would be a weight off my mind if you would promise."
+
+"I can't pretend that I shall ever like him," said the lawyer.
+
+"I don't ask that," pleaded Jekyll, laying his hand upon the other's
+arm; "I only ask for justice; I only ask you to help him for my sake,
+when I am no longer here."
+
+Utterson heaved an irrepressible sigh. "Well," said he, "I promise."
+
+
+
+
+THE CAREW MURDER CASE
+
+
+Nearly a year later, in the month of October 18--, London was startled
+by a crime of singular ferocity, rendered all the more notable by the
+high position of the victim. The details were few and startling. A
+maid-servant living alone in a house not far from the river had gone
+upstairs to bed about eleven. Although a fog rolled over the city in the
+small hours, the early part of the night was cloudless, and the lane,
+which the maid's window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the full
+moon. It seems she was romantically given, for she sat down upon her
+box, which stood immediately under the window, and fell into a dream of
+musing. Never (she used to say, with streaming tears, when she narrated
+that experience), never had she felt more at peace with all men or
+thought more kindly of the world. And as she so sat she became aware of
+an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair drawing near along the
+lane: and advancing to meet him another and very small gentleman, to
+whom at first she paid less attention. When they had come within speech
+(which was just under the maid's eyes) the older man bowed and accosted
+the other with a very pretty manner of politeness. It did not seem as if
+the subject of his address were of great importance; indeed, from his
+pointing, it sometimes appeared as if he were only inquiring his way;
+but the moon shone on his face as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to
+watch it, it seemed to breathe such an innocent and old-world kindness
+of disposition, yet with something high too, as of a well-founded
+self-content. Presently her eye wandered to the other, and she was
+surprised to recognise in him a certain Mr. Hyde, who had once visited
+her master, and for whom she had conceived a dislike. He had in his
+hand a heavy cane, with which he was trifling; but he answered never a
+word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And then
+all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with
+his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described
+it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of
+one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke
+out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with
+ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot, and hailing down
+a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the
+body jumped upon the roadway. At the horror of these sights and sounds
+the maid fainted.
+
+It was two o'clock when she came to herself and called for the police.
+The murderer was gone long ago; but there lay his victim in the middle
+of the lane, incredibly mangled. The stick with which the deed had been
+done, although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood, had
+broken in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty; and one
+splintered half had rolled in the neighbouring gutter--the other,
+without doubt, had been carried away by the murderer. A purse and a gold
+watch were found upon the victim; but no cards or papers, except a
+sealed and stamped envelope, which he had been probably carrying to the
+post, and which bore the name and address of Mr. Utterson.
+
+This was brought to the lawyer the next morning before he was out of
+bed; and he had no sooner seen it, and been told the circumstances, than
+he shot out a solemn lip. "I shall say nothing till I have seen the
+body," said he; "this may be very serious. Have the kindness to wait
+while I dress." And with the same grave countenance he hurried through
+his breakfast and drove to the police station, whither the body had been
+carried. As soon as he came into the cell he nodded.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I recognise him. I am sorry to say that this is Sir
+Danvers Carew."
+
+"Good God, sir," exclaimed the officer, "is it possible?" And the next
+moment his eye lighted up with professional ambition. "This will make a
+deal of noise," he said. "And perhaps you can help us to the man." And
+he briefly narrated what the maid had seen, and showed the broken stick.
+
+Mr. Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick
+was laid before him he could doubt no longer; broken and battered as it
+was, he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years
+before to Henry Jekyll.
+
+"Is this Mr. Hyde a person of small stature?" he inquired.
+
+"Particularly small and particularly wicked-looking, is what the maid
+calls him," said the officer.
+
+Mr. Utterson reflected; and then, raising his head, "If you will come
+with me in my cab," he said, "I think I can take you to his house."
+
+It was by this time about nine in the morning, and the first fog of the
+season. A great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven, but the
+wind was continually charging and routing these embattled vapours; so
+that as the cab crawled from street to street, Mr. Utterson beheld a
+marvellous number of degrees and hues of twilight; for here it would be
+dark like the back-end of evening; and there would be a glow of a rich,
+lurid brown, like the light of some strange conflagration; and here, for
+a moment, the fog would be quite broken up, and a haggard shaft of
+daylight would glance in between the swirling wreaths. The dismal
+quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways,
+and slatternly passengers, and its lamps, which had never been
+extinguished or had been kindled afresh to combat this mournful
+re-invasion of darkness, seemed, in the lawyer's eyes, like a district
+of some city in a nightmare.
+
+The thoughts of his mind, besides, were of the gloomiest dye; and when
+he glanced at the companion of his drive, he was conscious of some touch
+of that terror of the law and the law's officers which may at times
+assail the most honest.
+
+As the cab drew up before the address indicated, the fog lifted a
+little, and showed him a dingy street, a gin-palace, a low French
+eating-house, a shop for the retail of penny numbers and twopenny
+salads, many ragged children huddled in the doorways, and many women of
+many different nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a morning
+glass; and the next moment the fog settled down again upon that part, as
+brown as umber, and cut him off from his blackguardly surroundings. This
+was the home of Henry Jekyll's favourite; of a man who was heir to a
+quarter of a million sterling.
+
+An ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door. She had an
+evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent. Yes,
+she said, this was Mr. Hyde's, but he was not at home; he had been in
+that night very late, but had gone away again in less than an hour;
+there was nothing strange in that; his habits were very irregular, and
+he was often absent; for instance, it was nearly two months since she
+had seen him till yesterday.
+
+"Very well then, we wish to see his rooms," said the lawyer; and when
+the woman began to declare it was impossible, "I had better tell you who
+this person is," he added. "This is Inspector Newcomen of Scotland
+Yard."
+
+A flash of odious joy appeared upon the woman's face. "Ah!" said she,
+"he is in trouble! What has he done?"
+
+Mr. Utterson and the inspector exchanged glances. "He don't seem a very
+popular character," observed the latter. "And now, my good woman, just
+let me and this gentleman have a look about us."
+
+In the whole extent of the house, which but for the old woman remained
+otherwise empty, Mr. Hyde had only used a couple of rooms; but these
+were furnished with luxury and good taste. A closet was filled with
+wine; the plate was of silver, the napery elegant; a good picture hung
+upon the walls, a gift (as Utterson supposed) from Henry Jekyll, who
+was much of a connoisseur; and the carpets were of many plies and
+agreeable in colour. At this moment, however, the rooms bore every mark
+of having been recently and hurriedly ransacked; clothes lay about the
+floor, with their pockets inside out; lockfast drawers stood open; and
+on the hearth there lay a pile of grey ashes, as though many papers had
+been burned. From these embers the inspector disinterred the butt-end of
+a green cheque-book, which had resisted the action of the fire; the
+other half of the stick was found behind the door; and as this clinched
+his suspicions, the officer declared himself delighted. A visit to the
+bank, where several thousand pounds were found to be lying to the
+murderer's credit, completed his gratification.
+
+"You may depend upon it, sir," he told Mr. Utterson: "I have him in my
+hand. He must have lost his head, or he never would have left the stick
+or, above all, burned the cheque-book. Why, money's life to the man. We
+have nothing to do but wait for him at the bank, and get out the
+handbills."
+
+This last, however, was not so easy of accomplishment; for Mr. Hyde had
+numbered few familiars--even the master of the servant-maid had only
+seen him twice; his family could nowhere be traced; he had never been
+photographed; and the few who could describe him differed widely, as
+common observers will. Only on one point were they agreed; and that was
+the haunting sense of unexpressed deformity with which the fugitive
+impressed his beholders.
+
+
+
+
+INCIDENT OF THE LETTER
+
+
+It was late in the afternoon when Mr. Utterson found his way to Dr.
+Jekyll's door, where he was at once admitted by Poole, and carried down
+by the kitchen offices and across a yard which had once been a garden to
+the building which was indifferently known as the laboratory or the
+dissecting-rooms. The doctor had bought the house from the heirs of a
+celebrated surgeon; and, his own tastes being rather chemical than
+anatomical, had changed the destination of the block at the bottom of
+the garden. It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in
+that part of his friend's quarters; and he eyed the dingy windowless
+structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a distasteful sense of
+strangeness as he crossed the theatre, once crowded with eager students
+and now lying gaunt and silent, the tables laden with chemical
+apparatus, the floor strewn with crates and littered with packing straw,
+and the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola. At the farther
+end, a flight of stairs mounted to a door covered with red baize; and
+through this, Mr. Utterson was at last received into the doctor's
+cabinet. It was a large room, fitted round with glass presses,
+furnished, among other things, with a cheval-glass and a business-table,
+and looking out upon the court by three dusty windows barred with iron.
+The fire burned in the grate; a lamp was set lighted on the chimney
+shelf, for even in the houses the fog began to lie thickly; and there,
+close up to the warmth, sat Dr. Jekyll, looking deadly sick; he did not
+rise to meet his visitor, but held out a cold hand and bade him welcome
+in a changed voice.
+
+"And now," said Mr. Utterson, as soon as Poole had left them, "you have
+heard the news?"
+
+The doctor shuddered. "They were crying it in the square," he said. "I
+heard them in my dining-room."
+
+"One word," said the lawyer. "Carew was my client, but so are you, and I
+want to know what I am doing. You have not been mad enough to hide this
+fellow?"
+
+"Utterson, I swear to God," cried the doctor, "I swear to God I will
+never set eyes on him again. I bind my honour to you that I am done with
+him in this world. It is all at an end. And indeed he does not want my
+help; you do not know him as I do; he is safe, he is quite safe; mark my
+words, he will never more be heard of."
+
+The lawyer listened gloomily; he did not like his friend's feverish
+manner. "You seem pretty sure of him," said he; "and for your sake, I
+hope you may be right. If it came to a trial your name might appear."
+
+"I am quite sure of him," replied Jekyll; "I have grounds for certainty
+that I cannot share with any one. But there is one thing on which you
+may advise me. I have--I have received a letter; and I am at a loss
+whether I should show it to the police. I should like to leave it in
+your hands, Utterson; you would judge wisely, I am sure; I have so great
+a trust in you."
+
+"You fear, I suppose, that it might lead to his detection?" asked the
+lawyer.
+
+"No," said the other. "I cannot say that I care what becomes of Hyde; I
+am quite done with him. I was thinking of my own character, which this
+hateful business has rather exposed."
+
+Utterson ruminated awhile; he was surprised at his friend's selfishness,
+and yet relieved by it. "Well," said he at last, "let me see the
+letter."
+
+The letter was written in an odd, upright hand and signed "Edward Hyde":
+and it signified, briefly enough, that the writer's benefactor, Dr.
+Jekyll, whom he had long so unworthily repaid for a thousand
+generosities, need labour under no alarm for his safety, as he had means
+of escape on which he placed a sure dependence. The lawyer liked this
+letter well enough; it put a better colour on the intimacy than he had
+looked for; and he blamed himself for some of his past suspicions.
+
+"Have you the envelope?" he asked.
+
+"I burned it," replied Jekyll, "before I thought what I was about. But
+it bore no postmark. The note was handed in."
+
+"Shall I keep this and sleep upon it?" asked Utterson.
+
+"I wish you to judge for me entirely," was the reply. "I have lost
+confidence in myself."
+
+"Well, I shall consider," returned the lawyer.--"And now one word more:
+it was Hyde who dictated the terms in your will about that
+disappearance?"
+
+The doctor seemed seized with a qualm of faintness; he shut his mouth
+tight and nodded.
+
+"I knew it," said Utterson. "He meant to murder you. You have had a fine
+escape."
+
+"I have had what is far more to the purpose," returned the doctor
+solemnly: "I have had a lesson--O God, Utterson, what a lesson I have
+had!" And he covered his face for a moment with his hands.
+
+On his way out, the lawyer stopped and had a word or two with Poole. "By
+the by," said he, "there was a letter handed in to-day: what was the
+messenger like?" But Poole was positive nothing had come except by post;
+"and only circulars by that," he added.
+
+This news sent off the visitor with his fears renewed. Plainly the
+letter had come by the laboratory door; possibly indeed, it had been
+written in the cabinet; and if that were so, it must be differently
+judged, and handled with the more caution. The newsboys, as he went,
+were crying themselves hoarse along the footways: "Special edition.
+Shocking murder of an M.P." That was the funeral oration of one friend
+and client; and he could not help a certain apprehension lest the good
+name of another should be sucked down in the eddy of the scandal. It
+was, at least, a ticklish decision that he had to make; and,
+self-reliant as he was by habit, he began to cherish a longing for
+advice. It was not to be had directly; but perhaps, he thought, it might
+be fished for.
+
+Presently after, he sat on one side of his own hearth, with Mr. Guest,
+his head clerk, upon the other, and midway between, at a nicely
+calculated distance from the fire, a bottle of a particular old wine
+that had long dwelt unsunned in the foundations of his house. The fog
+still slept on the wing above the drowned city, where the lamps
+glimmered like carbuncles; and through the muffle and smother of these
+fallen clouds, the procession of the town's life was still rolling on
+through the great arteries with a sound as of a mighty wind. But the
+room was gay with firelight. In the bottle the acids were long ago
+resolved; the imperial dye had softened with time, as the colour grows
+richer in stained windows; and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on
+hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of
+London. Insensibly the lawyer melted. There was no man from whom he kept
+fewer secrets than Mr. Guest; and he was not always sure that he kept as
+many as he meant. Guest had often been on business to the doctor's; he
+knew Poole; he could scarce have failed to hear of Mr. Hyde's
+familiarity about the house; he might draw conclusions: was it not as
+well, then, that he should see a letter which put that mystery to
+rights? and above all since Guest, being a great student and critic of
+handwriting, would consider the step natural and obliging? The clerk,
+besides, was a man of counsel; he would scarce read so strange a
+document without dropping a remark; and by that remark Mr. Utterson
+might shape his future course.
