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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:58:14 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:58:14 -0700 |
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diff --git a/32777-h/32777-h.htm b/32777-h/32777-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f69b35 --- /dev/null +++ b/32777-h/32777-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7638 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Great Keinplatz Experiment and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> /* <![CDATA[ */ +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ +div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 0.25em; } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + color: #A9A9A9; +} + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: #A9A9A9; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; +} + + +.author {text-align: right; margin-right: 15%;} + + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 32777 ***</div> + + <h1>THE GREAT KEINPLATZ + EXPERIMENT</h1> + + <h3><i>and Other Tales of Twilight and + the Unseen</i></h3> + + <h4>BY</h4> + <h2>A. CONAN DOYLE</h2> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/001.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="" title="emblem"> +</div> + <p class="center">NEW YORK<br> + + GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + + <p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1918, 1919,<br> + By A. Conan Doyle</span><br><br> + + <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1910,<br> + By Charles Scribner's Sons</span><br><br> + + <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1911,<br> + By Associated Sunday Magazines, Inc.</span><br><br> + + <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1908,<br> + By The McClure Company</span><br><br> + + <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1900, 1902,<br> + By The S. S. McClure Company</span><br><br> + + <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1894,<br> + D. Appleton & Company</span></p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/001.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="" title="emblem"> +</div> + + <p class="center">THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT<br> + AND OTHER TALES OF THE UNSEEN<br> + + ----Q----<br> + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<div class="centered"> +<table class="autotable"> +<tr><td class="tdr"> </td><td class="tdl"> </td><td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">I</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Brown Hand</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">II</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Usher of Lea House School</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_30'>30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">III</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">B. 24</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_51'>51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IV</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Great Keinplatz Experiment</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">V</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cyprian Overbeck Wells</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_95'>95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VI</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Playing with Fire</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_120'>120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VII</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Ring of Thoth</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_139'>139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VIII</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Los Amigos Fiasco</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_163'>163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IX</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">How It Happened</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">X</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lot No. 249</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_179'>179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XI</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">"De Profundis"</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_225'>225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XII</td><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lift</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href='#Page_239'>239</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_GREAT_KEINPLATZ_EXPERIMENT" id="THE_GREAT_KEINPLATZ_EXPERIMENT"></a>THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT</h2> + +<h3><i>and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen</i></h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>THE BROWN HAND</h3> + + +<p>Every one knows that Sir Dominick Holden, the famous Indian surgeon, +made me his heir, and that his death changed me in an hour from a +hard-working and impecunious medical man to a well-to-do landed +proprietor. Many know also that there were at least five people between +the inheritance and me, and that Sir Dominick's selection appeared to be +altogether arbitrary and whimsical. I can assure them, however, that +they are quite mistaken, and that, although I only knew Sir Dominick in +the closing years of his life, there were none the less very real +reasons why he should show his goodwill towards me. As a matter of fact, +though I say it myself, no man ever did more for another than I did for +my Indian uncle. I cannot expect the story to be believed, but it is so +singular that I should feel that it was a breach of duty if I did not +put it upon record—so here it is, and your belief or incredulity is +your own affair.</p> + +<p>Sir Dominick Holden, C.B., K.C.S.I., and I don't know what besides, was +the most distinguished Indian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> surgeon of his day. In the Army +originally, he afterwards settled down into civil practice in Bombay, +and visited as a consultant every part of India. His name is best +remembered in connection with the Oriental Hospital, which he founded +and supported. The time came, however, when his iron constitution began +to show signs of the long strain to which he had subjected it, and his +brother practitioners (who were not, perhaps, entirely disinterested +upon the point) were unanimous in recommending him to return to England. +He held on so long as he could, but at last he developed nervous +symptoms of a very pronounced character, and so came back, a broken man, +to his native county of Wiltshire. He bought a considerable estate with +an ancient manor-house upon the edge of Salisbury Plain, and devoted his +old age to the study of Comparative Pathology, which had been his +learned hobby all his life, and in which he was a foremost authority.</p> + +<p>We of the family were, as may be imagined, much excited by the news of +the return of this rich and childless uncle to England. On his part, +although by no means exuberant in his hospitality, he showed some sense +of his duty to his relations, and each of us in turn had an invitation +to visit him. From the accounts of my cousins it appeared to be a +melancholy business, and it was with mixed feelings that I at last +received my own summons to appear at Rodenhurst. My wife was so +carefully excluded in the invitation that my first impulse was to refuse +it, but the interests of the children had to be considered, and so, with +her consent, I set out one October afternoon upon my visit to Wiltshire, +with little thought of what that visit was to entail.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>My uncle's estate was situated where the arable land of the plains +begins to swell upwards into the rounded chalk hills which are +characteristic of the county. As I drove from Dinton Station in the +waning light of that autumn day, I was impressed by the weird nature of +the scenery. The few scattered cottages of the peasants were so dwarfed +by the huge evidences of prehistoric life, that the present appeared to +be a dream and the past to be the obtrusive and masterful reality. The +road wound through the valleys, formed by a succession of grassy hills, +and the summit of each was cut and carved into the most elaborate +fortifications, some circular, and some square, but all on a scale which +has defied the winds and the rains of many centuries. Some call them +Roman and some British, but their true origin and the reasons for this +particular tract of country being so interlaced with entrenchments have +never been finally made clear. Here and there on the long, smooth, +olive-coloured slopes there rose small rounded barrows or tumuli. +Beneath them lie the cremated ashes of the race which cut so deeply into +the hills, but their graves tell us nothing save that a jar full of dust +represents the man who once laboured under the sun.</p> + +<p>It was through this weird country that I approached my uncle's residence +of Rodenhurst, and the house was, as I found, in due keeping with its +surroundings. Two broken and weather-stained pillars, each surmounted by +a mutilated heraldic emblem, flanked the entrance to a neglected drive. +A cold wind whistled through the elms which lined it, and the air was +full of the drifting leaves. At the far end, under the gloomy arch of +trees, a single yellow lamp burned steadily. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> the dim half-light of +the coming night I saw a long, low building stretching out two irregular +wings, with deep eaves, a sloping gambrel roof, and walls which were +criss-crossed with timber balks in the fashion of the Tudors. The cheery +light of a fire flickered in the broad, latticed window to the left of +the low-porched door, and this, as it proved, marked the study of my +uncle, for it was thither that I was led by his butler in order to make +my host's acquaintance.</p> + +<p>He was cowering over his fire, for the moist chill of an English autumn +had set him shivering. His lamp was unlit, and I only saw the red glow +of the embers beating upon a huge, craggy face, with a Red Indian nose +and cheek, and deep furrows and seams from eye to chin, the sinister +marks of hidden volcanic fires. He sprang up at my entrance with +something of an old-world courtesy and welcomed me warmly to Rodenhurst. +At the same time I was conscious, as the lamp was carried in, that it +was a very critical pair of light-blue eyes which looked out at me from +under shaggy eyebrows, like scouts beneath a bush, and that this +outlandish uncle of mine was carefully reading off my character with all +the ease of a practised observer and an experienced man of the world.</p> + +<p>For my part I looked at him, and looked again, for I had never seen a +man whose appearance was more fitted to hold one's attention. His figure +was the framework of a giant, but he had fallen away until his coat +dangled straight down in a shocking fashion from a pair of broad and +bony shoulders. All his limbs were huge and yet emaciated, and I could +not take my gaze from his knobby wrists, and long, gnarled hands. But +his eyes—those peering light-blue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> eyes—they were the most arrestive +of any of his peculiarities. It was not their colour alone, nor was it +the ambush of hair in which they lurked; but it was the expression which +I read in them. For the appearance and bearing of the man were +masterful, and one expected a certain corresponding arrogance in his +eyes, but instead of that I read the look which tells of a spirit cowed +and crushed, the furtive, expectant look of the dog whose master has +taken the whip from the rack. I formed my own medical diagnosis upon one +glance at those critical and yet appealing eyes. I believed that he was +stricken with some mortal ailment, that he knew himself to be exposed to +sudden death, and that he lived in terror of it. Such was my judgment—a +false one, as the event showed; but I mention it that it may help you to +realise the look which I read in his eyes.