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diff --git a/30744.txt b/30744.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70d8c77 --- /dev/null +++ b/30744.txt @@ -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. 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