+
+"This is a sad business about Sir Danvers," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir, indeed. It has elicited a great deal of public feeling,"
+returned Guest. "The man, of course, was mad."
+
+"I should like to hear your views on that," replied Utterson. "I have a
+document here in his handwriting; it is between ourselves, for I scarce
+know what to do about it; it is an ugly business at the best. But there
+it is; quite in your way: a murderer's autograph."
+
+Guest's eyes brightened, and he sat down at once and studied it with
+passion. "No, sir," he said; "not mad; but it is an odd hand."
+
+"And by all accounts a very odd writer," added the lawyer.
+
+Just then the servant entered with a note.
+
+"Is that from Dr. Jekyll, sir?" inquired the clerk. "I thought I knew
+the writing. Anything private, Mr. Utterson?"
+
+"Only an invitation to dinner. Why? do you want to see it?"
+
+"One moment. I thank you, sir"; and the clerk laid the two sheets of
+paper alongside and sedulously compared their contents. "Thank you,
+sir," he said at last, returning both; "it's a very interesting
+autograph."
+
+There was a pause, during which Mr. Utterson struggled with himself.
+"Why did you compare them, Guest?" he inquired suddenly.
+
+"Well, sir," returned the clerk, "there's a rather singular resemblance;
+the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped."
+
+"Rather quaint," said Utterson.
+
+"It is, as you say, rather quaint," returned Guest.
+
+"I wouldn't speak of this note, you know," said the master.
+
+"No, sir," said the clerk. "I understand."
+
+But no sooner was Mr. Utterson alone that night than he locked the note
+into his safe, where it reposed from that time forward. "What!" he
+thought. "Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!" And his blood ran cold in
+his veins.
+
+
+
+
+REMARKABLE INCIDENT OF DR. LANYON
+
+
+Time ran on; thousands of pounds were offered in reward, for the death
+of Sir Danvers was resented as a public injury; but Mr. Hyde had
+disappeared out of the ken of the police as though he had never existed.
+Much of his past was unearthed, indeed, and all disreputable: tales came
+out of the man's cruelty, at once so callous and violent, of his vile
+life, of his strange associates, of the hatred that seemed to have
+surrounded his career; but of his present whereabouts, not a whisper.
+From the time he had left the house in Soho on the morning of the
+murder, he was simply blotted out; and gradually, as time drew on, Mr.
+Utterson began to recover from the hotness of his alarm, and to grow
+more at quiet with himself. The death of Sir Danvers was, to his way of
+thinking, more than paid for by the disappearance of Mr. Hyde. Now that
+that evil influence had been withdrawn, a new life began for Dr. Jekyll.
+He came out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became
+once more their familiar guest and entertainer; and whilst he had always
+been known for charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion.
+He was busy, he was much in the open air, he did good; his face seemed
+to open and brighten, as if with an inward consciousness of service; and
+for more than two months the doctor was at peace.
+
+On the 8th of January Utterson had dined at the doctor's with a small
+party; Lanyon had been there; and the face of the host had looked from
+one to the other as in the old days when the trio were inseparable
+friends. On the 12th, and again on the 14th, the door was shut against
+the lawyer. "The doctor was confined to the house," Poole said, "and saw
+no one." On the 15th he tried again, and was again refused; and having
+now been used for the last two months to see his friend almost daily, he
+found this return of solitude to weigh upon his spirits. The fifth night
+he had in Guest to dine with him; and the sixth he betook himself to Dr.
+Lanyon's.
+
+There at least he was not denied admittance; but when he came in, he was
+shocked at the change which had taken place in the doctor's appearance.
+He had his death-warrant written legibly upon his face. The rosy man had
+grown pale; his flesh had fallen away; he was visibly balder and older;
+and yet it was not so much these tokens of a swift physical decay that
+arrested the lawyer's notice, as a look in the eye and quality of manner
+that seemed to testify to some deep-seated terror of the mind. It was
+unlikely that the doctor should fear death; and yet that was what
+Utterson was tempted to suspect. "Yes," he thought; "he is a doctor, he
+must know his own state and that his days are counted; and the knowledge
+is more than he can bear." And yet when Utterson remarked on his
+ill-looks, it was with an air of great firmness that Lanyon declared
+himself a doomed man.
+
+"I have had a shock," he said, "and I shall never recover. It is a
+question of weeks. Well, life has been pleasant; I liked it; yes, sir, I
+used to like it. I sometimes think if we knew all we should be more glad
+to get away."
+
+"Jekyll is ill too," observed Utterson. "Have you seen him?"
+
+But Lanyon's face changed, and he held up a trembling hand. "I wish to
+see or hear no more of Dr. Jekyll," he said in a loud, unsteady voice.
+"I am quite done with that person; and I beg that you will spare me any
+allusion to one whom I regard as dead."
+
+"Tut-tut," said Mr. Utterson; and then, after a considerable pause,
+"Can't I do anything?" he inquired. "We are three very old friends,
+Lanyon; we shall not live to make others."
+
+"Nothing can be done," returned Lanyon; "ask himself."
+
+"He will not see me," said the lawyer.
+
+"I am not surprised at that," was the reply. "Some day, Utterson, after
+I am dead, you may perhaps come to learn the right and wrong of this. I
+cannot tell you. And in the meantime, if you can sit and talk with me of
+other things, for God's sake, stay and do so; but if you cannot keep
+clear of this accursed topic, then, in God's name, go, for I cannot bear
+it."
+
+As soon as he got home, Utterson sat down and wrote to Jekyll,
+complaining of his exclusion from the house, and asking the cause of
+this unhappy break with Lanyon; and the next day brought him a long
+answer, often very pathetically worded, and sometimes darkly mysterious
+in drift. The quarrel with Lanyon was incurable. "I do not blame our old
+friend," Jekyll wrote, "but I share his view that we must never meet. I
+mean from henceforth to lead a life of extreme seclusion; you must not
+be surprised, nor must you doubt my friendship, if my door is often shut
+even to you. You must suffer me to go my own dark way. I have brought on
+myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot name. If I am the chief
+of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also. I could not think that
+this earth contained a place for sufferings and terrors so unmanning;
+and you can but do one thing, Utterson, to lighten this destiny, and
+that is to respect my silence." Utterson was amazed; the dark influence
+of Hyde had been withdrawn, the doctor had returned to his old tasks and
+amities; a week ago, the prospect had smiled with every promise of a
+cheerful and an honoured age; and now in a moment, friendship and peace
+of mind and the whole tenor of his life were wrecked. So great and
+unprepared a change pointed to madness; but in view of Lanyon's manner
+and words, there must lie for it some deeper ground.
+
+A week afterwards Dr. Lanyon took to his bed, and in something less than
+a fortnight he was dead. The night after the funeral, at which he had
+been sadly affected, Utterson locked the door of his business-room, and
+sitting there by the light of a melancholy candle, drew out and set
+before him an envelope addressed by the hand and sealed with the seal of
+his dead friend. "PRIVATE: for the hands of G. J. Utterson ALONE, and in
+case of his predecease _to be destroyed unread_," so it was emphatically
+superscribed; and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents. "I have
+buried one friend to-day," he thought: "what if this should cost me
+another?" And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty, and broke the
+seal. Within there was another enclosure, likewise sealed, and marked
+upon the cover as "not to be opened till the death or disappearance of
+Dr. Henry Jekyll." Utterson could not trust his eyes. Yes, it was
+disappearance; here again, as in the mad will which he had long ago
+restored to its author, here again were the idea of a disappearance and
+the name of Henry Jekyll bracketed. But in the will that idea had sprung
+from the sinister suggestion of the man Hyde; it was set there with a
+purpose all too plain and horrible. Written by the hand of Lanyon, what
+should it mean? A great curiosity came on the trustee, to disregard the
+prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries; but
+professional honour and faith to his dead friend were stringent
+obligations; and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private
+safe.
+
+It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it; and it may
+be doubted if, from that day forth, Utterson desired the society of his
+surviving friend with the same eagerness. He thought of him kindly; but
+his thoughts were disquieted and fearful. He went to call indeed; but he
+was perhaps relieved to be denied admittance; perhaps, in his heart, he
+preferred to speak with Poole upon the doorstep and surrounded by the
+air and sounds of the open city, rather than to be admitted into that
+house of voluntary bondage, and to sit and speak with its inscrutable
+recluse. Poole had, indeed, no very pleasant news to communicate. The
+doctor, it appeared, now more than ever confined himself to the cabinet
+over the laboratory, where he would sometimes even sleep; he was out of
+spirits, he had grown very silent, he did not read; it seemed as if he
+had something on his mind. Utterson became so used to the unvarying
+character of these reports, that he fell off little by little in the
+frequency of his visits.
+
+
+
+
+INCIDENT AT THE WINDOW
+
+
+It chanced on Sunday, when Mr. Utterson was on his usual walk with Mr.
+Enfield, that their way lay once again through the by-street; and that
+when they came in front of the door, both stopped to gaze on it.
+
+"Well," said Enfield, "that story's at an end at least. We shall never
+see more of Mr. Hyde."
+
+"I hope not," said Utterson. "Did I ever tell you that I once saw him,
+and shared your feeling of repulsion?"
+
+"It was impossible to do the one without the other," returned Enfield.
+"And by the way, what an ass you must have thought me, not to know that
+this was a back way to Dr. Jekyll's! It was partly your own fault that I
+found it out, even when I did."
+
+"So you found it out, did you?" said Utterson. "But if that be so, we
+may step into the court and take a look at the windows. To tell you the
+truth, I am uneasy about poor Jekyll; and even outside, I feel as if the
+presence of a friend might do him good."
+
+The court was very cool and a little damp, and full of premature
+twilight, although the sky, high up overhead, was still bright with
+sunset. The middle one of the three windows was half-way open; and
+sitting close beside it, taking the air with an infinite sadness of
+mien, like some disconsolate prisoner, Utterson saw Dr. Jekyll.
+
+"What! Jekyll!" he cried. "I trust you are better."
+
+"I am very low, Utterson," replied the doctor drearily, "very low. It
+will not last long, thank God."
+
+"You stay too much indoors," said the lawyer. "You should be out,
+whipping up the circulation like Mr. Enfield and me. (This is my
+cousin--Mr. Enfield--Dr. Jekyll.) Come now; get your hat and take a
+quick turn with us."
+
+"You are very good," sighed the other. "I should like to very much; but
+no, no, no, it is quite impossible; I dare not. But indeed, Utterson, I
+am very glad to see you; this is really a great pleasure; I would ask
+you and Mr. Enfield up, but the place is really not fit."
+
+"Why then," said the lawyer good-naturedly, "the best thing we can do is
+to stay down here and speak with you from where we are."
+
+"That is just what I was about to venture to propose," returned the
+doctor, with a smile. But the words were hardly uttered, before the
+smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such
+abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentleman
+below. They saw it but for a glimpse, for the window was instantly
+thrust down; but that glimpse had been sufficient, and they turned and
+left the court without a word. In silence, too, the by-street; and it
+was not until they had come into a neighbouring thoroughfare, where even
+upon a Sunday there were still some stirrings of life, that Mr. Utterson
+at last turned and looked at his companion. They were both pale; and
+there was an answering horror in their eyes.
+
+"God forgive us, God forgive us!" said Mr. Utterson.
+
+But Mr. Enfield only nodded his head very seriously, and walked on once
+more in silence.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST NIGHT
+
+
+Mr. Utterson was sitting by his fireside one evening after dinner, when
+he was surprised to receive a visit from Poole.
+
+"Bless me, Poole, what brings you here?" he cried; and then, taking a
+second look at him, "What ails you?" he added, "is the doctor ill?"
+
+"Mr. Utterson," said the man, "there is something wrong."
+
+"Take a seat, and here is a glass of wine for you," said the lawyer.
+"Now, take your time, and tell me plainly what you want."
+
+"You know the doctor's ways, sir," replied Poole, "and how he shuts
+himself up. Well, he's shut up again in the cabinet; and I don't like
+it, sir--I wish I may die if I like it. Mr. Utterson, sir, I'm afraid."
+
+"Now, my good man," said the lawyer, "be explicit. What are you afraid
+of?"
+
+"I've been afraid for about a week," returned Poole, doggedly
+disregarding the question, "and I can bear it no more."
+
+The man's appearance amply bore out his words; his manner was altered
+for the worse; and except for the moment when he had first announced his
+terror, he had not once looked the lawyer in the face. Even now, he sat
+with the glass of wine untasted on his knee, and his eyes directed to a
+corner of the floor. "I can bear it no more," he repeated.
+
+"Come," said the lawyer, "I see you have some good reason, Poole; I see
+there is something seriously amiss. Try to tell me what it is."
+
+"I think there's been foul play," said Poole hoarsely.
+
+"Foul play!" cried the lawyer, a good deal frightened, and rather
+inclined to be irritated in consequence. "What foul play? What does the
+man mean?"
+
+"I daren't say, sir," was the answer; "but will you come along with me
+and see for yourself?"
+
+Mr. Utterson's only answer was to rise and get his hat and greatcoat;
+but he observed with wonder the greatness of the relief that appeared
+upon the butler's face, and perhaps with no less, that the wine was
+still untasted when he set it down to follow.
+
+It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying
+on her back as though the wind had tilted her, and a flying wrack of the
+most diaphanous and lawny texture. The wind made talking difficult, and
+flecked the blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets
+unusually bare of passengers, besides; for Mr. Utterson thought he had
+never seen that part of London so deserted. He could have wished it
+otherwise; never in his life had he been conscious of so sharp a wish to
+see and touch his fellow-creatures; for, struggle as he might, there was
+borne in upon his mind a crushing anticipation of calamity. The square,
+when they got there, was all full of wind and dust, and the thin trees
+in the garden were lashing themselves along the railing. Poole, who had
+kept all the way a pace or two ahead, now pulled up in the middle of the
+pavement, and, in spite of the biting weather, took off his hat and
+mopped his brow with a red pocket-handkerchief. But for all the hurry of
+his coming, these were not the dews of exertion that he wiped away, but
+the moisture of some strangling anguish; for his face was white, and his
+voice, when he spoke, harsh and broken.