</p> + +<p>My uncle's welcome was, as I have said, a courteous one, and in an hour +or so I found myself seated between him and his wife at a comfortable +dinner, with curious pungent delicacies upon the table, and a stealthy, +quick-eyed Oriental waiter behind his chair. The old couple had come +round to that tragic imitation of the dawn of life when husband and +wife, having lost or scattered all those who were their intimates, find +themselves face to face and alone once more, their work done, and the +end nearing fast. Those who have reached that stage in sweetness and +love, who can change their winter into a gentle Indian summer, have come +as victors through the ordeal of life. Lady Holden was a small, alert +woman with a kindly eye, and her expression as she glanced at him was a +certificate of character to her husband. And yet, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> I read a +mutual love in their glances, I read also mutual horror, and recognised +in her face some reflection of that stealthy fear which I had detected +in his. Their talk was sometimes merry and sometimes sad, but there was +a forced note in their merriment and a naturalness in their sadness +which told me that a heavy heart beat upon either side of me.</p> + +<p>We were sitting over our first glass of wine, and the servants had left +the room, when the conversation took a turn which produced a remarkable +effect upon my host and hostess. I cannot recall what it was which +started the topic of the supernatural, but it ended in my showing them +that the abnormal in psychical experiences was a subject to which I had, +like many neurologists, devoted a great deal of attention. I concluded +by narrating my experiences when, as a member of the Psychical Research +Society, I had formed one of a committee of three who spent the night in +a haunted house. Our adventures were neither exciting nor convincing, +but, such as it was, the story appeared to interest my auditors in a +remarkable degree. They listened with an eager silence, and I caught a +look of intelligence between them which I could not understand. Lady +Holden immediately afterwards rose and left the room.</p> + +<p>Sir Dominick pushed the cigar-box over to me, and we smoked for some +little time in silence. That huge bony hand of his was twitching as he +raised it with his cheroot to his lips, and I felt that the man's nerves +were vibrating like fiddle-strings. My instincts told me that he was on +the verge of some intimate confidence, and I feared to speak lest I +should interrupt it. At last he turned towards me with a spasmodic +ges<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>ture like a man who throws his last scruple to the winds.</p> + +<p>"From the little that I have seen of you it appears to me, Dr. +Hardacre," said he, "that you are the very man I have wanted to meet."</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to hear it, sir."</p> + +<p>"Your head seems to be cool and steady. You will acquit me of any desire +to flatter you, for the circumstances are too serious to permit of +insincerities. You have some special knowledge upon these subjects, and +you evidently view them from that philosophical standpoint which robs +them of all vulgar terror. I presume that the sight of an apparition +would not seriously discompose you?"</p> + +<p>"I think not, sir."</p> + +<p>"Would even interest you, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"Most intensely."</p> + +<p>"As a psychical observer, you would probably investigate it in as +impersonal a fashion as an astronomer investigates a wandering comet?"</p> + +<p>"Precisely."</p> + +<p>He gave a heavy sigh.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, Dr. Hardacre, there was a time when I could have spoken as +you do now. My nerve was a by-word in India. Even the Mutiny never shook +it for an instant. And yet you see what I am reduced to—the most +timorous man, perhaps, in all this county of Wiltshire. Do not speak too +bravely upon this subject, or you may find yourself subjected to as +long-drawn a test as I am—a test which can only end in the madhouse or +the grave."</p> + +<p>I waited patiently until he should see fit to go far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>ther in his +confidence. His preamble had, I need not say, filled me with interest +and expectation.</p> + +<p>"For some years, Dr. Hardacre," he continued, "my life and that of my +wife have been made miserable by a cause which is so grotesque that it +borders upon the ludicrous. And yet familiarity has never made it more +easy to bear—on the contrary, as time passes my nerves become more worn +and shattered by the constant attrition. If you have no physical fears, +Dr. Hardacre, I should very much value your opinion upon this phenomenon +which troubles us so."</p> + +<p>"For what it is worth my opinion is entirely at your service. May I ask +the nature of the phenomenon?"</p> + +<p>"I think that your experiences will have a higher evidential value if +you are not told in advance what you may expect to encounter. You are +yourself aware of the quibbles of unconscious cerebration and subjective +impressions with which a scientific sceptic may throw a doubt upon your +statement. It would be as well to guard against them in advance."</p> + +<p>"What shall I do, then?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you. Would you mind following me this way?" He led me out +of the dining-room and down a long passage until we came to a terminal +door. Inside there was a large bare room fitted as a laboratory, with +numerous scientific instruments and bottles. A shelf ran along one side, +upon which there stood a long line of glass jars containing pathological +and anatomical specimens.</p> + +<p>"You see that I still dabble in some of my old studies," said Sir +Dominick. "These jars are the remains of what was once a most excellent +collection, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> unfortunately I lost the greater part of them when my +house was burned down in Bombay in '92. It was a most unfortunate affair +for me—in more ways than one. I had examples of many rare conditions, +and my splenic collection was probably unique. These are the survivors."</p> + +<p>I glanced over them, and saw that they really were of a very great value +and rarity from a pathological point of view: bloated organs, gaping +cysts, distorted bones, odious parasites—a singular exhibition of the +products of India.</p> + +<p>"There is, as you see, a small settee here," said my host. "It was far +from our intention to offer a guest so meagre an accommodation, but +since affairs have taken this turn, it would be a great kindness upon +your part if you would consent to spend the night in this apartment. I +beg that you will not hesitate to let me know if the idea should be at +all repugnant to you."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," I said, "it is most acceptable."</p> + +<p>"My own room is the second on the left, so that if you should feel that +you are in need of company a call would always bring me to your side."</p> + +<p>"I trust that I shall not be compelled to disturb you."</p> + +<p>"It is unlikely that I shall be asleep. I do not sleep much. Do not +hesitate to summon me."</p> + +<p>And so with this agreement we joined Lady Holden in the drawing-room and +talked of lighter things.</p> + +<p>It was no affectation upon my part to say that the prospect of my +night's adventure was an agreeable one. I had no pretence to greater +physical courage than my neighbours, but familiarity with a subject robs +it of those vague and undefined terrors which are the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> most appalling to +the imaginative mind. The human brain is capable of only one strong +emotion at a time, and if it be filled with curiosity or scientific +enthusiasm, there is no room for fear. It is true that I had my uncle's +assurance that he had himself originally taken this point of view, but I +reflected that the breakdown of his nervous system might be due to his +forty years in India as much as to any psychical experiences which had +befallen him. I at least was sound in nerve and brain, and it was with +something of the pleasurable thrill of anticipation with which the +sportsman takes his position beside the haunt of his game that I shut +the laboratory door behind me, and partially undressing, lay down upon +the rug-covered settee.</p> + +<p>It was not an ideal atmosphere for a bedroom. The air was heavy with +many chemical odours, that of methylated spirit predominating. Nor were +the decorations of my chamber very sedative. The odious line of glass +jars with their relics of disease and suffering stretched in front of my +very eyes. There was no blind to the window, and a three-quarter moon +streamed its white light into the room, tracing a silver square with +filigree lattices upon the opposite wall. When I had extinguished my +candle this one bright patch in the midst of the general gloom had +certainly an eerie and discomposing aspect. A rigid and absolute silence +reigned throughout the old house, so that the low swish of the branches +in the garden came softly and smoothly to my ears. It may have been the +hypnotic lullaby of this gentle susurrus, or it may have been the result +of my tiring day, but after many dozings and many efforts to regain my +clearness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> perception, I fell at last into a deep and dreamless +sleep.</p> + +<p>I was awakened by some sound in the room, and I instantly raised myself +upon my elbow on the couch. Some hours had passed, for the square patch +upon the wall had slid downwards and sideways until it lay obliquely at +the end of my bed. The rest of the room was in deep shadow. At first I +could see nothing, presently, as my eyes became accustomed to the faint +light, I was aware, with a thrill which all my scientific absorption +could not entirely prevent, that something was moving slowly along the +line of the wall. A gentle, shuffling sound, as of soft slippers, came +to my ears, and I dimly discerned a human figure walking stealthily from +the direction of the door. As it emerged into the patch of moonlight I +saw very clearly what it was and how it was employed. It was a man, +short and squat, dressed in some sort of dark-grey gown, which hung +straight from his shoulders to his feet. The moon shone upon the side of +his face, and I saw that it was chocolate-brown in colour, with a ball +of black hair like a woman's at the back of his head. He walked slowly, +and his eyes were cast upwards towards the line of bottles which +contained those gruesome remnants of humanity. He seemed to examine each +jar with attention, and then to pass on to the next. When he had come to +the end of the line, immediately opposite my bed, he stopped, faced me, +threw up his hands with a gesture of despair, and vanished from my +sight.</p> + +<p>I have said that he threw up his hands, but I should have said his arms, +for as he assumed that attitude of despair I observed a singular +peculiarity about his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> appearance. He had only one hand! As the sleeves +drooped down from the upflung arms I saw the left plainly, but the right +ended in a knobby and unsightly stump. In every other way his appearance +was so natural, and I had both seen and heard him so clearly, that I +could easily have believed that he was an Indian servant of Sir +Dominick's who had come into my room in search of something. It was only +his sudden disappearance which suggested anything more sinister to me. +As it was I sprang from my couch, lit a candle, and examined the whole +room carefully. There were no signs of my visitor, and I was forced to +conclude that there had really been something outside the normal laws of +Nature in his appearance. I lay awake for the remainder of the night, +but nothing else occurred to disturb me.</p> + +<p>I am an early riser, but my uncle was an even earlier one, for I found +him pacing up and down the lawn at the side of the house. He ran towards +me in his eagerness when he saw me come out from the door.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" he cried. "Did you see him?"</p> + +<p>"An Indian with one hand?"</p> + +<p>"Precisely."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw him"—and I told him all that occurred. When I had finished, +he led the way into his study. "We have a little time before breakfast," +said he. "It will suffice to give you an explanation of this +extraordinary affair—so far as I can explain that which is essentially +inexplicable. In the first place, when I tell you that for four years I +have never passed one single night, either in Bombay, aboard ship, or +here in England without my sleep being broken by this fellow, you will +understand why it is that I am a wreck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> of my former self. His programme +is always the same. He appears by my bedside, shakes me roughly by the +shoulder, passes from my room into the laboratory, walks slowly along +the line of my bottles, and then vanishes. For more than a thousand +times he has gone through the same routine."