+
+"Well, sir," he said, "here we are, and God grant there be nothing
+wrong."
+
+"Amen, Poole," said the lawyer.
+
+Thereupon the servant knocked in a very guarded manner; the door was
+opened on the chain; and a voice asked from within, "Is that you,
+Poole?"
+
+"It's all right," said Poole. "Open the door."
+
+The hall, when they entered it, was brightly lighted up; the fire was
+built high; and about the hearth the whole of the servants, men and
+women, stood huddled together like a flock of sheep. At the sight of Mr.
+Utterson, the housemaid broke into hysterical whimpering; and the cook,
+crying out "Bless God! it's Mr. Utterson," ran forward as if to take him
+in her arms.
+
+"What, what? Are you all here?" said the lawyer peevishly. "Very
+irregular, very unseemly; your master would be far from pleased."
+
+"They're all afraid," said Poole.
+
+Blank silence followed, no one protesting; only the maid lifted up her
+voice and now wept loudly.
+
+"Hold your tongue!" Poole said to her, with a ferocity of accent that
+testified to his own jangled nerves; and indeed, when the girl had so
+suddenly raised the note of her lamentation, they had all started and
+turned towards the inner door with faces of dreadful expectation. "And
+now," continued the butler, addressing the knife-boy, "reach me a
+candle, and we'll get this through hands at once." And then he begged
+Mr. Utterson to follow him, and led the way to the back-garden.
+
+"Now, sir," said he, "you come as gently as you can. I want you to hear,
+and I don't want you to be heard. And see here, sir, if by any chance he
+was to ask you in, don't go."
+
+Mr. Utterson's nerves, at this unlooked-for termination, gave a jerk
+that nearly threw him from his balance; but he re-collected his courage
+and followed the butler into the laboratory building and through the
+surgical theatre, with its lumber of crates and bottles, to the foot of
+the stair. Here Poole motioned him to stand on one side and listen;
+while he himself, setting down the candle and making a great and obvious
+call on his resolution, mounted the steps and knocked with a somewhat
+uncertain hand on the red baize of the cabinet door.
+
+"Mr. Utterson, sir, asking to see you," he called; and, even as he did
+so, once more violently signed to the lawyer to give ear.
+
+A voice answered from within: "Tell him I cannot see any one," it said
+complainingly.
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Poole, with a note of something like triumph in
+his voice; and taking up his candle, he led Mr. Utterson back across the
+yard and into the great kitchen, where the fire was out and the beetles
+were leaping on the floor.
+
+"Sir," he said, looking Mr. Utterson in the eyes, "was that my master's
+voice?"
+
+"It seems much changed," replied the lawyer, very pale, but giving look
+for look.
+
+"Changed? Well, yes, I think so," said the butler. "Have I been twenty
+years in this man's house, to be deceived about his voice? No, sir;
+master's made away with; he was made away with eight days ago, when we
+heard him cry out upon the name of God; and _who's_ in there instead of
+him, and _why_ it stays there, is a thing that cries to Heaven, Mr.
+Utterson!"
+
+"This is a very strange tale, Poole; this is rather a wild tale, my
+man," said Mr. Utterson, biting his finger. "Suppose it were as you
+suppose, supposing Dr. Jekyll to have been--well, murdered, what could
+induce the murderer to stay? That won't hold water; it doesn't commend
+itself to reason."
+
+"Well, Mr. Utterson, you are a hard man to satisfy, but I'll do it yet,"
+said Poole. "All this last week (you must know) him, or it, or whatever
+it is that lives in that cabinet, has been crying night and day for some
+sort of medicine and cannot get it to his mind. It was sometimes his
+way--the master's, that is--to write his orders on a sheet of paper and
+throw it on the stair. We've had nothing else this week back; nothing
+but papers, and a closed door, and the very meals left there to be
+smuggled in when nobody was looking. Well, sir, every day, ay, and
+twice and thrice in the same day, there have been orders and complaints,
+and I have been sent flying to all the wholesale chemists in town. Every
+time I brought the stuff back, there would be another paper telling me
+to return it, because it was not pure, and another order to a different
+firm. This drug is wanted bitter bad, sir, whatever for."
+
+"Have you any of these papers?" asked Mr. Utterson.
+
+Poole felt in his pocket and handed out a crumpled note, which the
+lawyer, bending nearer to the candle, carefully examined. Its contents
+ran thus: "Dr. Jekyll presents his compliments to Messrs. Maw. He
+assures them that their last sample is impure, and quite useless for his
+present purpose. In the year 18--, Dr. J. purchased a somewhat large
+quantity from Messrs. M. He now begs them to search with the most
+sedulous care, and should any of the same quality be left, to forward it
+to him at once. Expense is no consideration. The importance of this to
+Dr. J. can hardly be exaggerated." So far the letter had run composedly
+enough, but here, with a sudden splutter of the pen, the writer's
+emotion had broken loose. "For God's sake," he had added, "find me some
+of the old."
+
+"This is a strange note," said Mr. Utterson; and then sharply, "How do
+you come to have it open?"
+
+"The man at Maw's was main angry, sir, and he threw it back to me like
+so much dirt," returned Poole.
+
+"This is unquestionably the doctor's hand, do you know?" resumed the
+lawyer.
+
+"I thought it looked like it," said the servant rather sulkily; and
+then, with another voice, "But what matters hand-of-write?" he said.
+"I've seen him!"
+
+"Seen him?" repeated Mr. Utterson. "Well?"
+
+"That's it!" said Poole. "It was this way. I came suddenly into the
+theatre from the garden. It seems he had slipped out to look for this
+drug, or whatever it is; for the cabinet door was open, and there he
+was at the far end of the room digging among the crates. He looked up
+when I came in, gave a kind of cry, and whipped upstairs into the
+cabinet. It was but for one minute that I saw him, but the hair stood up
+on my head like quills. Sir, if that was my master, why had he a mask
+upon his face? If it was my master, why did he cry out like a rat, and
+run from me? I have served him long enough. And then ..." the man paused
+and passed his hand over his face.
+
+"These are all very strange circumstances," said Mr. Utterson, "but I
+think I begin to see daylight. Your master, Poole, is plainly seized
+with one of those maladies that both torture and deform the sufferer;
+hence, for aught I know, the alteration of his voice; hence the mask and
+his avoidance of his friends; hence his eagerness to find this drug, by
+means of which the poor soul retains some hope of ultimate recovery--God
+grant that he be not deceived. There is my explanation; it is sad
+enough, Poole, ay, and appalling to consider; but it is plain and
+natural, hangs well together, and delivers us from all exorbitant
+alarms."
+
+"Sir," said the butler, turning to a sort of mottled pallor, "that thing
+was not my master, and there's the truth. My master"--here he looked
+round him and began to whisper--"is a tall, fine build of a man, and
+this was more of a dwarf." Utterson attempted to protest. "O sir," cried
+Poole, "do you think I do not know my master after twenty years? do you
+think I do not know where his head comes to in the cabinet door, where I
+saw him every morning of my life? No, sir, that thing in the mask was
+never Dr. Jekyll--God knows what it was, but it was never Dr. Jekyll;
+and it is the belief of my heart that there was murder done."
+
+"Poole," replied the lawyer, "if you say that, it will become my duty to
+make certain. Much as I desire to spare your master's feelings, much as
+I am puzzled by this note which seems to prove him to be still alive, I
+shall consider it my duty to break in that door."
+
+"Ah, Mr. Utterson, that's talking!" cried the butler.
+
+"And now comes the second question," resumed Utterson: "Who is going to
+do it?"
+
+"Why, you and me, sir," was the undaunted reply.
+
+"That is very well said," returned the lawyer; "and whatever comes of
+it, I shall make it my business to see you are no loser."
+
+"There is an axe in the theatre," continued Poole; "and you might take
+the kitchen poker for yourself."
+
+The lawyer took that rude but weighty instrument into his hand, and
+balanced it. "Do you know, Poole," he said, looking up, "that you and I
+are about to place ourselves in a position of some peril?"
+
+"You may say so, sir, indeed," returned the butler.
+
+"It is well, then, that we should be frank," said the other. "We both
+think more than we have said; let us make a clean breast. This masked
+figure that you saw, did you recognise it?"
+
+"Well, sir, it went so quick, and the creature was so doubled up, that I
+could hardly swear to that," was the answer. "But if you mean, was it
+Mr. Hyde?--why, yes, I think it was! You see, it was much of the same
+bigness; and it had the same quick light way with it; and then who else
+could have got in by the laboratory door? You have not forgot, sir, that
+at the time of the murder he had still the key with him? But that's not
+all. I don't know, Mr. Utterson, if ever you met this Mr. Hyde?"
+
+"Yes," said the lawyer, "I once spoke with him."
+
+"Then you must know as well as the rest of us that there was something
+queer about that gentleman--something that gave a man a turn--I don't
+know rightly how to say it, sir, beyond this: that you felt it in your
+marrow kind of cold and thin."
+
+"I own I felt something of what you describe," said Mr. Utterson.
+
+"Quite so, sir," returned Poole. "Well, when that masked thing like a
+monkey jumped from among the chemicals and whipped into the cabinet, it
+went down my spine like ice. Oh, I know it's not evidence, Mr. Utterson;
+I'm book-learned enough for that; but a man has his feelings, and I give
+you my Bible-word it was Mr. Hyde!"
+
+"Ay, ay," said the lawyer. "My fears incline to the same point. Evil, I
+fear, founded--evil was sure to come--of that connection. Ay, truly, I
+believe you; I believe poor Harry is killed; and I believe his murderer
+(for what purpose, God alone can tell) is still lurking in his victim's
+room. Well, let our name be vengeance. Call Bradshaw."
+
+The footman came at the summons, very white and nervous.
+
+"Pull yourself together, Bradshaw," said the lawyer. "This suspense, I
+know, is telling upon all of you; but it is now our intention to make an
+end of it. Poole, here, and I are going to force our way into the
+cabinet. If all is well, my shoulders are broad enough to bear the
+blame. Meanwhile, lest anything should really be amiss, or any
+malefactor seek to escape by the back, you and the boy must go round the
+corner with a pair of good sticks, and take your post at the laboratory
+door. We give you ten minutes to get to your stations."
+
+As Bradshaw left, the lawyer looked at his watch. "And now, Poole, let
+us get to ours," he said; and taking the poker under his arm, he led the
+way into the yard. The scud had banked over the moon, and it was now
+quite dark. The wind, which only broke in puffs and draughts into that
+deep well of building, tossed the light of the candle to and fro about
+their steps, until they came into the shelter of the theatre, where they
+sat down silently to wait. London hummed solemnly all around; but nearer
+at hand, the stillness was only broken by the sound of a footfall moving
+to and fro along the cabinet floor.
+
+"So it will walk all day, sir," whispered Poole; "ay, and the better
+part of the night. Only when a new sample comes from the chemist,
+there's a bit of a break. Ah, it's an ill-conscience that's such an
+enemy to rest! Ah, sir, there's blood foully shed in every step of it!
+But hark again, a little closer--put your heart in your ears, Mr.
+Utterson, and tell me, is that the doctor's foot?"
+
+The steps fell lightly and oddly, with a certain swing, for all they
+went so slowly; it was different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of
+Henry Jekyll. Utterson sighed. "Is there never anything else?" he asked.
+
+Poole nodded. "Once," he said. "Once I heard it weeping!"
+
+"Weeping? how that?" said the lawyer, conscious of a sudden chill of
+horror.
+
+"Weeping like a woman or a lost soul," said the butler. "I came away
+with that upon my heart that I could have wept too."
+
+But now the ten minutes drew to an end. Poole disinterred the axe from
+under a stack of packing straw; the candle was set upon the nearest
+table to light them to the attack; and they drew near with bated breath
+to where that patient foot was still going up and down, up and down, in
+the quiet of the night.
+
+"Jekyll," cried Utterson, with a loud voice, "I demand to see you." He
+paused a moment, but there came no reply. "I give you fair warning, our
+suspicions are aroused, and I must and shall see you," he resumed; "if
+not by fair means, then by foul--if not of your consent, then by brute
+force!"
+
+"Utterson," said the voice, "for God's sake have mercy!"
+
+"Ah, that's not Jekyll's voice--it's Hyde's!" cried Utterson. "Down with
+the door, Poole."
+
+Poole swung the axe over his shoulder; the blow shook the building, and
+the red baize door leaped against the lock and hinges. A dismal screech,
+as of mere animal terror, rang from the cabinet. Up went the axe again,
+and again the panels crashed and the frame bounded; four times the blow
+fell; but the wood was tough and the fittings were of excellent
+workmanship; and it was not until the fifth, that the lock burst in
+sunder and the wreck of the door fell inwards on the carpet.
+
+The besiegers, appalled by their own riot and the stillness that had
+succeeded, stood back a little and peered in. There lay the cabinet
+before their eyes in the quiet lamplight, a good fire glowing and
+chattering on the hearth, the kettle singing its thin strain, a drawer
+or two open, papers neatly set forth on the business-table, and, nearer
+the fire, the things laid out for tea: the quietest room, you would have
+said, and, but for the glazed presses full of chemicals, the most
+commonplace that night in London.
+
+Right in the midst there lay the body of a man sorely contorted, and
+still twitching. They drew near on tiptoe, turned it on its back, and
+beheld the face of Edward Hyde. He was dressed in clothes far too large
+for him, clothes of the doctor's bigness; the cords of his face still
+moved with a semblance of life, but life was quite gone; and by the
+crushed phial in the hand and the strong smell of kernels that hung upon
+the air, Utterson knew that he was looking on the body of a
+self-destroyer.
+
+"We have come too late," he said sternly, "whether to save or punish.
+Hyde is gone to his account; and it only remains for us to find the body
+of your master."
+
+The far greater proportion of the building was occupied by the theatre,
+which filled almost the whole ground story and was lighted from above,
+and by the cabinet, which formed an upper story at one end and looked
+upon the court. A corridor joined the theatre to the door on the
+by-street; and with this, the cabinet communicated separately by a
+second flight of stairs. There were besides a few dark closets and a
+spacious cellar. All these they now thoroughly examined. Each closet
+needed but a glance, for all were empty, and all, by the dust that fell
+from their doors, had stood long unopened. The cellar, indeed, was
+filled with crazy lumber, mostly dating from the times of the surgeon
+who was Jekyll's predecessor; but even as they opened the door, they
+were advertised of the uselessness of further search, by the fall of a
+perfect mat of cobweb which had for years sealed up the entrance.
+Nowhere was there any trace of Henry Jekyll, dead or alive.
+
+Poole stamped on the flags of the corridor. "He must be buried here," he
+said, hearkening to the sound.
+
+"Or he may have fled," said Utterson, and he turned to examine the door
+in the by-street. It was locked; and lying near by on the flags, they
+found the key, already stained with rust.
+
+"This does not look like use," observed the lawyer.
+
+"Use!" echoed Poole. "Do you not see, sir, it is broken? much as if a
+man had stamped on it."
+
+"Ay," continued Utterson, "and the fractures, too, are rusty." The two
+men looked at each other with a scare. "This is beyond me, Poole," said
+the lawyer. "Let us go back to the cabinet."
+
+They mounted the stair in silence, and, still with an occasional
+awe-struck glance at the dead body, proceeded more thoroughly to examine
+the contents of the cabinet. At one table there were traces of chemical
+work, various measured heaps of some white salt being laid on glass
+saucers, as though for an experiment in which the unhappy man had been
+prevented.
+
+"That is the same drug that I was always bringing him," said Poole; and
+even as he spoke, the kettle with a startling noise boiled over.
+
+This brought them to the fireside, where the easy-chair was drawn cosily
+up, and the tea-things stood ready to the sitter's elbow, the very sugar
+in the cup. There were several books on a shelf; one lay beside the
+tea-things open, and Utterson was amazed to find it a copy of a pious
+work, for which Jekyll had several times expressed a great esteem,
+annotated, in his own hand, with startling blasphemies.
+
+Next, in the course of their review of the chamber, the searchers came
+to the cheval-glass, into whose depths they looked with an involuntary
+horror. But it was so turned as to show them nothing but the rosy glow
+playing on the roof, the fire sparkling in a hundred repetitions along
+the glazed front of the presses, and their own pale and fearful
+countenances stooping to look in.
+
+"This glass have seen some strange things, sir," whispered Poole.
+
+"And surely none stranger than itself," echoed the lawyer in the same
+tones. "For what did Jekyll"--he caught himself up at the word with a
+start, and then conquering the weakness: "what could Jekyll want with
+it?" he said.
+
+"You may say that!" said Poole.
+
+Next they turned to the business-table. On the desk, among the neat
+array of papers, a large envelope was uppermost, and bore, in the
+doctor's hand, the name of Mr. Utterson. The lawyer unsealed it, and
+several enclosures fell to the floor. The first was a will, drawn in the
+same eccentric terms as the one which he had returned six months before,
+to serve as a testament in case of death and as a deed of gift in case
+of disappearance; but, in place of the name of Edward Hyde, the lawyer,
+with indescribable amazement, read the name of Gabriel John Utterson. He
+looked at Poole, and then back at the paper, and last of all at the dead
+malefactor stretched upon the carpet.
+
+"My head goes round," he said. "He has been all these days in
+possession; he had no cause to like me; he must have raged to see
+himself displaced; and he has not destroyed this document."
+
+He caught up the next paper; it was a brief note in the doctor's hand,
+and dated at the top. "O Poole!" the lawyer cried, "he was alive and
+here this day. He cannot have been disposed of in so short a space, he
+must be still alive, he must have fled! And then, why fled? and how?
+and in that case, can we venture to declare this suicide? Oh, we must be
+careful. I foresee that we may yet involve your master in some dire
+catastrophe."
+
+"Why don't you read it, sir?" asked Poole.
+
+"Because I fear," replied the lawyer solemnly. "God grant I have no
+cause for it!" and with that he brought the paper to his eyes and read
+as follows:
+
+   "My dear Utterson,--When this shall fall into your hands, I shall
+   have disappeared, under what circumstances I have not the penetration
+   to foresee, but my instinct and all the circumstances of my nameless
+   situation tell me that the end is sure, and must be early. Go then,
+   and first read the narrative which Lanyon warned me he was to place
+   in your hands; and if you care to hear more, turn to the confession
+   of Your unworthy and unhappy friend,
+
+     "HENRY JEKYLL."
+
+"There was a third enclosure?" asked Utterson.
+
+"Here sir," said Poole, and gave into his hands a considerable packet
+sealed in several places.
+
+The lawyer put it in his pocket. "I would say nothing of this paper. If
+your master has fled or is dead, we may at least save his credit. It is
+now ten; I must go home and read these documents in quiet; but I shall
+be back before midnight, when we shall send for the police."
+
+They went out, locking the door of the theatre behind them; and
+Utterson, once more leaving the servants gathered about the fire in the
+hall, trudged back to his office to read the two narratives in which
+this mystery was now to be explained.
+
+
+
+
+DR. LANYON'S NARRATIVE
+
+
+On the ninth of January, now four days ago, I received by the evening
+delivery a registered envelope, addressed in the hand of my colleague
+and old school-companion, Henry Jekyll. I was a good deal surprised by
+this; for we were by no means in the habit of correspondence; I had seen
+the man, dined with him, indeed, the night before; and I could imagine
+nothing in our intercourse that should justify the formality of
+registration. The contents increased my wonder; for this is how the
+letter ran:--
+
+      "10th December, 18--
+
+   "Dear Lanyon,--You are one of my oldest friends; and although we may
+   have differed at times on scientific questions, I cannot remember, at
+   least on my side, any break in our affection. There was never a day
+   when, if you had said to me, 'Jekyll, my life, my honour, my reason,
+   depend upon you,' I would not have sacrificed my fortune or my left
+   hand to help you. Lanyon, my life, my honour, my reason, are all at
+   your mercy; if you fail me to-night, I am lost. You might suppose,
+   after this preface, that I am going to ask you for something
+   dishonourable to grant. Judge for yourself.
+
+   "I want you to postpone all other engagements for to-night--ay, even
+   if you were summoned to the bedside of an emperor; to take a cab,
+   unless your carriage should be actually at the door; and with this
+   letter in your hand for consultation, to drive straight to my house.
+   Poole, my butler, has his orders; you will find him waiting your
+   arrival with a locksmith. The door of my cabinet is then to be
+   forced; and you are to go in alone; to open the glazed press (letter
+   E) on the left hand, breaking the lock if it be shut; and to draw
+   out, _with all its contents as they stand_, the fourth drawer from
+   the top or (which is the same thing) the third from the bottom. In my
+   extreme distress of mind I have a morbid fear of misdirecting you;
+   but even if I am in error, you may know the right drawer by its
+   contents: some powders, a phial, and a paper book. This drawer I beg
+   of you to carry back with you to Cavendish Square exactly as it
+   stands.
+
+   "That is the first part of the service: now for the second. You
+   should be back, if you set out at once on the receipt of this, long
+   before midnight; but I will leave you that amount of margin, not only
+   in the fear of one of those obstacles that can neither be prevented
+   nor foreseen, but because an hour when your servants are in bed is to
+   be preferred for what will then remain to do. At midnight, then, I
+   have to ask you to be alone in your consulting-room, to admit with
+   your own hand into the house a man who will present himself in my
+   name, and to place in his hands the drawer that you will have brought
+   with you from my cabinet. Then you will have played your part and
+   earned my gratitude completely. Five minutes afterwards, if you
+   insist upon an explanation, you will have understood that these
+   arrangements are of capital importance; and that by the neglect of
+   one of them, fantastic as they must appear, you might have charged
+   your conscience with my death or the shipwreck of my reason.
+
+   "Confident as I am that you will not trifle with this appeal, my
+   heart sinks and my hand trembles at the bare thought of such a
+   possibility. Think of me at this hour, in a strange place, labouring
+   under a blackness of distress that no fancy can exaggerate, and yet
+   well aware that, if you will but punctually serve me, my troubles
+   will roll away like a story that is told. Serve me, my dear Lanyon,
+   and save
+
+    "Your friend,
+
+       "H. J.
+
+   "_P.S._--I had already sealed this up when a fresh terror struck upon
+   my soul. It is possible that the post office may fail me, and this
+   letter not come into your hands until to-morrow morning. In that
+   case, dear Lanyon, do my errand when it shall be most convenient for
+   you in the course of the day; and once more expect my messenger at
+   midnight. It may then already be too late; and if that night passes
+   without event, you will know that you have seen the last of Henry
+   Jekyll."
+
+Upon the reading of this letter I made sure my colleague was insane; but
+till that was proved beyond the possibility of doubt, I felt bound to do
+as he requested. The less I understood of this farrago, the less I was
+in a position to judge of its importance; and an appeal so worded could
+not be set aside without a grave responsibility. I rose accordingly from
+table, got into a hansom, and drove straight to Jekyll's house. The
+butler was awaiting my arrival; he had received by the same post as mine
+a registered letter of instruction, and had sent at once for a locksmith
+and a carpenter. The tradesmen came while we were yet speaking; and we
+moved in a body to old Dr. Denman's surgical theatre, from which (as you
+are doubtless aware) Jekyll's private cabinet is most conveniently
+entered. The door was very strong, the lock excellent; the carpenter
+avowed he would have great trouble and have to do much damage, if force
+were to be used; and the locksmith was near despair. But this last was a
+handy fellow, and after two hours' work the door stood open. The press
+marked E was unlocked; and I took out the drawer, had it filled up with
+straw and tied in a sheet, and returned with it to Cavendish Square.
+
+Here I proceeded to examine its contents. The powders were neatly enough
+made up, but not with the nicety of the dispensing chemist; so that it
+was plain they were of Jekyll's private manufacture; and when I opened
+one of the wrappers, I found what seemed to me a simple, crystalline
+salt of a white colour. The phial, to which I next turned my attention,
+might have been about half-full of a blood-red liquor, which was highly
+pungent to the sense of smell and seemed to me to contain phosphorus and
+some volatile ether. At the other ingredients I could make no guess. The
+book was an ordinary version-book, and contained little but a series of
+dates. These covered a period of many years, but I observed that the
+entries ceased nearly a year ago, and quite abruptly. Here and there a
+brief remark was appended to a date, usually no more than a single word:
+"double" occurring perhaps six times in a total of several hundred
+entries; and once very early in the list, and followed by several marks
+of exclamation, "total failure!!!" All this, though it whetted my
+curiosity, told me little that was definite. Here was a phial of some
+tincture, a paper of some salt, and a record of a series of experiments
+that had led (like too many of Jekyll's investigations) to no end of
+practical usefulness. How could the presence of these articles in my
+house affect either the honour, the sanity, or the life of my flighty
+colleague? If his messenger could go to one place, why could he not go
+to another? And even granting some impediment, why was this gentleman to
+be received by me in secret? The more I reflected, the more convinced I
+grew that I was dealing with a case of cerebral disease; and though I
+dismissed my servants to bed, I loaded an old revolver that I might be
+found in some posture of self-defence.
+
+Twelve o'clock had scarce rung out over London, ere the knocker sounded
+very gently on the door. I went myself at the summons, and found a small
+man crouching against the pillars of the portico.
+
+"Are you come from Dr. Jekyll?" I asked.
+
+He told me "yes" by a constrained gesture; and when I had bidden him
+enter, he did not obey me without a searching backward glance into the
+darkness of the square. There was a policeman not far off, advancing
+with his bull's-eye open; and at the sight I thought my visitor started
+and made greater haste.
+
+These particulars struck me, I confess, disagreeably; and as I followed
+him into the bright light of the consulting-room, I kept my hand ready
+on my weapon. Here, at last, I had a chance of clearly seeing him. I had
+never set eyes on him before, so much was certain. He was small, as I
+have said; I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his
+face, with his remarkable combination of great muscular activity and
+great apparent debility of constitution, and--last but not least--with
+the odd, subjective disturbance caused by his neighbourhood. This bore
+some resemblance to incipient rigor, and was accompanied by a marked
+sinking of the pulse. At the time, I set it down to some idiosyncratic,
+personal distaste, and merely wondered at the acuteness of the symptoms;
+but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in
+the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle
+of hatred.
+
+This person (who had thus, from the first moment of his entrance, struck
+in me what I can only describe as a disgustful curiosity) was dressed in
+a fashion that would have made an ordinary person laughable: his
+clothes, that is to say, although they were of rich and sober fabric,
+were enormously too large for him in every measurement--the trousers
+hanging on his legs and rolled up to keep them from the ground, the
+waist of the coat below his haunches and the collar sprawling wide upon
+his shoulders. Strange to relate, this ludicrous accoutrement was far
+from moving me to laughter. Rather, as there was something abnormal and
+misbegotten in the very essence of the creature that now faced
+me--something seizing, surprising, and revolting--this fresh disparity
+seemed but to fit in with and to reinforce it; so that to my interest in
+the man's nature and character there was added a curiosity as to his
+origin, his life, his fortune and status in the world.
+
+These observations, though they have taken so great a space to be set
+down in, were yet the work of a few seconds. My visitor was, indeed, on
+fire with sombre excitement.
+
+"Have you got it?" he cried. "Have you got it?" And so lively was his
+impatience that he even laid his hand upon my arm and sought to shake
+me.