</p> + +<p>"What does he want?"</p> + +<p>"He wants his hand."</p> + +<p>"His hand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it came about in this way. I was summoned to Peshawur for a +consultation some ten years ago, and while there I was asked to look at +the hand of a native who was passing through with an Afghan caravan. The +fellow came from some mountain tribe living away at the back of beyond +somewhere on the other side of Kaffiristan. He talked a bastard Pushtoo, +and it was all I could do to understand him. He was suffering from a +soft sarcomatous swelling of one of the metacarpal joints, and I made +him realise that it was only by losing his hand that he could hope to +save his life. After much persuasion he consented to the operation, and +he asked me, when it was over, what fee I demanded. The poor fellow was +almost a beggar, so that the idea of a fee was absurd, but I answered in +jest that my fee should be his hand, and that I proposed to add it to my +pathological collection.</p> + +<p>"To my surprise he demurred very much to the suggestion, and he +explained that according to his religion it was an all-important matter +that the body should be reunited after death, and so make a perfect +dwelling for the spirit. The belief is, of course, an old one, and the +mummies of the Egyptians arose from an analogous superstition. I +answered him that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> his hand was already off, and asked him how he +intended to preserve it. He replied that he would pickle it in salt and +carry it about with him. I suggested that it might be safer in my +keeping than his, and that I had better means than salt for preserving +it. On realising that I really intended to carefully keep it, his +opposition vanished instantly. 'But remember, sahib,' said he, 'I shall +want it back when I am dead.' I laughed at the remark, and so the matter +ended. I returned to my practice, and he no doubt in the course of time +was able to continue his journey to Afghanistan.</p> + +<p>"Well, as I told you last night, I had a bad fire in my house at Bombay. +Half of it was burned down, and, among other things, my pathological +collection was largely destroyed. What you see are the poor remains of +it. The hand of the hillman went with the rest, but I gave the matter no +particular thought at the time. That was six years ago.</p> + +<p>"Four years ago—two years after the fire—I was awakened one night by a +furious tugging at my sleeve. I sat up under the impression that my +favourite mastiff was trying to arouse me. Instead of this, I saw my +Indian patient of long ago, dressed in the long grey gown which was the +badge of his people. He was holding up his stump and looking +reproachfully at me. He then went over to my bottles, which at that time +I kept in my room, and he examined them carefully, after which he gave a +gesture of anger and vanished. I realised that he had just died, and +that he had come to claim my promise that I should keep his limb in +safety for him.</p> + +<p>"Well, there you have it all, Dr. Hardacre. Every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> night at the same +hour for four years this performance has been repeated. It is a simple +thing in itself, but it has worn me out like water dropping on a stone. +It has brought a vile insomnia with it, for I cannot sleep now for the +expectation of his coming. It has poisoned my old age and that of my +wife, who has been the sharer in this great trouble. But there is the +breakfast gong, and she will be waiting impatiently to know how it fared +with you last night. We are both much indebted to you for your +gallantry, for it takes something from the weight of our misfortune when +we share it, even for a single night, with a friend, and it reassures us +as to our sanity, which we are sometimes driven to question."</p> + +<p>This was the curious narrative which Sir Dominick confided to me—a +story which to many would have appeared to be a grotesque impossibility, +but which, after my experience of the night before, and my previous +knowledge of such things, I was prepared to accept as an absolute fact. +I thought deeply over the matter, and brought the whole range of my +reading and experience to bear upon it. After breakfast, I surprised my +host and hostess by announcing that I was returning to London by the +next train.</p> + +<p>"My dear doctor," cried Sir Dominick in great distress, "you make me +feel that I have been guilty of a gross breach of hospitality in +intruding this unfortunate matter upon you. I should have borne my own +burden."</p> + +<p>"It is, indeed, that matter which is taking me to London," I answered; +"but you are mistaken, I assure you, if you think that my experience of +last night was an unpleasant one to me. On the contrary, I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> about to +ask your permission to return in the evening and spend one more night in +your laboratory. I am very eager to see this visitor once again."</p> + +<p>My uncle was exceedingly anxious to know what I was about to do, but my +fears of raising false hopes prevented me from telling him. I was back +in my own consulting-room a little after luncheon, and was confirming my +memory of a passage in a recent book upon occultism which had arrested +my attention when I had read it.</p> + +<p>"In the case of earth-bound spirits," said my authority, "some one +dominant idea obsessing them at the hour of death is sufficient to hold +them in this material world. They are the amphibia of this life and of +the next, capable of passing from one to the other as the turtle passes +from land to water. The causes which may bind a soul so strongly to a +life which its body has abandoned are any violent emotion. Avarice, +revenge, anxiety, love, and pity have all been known to have this +effect. As a rule it springs from some unfulfilled wish, and when the +wish has been fulfilled the material bond relaxes. There are many cases +upon record which show the singular persistence of these visitors, and +also their disappearance when their wishes have been fulfilled, or in +some cases when a reasonable compromise has been effected."</p> + +<p>"<i>A reasonable compromise effected</i>"—those were the words which I had +brooded over all the morning, and which I now verified in the original. +No actual atonement could be made here—but a reasonable compromise! I +made my way as fast as a train could take me to the Shadwell Seamen's +Hospital, where my old friend Jack Hewett was house-surgeon. With<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>out +explaining the situation I made him understand what it was that I +wanted.</p> + +<p>"A brown man's hand!" said he, in amazement. "What in the world do you +want that for?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind. I'll tell you some day. I know that your wards are full of +Indians."</p> + +<p>"I should think so. But a hand——" He thought a little and then struck +a bell.</p> + +<p>"Travers," said he to a student-dresser, "what became of the hands of +the Lascar which we took off yesterday? I mean the fellow from the East +India Dock who got caught in the steam winch."</p> + +<p>"They are in the <i>post-mortem</i> room, sir."</p> + +<p>"Just pack one of them in antiseptics and give it to Dr. Hardacre."</p> + +<p>And so I found myself back at Rodenhurst before dinner with this curious +outcome of my day in town. I still said nothing to Sir Dominick, but I +slept that night in the laboratory, and I placed the Lascar's hand in +one of the glass jars at the end of my couch.</p> + +<p>So interested was I in the result of my experiment that sleep was out of +the question. I sat with a shaded lamp beside me and waited patiently +for my visitor. This time I saw him clearly from the first. He appeared +beside the door, nebulous for an instant, and then hardening into as +distinct an outline as any living man. The slippers beneath his grey +gown were red and heelless, which accounted for the low, shuffling sound +which he made as he walked. As on the previous night he passed slowly +along the line of bottles until he paused before that which contained +the hand. He reached up to it, his whole figure quivering with +expectation, took it down, examined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> it eagerly, and then, with a face +which was convulsed with disappointment, he hurled it down on the floor. +There was a crash which resounded through the house, and when I looked +up the mutilated Indian had disappeared. A moment later my door flew +open and Sir Dominick rushed in.</p> + +<p>"You are not hurt?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"No—but deeply disappointed."</p> + +<p>He looked in astonishment at the splinters of glass, and the brown hand +lying upon the floor.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" he cried. "What is this?"</p> + +<p>I told him my idea and its wretched sequel. He listened intently, but +shook his head.</p> + +<p>"It was well thought of," said he, "but I fear that there is no such +easy end to my sufferings. But one thing I now insist upon. It is that +you shall never again upon any pretext occupy this room. My fears that +something might have happened to you—when I heard that crash—have been +the most acute of all the agonies which I have undergone. I will not +expose myself to a repetition of it."</p> + +<p>He allowed me, however, to spend the remainder of the night where I was, +and I lay there worrying over the problem and lamenting my own failure. +With the first light of morning there was the Lascar's hand still lying +upon the floor to remind me of my fiasco. I lay looking at it—and as I +lay suddenly an idea flew like a bullet through my head and brought me +quivering with excitement out of my couch. I raised the grim relic from +where it had fallen. Yes, it was indeed so. The hand was the <i>left</i> hand +of the Lascar.</p> + +<p>By the first train I was on my way to town, and hurried at once to the +Seamen's Hospital. I remem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>bered that both hands of the Lascar had been +amputated, but I was terrified lest the precious organ which I was in +search of might have been already consumed in the crematory. My suspense +was soon ended. It had still been preserved in the <i>post-mortem</i> room. +And so I returned to Rodenhurst in the evening with my mission +accomplished and the material for a fresh experiment.</p> + +<p>But Sir Dominick Holden would not hear of my occupying the laboratory +again. To all my entreaties he turned a deaf ear. It offended his sense +of hospitality, and he could no longer permit it. I left the hand, +therefore, as I had done its fellow the night before, and I occupied a +comfortable bedroom in another portion of the house, some distance from +the scene of my adventures.</p> + +<p>But in spite of that my sleep was not destined to be uninterrupted. In +the dead of night my host burst into my room, a lamp in his hand. His +huge gaunt figure was enveloped in a loose dressing-gown, and his whole +appearance might certainly have seemed more formidable to a weak-nerved +man than that of the Indian of the night before. But it was not his +entrance so much as his expression which amazed me. He had turned +suddenly younger by twenty years at the least. His eyes were shining, +his features radiant, and he waved one hand in triumph over his head. I +sat up astounded, staring sleepily at this extraordinary visitor. But +his words soon drove the sleep from my eyes.</p> + +<p>"We have done it! We have succeeded!" he shouted. "My dear Hardacre, how +can I ever in this world repay you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say that it is all right?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do. I was sure that you would not mind being awakened to hear +such blessed news."</p> + +<p>"Mind! I should think not indeed. But is it really certain?"</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt whatever upon the point. I owe you such a debt, my dear +nephew, as I have never owed a man before, and never expected to. What +can I possibly do for you that is commensurate? Providence must have +sent you to my rescue. You have saved both my reason and my life, for +another six months of this must have seen me either in a cell or a +coffin. And my wife—it was wearing her out before my eyes. Never could +I have believed that any human being could have lifted this burden off +me." He seized my hand and wrung it in his bony grip.</p> + +<p>"It was only an experiment—a forlorn hope—but I am delighted from my +heart that it has succeeded. But how do you know that it is all right? +Have you seen something?"</p> + +<p>He seated himself at the foot of my bed.</p> + +<p>"I have seen enough," said he. "It satisfies me that I shall be troubled +no more. What has passed is easily told. You know that at a certain hour +this creature always comes to me. To-night he arrived at the usual time, +and aroused me with even more violence than is his custom. I can only +surmise that his disappointment of last night increased the bitterness +of his anger against me. He looked angrily at me, and then went on his +usual round. But in a few minutes I saw him, for the first time since +this persecution began, return to my chamber. He was smil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>ing. I saw the +gleam of his white teeth through the dim light. He stood facing me at +the end of my bed, and three times he made the low Eastern salaam which +is their solemn leave-taking. And the third time that he bowed he raised +his arms over his head, and I saw his <i>two</i> hands outstretched in the +air. So he vanished, and, as I believe, for ever."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>So that is the curious experience which won me the affection and the +gratitude of my celebrated uncle, the famous Indian surgeon. His +anticipations were realised, and never again was he disturbed by the +visits of the restless hillman in search of his lost member. Sir +Dominick and Lady Holden spent a very happy old age, unclouded, so far +as I know, by any trouble, and they finally died during the great +influenza epidemic within a few weeks of each other. In his lifetime he +always turned to me for advice in everything which concerned that +English life of which he knew so little; and I aided him also in the +purchase and development of his estates. It was no great surprise to me, +therefore, that I found myself eventually promoted over the heads of +five exasperated cousins, and changed in a single day from a +hard-working country doctor into the head of an important Wiltshire +family. I at least have reason to bless the memory of the man with the +brown hand, and the day when I was fortunate enough to relieve +Rodenhurst of his unwelcome presence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>THE USHER OF LEA HOUSE SCHOOL</h3> + + +<p>Mr. Lumsden, the senior partner of Lumsden and Westmacott, the +well-known scholastic and clerical agents, was a small, dapper man, with +a sharp, abrupt manner, a critical eye, and an incisive way of speaking.</p> + +<p>"Your name, sir?" said he, sitting pen in hand with his long, red-lined +folio in front of him.</p> + +<p>"Harold Weld."</p> + +<p>"Oxford or Cambridge?"</p> + +<p>"Cambridge."</p> + +<p>"Honours?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Athlete?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing remarkable, I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"Not a Blue?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lumsden shook his head despondently and shrugged his shoulders in a +way which sent my hopes down to zero. "There is a very keen competition +for masterships, Mr. Weld," said he. "The vacancies are few and the +applicants innumerable. A first-class athlete, oar, or cricketer, or a +man who has passed very high in his examinations, can usually find a +vacancy—I might say always in the case of the cricketer. But the +average man—if you will excuse the description, Mr. Weld—has a very +great difficulty, almost an insurmountable difficulty. We have already +more than a hundred such names upon our lists, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> if you think it +worth while our adding yours, I dare say that in the course of some +years we may possibly be able to find you some opening which——"</p> + +<p>He paused on account of a knock at the door. It was a clerk with a note. +Mr. Lumsden broke the seal and read it.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Weld," said he, "this is really rather an interesting +coincidence. I understand you to say that Latin and English are your +subjects, and that you would prefer for a time to accept a place in an +elementary establishment, where you would have time for private study?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so."</p> + +<p>"This note contains a request from an old client of ours, Dr. Phelps +McCarthy, of Willow Lea House Academy, West Hampstead, that I should at +once send him a young man who should be qualified to teach Latin and +English to a small class of boys under fourteen years of age. His +vacancy appears to be the very one which you are looking for. The terms +are not munificent—sixty pounds, board, lodging, and washing—but the +work is not onerous, and you would have the evenings to yourself."</p> + +<p>"That would do," I cried, with all the eagerness of the man who sees +work at last after weary months of seeking.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that it is quite fair to these gentlemen whose names have +been so long upon our list," said Mr. Lumsden, glancing down at his open +ledger. "But the coincidence is so striking that I feel we must really +give you the refusal of it."</p> + +<p>"Then I accept it, sir, and I am much obliged to you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There is one small provision in Dr. McCarthy's letter. He stipulates +that the applicant must be a man with an imperturbable good temper."</p> + +<p>"I am the very man," said I, with conviction.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Lumsden, with some hesitation, "I hope that your temper +is really as good as you say, for I rather fancy that you may need it."</p> + +<p>"I presume that every elementary school-master does."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, but it is only fair to you to warn you that there may be some +especially trying circumstances in this particular situation. Dr. Phelps +McCarthy does not make such a condition without some very good and +pressing reason."</p> + +<p>There was a certain solemnity in his speech which struck a chill in the +delight with which I had welcomed this providential vacancy.</p> + +<p>"May I ask the nature of these circumstances?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"We endeavour to hold the balance equally between our clients, and to be +perfectly frank with all of them. If I knew of objections to you I +should certainly communicate them to Dr. McCarthy, and so I have no +hesitation in doing as much for you. I find," he continued, glancing +over the pages of his ledger, "that within the last twelve months we +have supplied no fewer than seven Latin masters to Willow Lea House +Academy, four of them having left so abruptly as to forfeit their +month's salary, and none of them having stayed more than eight weeks."</p> + +<p>"And the other masters? Have they stayed?"</p> + +<p>"There is only one other residential master, and he appears to be +unchanged. You can understand, Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> Weld," continued the agent, closing +both the ledger and the interview, "that such rapid changes are not +desirable from a master's point of view, whatever may be said for them +by an agent working on commission. I have no idea why these gentlemen +have resigned their situations so early. I can only give you the facts, +and advise you to see Dr. McCarthy at once and to form your own +conclusions."</p> + +<p>Great is the power of the man who has nothing to lose, and it was +therefore with perfect serenity, but with a good deal of curiosity, that +I rang early that afternoon the heavy wrought-iron bell of the Willow +Lea House Academy. The building was a massive pile, square and ugly, +standing in its own extensive grounds, with a broad carriage-sweep +curving up to it from the road. It stood high, and commanded a view on +the one side of the grey roofs and bristling spires of Northern London, +and on the other of the well-wooded and beautiful country which fringes +the great city. The door was opened by a boy in buttons, and I was shown +into a well-appointed study, where the principal of the academy +presently joined me.</p> + +<p>The warnings and insinuations of the agent had prepared me to meet a +choleric and overbearing person—one whose manner was an insupportable +provocation to those who worked under him. Anything further from the +reality cannot be imagined. He was a frail, gentle creature, +clean-shaven and round-shouldered, with a bearing which was so courteous +that it became almost deprecating. His bushy hair was thickly shot with +grey, and his age I should imagine to verge upon sixty. His voice was +low and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> suave, and he walked with a certain mincing delicacy of manner. +His whole appearance was that of a kindly scholar, who was more at home +among his books than in the practical affairs of the world.</p> + +<p>"I am sure that we shall be very happy to have your assistance, Mr. +Weld," said he, after a few professional questions. "Mr. Percival +Manners left me yesterday, and I should be glad if you could take over +his duties to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"May I ask if that is Mr. Percival Manners of Selwyn?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Precisely. Did you know him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; he is a friend of mine."</p> + +<p>"An excellent teacher, but a little hasty in his disposition. It was his +only fault. Now, in your case, Mr. Weld, is your own temper under good +control? Supposing for argument's sake that I were to so far forget +myself as to be rude to you or to speak roughly or to jar your feelings +in any way, could you rely upon yourself to control your emotions?"</p> + +<p>I smiled at the idea of this courteous, little, mincing creature +ruffling my nerves.</p> + +<p>"I think that I could answer for it, sir," said I.</p> + +<p>"Quarrels are very painful to me," said he. "I wish every one to live in +harmony under my roof. I will not deny Mr. Percival Manners had +provocation, but I wish to find a man who can raise himself above +provocation, and sacrifice his own feelings for the sake of peace and +concord."</p> + +<p>"I will do my best, sir."</p> + +<p>"You cannot say more, Mr. Weld. In that case I shall expect you +to-night, if you can get your things ready so soon."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>I not only succeeded in getting my things ready, but I found time to +call at the Benedict Club in Piccadilly, where I knew that I should find +Manners if he were still in town. There he was sure enough in the +smoking-room, and I questioned him, over a cigarette, as to his reasons +for throwing up his recent situation.</p> + +<p>"You don't tell me that you are going to Dr. Phelps McCarthy's Academy?" +he cried, staring at me in surprise. "My dear chap, it's no use. You +can't possibly remain there."</p> + +<p>"But I saw him, and he seemed the most courtly, inoffensive fellow. I +never met a man with more gentle manners."</p> + +<p>"He! oh, he's all right. There's no vice in him. Have you seen +Theophilus St. James?"</p> + +<p>"I have never heard the name. Who is he?"</p> + +<p>"Your colleague. The other master."</p> + +<p>"No, I have not seen him."</p> + +<p>"<i>He's</i> the terror. If you can stand him, you have either the spirit of +a perfect Christian or else you have no spirit at all. A more perfect +bounder never bounded."</p> + +<p>"But why does McCarthy stand it?"</p> + +<p>My friend looked at me significantly through his cigarette smoke, and +shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You will form your own conclusions about that. Mine were formed very +soon, and I never found occasion to alter them."</p> + +<p>"It would help me very much if you would tell me them."</p> + +<p>"When you see a man in his own house allowing his business to be ruined, +his comfort destroyed, and his authority defied by another man in a +subordinate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> position, and calmly submitting to it without so much as a +word of protest, what conclusion do you come to?"</p> + +<p>"That the one has a hold over the other."</p> + +<p>Percival Manners nodded his head.</p> + +<p>"There you are! You've hit it first barrel. It seems to me that there's +no other explanation which will cover the facts. At some period in his +life the little Doctor has gone astray. <i>Humanum est errare.