+
+I put him back, conscious at his touch of a certain icy pang along my
+blood. "Come, sir," said I. "You forget that I have not yet the pleasure
+of your acquaintance. Be seated, if you please." And I showed him an
+example, and sat down myself in my customary seat and with as fair an
+imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient as the lateness of the
+hour, the nature of my pre-occupations, and the horror I had of my
+visitor, would suffer me to muster.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Dr. Lanyon," he replied civilly enough. "What you
+say is very well founded; and my impatience has shown its heels to my
+politeness. I come here at the instance of your colleague, Dr. Henry
+Jekyll, on a piece of business of some moment; and I understood ..." he
+paused and put his hand to his throat, and I could see, in spite of his
+collected manner, that he was wrestling against the approaches of the
+hysteria--"I understood, a drawer...."
+
+But here I took pity on my visitor's suspense, and some perhaps on my
+own growing curiosity.
+
+"There it is, sir," said I, pointing to the drawer, where it lay on the
+floor behind a table and still covered with the sheet.
+
+He sprang to it, and then paused, and laid his hand upon his heart; I
+could hear his teeth grate with the convulsive action of his jaws; and
+his face was so ghastly to see that I grew alarmed both for his life and
+reason.
+
+"Compose yourself," said I.
+
+He turned a dreadful smile to me, and as if with the decision of
+despair, plucked away the sheet. At sight of the contents he uttered one
+loud sob of such immense relief that I sat petrified. And the next
+moment, in a voice that was already fairly well under control, "Have you
+a graduated glass?" he asked.
+
+I rose from my place with something of an effort and gave him what he
+asked.
+
+He thanked me with a smiling nod, measured out a few minims of the red
+tincture and added one of the powders. The mixture, which was at first
+of a reddish hue, began, in proportion as the crystals melted, to
+brighten in colour, to effervesce audibly, and to throw off small fumes
+of vapour. Suddenly and at the same moment, the ebullition ceased and
+the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to
+a watery green. My visitor, who had watched these metamorphoses with a
+keen eye, smiled, set down the glass upon the table, and then turned and
+looked upon me with an air of scrutiny.
+
+"And now," said he, "to settle what remains. Will you be wise? will you
+be guided? will you suffer me to take this glass in my hand and to go
+forth from your house without further parley? or has the greed of
+curiosity too much command of you? Think before you answer, for it shall
+be done as you decide. As you decide, you shall be left as you were
+before, and neither richer nor wiser, unless the sense of service
+rendered to a man in mortal distress may be counted as a kind of riches
+of the soul. Or, if you shall so prefer to choose, a new province of
+knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you,
+here, in this room, upon the instant; and your sight shall be blasted by
+a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan."
+
+"Sir," said I, affecting a coolness that I was far from truly
+possessing, "you speak enigmas, and you will perhaps not wonder that I
+hear you with no very strong impression of belief. But I have gone too
+far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end."
+
+"It is well," replied my visitor. "Lanyon, you remember your vows: what
+follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so
+long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have
+denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your
+superiors--behold!"
+
+He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he
+reeled, staggered, clutched at the table and held on, staring with
+injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked there came, I
+thought, a change--he seemed to swell--his face became suddenly black
+and the features seemed to melt and alter--and the next moment I had
+sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall, my arm raised to
+shield me from that prodigy, my mind submerged in terror.
+
+"O God!" I screamed, and "O God!" again and again; for there before my
+eyes--pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with
+his hands, like a man restored from death--there stood Henry Jekyll!
+
+What he told me in the next hour I cannot bring my mind to set on paper.
+I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard, and my soul sickened at it; and
+yet now when that sight has faded from my eyes, I ask myself if I
+believe it, and I cannot answer. My life is shaken to its roots; sleep
+has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and
+night; I feel that my days are numbered, and that I must die; and yet I
+shall die incredulous. As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to
+me, even with tears of penitence, I cannot, even in memory, dwell on it
+without a start of horror. I will say but one thing, Utterson, and that
+(if you can bring your mind to credit it) will be more than enough. The
+creature who crept into my house that night was, on Jekyll's own
+confession, known by the name of Hyde, and hunted for in every corner of
+the land as the murderer of Carew.
+
+     HASTIE LANYON.
+
+
+
+
+HENRY JEKYLL'S FULL STATEMENT OF THE CASE
+
+
+I was born in the year 18-- to a large fortune, endowed besides with
+excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry, fond of the respect of
+the wise and good among my fellow-men, and thus, as might have been
+supposed, with every guarantee of an honourable and distinguished
+future. And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety
+of disposition such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I
+found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head
+high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public.
+Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I
+reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock
+of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a
+profound duplicity of life. Many a man would have even blazoned such
+irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had
+set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of
+shame. It was thus rather the exacting nature of my aspirations than any
+particular degradation in my faults, that made me what I was, and, with
+even a deeper trench than in the majority of men, severed in me those
+provinces of good and ill which divide and compound man's dual nature.
+In this case, I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that
+hard law of life, which lies at the root of religion and is one of the
+most plentiful springs of distress. Though so profound a double-dealer,
+I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest; I
+was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame,
+than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of
+knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering. And it chanced that the
+direction of my scientific studies, which led wholly towards the mystic
+and the transcendental, reacted and shed a strong light on this
+consciousness of the perennial war among my members. With every day, and
+from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I
+thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I
+have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly
+one, but truly two. I say two, because the state of my own knowledge
+does not pass beyond that point. Others will follow, others will
+outstrip me on the same lines; and I hazard the guess that man will be
+ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and
+independent denizens. I for my part, from the nature of my life,
+advanced infallibly in one direction, and in one direction only. It was
+on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the
+thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that of the two natures
+that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly
+be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both; and from
+an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had
+begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had
+learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved day-dream, on the thought
+of the separation of these elements. If each, I told myself, could but
+be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was
+unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations
+and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk
+steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in
+which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and
+penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of
+mankind that these incongruous fagots were thus bound together--that in
+the agonised womb of consciousness these polar twins should be
+continuously struggling. How, then, were they dissociated?
+
+I was so far in my reflections when, as I have said, a side-light began
+to shine upon the subject from the laboratory table. I began to perceive
+more deeply than it has ever yet been stated, the trembling
+immateriality, the mist-like transience, of this seemingly so solid body
+in which we walk attired. Certain agents I found to have the power to
+shake and to pluck that fleshy vestment, even as a wind might toss the
+curtains of a pavilion. For two good reasons, I will not enter deeply
+into this scientific branch of my confession. First, because I have been
+made to learn that the doom and burthen of our life is bound for ever on
+man's shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but
+returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure. Second,
+because as my narrative will make, alas! too evident, my discoveries
+were incomplete. Enough, then, that I not only recognised my natural
+body for the mere aura and effulgence of certain of the powers that made
+up my spirit, but managed to compound a drug by which these powers
+should be dethroned from their supremacy, and a second form and
+countenance substituted, none the less natural to me because they were
+the expression, and bore the stamp, of lower elements in my soul.
+
+I hesitated long before I put this theory to the test of practice. I
+knew well that I risked death; for any drug that so potently controlled
+and shook the very fortress of identity, might by the least scruple of
+an overdose or at the least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition,
+utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to
+change. But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at
+last overcame the suggestions of alarm. I had long since prepared my
+tincture; I purchased at once, from a firm of wholesale chemists, a
+large quantity of a particular salt which I knew, from my experiments,
+to be the last ingredient required; and late one accursed night, I
+compounded the elements, watched them boil and smoke together in the
+glass, and when the ebullition had subsided, with a strong glow of
+courage drank off the potion.
+
+The most racking pangs succeeded; a grinding in the bones, deadly
+nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour
+of birth or death. Then these agonies began swiftly to subside, and I
+came to myself as if out of a great sickness. There was something
+strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very
+novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body;
+within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered
+sensual images running like a mill-race in my fancy, a solution of the
+bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul.
+I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked,
+tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought,
+in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine. I stretched out my
+hands, exulting in the freshness of these sensations; and in the act I
+was suddenly aware that I had lost in stature.
+
+There was no mirror, at that date, in my room; that which stands beside
+me as I write was brought there later on, and for the very purpose of
+these transformations. The night, however, was far gone into the
+morning--the morning, black as it was, was nearly ripe for the
+conception of the day--the inmates of my house were locked in the most
+rigorous hours of slumber; and I determined, flushed as I was with hope
+and triumph, to venture in my new shape as far as to my bedroom. I
+crossed the yard, wherein the constellations looked down upon me, I
+could have thought, with wonder, the first creature of that sort that
+their unsleeping vigilance had yet disclosed to them; I stole through
+the corridors, a stranger in my own house; and, coming to my room, I saw
+for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde.
+
+I must here speak by theory alone, saying not that which I know, but
+that which I suppose to be most probable. The evil side of my nature, to
+which I had now transferred the stamping efficacy, was less robust and
+less developed than the good which I had just deposed. Again, in the
+course of my life, which had been, after all, nine-tenths a life of
+effort, virtue, and control, it had been much less exercised and much
+less exhausted. And hence, as I think, it came about that Edward Hyde
+was so much smaller, slighter, and younger than Henry Jekyll. Even as
+good shone upon the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and
+plainly on the face of the other. Evil besides (which I must still
+believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that body an imprint
+of deformity and decay. And yet when I looked upon that ugly idol in the
+glass, I was conscious of no repugnance, rather of a leap of welcome.
+This too, was myself. It seemed natural and human. In my eyes it bore a
+livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than
+the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to
+call mine. And in so far I was doubtless right. I have observed that
+when I bore the semblance of Edward Hyde, none could come near to me at
+first without a visible misgiving of the flesh. This, as I take it, was
+because all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good
+and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.
+
+I lingered but a moment at the mirror: the second and conclusive
+experiment had yet to be attempted; it yet remained to be seen if I had
+lost my identity beyond redemption and must flee before daylight from a
+house that was no longer mine; and, hurrying back to my cabinet, I once
+more prepared and drank the cup, once more suffered the pangs of
+dissolution, and came to myself once more with the character, the
+stature, and the face of Henry Jekyll.
+
+That night I had come to the fatal cross roads. Had I approached my
+discovery in a more noble spirit, had I risked the experiment while
+under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been
+otherwise, and from these agonies of death and birth I had come forth an
+angel instead of a fiend. The drug had no discriminating action; it was
+neither diabolical nor divine; it but shook the doors of the
+prison-house of my disposition; and like the captives of Philippi, that
+which stood within ran forth. At that time my virtue slumbered; my
+evil, kept awake by ambition, was alert and swift to seize the occasion;
+and the thing that was projected was Edward Hyde. Hence, although I had
+now two characters as well as two appearances, one was wholly evil, and
+the other was still the old Henry Jekyll, that incongruous compound of
+whose reformation and improvement I had already learned to despair. The
+movement was thus wholly toward the worse.
+
+Even at that time I had not yet conquered my aversion to the dryness of
+a life of study. I would still be merrily disposed at times; and as my
+pleasures were (to say the least) undignified, and I was not only well
+known and highly considered, but growing towards the elderly man, this
+incoherency of my life was daily growing more unwelcome. It was on this
+side that my new power tempted me until I fell in slavery. I had but to
+drink the cup, to doff at once the body of the noted professor, and to
+assume, like a thick cloak, that of Edward Hyde. I smiled at the notion;
+it seemed to me at the time to be humorous; and I made my preparations
+with the most studious care. I took and furnished that house in Soho, to
+which Hyde was tracked by the police; and engaged as housekeeper a
+creature whom I well knew to be silent and unscrupulous. On the other
+side, I announced to my servants that a Mr. Hyde (whom I described) was
+to have full liberty and power about my house in the square; and to
+parry mishaps, I even called and made myself a familiar object, in my
+second character. I next drew up that will to which you so much
+objected; so that if anything befell me in the person of Doctor Jekyll,
+I could enter on that of Edward Hyde without pecuniary loss. And thus
+fortified, as I supposed, on every side, I began to profit by the
+strange immunities of my position.
+
+Men have before hired bravos to transact their crimes, while their own
+person and reputation sat under shelter. I was the first that ever did
+so for his pleasures. I was the first that could thus plod in the public
+eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a
+schoolboy, strip off these leadings and spring headlong into the sea of
+liberty. But for me, in my impenetrable mantle, the safety was complete.
+Think of it--I did not even exist! Let me but escape into my
+laboratory-door, give me but a second or two to mix and swallow the
+draught that I had always standing ready; and whatever he had done,
+Edward Hyde would pass away like the stain of breath upon a mirror; and
+there in his stead, quietly at home, trimming the midnight lamp in his
+study, a man who could afford to laugh at suspicion, would be Henry
+Jekyll.
+
+The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have
+said, undignified; I would scarce use a harder term. But in the hands of
+Edward Hyde they soon began to turn towards the monstrous. When I would
+come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of
+wonder at my vicarious depravity. This familiar that I called out of my
+own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being
+inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centred on
+self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture
+to another; relentless like a man of stone. Henry Jekyll stood at times
+aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation was apart from
+ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was
+Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty. Jekyll was no worse;
+he woke again to his good qualities seemingly unimpaired; he would even
+make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde. And
+thus his conscience slumbered.
+
+Into the details of the infamy at which I thus connived (for even now I
+can scarce grant that I committed it) I have no design of entering; I
+mean but to point out the warnings and the successive steps with which
+my chastisement approached. I met with one accident which, as it brought
+on no consequence, I shall no more than mention. An act of cruelty to a
+child aroused against me the anger of a passer-by, whom I recognised the
+other day in the person of your kinsman; the doctor and the child's
+family joined him; there were moments when I feared for my life; and at
+last, in order to pacify their too just resentment, Edward Hyde had to
+bring them to the door, and pay them in a cheque drawn in the name of
+Henry Jekyll. But this danger was easily eliminated from the future, by
+opening an account at another bank in the name of Edward Hyde himself;
+and when, by sloping my own hand backward, I had supplied my double with
+a signature, I thought I sat beyond the reach of fate.