</i> I have +even done it myself. But this was something serious, and the other man +got a hold of it and has never let go. That's the truth. Blackmail is at +the bottom of it. But he had no hold over me, and there was no reason +why <i>I</i> should stand his insolence, so I came away—and I very much +expect to see you do the same."</p> + +<p>For some time he talked over the matter, but he always came to the same +conclusion—that I should not retain my new situation very long.</p> + +<p>It was with no very pleasant feelings after this preparation that I +found myself face to face with the very man of whom I had received so +evil an account. Dr. McCarthy introduced us to each other in his study +on the evening of that same day immediately after my arrival at the +school.</p> + +<p>"This is your new colleague, Mr. St. James," said he, in his genial, +courteous fashion. "I trust that you will mutually agree, and that I +shall find nothing but good feeling and sympathy beneath this roof."</p> + +<p>I shared the good Doctor's hope, but my expectations of it were not +increased by the appearance of my <i>confrère</i>. He was a young, +bull-necked fellow about thirty years of age, dark-eyed and +black-haired,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> with an exceedingly vigorous physique. I have never seen +a more strongly built man, though he tended to run to fat in a way which +showed that he was in the worst of training. His face was coarse, +swollen, and brutal, with a pair of small black eyes deeply sunken in +his head. His heavy jowl, his projecting ears, and his thick bandy legs +all went to make up a personality which was as formidable as it was +repellent.</p> + +<p>"I hear you've never been out before," said he, in a rude, brusque +fashion. "Well, it's a poor life: hard work and starvation pay, as +you'll find out for yourself."</p> + +<p>"But it has some compensations," said the principal. "Surely you will +allow that, Mr. St. James?"</p> + +<p>"Has it? I never could find them. What do you call compensations?"</p> + +<p>"Even to be in the continual presence of youth is a privilege. It has +the effect of keeping youth in one's own soul, for one reflects +something of their high spirits and their keen enjoyment of life."</p> + +<p>"Little beasts!" cried my colleague.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Mr. St. James, you are too hard upon them."</p> + +<p>"I hate the sight of them! If I could put them and their blessed +copybooks and lexicons and slates into one bonfire I'd do it to-night."</p> + +<p>"This is Mr. St. James's way of talking," said the principal, smiling +nervously as he glanced at me. "You must not take him too seriously. +Now, Mr. Weld, you know where your room is, and no doubt you have your +own little arrangements to make. The sooner you make them the sooner you +will feel yourself at home."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>It seemed to me that he was only too anxious to remove me at once from +the influence of this extraordinary colleague, and I was glad to go, for +the conversation had become embarrassing.</p> + +<p>And so began an epoch which always seems to me as I look back to it to +be the most singular in all my experience. The school was in many ways +an excellent one. Dr. Phelps McCarthy was an ideal principal. His +methods were modern and rational. The management was all that could be +desired. And yet in the middle of this well-ordered machine there +intruded the incongruous and impossible Mr. St. James, throwing +everything into confusion. His duties were to teach English and +mathematics, and how he acquitted himself of them I do not know, as our +classes were held in separate rooms. I can answer for it, however, that +the boys feared him and loathed him, and I know that they had good +reason to do so, for frequently my own teaching was interrupted by his +bellowing of anger, and even by the sound of his blows. Dr. McCarthy +spent most of his time in his class, but it was, I suspect, to watch +over the master rather than the boys, and to try to moderate his +ferocious temper when it threatened to become dangerous.</p> + +<p>It was in his bearing to the head master, however, that my colleague's +conduct was most outrageous. The first conversation which I have +recorded proved to be typical of their intercourse. He domineered over +him openly and brutally. I have heard him contradict him roughly before +the whole school. At no time would he show him any mark of respect, and +my temper often rose within me when I saw the quiet acquiescence of the +old Doctor, and his patient tolerance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> of this monstrous treatment. And +yet the sight of it surrounded the principal also with a certain vague +horror in my mind, for supposing my friend's theory to be correct—and I +could devise no better one—how black must have been the story which +could be held over his head by this man and, by fear of its publicity, +force him to undergo such humiliations. This quiet, gentle Doctor might +be a profound hypocrite, a criminal, a forger possibly, or a poisoner. +Only such a secret as this could account for the complete power which +the younger man held over him. Why else should he admit so hateful a +presence into his house and so harmful an influence into his school? Why +should he submit to degradations which could not be witnessed, far less +endured, without indignation?</p> + +<p>And yet, if it were so, I was forced to confess that my principal +carried it off with extraordinary duplicity. Never by word or sign did +he show that the young man's presence was distasteful to him. I have +seen him look pained, it is true, after some peculiarly outrageous +exhibition, but he gave me the impression that it was always on account +of the scholars or of me, never on account of himself. He spoke to and +of St. James in an indulgent fashion, smiling gently at what made my +blood boil within me. In his way of looking at him and addressing him, +one could see no trace of resentment, but rather a sort of timid and +deprecating good will. His company he certainly courted, and they spent +many hours together in the study and the garden.</p> + +<p>As to my own relations with Theophilus St. James, I made up my mind from +the beginning that I should keep my temper with him, and to that +resolution I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> steadfastly adhered. If Dr. McCarthy chose to permit this +disrespect, and to condone these outrages, it was his affair and not +mine. It was evident that his one wish was that there should be peace +between us, and I felt that I could help him best by respecting this +desire. My easiest way to do so was to avoid my colleague, and this I +did to the best of my ability. When we were thrown together I was quiet, +polite, and reserved. He, on his part, showed me no ill-will, but met me +rather with a coarse joviality, and a rough familiarity which he meant +to be ingratiating. He was insistent in his attempts to get me into his +room at night, for the purpose of playing euchre and of drinking.</p> + +<p>"Old McCarthy doesn't mind," said he. "Don't you be afraid of him. We'll +do what we like, and I'll answer for it that he won't object." Once only +I went, and when I left, after a dull and gross evening, my host was +stretched dead drunk upon the sofa. After that I gave the excuse of a +course of study, and spent my spare hours alone in my own room.</p> + +<p>One point upon which I was anxious to gain information was as to how +long these proceedings had been going on. When did St. James assert his +hold over Dr. McCarthy? From neither of them could I learn how long my +colleague had been in his present situation. One or two leading +questions upon my part were eluded or ignored in a manner so marked that +it was easy to see that they were both of them as eager to conceal the +point as I was to know it. But at last one evening I had the chance of a +chat with Mrs. Carter, the matron—for the Doctor was a widower—and +from her I got the information which I wanted. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> needed no questioning +to get at her knowledge, for she was so full of indignation that she +shook with passion as she spoke of it, and raised her hands into the air +in the earnestness of her denunciation, as she described the grievances +which she had against my colleague.</p> + +<p>"It was three years ago, Mr. Weld, that he first darkened this +doorstep," she cried. "Three bitter years they have been to me. The +school had fifty boys then. Now it has twenty-two. That's what he has +done for us in three years. In another three there won't be one. And the +Doctor, that angel of patience, you see how he treats him, though he is +not fit to lace his boots for him. If it wasn't for the Doctor, you may +be sure that I wouldn't stay an hour under the same roof with such a +man, and so I told him to his own face, Mr. Weld. If the Doctor would +only pack him about his business—but I know that I am saying more than +I should!" She stopped herself with an effort, and spoke no more upon +the subject. She had remembered that I was almost a stranger in the +school, and she feared that she had been indiscreet.</p> + +<p>There were one or two very singular points about my colleague. The chief +one was that he rarely took any exercise. There was a playing-field +within the college grounds, and that was his farthest point. If the boys +went out, it was I or Dr. McCarthy who accompanied them. St. James gave +as a reason for this that he had injured his knee some years before, and +that walking was painful to him. For my own part I put it down to pure +laziness upon his part, for he was of an obese, heavy temperament. +Twice, however, I saw him from my window stealing out of the grounds +late at night, and the second time I watched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> him return in the grey of +the morning and slink in through an open window. These furtive +excursions were never alluded to, but they exposed the hollowness of his +story about his knee, and they increased the dislike and distrust which +I had of the man. His nature seemed to be vicious to the core.</p> + +<p>Another point, small but suggestive, was that he hardly ever during the +months that I was at Willow Lea House received any letters, and on those +few occasions they were obviously tradesmen's bills. I am an early +riser, and used every morning to pick my own correspondence out of the +bundle upon the hall table. I could judge therefore how few were ever +there for Mr. Theophilus St. James. There seemed to me to be something +peculiarly ominous in this. What sort of a man could he be who during +thirty years of his life had never made a single friend, high or low, +who cared to continue to keep in touch with him? And yet the sinister +fact remained that the head master not only tolerated, but was even +intimate with him. More than once on entering a room I had found them +talking confidentially together, and they would walk arm in arm in deep +conversation up and down the garden paths. So curious did I become to +know what the tie was which bound them, that I found it gradually push +out my other interests and become the main purpose of my life. In school +and out of school, at meals and at play, I was perpetually engaged in +watching Dr. Phelps McCarthy and Mr. Theophilus St. James, and in +endeavouring to solve the mystery which surrounded them.</p> + +<p>But, unfortunately, my curiosity was a little too open. I had not the +art to conceal the suspicions which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> I felt about the relations which +existed between these two men and the nature of the hold which the one +appeared to have over the other. It may have been my manner of watching +them, it may have been some indiscreet question, but it is certain that +I showed too clearly what I felt. One night I was conscious that the +eyes of Theophilus St. James were fixed upon me in a surly and menacing +stare. I had a foreboding of evil, and I was not surprised when Dr. +McCarthy called me next morning into his study.</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry, Mr. Weld," said he, "but I am afraid that I shall be +compelled to dispense with your services."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you would give me some reason for dismissing me," I answered, +for I was conscious of having done my duties to the best of my power, +and knew well that only one reason could be given.</p> + +<p>"I have no fault to find with you," said he, and the colour came to his +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"You send me away at the suggestion of my colleague."</p> + +<p>His eyes turned away from mine.</p> + +<p>"We will not discuss the question, Mr. Weld. It is impossible for me to +discuss it. In justice to you, I will give you the strongest +recommendation for your next situation. I can say no more. I hope that +you will continue your duties here until you have found a place +elsewhere."</p> + +<p>My whole soul rose against the injustice of it, and yet I had no appeal +and no redress. I could only bow and leave the room, with a bitter sense +of ill-usage at my heart.</p> + +<p>My first instinct was to pack my boxes and leave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> the house. But the +head master had given me permission to remain until I had found another +situation. I was sure that St. James desired me to go, and that was a +strong reason why I should stay. If my presence annoyed him, I should +give him as much of it as I could. I had begun to hate him and to long +to have my revenge upon him. If he had a hold over our principal, might +not I in turn obtain one over him? It was a sign of weakness that he +should be so afraid of my curiosity. He would not resent it so much if +he had not something to fear from it. I entered my name once more upon +the books of the agents, but meanwhile I continued to fulfil my duties +at Willow Lea House, and so it came about that I was present at the +<i>dénouement</i> of this singular situation.</p> + +<p>During that week—for it was only a week before the crisis came—I was +in the habit of going down each evening, after the work of the day was +done, to inquire about my new arrangements. One night, it was a cold and +windy evening in March, I had just stepped out from the hall door when a +strange sight met my eyes. A man was crouching before one of the windows +of the house. His knees were bent and his eyes were fixed upon the small +line of light between the curtain and the sash. The window threw a +square of brightness in front of it, and in the middle of this the dark +shadow of this ominous visitor showed clear and hard. It was but for an +instant that I saw him, for he glanced up and was off in a moment +through the shrubbery. I could hear the patter of his feet as he ran +down the road, until it died away in the distance.</p> + +<p>It was evidently my duty to turn back and to tell Dr. McCarthy what I +had seen. I found him in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> study. I had expected him to be disturbed +at such an incident, but I was not prepared for the state of panic into +which he fell. He leaned back in his chair, white and gasping, like one +who has received a mortal blow.</p> + +<p>"Which window, Mr. Weld?" he asked, wiping his forehead. "Which window +was it?"</p> + +<p>"The next to the dining-room—Mr. St. James's window."</p> + +<p>"Dear me! Dear me! This is, indeed, unfortunate! A man looking through +Mr. St. James's window!" He wrung his hands like a man who is at his +wits' end what to do.</p> + +<p>"I shall be passing the police-station, sir. Would you wish me to +mention the matter?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," he cried, suddenly, mastering his extreme agitation; "I have +no doubt that it was some poor tramp who intended to beg. I attach no +importance to the incident—none at all. Don't let me detain you, Mr. +Weld, if you wish to go out."</p> + +<p>I left him sitting in his study with reassuring words upon his lips, but +with horror upon his face. My heart was heavy for my little employer as +I started off once more for town. As I looked back from the gate at the +square of light which marked the window of my colleague, I suddenly saw +the black outline of Dr. McCarthy's figure passing against the lamp. He +had hastened from his study then to tell St. James what he had heard. +What was the meaning of it all, this atmosphere of mystery, this +inexplicable terror, these confidences between two such dissimilar men? +I thought and thought as I walked, but do what I would I could not hit +upon any adequate conclusion. I little knew how near I was to the +solution of the problem.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was very late—nearly twelve o'clock—when I returned, and the lights +were all out save one in the Doctor's study. The black, gloomy house +loomed before me as I walked up the drive, its sombre bulk broken only +by the one glimmering point of brightness. I let myself in with my +latch-key, and was about to enter my own room when my attention was +arrested by a short, sharp cry like that of a man in pain. I stood and +listened, my hand upon the handle of my door.</p> + +<p>All was silent in the house save for a distant murmur of voices which +came, I knew, from the Doctor's room. I stole quietly down the corridor +in that direction. The sound resolved itself now into two voices, the +rough bullying tones of St. James and the lower tone of the Doctor, the +one apparently insisting and the other arguing and pleading. Four thin +lines of light in the blackness showed me the door of the Doctor's room, +and step by step I drew nearer to it in the darkness. St. James's voice +within rose louder and louder, and his words came plainly to my ear.</p> + +<p>"I'll have every pound of it. If you won't give it me I'll take it. Do +you hear?"</p> + +<p>Dr. McCarthy's reply was inaudible, but the angry voice broke in again.</p> + +<p>"Leave you destitute! I leave you this little goldmine of a school, and +that's enough for one old man, is it not? How am I to set up in +Australia without money? Answer me that!"</p> + +<p>Again the Doctor said something in a soothing voice, but his answer only +roused his companion to a higher pitch of fury.</p> + +<p>"Done for me! What have you ever done for me except what you couldn't +help doing? It was for your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> good name, not for my safety, that you +cared. But enough cackle! I must get on my way before morning. Will you +open your safe or will you not?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, James, how can you use me so?" cried a wailing voice, and then +there came a sudden little scream of pain. At the sound of that helpless +appeal from brutal violence I lost for once that temper upon which I had +prided myself. Every bit of manhood in me cried out against any further +neutrality. With my walking cane in my hand I rushed into the study. As +I did so I was conscious that the hall-door bell was violently ringing.</p> + +<p>"You villain!" I cried, "let him go!"</p> + +<p>The two men were standing in front of a small safe, which stood against +one wall of the Doctor's room. St. James held the old man by the wrist, +and he had twisted his arm round in order to force him to produce the +key. My little head master, white but resolute, was struggling furiously +in the grip of the burly athlete. The bully glared over his shoulder at +me with a mixture of fury and terror upon his brutal features. Then, +realising that I was alone, he dropped his victim and made for me with a +horrible curse.</p> + +<p>"You infernal spy!" he cried. "I'll do for you anyhow before I leave."</p> + +<p>I am not a very strong man, and I realised that I was helpless if once +at close quarters. Twice I cut at him with my stick, but he rushed in at +me with a murderous growl, and seized me by the throat with both his +muscular hands. I fell backwards and he on the top of me, with a grip +which was squeezing the life from me. I was conscious of his malignant +yellow-tinged eyes within a few inches of my own, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> with a +beating of pulses in my head and a singing in my ears, my senses slipped +away from me. But even in that supreme moment I was aware that the +door-bell was still violently ringing.</p> + +<p>When I came to myself, I was lying upon the sofa in Dr. McCarthy's +study, and the Doctor himself was seated beside me. He appeared to be +watching me intently and anxiously, for as I opened my eyes and looked +about me he gave a great cry of relief. "Thank God!" he cried. "Thank +God!"</p> + +<p>"Where is he?" I asked, looking round the room. As I did so, I became +aware that the furniture was scattered in every direction, and that +there were traces of an even more violent struggle than that in which I +had been engaged.</p> + +<p>The Doctor sank his face between his hands.</p> + +<p>"They have him," he groaned. "After these years of trial they have him +again. But how thankful I am that he has not for a second time stained +his hands in blood."</p> + +<p>As the Doctor spoke I became aware that a man in the braided jacket of +an inspector of police was standing in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he remarked, "you have had a pretty narrow escape. If we had +not got in when we did, you would not be here to tell the tale. I don't +know that I ever saw any one much nearer to the undertaker."</p> + +<p>I sat up with my hands to my throbbing head.</p> + +<p>"Dr. McCarthy," said I, "this is all a mystery to me. I should be glad +if you could explain to me who this man is, and why you have tolerated +him so long in your house."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I owe you an explanation, Mr. Weld—and the more so since you have, in +so chivalrous a fashion, almost sacrificed your life in my defence. +There is no reason now for secrecy. In a word, Mr. Weld, this unhappy +man's real name is James McCarthy, and he is my only son."</p> + +<p>"Your son?"</p> + +<p>"Alas, yes. What sin have I ever committed that I should have such a +punishment? He has made my whole life a misery from the first years of +his boyhood. Violent, headstrong, selfish, unprincipled, he has always +been the same. At eighteen he was a criminal. At twenty, in a paroxysm +of passion, he took the life of a boon companion and was tried for +murder. He only just escaped the gallows, and he was condemned to penal +servitude. Three years ago he succeeded in escaping, and managed, in +face of a thousand obstacles, to reach my house in London. My wife's +heart had been broken by his condemnation, and as he had succeeded in +getting a suit of ordinary clothes, there was no one here to recognise +him. For months he lay concealed in the attics until the first search of +the police should be over. Then I gave him employment here, as you have +seen, though by his rough and overbearing manners he made my own life +miserable, and that of his fellow-masters unbearable. You have been with +us for four months, Mr. Weld, but no other master endured him so long. I +apologise now for all you have had to submit to, but I ask you what else +could I do? For his dead mother's sake I could not let harm come to him +as long as it was in my power to fend it off. Only under my roof could +he find a refuge—the only spot in all the world—and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> how could I keep +him here without it exciting remark unless I gave him some occupation? I +made him English master therefore, and in that capacity I have protected +him here for three years. You have no doubt observed that he never +during the daytime went beyond the college grounds. You now understand +the reason. But when to-night you came to me with your report of a man +who was looking through his window, I understood that his retreat was at +last discovered. I besought him to fly at once, but he had been +drinking, the unhappy fellow, and my words fell upon deaf ears. When at +last he made up his mind to go he wished to take from me in his flight +every shilling which I possessed. It was your entrance which saved me +from him, while the police in turn arrived only just in time to rescue +you. I have made myself amenable to the law by harbouring an escaped +prisoner, and remain here in the custody of the inspector, but a prison +has no terrors for me after what I have endured in this house during the +last three years."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, Doctor," said the inspector, "that, if you have broken +the law, you have had quite enough punishment already."</p> + +<p>"God knows I have!" cried Dr. McCarthy, and sank his haggard face upon +his hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>B. 24</h3> + + +<p>I told my story when I was taken, and no one would listen to me. Then I +told it again at the trial—the whole thing absolutely as it happened, +without so much as a word added. I set it all out truly, so help me God, +all that Lady Mannering said and did, and then all that I had said and +done, just as it occurred. And what did I get for it? "The prisoner put +forward a rambling and inconsequential statement, incredible in its +details, and unsupported by any shred of corroborative evidence." That +was what one of the London papers said, and others let it pass as if I +had made no defence at all. And yet, with my own eyes I saw Lord +Mannering murdered, and I am as guiltless of it as any man on the jury +that tried me.