+
+Some two months before the murder of Sir Danvers, I had been out for one
+of my adventures, had returned at a late hour, and woke the next day in
+bed with somewhat odd sensations. It was in vain I looked about me; in
+vain I saw the decent furniture and tall proportions of my room in the
+square; in vain that I recognised the pattern of the bed-curtains and
+the design of the mahogany frame; something still kept insisting that I
+was not where I was, that I had not wakened where I seemed to be, but in
+the little room in Soho where I was accustomed to sleep in the body of
+Edward Hyde. I smiled to myself, and, in my psychological way, began
+lazily to inquire into the elements of this illusion, occasionally, even
+as I did so, dropping back into a comfortable morning doze. I was still
+so engaged when, in one of my more wakeful moments, my eye fell upon my
+hand. Now the hand of Henry Jekyll (as you have often remarked) was
+professional in shape and size: it was large, firm, white, and comely.
+But the hand which I now saw, clearly enough, in the yellow light of a
+mid-London morning, lying half shut on the bed-clothes, was lean,
+corded, knuckly, of a dusky pallor, and thickly shaded with a swart
+growth of hair. It was the hand of Edward Hyde.
+
+I must have stared upon it for near half a minute, sunk as I was in the
+mere stupidity of wonder, before terror woke up in my breast as sudden
+and startling as the crash of cymbals; and bounding from my bed, I
+rushed to the mirror. At the sight that met my eyes my blood was changed
+into something exquisitely thin and icy. Yes, I had gone to bed Henry
+Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde. How was this to be explained? I
+asked myself; and then, with another bound of terror--how was it to be
+remedied? It was well on in the morning; the servants were up; all my
+drugs were in the cabinet--a long journey, down two pairs of stairs,
+through the back passage, across the open court and through the
+anatomical theatre, from where I was then standing horror-struck. It
+might indeed be possible to cover my face; but of what use was that,
+when I was unable to conceal the alteration in my stature? And then,
+with an overpowering sweetness of relief, it came back upon my mind that
+the servants were already used to the coming and going of my second
+self. I had soon dressed, as well as I was able, in clothes of my own
+size: had soon passed through the house, where Bradshaw stared and drew
+back at seeing Mr. Hyde at such an hour and in such a strange array; and
+ten minutes later Dr. Jekyll had returned to his own shape, and was
+sitting down, with a darkened brow, to make a feint of breakfasting.
+
+Small indeed was my appetite. This inexplicable incident, this reversal
+of my previous experience, seemed, like the Babylonian finger on the
+wall, to be spelling out the letters of my judgment; and I began to
+reflect more seriously than ever before on the issues and possibilities
+of my double existence. That part of me which I had the power of
+projecting had lately been much exercised and nourished; it had seemed
+to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature, as
+though (when I wore that form) I were conscious of a more generous tide
+of blood; and I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged,
+the balance of my nature might be permanently overthrown, the power of
+voluntary change be forfeited, and the character of Edward Hyde become
+irrevocably mine. The power of the drug had not always been equally
+displayed. Once, very early in my career, it had totally failed me;
+since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion to double, and
+once, with infinite risk of death, to treble the amount; and these rare
+uncertainties had cast hitherto the sole shadow on my contentment. Now,
+however, and in the light of that morning's accident, I was led to
+remark that whereas, in the beginning, the difficulty had been to throw
+off the body of Jekyll, it had of late gradually but decidedly
+transferred itself to the other side. All things therefore seemed to
+point to this: that I was slowly losing hold of my original and better
+self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse.
+
+Between these two, I now felt I had to choose. My two natures had memory
+in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared between
+them. Jekyll (who was composite) now with the most sensitive
+apprehensions, now with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the
+pleasures and adventures of Hyde; but Hyde was indifferent to Jekyll, or
+but remembered him as the mountain bandit remembers the cavern in which
+he conceals himself from pursuit. Jekyll had more than a father's
+interest; Hyde had more than a son's indifference. To cast in my lot
+with Jekyll was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly
+indulged, and had of late begun to pamper. To cast it in with Hyde was
+to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow
+and for ever, despised and friendless. The bargain might appear unequal;
+but there was still another consideration in the scales; for while
+Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be
+not even conscious of all that he had lost. Strange as my circumstances
+were, the terms of this debate are as old and commonplace as man; much
+the same inducements and alarms cast the die for any tempted and
+trembling sinner; and it fell out with me, as it falls with so vast a
+majority of my fellows, that I chose the better part, and was found
+wanting in the strength to keep to it.
+
+Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor, surrounded by
+friends and cherishing honest hopes; and bade a resolute farewell to the
+liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping pulses, and
+secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde. I made
+this choice perhaps with some unconscious reservation, for I neither
+gave up the house in Soho, nor destroyed the clothes of Edward Hyde,
+which still lay ready in my cabinet. For two months, however, I was true
+to my determination; for two months I led a life of such severity as I
+had never before attained to, and enjoyed the compensations of an
+approving conscience. But time began at last to obliterate the freshness
+of my alarm; the praises of conscience began to grow into a thing of
+course; I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde
+struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I
+once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught.
+
+I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his
+vice, he is once out of five hundred times affected by the dangers that
+he runs through his brutish, physical insensibility; neither had I, long
+as I had considered my position, made enough allowance for the complete
+moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil, which were the
+leading characters of Edward Hyde. Yet it was by these that I was
+punished. My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring. I was
+conscious, even when I took the draught, of a more unbridled, a more
+furious propensity to ill. It must have been this, I suppose, that
+stirred in my soul that tempest of impatience with which I listened to
+the civilities of my unhappy victim; I declare at least, before God, no
+man morally sane could have been guilty of that crime upon so pitiful a
+provocation; and that I struck in no more reasonable spirit than that in
+which a sick child may break a plaything. But I had voluntarily stripped
+myself of all those balancing instincts, by which even the worst of us
+continues to walk with some degree of steadiness among temptations; and
+in my case, to be tempted, however slightly, was to fall.
+
+Instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged. With a transport of
+glee I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow: and
+it was not till weariness had begun to succeed, that I was suddenly, in
+the top fit of my delirium, struck through the heart by a cold thrill of
+terror. A mist dispersed; I saw my life to be forfeit; and fled from the
+scene of these excesses, at once glorying and trembling, my lust of evil
+gratified and stimulated, my love of life screwed to the topmost peg. I
+ran to the house in Soho, and (to make assurance doubly sure) destroyed
+my papers; thence I set out through the lamplit streets, in the same
+divided ecstasy of mind, gloating on my crime, light-headedly devising
+others in the future, and yet still hastening and still hearkening in my
+wake for the steps of the avenger. Hyde had a song upon his lips as he
+compounded the draught, and as he drank it, pledged the dead man. The
+pangs of transformation had not done tearing him, before Henry Jekyll,
+with streaming tears of gratitude and remorse, had fallen upon his knees
+and lifted his clasped hands to God. The veil of self-indulgence was
+rent from head to foot, I saw my life as a whole: I followed it up from
+the days of childhood, when I had walked with my father's hand, and
+through the self-denying toils of my professional life, to arrive again
+and again, with the same sense of unreality, at the damned horrors of
+the evening. I could have screamed aloud; I sought with tears and
+prayers to smother down the crowd of hideous images and sounds with
+which my memory swarmed against me; and still, between the petitions,
+the ugly face of my iniquity stared into my soul. As the acuteness of
+this remorse began to die away, it was succeeded by a sense of joy. The
+problem of my conduct was solved. Hyde was thenceforth impossible;
+whether I would or not, I was now confined to the better part of my
+existence; and oh how I rejoiced to think it! with what willing humility
+I embraced anew the restrictions of natural life! with what sincere
+renunciation I locked the door by which I had so often gone and come,
+and ground the key under my heel!
+
+The next day came the news that the murder had been overlooked, that the
+guilt of Hyde was patent to the world, and that the victim was a man
+high in public estimation. It was not only a crime, it had been a tragic
+folly. I think I was glad to know it; I think I was glad to have my
+better impulses thus buttressed and guarded by the terrors of the
+scaffold. Jekyll was now my city of refuge; let but Hyde peep out an
+instant, and the hands of all men would be raised to take and slay him.
+
+I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with
+honesty that my resolve was fruitful of some good. You know yourself how
+earnestly in the last months of last year, I laboured to relieve
+suffering; you know that much was done for others, and that the days
+passed quietly, almost happily for myself. Nor can I truly say that I
+wearied of this beneficent and innocent life; I think instead that I
+daily enjoyed it more completely; but I was still cursed with my duality
+of purpose; and as the first edge of my penitence wore off, the lower
+side of me, so long indulged, so recently chained down, began to growl
+for licence. Not that I dreamed of resuscitating Hyde; the bare idea of
+that would startle me to frenzy: no, it was in my own person that I was
+once more tempted to trifle with my conscience; and it was as an
+ordinary secret sinner that I at last fell before the assaults of
+temptation.
+
+There comes an end to all things; the most capacious measure is filled
+at last; and this brief condescension to evil finally destroyed the
+balance of my soul. And yet I was not alarmed; the fall seemed natural,
+like a return to the old days before I had made my discovery. It was a
+fine, clear, January day, wet under foot where the frost had melted, but
+cloudless overhead; and the Regent's Park was full of winter chirrupings
+and sweet with spring odours. I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal
+within me licking the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little
+drowsed, promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin.
+After all, I reflected, I was like my neighbours; and then I smiled,
+comparing myself with other men, comparing my active goodwill with the
+lazy cruelty of their neglect. And at the very moment of that
+vainglorious thought a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most
+deadly shuddering. These passed away, and left me faint; and then, as in
+its turn the faintness subsided, I began to be aware of a change in the
+temper of my thoughts, a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a
+solution of the bonds of obligation. I looked down; my clothes hung
+formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded
+and hairy. I was once more Edward Hyde. A moment before I had been safe
+of all men's respect, wealthy, beloved--the cloth laying for me in the
+dining-room at home; and now I was the common quarry of mankind, hunted,
+houseless, a known murderer, thrall to the gallows.
+
+My reason wavered, but it did not fail me utterly. I have more than once
+observed that, in my second character, my faculties seemed sharpened to
+a point and my spirits more tensely elastic; thus it came about that,
+where Jekyll perhaps might have succumbed, Hyde rose to the importance
+of the moment. My drugs were in one of the presses of my cabinet; how
+was I to reach them? That was the problem that (crushing my temples in
+my hands) I set myself to solve. The laboratory door I had closed. If I
+sought to enter by the house, my own servants would consign me to the
+gallows. I saw I must employ another hand, and thought of Lanyon. How
+was he to be reached? how persuaded? Supposing that I escaped capture in
+the streets, how was I to make my way into his presence? and how should
+I, an unknown and displeasing visitor, prevail on the famous physician
+to rifle the study of his colleague, Dr. Jekyll? Then I remembered that
+of my original character, one part remained to me: I could write my own
+hand; and once I had conceived that kindling spark, the way that I must
+follow became lighted up from end to end.
+
+Thereupon I arranged my clothes as best I could, and summoning a passing
+hansom, drove to a hotel in Portland Street, the name of which I chanced
+to remember. At my appearance (which was indeed comical enough, however
+tragic a fate these garments covered) the driver could not conceal his
+mirth. I gnashed my teeth upon him with a gust of devilish fury; and the
+smile withered from his face--happily for him--yet more happily for
+myself, for in another instant I had certainly dragged him from his
+perch. At the inn, as I entered, I looked about me with so black a
+countenance as made the attendants tremble; not a look did they exchange
+in my presence; but obsequiously took my orders, led me to a private
+room, and brought me wherewithal to write. Hyde in danger of his life
+was a creature new to me: shaken with inordinate anger, strung to the
+pitch of murder, lusting to inflict pain. Yet the creature was astute;
+mastered his fury with a great effort of the will; composed his two
+important letters, one to Lanyon and one to Poole; and that he might
+receive actual evidence of their being posted, sent them out with
+directions that they should be registered.
+
+Thenceforward, he sat all day over the fire in the private room, gnawing
+his nails; there he dined, sitting alone with his fears, the waiter
+visibly quailing before his eye; and then, when the night was fully
+come, he set forth in the corner of a closed cab, and was driven to and
+fro about the streets of the city. He, I say--I cannot say, I. That
+child of Hell had nothing human; nothing lived in him but fear and
+hatred. And when at last, thinking the driver had begun to grow
+suspicious, he discharged the cab and ventured on foot, attired in his
+misfitting clothes, an object marked out for observation, into the midst
+of the nocturnal passengers, these two base passions raged within him
+like a tempest. He walked fast, hunted by his fears, chattering to
+himself, skulking through the less frequented thoroughfares, counting
+the minutes that still divided him from midnight. Once a woman spoke to
+him, offering, I think, a box of lights. He smote her in the face, and
+she fled.
+
+When I came to myself at Lanyon's, the horror of my old friend perhaps
+affected me somewhat: I do not know; it was at least but a drop in the
+sea to the abhorrence with which I looked back upon these hours. A
+change had come over me. It was no longer the fear of the gallows, it
+was the horror of being Hyde that racked me. I received Lanyon's
+condemnation partly in a dream; it was partly in a dream that I came
+home to my own house and got into bed. I slept after the prostration of
+the day, with a stringent and profound slumber which not even the
+nightmares that wrung me could avail to break. I awoke in the morning
+shaken, weakened, but refreshed. I still hated and feared the thought of
+the brute that slept within me, and I had not, of course, forgotten the
+appalling dangers of the day before; but I was once more at home, in my
+own house and close to my drugs; and gratitude for my escape shone so
+strong in my soul that it almost rivalled the brightness of hope.