</p> + +<p>Now, sir, you are there to receive the petitions of prisoners. It all +lies with you. All I ask is that you read it—just read it—and then +that you make an inquiry or two about the private character of this +"lady" Mannering, if she still keeps the name that she had three years +ago, when to my sorrow and ruin I came to meet her. You could use a +private inquiry agent or a good lawyer, and you would soon learn enough +to show you that my story is the true one. Think of the glory it would +be to you to have all the papers saying that there would have been a +shocking miscarriage of justice if it had not been for your perseverance +and intelligence! That must be your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> reward, since I am a poor man and +can offer you nothing. But if you don't do it, may you never lie easy in +your bed again! May no night pass that you are not haunted by the +thought of the man who rots in gaol because you have not done the duty +which you are paid to do! But you will do it, sir, I know. Just make one +or two inquiries, and you will soon find which way the wind blows. +Remember, also, that the only person who profited by the crime was +herself, since it changed her from an unhappy wife to a rich young +widow. There's the end of the string in your hand, and you only have to +follow it up and see where it leads to.</p> + +<p>Mind you, sir, I make no complaint as far as the burglary goes. I don't +whine about what I have deserved, and so far I have had no more than I +have deserved. Burglary it was, right enough, and my three years have +gone to pay for it. It was shown at the trial that I had had a hand in +the Merton Cross business, and did a year for that, so my story had the +less attention on that account. A man with a previous conviction never +gets a really fair trial. I own to the burglary, but when it comes to +the murder which brought me a lifer—any judge but Sir James might have +given me the gallows—then I tell you that I had nothing to do with it, +and that I am an innocent man. And now I'll take that night, the 13th of +September, 1894, and I'll give you just exactly what occurred, and may +God's hand strike me down if I go one inch over the truth.</p> + +<p>I had been at Bristol in the summer looking for work, and then I had a +notion that I might get something at Portsmouth, for I was trained as a +skilled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> mechanic, so I came tramping my way across the south of +England, and doing odd jobs as I went. I was trying all I knew to keep +off the cross, for I had done a year in Exeter Gaol, and I had had +enough of visiting Queen Victoria. But it's cruel hard to get work when +once the black mark is against your name, and it was all I could do to +keep soul and body together. At last, after ten days of wood-cutting and +stone-breaking on starvation pay, I found myself near Salisbury with a +couple of shillings in my pocket, and my boots and my patience clean +wore out. There's an alehouse called "The Willing Mind," which stands +on the road between Blandford and Salisbury, and it was there that night +I engaged a bed. I was sitting alone in the taproom just about closing +time, when the inn-keeper—Allen his name was—came beside me and began +yarning about the neighbours. He was a man that liked to talk and to +have some one to listen to his talk, so I sat there smoking and drinking +a mug of ale which he had stood me; and I took no great interest in what +he said until he began to talk (as the devil would have it) about the +riches of Mannering Hall.</p> + +<p>"Meaning the large house on the right before I came to the village?" +said I. "The one that stands in its own park?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said he—and I am giving all our talk so that you may know +that I am telling you the truth and hiding nothing. "The long white +house with the pillars," said he. "At the side of the Blandford Road."</p> + +<p>Now I had looked at it as I passed, and it had crossed my mind, as such +thoughts will, that it was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> very easy house to get into with that +great row of grand windows and glass doors. I had put the thought away +from me, and now here was this landlord bringing it back with his talk +about the riches within. I said nothing, but I listened, and as luck +would have it, he would always come back to this one subject.</p> + +<p>"He was a miser young, so you can think what he is now in his age," said +he. "Well, he's had some good out of his money."</p> + +<p>"What good can he have had if he does not spend it?" said I.</p> + +<p>"Well, it bought him the prettiest wife in England, and that was some +good that he got out of it. She thought she would have the spending of +it, but she knows the difference now."</p> + +<p>"Who was she then?" I asked, just for the sake of something to say.</p> + +<p>"She was nobody at all until the old Lord made her his Lady," said he. +"She came from up London way, and some said that she had been on the +stage there, but nobody knew. The old Lord was away for a year, and when +he came home he brought a young wife back with him, and there she has +been ever since. Stephens, the butler, did tell me once that she was the +light of the house when fust she came, but what with her husband's mean +and aggravatin' way, and what with her loneliness—for he hates to see a +visitor within his doors; and what with his bitter words—for he has a +tongue like a hornet's sting, her life all went out of her, and she +became a white, silent creature, moping about the country lanes. Some +say that she loved another man, and that it was just the riches of the +old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> Lord which tempted her to be false to her lover, and that now she +is eating her heart out because she has lost the one without being any +nearer to the other, for she might be the poorest woman in the parish +for all the money that she has the handling of."</p> + +<p>Well, sir, you can imagine that it did not interest me very much to hear +about the quarrels between a Lord and a Lady. What did it matter to me +if she hated the sound of his voice, or if he put every indignity upon +her in the hope of breaking her spirit, and spoke to her as he would +never have dared to speak to one of his servants? The landlord told me +of these things, and of many more like them, but they passed out of my +mind, for they were no concern of mine. But what I did want to hear was +the form in which Lord Mannering kept his riches. Title-deeds and stock +certificates are but paper, and more danger than profit to the man who +takes them. But metal and stones are worth a risk. And then, as if he +were answering my very thoughts, the landlord told me of Lord +Mannering's great collection of gold medals, that it was the most +valuable in the world, and that it was reckoned that if they were put +into a sack the strongest man in the parish would not be able to raise +them. Then his wife called him, and he and I went to our beds.</p> + +<p>I am not arguing to make out a case for myself, but I beg you, sir, to +bear all the facts in your mind, and to ask yourself whether a man could +be more sorely tempted than I was. I make bold to say that there are few +who could have held out against it. There I lay on my bed that night, a +desperate man without hope or work, and with my last shilling in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +pocket. I had tried to be honest, and honest folk had turned their backs +upon me. They taunted me for theft; and yet they pushed me towards it. I +was caught in the stream and could not get out. And then it was such a +chance: the great house all lined with windows, the golden medals which +could so easily be melted down. It was like putting a loaf before a +starving man and expecting him not to eat it. I fought against it for a +time, but it was no use. At last I sat up on the side of my bed, and I +swore that that night I should either be a rich man and able to give up +crime for ever, or that the irons should be on my wrists once more. Then +I slipped on my clothes, and, having put a shilling on the table—for +the landlord had treated me well, and I did not wish to cheat him—I +passed out through the window into the garden of the inn.</p> + +<p>There was a high wall round this garden, and I had a job to get over it, +but once on the other side it was all plain sailing. I did not meet a +soul upon the road, and the iron gate of the avenue was open. No one was +moving at the lodge. The moon was shining, and I could see the great +house glimmering white through an archway of trees. I walked up it for a +quarter of a mile or so, until I was at the edge of the drive, where it +ended in a broad, gravelled space before the main door. There I stood in +the shadow and looked at the long building, with a full moon shining in +every window and silvering the high stone front. I crouched there for +some time, and I wondered where I should find the easiest entrance. The +corner window of the side seemed to be the one which was least +overlooked, and a screen of ivy hung heavily over it. My<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> best chance +was evidently there. I worked my way under the trees to the back of the +house, and then crept along in the black shadow of the building. A dog +barked and rattled his chain, but I stood waiting until he was quiet, +and then I stole on once more until I came to the window which I had +chosen.</p> + +<p>It is astonishing how careless they are in the country, in places far +removed from large towns, where the thought of burglars never enters +their heads. I call it setting temptation in a poor man's way when he +puts his hand, meaning no harm, upon a door, and finds it swing open +before him. In this case it was not so bad as that, but the window was +merely fastened with the ordinary catch, which I opened with a push from +the blade of my knife. I pulled up the window as quickly as possible, +then I thrust the knife through the slit in the shutter and prized it +open. They were folding shutters, and I shoved them before me and walked +into the room.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, sir! You are very welcome!" said a voice.</p> + +<p>I've had some starts in my life, but never one to come up to that one. +There, in the opening of the shutters, within reach of my arm, was +standing a woman with a small coil of wax taper burning in her hand. She +was tall and straight and slender, with a beautiful white face that +might have been cut out of clear marble, but her hair and eyes were as +black as night. She was dressed in some sort of white dressing-gown +which flowed down to her feet, and what with this robe and what with her +face, it seemed as if a spirit from above was standing in front of me. +My knees knocked together, and I held on to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> shutter with one hand +to give me support. I should have turned and run away if I had had the +strength, but I could only just stand and stare at her.</p> + +<p>She soon brought me back to myself once more.</p> + +<p>"Don't be frightened!" said she, and they were strange words for the +mistress of a house to have to use to a burglar. "I saw you out of my +bedroom window when you were hiding under those trees, so I slipped +downstairs, and then I heard you at the window. I should have opened it +for you if you had waited, but you managed it yourself just as I came +up."</p> + +<p>I still held in my hand the long clasp-knife with which I had opened the +shutter. I was unshaven and grimed from a week on the roads. Altogether, +there are few people who would have cared to face me alone at one in the +morning; but this woman, if I had been her lover meeting her by +appointment, could not have looked upon me with a more welcoming eye. +She laid her hand upon my sleeve and drew me into the room.</p> + +<p>"What's the meaning of this, ma'am? Don't get trying any little games +upon me," said I, in my roughest way—and I can put it on rough when I +like. "It'll be the worse for you if you play me any trick," I added, +showing her my knife.</p> + +<p>"I will play you no trick," said she. "On the contrary, I am your +friend, and I wish to help you."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, ma'am, but I find it hard to believe that," said I. "Why +should you wish to help me?"