+
+I was stepping leisurely across the court after breakfast, drinking the
+chill of the air with pleasure, when I was seized again with those
+indescribable sensations that heralded the change; and I had but the
+time to gain the shelter of my cabinet, before I was once again raging
+and freezing with the passions of Hyde. It took on this occasion a
+double dose to recall me to myself; and alas! six hours after, as I sat
+looking sadly in the fire, the pangs returned, and the drug had to be
+re-administered. In short, from that day forth it seemed only by a great
+effort as of gymnastics, and only under the immediate stimulation of the
+drug, that I was able to wear the countenance of Jekyll. At all hours of
+the day and night I would be taken with the premonitory shudder; above
+all, if I slept, or even dozed for a moment in my chair, it was always
+as Hyde that I awakened. Under the strain of this continually impending
+doom and by the sleeplessness to which I now condemned myself, ay, even
+beyond what I had thought possible to man, I became, in my own person, a
+creature eaten up and emptied by fever, languidly weak both in body and
+mind, and solely occupied by one thought: the horror of my other self.
+But when I slept, or when the virtue of the medicine wore off, I would
+leap almost without transition (for the pangs of transformation grew
+daily less marked) into the possession of a fancy brimming with images
+of terror, a soul boiling with causeless hatreds, and a body that seemed
+not strong enough to contain the raging energies of life. The powers of
+Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll. And certainly
+the hate that now divided them was equal on each side. With Jekyll, it
+was a thing of vital instinct. He had now seen the full deformity of
+that creature that shared with him some of the phenomena of
+consciousness, and was co-heir with him to death: and beyond these links
+of community, which in themselves made the most poignant part of his
+distress, he thought of Hyde, for all his energy of life, as of
+something not only hellish but inorganic. This was the shocking thing;
+that the slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices; that the
+amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned; that what was dead, and had no
+shape, should usurp the offices of life. And this again, that that
+insurgent horror was knit to him closer than a wife, closer than an eye;
+lay caged in his flesh, where he heard it mutter and felt it struggle to
+be born; and at every hour of weakness, and in the confidence of
+slumber, prevailed against him, and deposed him out of life. The hatred
+of Hyde for Jekyll was of a different order. His terror of the gallows
+drove him continually to commit temporary suicide, and return to his
+subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he loathed the
+necessity, he loathed the despondency into which Jekyll was now fallen,
+and he resented the dislike with which he was himself regarded. Hence
+the ape-like tricks that he would play me, scrawling in my own hand
+blasphemies on the pages of my books, burning the letters and destroying
+the portrait of my father; and indeed, had it not been for his fear of
+death, he would long ago have ruined himself in order to involve me in
+the ruin. But his love of life is wonderful; I go further: I, who sicken
+and freeze at the mere thought of him, when I recall the abjection and
+passion of this attachment, and when I know how he fears my power to
+cut him off by suicide, I find it in my heart to pity him.
+
+It is useless, and the time awfully fails me, to prolong this
+description; no one has ever suffered such torments, let that suffice;
+and yet even to these, habit brought--no, not alleviation--but a certain
+callousness of soul, a certain acquiescence of despair; and my
+punishment might have gone on for years, but for the last calamity which
+has now fallen, and which has finally severed me from my own face and
+nature. My provision of the salt, which had never been renewed since the
+date of the first experiment, began to run low. I sent out for a fresh
+supply, and mixed the draught; the ebullition followed, and the first
+change of colour, not the second; I drank it and it was without
+efficiency. You will learn from Poole how I have had London ransacked;
+it was in vain; and I am now persuaded that my first supply was impure,
+and that it was that unknown impurity which lent efficacy to the
+draught.
+
+About a week has passed, and I am now finishing this statement under the
+influence of the last of the old powders. This, then, is the last time,
+short of a miracle, that Henry Jekyll can think his own thoughts or see
+his own face (now how sadly altered!) in the glass. Nor must I delay too
+long to bring my writing to an end; for if my narrative has hitherto
+escaped destruction, it has been by a combination of great prudence and
+great good luck. Should the throes of change take me in the act of
+writing it, Hyde will tear it in pieces; but if some time shall have
+elapsed after I have laid it by, his wonderful selfishness and
+circumscription to the moment will probably save it once again from the
+action of his ape-like spite. And indeed the doom that is closing on us
+both has already changed and crushed him. Half an hour from now, when I
+shall again and for ever re-indue that hated personality, I know how I
+shall sit shuddering and weeping in my chair, or continue, with the most
+strained and fearstruck ecstasy of listening, to pace up and down this
+room (my last earthly refuge) and give ear to every sound of menace.
+Will Hyde die upon the scaffold? or will he find the courage to release
+himself at the last moment? God knows; I am careless; this is my true
+hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here
+then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I
+bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.
+
+
+
+
+THRAWN JANET
+
+
+
+
+THRAWN JANET
+
+
+The Reverend Murdoch Soulis was long minister of the moorland parish of
+Balweary, in the vale of Dule. A severe, bleak-faced old man, dreadful
+to his hearers, he dwelt in the last years of his life, without relative
+or servant or any human company, in the small and lonely manse under the
+Hanging Shaw. In spite of the iron composure of his features, his eye
+was wild, scared, and uncertain; and when he dwelt, in private
+admonitions, on the future of the impenitent, it seemed as if his eye
+pierced through the storms of time to the terrors of eternity. Many
+young persons, coming to prepare themselves against the season of the
+Holy Communion, were dreadfully affected by his talk. He had a sermon on
+1st Peter v. and 8th, "The devil as a roaring lion," on the Sunday after
+every seventeenth of August, and he was accustomed to surpass himself
+upon that text both by the appalling nature of the matter and the terror
+of his bearing in the pulpit. The children were frightened into fits,
+and the old looked more than usually oracular, and were, all that day,
+full of those hints that Hamlet deprecated. The manse itself, where it
+stood by the water of Dule among some thick trees, with the Shaw
+overhanging it on the one side, and on the other many cold, moorish
+hill-tops rising towards the sky, had begun, at a very early period of
+Mr. Soulis's ministry, to be avoided in the dusk hours by all who valued
+themselves upon their prudence; and guidmen sitting at the clachan
+alehouse shook their heads together at the thought of passing late by
+that uncanny neighbourhood. There was one spot, to be more particular,
+which was regarded with especial awe. The manse stood between the
+high-road and the water of Dule, with a gable to each; its back was
+towards the kirktown of Balweary, nearly half a mile away; in front of
+it, a bare garden, hedged with thorn, occupied the land between the
+river and the road. The house was two stories high, with two large rooms
+on each. It opened not directly on the garden, but on a causewayed path,
+or passage, giving on the road on the one hand, and closed on the other
+by the tall willows and elders that bordered on the stream. And it was
+this strip of causeway that enjoyed among the young parishioners of
+Balweary so infamous a reputation. The minister walked there often after
+dark, sometimes groaning aloud in the instancy of his unspoken prayers;
+and when he was from home, and the manse door was locked, the more
+daring schoolboys ventured, with beating hearts, to "follow my leader"
+across that legendary spot.
+
+This atmosphere of terror, surrounding, as it did, a man of God of
+spotless character and orthodoxy, was a common cause of wonder and
+subject of inquiry among the few strangers who were led by chance or
+business into that unknown, outlying country. But many even of the
+people of the parish were ignorant of the strange events which had
+marked the first year of Mr. Soulis's ministrations; and among those who
+were better informed, some were naturally reticent, and others shy of
+that particular topic. Now and again, only, one of the older folk would
+warm into courage over his third tumbler, and recount the cause of the
+minister's strange looks and solitary life.
+
+
+Fifty years syne, when Mr. Soulis cam' first into Ba'weary, he was still
+a young man--a callant, the folk said--fu' o' book-learnin' an' grand at
+the exposition, but, as was natural in sae young a man, wi' nae leevin'
+experience in religion. The younger sort were greatly taken wi' his
+gifts an' his gab; but auld, concerned, serious men and women were moved
+even to prayer for the young man, whom they took to be a self-deceiver,
+an' the parish that was like to be sae ill-supplied. It was before the
+days o' the Moderates--weary fa' them; but ill things are like
+guid--they baith come bit by bit, a pickle at a time; an' there were
+folk even then that said the Lord had left the college professors to
+their ain devices, an' the lads that went to study wi' them wad hae done
+mair an' better sittin' in a peat-bog, like their forbears o' the
+persecution, wi' a Bible under their oxter an' a speerit o' prayer in
+their heart. There was nae doubt, onyway, but that Mr. Soulis had been
+ower lang at the college. He was careful an' troubled for mony things
+besides the ae thing needful. He had a feck o' books wi' him--mair than
+had ever been seen before in a' that presbytery; and a sair wark the
+carrier had wi' them, for they were a' like to have smoored in the
+De'il's Hag between this an' Kilmackerlie. They were books o' divinity,
+to be sure, or so they ca'd them; but the serious were of opinion there
+was little service for sae mony, when the hale o' God's Word would gang
+in the neuk o' a plaid. Then he wad sit half the day, an' half the nicht
+forbye, which was scant decent--writin', nae less; an' first, they were
+feared he wad read his sermons; an' syne it proved he was writin' a book
+himsel', which was surely no' flttin' for ane o' his years an' sma'
+experience.
+
+Onyway it behoved him to get an auld, decent wife to keep the manse for
+him an' see to his bit denners; an' he was recommended to an auld
+limmer--Janet M'Clour, they ca'd her--an' sae far left to himsel' as to
+be ower persuaded. There was mony advised him to the contrar, for Janet
+was mair than suspeckit by the best folk in Ba'weary. Lang or that, she
+had had a wean to a dragoon; she hadna come forrit[5] for maybe thretty
+year; an' bairns had seen her mumblin' to hersel' up on Key's Loan in
+the gloamin', whilk was an unco time an' place for a God-fearin' woman.
+Howsoever, it was the laird himsel' that had first tauld the minister o'
+Janet; an' in thae days he wad hae gane a far gate to pleesure the
+laird. When folk tauld him that Janet was sib to the de'il, it was a'
+superstition by his way o' it; an' when they cast up the Bible to him
+an' the witch o' Endor, he wad threep it doun their thrapples that thir
+days were a' gane by, an' the de'il was mercifully restrained.
+
+Weel, when it got about the clachan that Janet M'Clour was to be servant
+at the manse, the folk were fair mad wi' her an' him thegither; an' some
+o' the guid wives had nae better to dae than get round her door-cheeks
+and chairge her wi' a' that was ken't again' her, frae the sodger's
+bairn to John Tamson's twa kye. She was nae great speaker; folk usually
+let her gang her ain gate, an' she let them gang theirs, wi' neither
+Fair-guid-een nor Fair-guid-day: but when she buckled to, she had a
+tongue to deave the miller. Up she got, an' there wasna an auld story in
+Ba'weary but she gart somebody lowp for it that day; they couldna say ae
+thing but she could say twa to it; till, at the hinder end, the
+guidwives up and claught hand o' her, an' clawed the coats aff her back,
+an' pu'd her doun the clachan to the water o' Dule, to see if she were a
+witch or no, soom or droun. The carline skirled till ye could hear her
+at the Hangin' Shaw, an' she focht like ten; there was mony a guidwife
+bure the mark o' her neist day an' mony a lang day after; an' just in
+the hottest o' the collieshangie, wha suld come up (for his sins) but
+the new minister.
+
+"Women," said he (and he had a grand voice), "I charge you in the Lord's
+name to let her go."
+
+Janet ran to him--she was fair wud wi' terror--an' clang to him, an'
+prayed him, for Christ's sake, save her frae the cummers; an' they, for
+their pairt, tauld him a' that was ken't, an' maybe mair.
+
+"Woman," says he to Janet, "is this true?"
+
+"As the Lord sees me," says she, "as the Lord made me, no a word o't.
+Forbye the bairn," says she, "I've been a decent woman a' my days."
+
+"Will you," says Mr. Soulis, "in the name of God, and before me, His
+unworthy minister, renounce the devil and his works?"
+
+Weel, it wad appear that when he askit that, she gave a girn that fairly
+frichtit them that saw her, an' they could hear her teeth play dirl
+thegither in her chafts; but there was naething for't but the ae way or
+the ither; an' Janet lifted up her hand an' renounced the de'il before
+them a'.
+
+"And now," says Mr. Soulis to the guidwives, "home with ye, one and all,
+and pray to God for His forgiveness."
+
+An' he gied Janet his arm, though she had little on her but a sark, an'
+took her up the clachan to her ain door like a leddy o' the land; an'
+her screighin' and laughin' as was a scandal to be heard.
+
+There were mony grave folk lang ower their prayers that nicht; but when
+the morn cam' there was sic a fear fell upon a' Ba'weary that the bairns
+hid theirsels, an' even the men-folk stood an' keekit frae their doors.
+For there was Janet comin' doun the clachan--her or her likeness, nane
+could tell--wi' her neck thrawn, an' her heid on ae side, like a body
+that has been hangit, an' a girn on her face like an unstreakit corp. By
+an' by they got used wi' it, an' even speered at her to ken what was
+wrang; but frae that day forth she couldna speak like a Christian woman,
+but slavered an' played click wi' her teeth like a pair o' shears; an'
+frae that day forth the name o' God cam' never on her lips. Whiles she
+wad try to say it, but it michtna be. Them that kenned best said least;
+but they never gied that Thing the name o' Janet M'Clour; for the auld
+Janet, by their way o't, was in muckle hell that day. But the minister
+was neither to haud nor to bind; he preached about naething but the
+folk's cruelty that had gi'en her a stroke of the palsy; he skelpit the
+bairns that meddled her; an' he had her up to the manse that same nicht,
+an' dwalled there a' his lane wi' her under the Hangin' Shaw.
+
+Weel, time gaed by: an' the idler sort commenced to think mair lichtly
+o' that black business. The minister was weel thocht o'; he was aye late
+at the writing, folk wad see his can'le doon by the Dule water after
+twal' at e'en; an' he seemed pleased wi' himsel' an' upsitten as at
+first, though a' body could see that he was dwining. As for Janet she
+cam' an' she gaed; if she didna speak muckle afore, it was reason she
+should speak less then; she meddled naebody; but she was an eldritch
+thing to see, an' nane wad hae mistrysted wi' her for Ba'weary glebe.
+
+About the end o' July there cam' a spell o' weather, the like o't never
+was in that countryside; it was lown an' het an' heartless; the herds
+couldna win up the Black Hill, the bairns were ower weariet to play; an'
+yet it was gousty too, wi' claps o' het wund that rumm'led in the glens,
+and bits o' shouers that slockened naething. We aye thocht it but to
+thun'er on the morn; but the morn cam', an' the morn's morning, an' it
+was aye the same uncanny weather, sair on folks and bestial. O' a' that
+were the waur, nane suffered like Mr. Soulis; he could neither sleep nor
+eat, he tauld his elders; an' when he wasna writin' at his weary book,
+he wad be stravaguin' ower a' the countryside like a man possessed, when
+a' body else was blithe to keep caller ben the house.
+
+Abune Hangin' Shaw, in the bield o' the Black Hill, there's a bit
+enclosed grund wi' an iron yett; an' it seems, in the auld days, that
+was the kirkyaird o' Ba'weary, and consecrated by the Papists before the
+blessed licht shone upon the kingdom. It was a great howff o' Mr.
+Soulis's, onyway; there he wad sit an' consider his sermons; an' indeed
+it's a bieldy bit. Weel, as he cam' ower the wast end o' the Black Hill
+ae day, he saw first twa, an' syne fower, an' syne seeven corbie craws
+fleein' round an' round abune the auld kirkyaird. They flew laigh an'
+heavy, an' squawked to ither as they gaed; an' it was clear to Mr.
+Soulis that something had put them frae their ordinar'. He wasna easy
+fleyed, an' gaed straucht up to the wa's; an' what suld he find there
+but a man, or the appearance o' a man, sittin' in the inside upon a
+grave. He was of a great stature, an' black as hell, an' his e'en were
+singular to see.[6] Mr. Soulis had heard tell o' black men, mony's the
+time; but there was something unco about this black man that daunted
+him. Het as he was, he took a kind o' cauld grue in the marrow o' his
+banes; but up he spak for a' that; an' says he: "My friend, are you a
+stranger in this place?" The black man answered never a word; he got
+upon his feet, an' begoud to hirsle to the wa' on the far side; but he
+aye lookit at the minister; an' the minister stood an' lookit back; till
+a' in a meenit the black man was ower the wa' an' rinnin' for the bield
+o' the trees. Mr. Soulis, he hardly kenned why, ran after him; but he
+was fair forjeskit wi' his walk an' the het, unhalesome weather; an' rin
+as he likit, he got nae mair than a glisk o' the black man amang the
+birks, till he won doun to the foot o' the hillside, an' there he saw
+him ance mair, gaun hap-step-an'-lowp ower Dule water to the manse.
+
+Mr. Soulis wasna weel pleased that this fearsome gangrel suld mak' sae
+free wi' Ba'weary manse; an' he ran the harder, an', wet shoon, ower the
+burn, an' up the walk; but the deil a black man was there to see. He
+stepped out upon the road, but there was naebody there; he gaed a' ower
+the gairden, but na, nae black man. At the hinder end, an' a bit feared,
+as was but natural, he lifted the hasp an' into the manse; an' there was
+Janet M'Clour before his een, wi' her thrawn craig, an' nane sae pleased
+to see him. An' he aye minded sinsyne, when first he set his een upon
+her, he had the same cauld and deidly grue.
+
+"Janet," says he, "have you seen a black man?"
+
+"A black man?" quo' she. "Save us a'! Ye're no wise, minister. There's
+nae black man in a' Ba'weary."
+
+But she didna speak plain, ye maun understand; but yam-yammered, like a
+powney wi' the bit in its moo.
+
+"Weel," says he, "Janet, if there was nae black man, I have spoken with
+the Accuser of the Brethren."
+
+An' he sat down like ane wi' a fever, an' his teeth chittered in his
+heid.
+
+"Hoots," says she, "think shame to yoursel', minister"; an' gied him a
+drap brandy that she keept aye by her.
+
+Syne Mr. Soulis gaed into his study amang a' his books. It's a lang,
+laigh, mirk chalmer, perishin' cauld in winter, an' no' very dry even in
+the tap o' the simmer, for the manse stands near the burn. Sae doun he
+sat, an' thocht o' a' that had come an' gane since he was in Ba'weary,
+an' his hame, an' the days when he was a bairn an' ran daffin' on the
+braes; an' that black man aye ran in his heid like the owercome o' a
+sang. Aye the mair he thocht, the mair he thocht o' the black man. He
+tried the prayer, an' the words wadna come to him; an' he tried, they
+say, to write at his book, but he couldna mak' nae mair o' that. There
+was whiles he thocht the black man was at his oxter, an' the swat stood
+upon him cauld as well-water; an' there was ither whiles when he cam' to
+himsel' like a christened bairn an' minded naething.
+
+The upshot was that he gaed to the window an' stood glowrin' at Dule
+water. The trees are unco thick, an' the water lies deep an' black under
+the manse; an' there was Janet washin' the cla'es wi' her coats kilted.
+She had her back to the minister, an' he, for his pairt, hardly kenned
+what he was lookin' at. Syne she turned round, an' shawed her face; Mr.
+Soulis had the same cauld grue as twice that day afore, an' it was borne
+in upon him what folk said, that Janet was deid lang syne, an' this was
+a bogle in her clay-cauld flesh. He drew back a pickle and he scanned
+her narrowly. She was tramp-trampin' in the cla'es, croonin' to hersel';
+and eh! Gude guide us, but it was a fearsome face. Whiles she sang
+louder, but there was nae man born o' woman that could tell the words o'
+her sang; an' whiles she lookit side-lang doun, but there was naething
+there for her to look at. There gaed a scunner through the flesh upon
+his banes; an' that was Heeven's advertisement. But Mr. Soulis just
+blamed himsel', he said, to think sae ill o' a puir, auld afflicted wife
+that hadna a freend forbye himsel'; an' he put up a bit prayer for him
+an' her, an' drank a little caller water--for his heart rose again' the
+meat--an' gaed up to his naked bed in the gloamin'.
+
+That was a nicht that has never been forgotten in Ba'weary, the nicht o'
+the seeventeenth o' August, seeventeen hun'er' an' twal'. It had been
+het afore, as I hae said, but that nicht it was better than ever. The
+sun gaed doun amang unco-lookin' clouds; it fell as mirk as the pit; no'
+a star, no' a breath o' wund; ye couldna see your han' afore your face,
+an' even the auld folk cuist the covers frae their beds an' lay pechin'
+for their breath. Wi' a' that he had upon his mind, it was geyan
+unlikely Mr. Soulis wad get muckle sleep. He lay an' he tummled; the
+gude, caller bed that he got into brunt his very banes; whiles he slept,
+an' whiles he waukened; whiles he heard the time o' nicht, an' whiles a
+tyke yowlin' up the muir, as if somebody was deid; whiles he thocht he
+heard bogles claverin' in his lug, an' whiles he saw spunkies in the
+room. He behoved, he judged, to be sick; an' sick he was--little he
+jaloosed the sickness.
+
+At the hinder end he got a clearness in his mind, sat up in his sark on
+the bed-side, an' fell thinkin' ance mair o' the black man an' Janet. He
+couldna weel tell how--maybe it was the cauld to his feet--but it cam'
+in upon him wi' a spate that there was some connection between thir twa,
+an' that either or baith o' them were bogles. An' just at that moment,
+in Janet's room, which was neist to his, there cam' a stramp o' feet as
+if men were wars'lin', an' then a loud bang; an' then a wund gaed
+reishling round the fower quarters o' the house; an' then a' was aince
+mair as seelent as the grave.
+
+Mr. Soulis was feared for neither man nor deevil. He got his tinder-box,
+an' lit a can'le, an' made three steps o't ower to Janet's door. It was
+on the hasp, an' he pushed it open, an' keekit bauldly in. It was a big
+room, as big as the minister's ain, an' plenished wi' grand, auld, solid
+gear, for he had naething else. There was a fower-posted bed wi' auld
+tapestry; an' a braw cabinet o' aik, that was fu' o' the minister's
+divinity books, an' put there to be out o' the gate; an' a wheen duds o'
+Janet's lying here an' there about the floor. But nae Janet could Mr.
+Soulis see; nor ony sign o' a contention. In he gaed (an' there's few
+that wad hae followed him) an' lookit a' round, an' listened. But there
+was naething to be heard, neither inside the manse nor in a' Ba'weary
+parish, an' naething to be seen but the muckle shadows turnin' round the
+can'le. An' then a' at aince, the minister's heart played dunt an' stood
+stock-still; an' a cauld wund blew amang the hairs o' his heid. Whaten a
+weary sicht was that for the puir man's een! For there was Janet hangin'
+frae a nail beside the auld aik cabinet: her heid aye lay on her
+shouther, her een were steekit, the tongue projected frae her mouth, an'
+her heels were twa feet clear abune the floor.
+
+"God forgive us all!" thocht Mr. Soulis; "poor Janet's dead."
+
+He cam' a step nearer to the corp; an' then his heart fair whammled in
+his inside. For, by what cantrip it wad ill beseem a man to judge, she
+was hingin' frae a single nail an' by a single wursted thread for
+darnin' hose.
+
+It's an awfu' thing to be your lane at nicht wi' siccan prodigies o'
+darkness; but Mr. Soulis was strong in the Lord. He turned an' gaed his
+ways oot o' that room, an' lockit the door ahint him; an' step by step,
+doon the stairs, as heavy as leed; an' set doon the can'le on the table
+at the stairfoot. He couldna pray, he couldna think, he was dreepin' wi'
+caul' swat, an' naething could he hear but the dunt-dunt-duntin' o' his
+ain heart. He micht maybe hae stood there an hour, or maybe twa, he
+minded sae little; when a' o' a sudden, he heard a laigh, uncanny steer
+upstairs; a foot gaed to an' fro in the chalmer whaur the corp was
+hingin'; syne the door was opened, though he minded weel that he had
+lockit it; an' syne there was a step upon the landin', an' it seemed to
+him as if the corp was lookin' ower the rail an' doun upon him whaur he
+stood.
+
+He took up the can'le again (for he couldna want the licht), an' as
+saftly as ever he could, gaed straucht out o' the manse an' to the far
+end o' the causeway. It was aye pit-mirk; the flame o' the can'le, when
+he set it on the grund, brunt steedy and clear as in a room; naething
+moved, but the Dule water seepin' an' sabbin' doun the glen, an' yon
+unhaly footstep that cam' ploddin' doun the stairs inside the manse. He
+kenned the foot ower weel, for it was Janet's; an' at ilka step that
+cam' a wee thing nearer, the cauld got deeper in his vitals. He
+commended his soul to Him that made an' keepit him; "and, O Lord," said
+he, "give me strength this night to war against the powers of evil."
+
+By this time the foot was comin' through the passage for the door; he
+could hear a hand skirt alang the wa', as if the fearsome thing was
+feelin' for its way. The saughs tossed an' maned thegither, a lang sigh
+cam' ower the hills, the flame o' the can'le was blawn aboot; an' there
+stood the corp o' Thrawn Janet, wi' her grogram goun an' her black
+mutch, wi' the heid aye upon the shouther, an' the girn still upon the
+face o't--leevin', ye wad hae said--deid, as Mr. Soulis weel
+kenned--upon the threshold o' the manse.
+
+It's a strange thing that the saul o' man should be that thirled into
+his perishable body; but the minister saw that, an' his heart didna
+break.
+
+She didna stand there lang; she began to move again an' cam' slowly
+towards Mr. Soulis whaur he stood under the saughs. A' the life o' his
+body, a' the strength o' his speerit, were glowerin' frae his een. It
+seemed she was gaun to speak, but wanted words, an' made a sign wi' the
+left hand. There cam' a clap o' wund, like a cat's fuff; oot gaed the
+can'le, the saughs skreighed like folk; and Mr. Soulis kenned that, live
+or die, this was the end o't.
+
+"Witch, beldame, devil!" he cried, "I charge you, by the power of God,
+begone--if you be dead, to the grave--if you be damned, to hell."
+
+An' at that moment the Lord's ain hand out o' the Heevens struck the
+Horror whaur it stood; the auld, deid, desecrated corp o' the
+witch-wife, sae lang keepit frae the grave an' hirsled round by de'ils,
+lowed up like a brunstane spunk an' fell in ashes to the grund; the
+thunder followed, peal on dirlin' peal, the rairin' rain upon the back
+o' that; an' Mr. Soulis lowped through the garden hedge, an' ran, wi'
+skelloch upon skelloch, for the clachan.
+
+That same mornin', John Christie saw the Black Man pass the Muckle Cairn
+as it was chappin' six; before eicht, he gaed by the change-house at
+Knockdow; an' no' lang after, Sandy M'Lellan saw him gaun linkin' doun
+the braes frae Kilmackerlie. There's little doubt but it was him that
+dwalled sae lang in Janet's body; but he was awa' at last; an' sinsyne
+the de'il has never fashed us in Ba'weary.
+
+But it was a sair dispensation for the minister; lang, lang he lay
+ravin' in his bed; an' frae that hour to this he was the man ye ken the
+day.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+  [5] "To come forrit"--to offer oneself as a communicant.
+
+  [6] It was a common belief in Scotland that the devil appeared as a
+    black man. This appears in several witch trials, and I think in
+    Law's "Memorials," that delightful storehouse of the quaint and
+    grisly.
+
+
+
+
+END OF VOL. V
+
+
+PRINTED BY CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson -
+Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 19:54:24 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 19:54:24 -0700
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tree	cd5da4258ad878160c41df0e9459e62b6b2dd3ac