</p> + +<p>"I have my own reasons," said she; and then suddenly, with those black +eyes blazing out of her white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> face: "It's because I hate him, hate him, +hate him! Now you understand."</p> + +<p>I remembered what the landlord had told me, and I did understand. I +looked at her Ladyship's face, and I knew that I could trust her. She +wanted to revenge herself upon her husband. She wanted to hit him where +it would hurt him most—upon the pocket. She hated him so that she would +even lower her pride to take such a man as me into her confidence if she +could gain her end by doing so. I've hated some folk in my time, but I +don't think I ever understood what hate was until I saw that woman's +face in the light of the taper.</p> + +<p>"You'll trust me now?" said she, with another coaxing touch upon my +sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Yes, your Ladyship."</p> + +<p>"You know me, then?"</p> + +<p>"I can guess who you are."</p> + +<p>"I dare say my wrongs are the talk of the county. But what does he care +for that? He only cares for one thing in the whole world, and that you +can take from him this night. Have you a bag?"</p> + +<p>"No, your Ladyship."</p> + +<p>"Shut the shutter behind you. Then no one can see the light. You are +quite safe. The servants all sleep in the other wing. I can show you +where all the most valuable things are. You cannot carry them all, so we +must pick the best."</p> + +<p>The room in which I found myself was long and low, with many rugs and +skins scattered about on a polished wood floor. Small cases stood here +and there, and the walls were decorated with spears and swords and +paddles, and other things which find their way in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>to museums. There were +some queer clothes, too, which had been brought from savage countries, +and the lady took down a large leather sack-bag from among them.</p> + +<p>"This sleeping-sack will do," said she. "Now come with me and I will +show you where the medals are."</p> + +<p>It was like a dream to me to think that this tall, white woman was the +lady of the house, and that she was lending me a hand to rob her own +home. I could have burst out laughing at the thought of it, and yet +there was something in that pale face of hers which stopped my laughter +and turned me cold and serious. She swept on in front of me like a +spirit, with the green taper in her hand, and I walked behind with my +sack until we came to a door at the end of this museum. It was locked, +but the key was in it, and she led me through.</p> + +<p>The room beyond was a small one, hung all round with curtains which had +pictures on them. It was the hunting of a deer that was painted on it, +as I remember, and in the flicker of that light you'd have sworn that +the dogs and the horses were streaming round the walls. The only other +thing in the room was a row of cases made of walnut, with brass +ornaments. They had glass tops, and beneath this glass I saw the long +lines of those gold medals, some of them as big as a plate and half an +inch thick, all resting upon red velvet and glowing and gleaming in the +darkness. My fingers were just itching to be at them, and I slipped my +knife under the lock of one of the cases to wrench it open.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment," said she, laying her hand upon my arm. "You might do +better than this."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am very well satisfied, ma'am," said I, "and much obliged to your +Ladyship for kind assistance."</p> + +<p>"You can do better," she repeated. "Would not golden sovereigns be worth +more to you than these things?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," said I. "That's best of all."</p> + +<p>"Well," said she. "He sleeps just above our head. It is but one short +staircase. There is a tin box with money enough to fill this bag under +his bed."</p> + +<p>"How can I get it without waking him?"</p> + +<p>"What matter if he does wake?" She looked very hard at me as she spoke. +"You could keep him from calling out."</p> + +<p>"No, no, ma'am, I'll have none of that."</p> + +<p>"Just as you like," said she. "I thought that you were a stout-hearted +sort of man by your appearance, but I see that I made a mistake. If you +are afraid to run the risk of one old man, then of course you cannot +have the gold which is under his bed. You are the best judge of your own +business, but I should think that you would do better at some other +trade."</p> + +<p>"I'll not have murder on my conscience."</p> + +<p>"You could overpower him without harming him. I never said anything +about murder. The money lies under the bed. But if you are +faint-hearted, it is better that you should not attempt it."</p> + +<p>She worked upon me so, partly with her scorn and partly with this money +that she held before my eyes, that I believe I should have yielded and +taken my chances upstairs, had it not been that I saw her eyes following +the struggle within me in such a crafty, malignant fashion, that it was +evident she was bent upon making me the tool of her revenge, and that +she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> would leave me no choice but to do the old man an injury or to be +captured by him. She felt suddenly that she was giving herself away, and +she changed her face to a kindly, friendly smile, but it was too late, +for I had had my warning.</p> + +<p>"I will not go upstairs," said I. "I have all I want here."</p> + +<p>She looked her contempt at me, and there never was a face which could +look it plainer.</p> + +<p>"Very good. You can take these medals. I should be glad if you would +begin at this end. I suppose they will all be the same value when melted +down, but these are the ones which are the rarest, and therefore, the +most precious to him. It is not necessary to break the locks. If you +press that brass knob you will find that there is a secret spring. So! +Take that small one first—it is the very apple of his eye."</p> + +<p>She had opened one of the cases, and the beautiful things all lay +exposed before me. I had my hand upon the one which she had pointed out, +when suddenly a change came over her face, and she held up one finger as +a warning. "Hist!" she whispered. "What is that?"</p> + +<p>Far away in the silence of the house we heard a low, dragging, shuffling +sound, and the distant tread of feet. She closed and fastened the case +in an instant.</p> + +<p>"It's my husband!" she whispered. "All right. Don't be alarmed. I'll +arrange it. Here! Quick, behind the tapestry!"</p> + +<p>She pushed me behind the painted curtains upon the wall, my empty +leather bag still in my hand. Then she took her taper and walked quickly +into the room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> from which we had come. From where I stood I could see +her through the open door.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Robert?" she cried.</p> + +<p>The light of a candle shone through the door of the museum, and the +shuffling steps came nearer. Then I saw a face in the doorway, a great, +heavy face, all lines and creases, with a huge curving nose, and a pair +of gold glasses fixed across it. He had to throw his head back to see +through the glasses, and that great nose thrust out in front of him like +the beak of some sort of fowl. He was a big man, very tall and burly, so +that in his loose dressing-gown his figure seemed to fill up the whole +doorway. He had a pile of grey, curling hair all round his head, but his +face was clean-shaven. His mouth was thin and small and prim, hidden +away under his long, masterful nose. He stood there, holding the candle +in front of him, and looking at his wife with a queer, malicious gleam +in his eyes. It only needed that one look to tell me that he was as fond +of her as she was of him.</p> + +<p>"How's this?" he asked. "Some new tantrum? What do you mean by wandering +about the house? Why don't you go to bed?"</p> + +<p>"I could not sleep," she answered. She spoke languidly and wearily. If +she was an actress once, she had not forgotten her calling.</p> + +<p>"Might I suggest," said he, in the same mocking kind of voice, "that a +good conscience is an excellent aid to sleep?"</p> + +<p>"That cannot be true," she answered, "for you sleep very well."</p> + +<p>"I have only one thing in my life to be ashamed of," said he, and his +hair bristled up with anger until he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> looked like an old cockatoo. "You +know best what that is. It is a mistake which has brought its own +punishment with it."</p> + +<p>"To me as well as to you. Remember that!"</p> + +<p>"You have very little to whine about. It was I who stooped and you who +rose."</p> + +<p>"Rose!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, rose. I suppose you do not deny that it is a promotion to exchange +the music-hall for Mannering Hall. Fool that I was ever to take you out +of your true sphere!"</p> + +<p>"If you think so, why do you not separate?"</p> + +<p>"Because private misery is better than public humiliation. Because it is +easier to suffer for a mistake than to own to it. Because also I like to +keep you in my sight, and to know that you cannot go back to him."</p> + +<p>"You villain! You cowardly villain!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, my lady. I know your secret ambition, but it shall never be +while I live, and if it happens after my death I will at least take care +that you go to him as a beggar. You and dear Edward will never have the +satisfaction of squandering my savings, and you may make up your mind to +that, my lady. Why are those shutters and the window open?"</p> + +<p>"I found the night very close."</p> + +<p>"It is not safe. How do you know that some tramp may not be outside? Are +you aware that my collection of medals is worth more than any similar +collection in the world? You have left the door open also. What is there +to prevent any one from rifling the cases?"</p> + +<p>"I was here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know you were. I heard you moving about in the medal room, and that +was why I came down. What were you doing?"</p> + +<p>"Looking at the medals. What else should I be doing?"</p> + +<p>"This curiosity is something new." He looked suspiciously at her and +moved on towards the inner room, she walking beside him.</p> + +<p>It was at this moment that I saw something which startled. I had laid my +clasp-knife open upon the top of one of the cases, and there it lay in +full view. She saw it before he did, and with a woman's cunning she held +her taper out so that the light of it came between Lord Mannering's eyes +and the knife. Then she took it with her left hand and held it against +her gown out of his sight. He looked about from case to case—I could +have put my hand at one time upon his long nose—but there was nothing +to show that the medals had been tampered with, and so, still snarling +and grumbling, he shuffled off into the other room once more.</p> + +<p>And now I have to speak of what I heard rather than of what I saw, but I +swear to you, as I shall stand some day before my Maker, that what I say +is the truth.</p> + +<p>When they passed into the outer room I saw him lay his candle upon the +corner of one of the tables, and he sat himself down, but in such a +position that he was just out of my sight. She moved behind him, as I +could tell from the fact that the light of her taper threw his long, +lumpy shadow upon the floor in front of him. Then he began talking about +this man whom he called Edward, and every word that he said was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> like a +blistering drop of vitriol. He spoke low, so that I could not hear it +all, but from what I heard I should guess that she would as soon have +been lashed with a whip. At first she said some hot words in reply, but +then she was silent, and he went on and on in that cold, mocking voice +of his, nagging and insulting and tormenting, until I wondered that she +could bear to stand there in silence and listen to it. Then suddenly I +heard him say in a sharp voice, "Come from behind me! Leave go of my +collar! What! would you dare to strike me?" There was a sound like a +blow, just a soft sort of thud, and then I heard him cry out, "My God, +it's blood!" He shuffled with his feet as if he was getting up, and then +I heard another blow, and he cried out, "Oh, you she-devil!" and was +quiet, except for a dripping and splashing upon the floor.</p> + +<p>I ran out from behind my curtain at that, and rushed into the other +room, shaking all over with the horror of it. The old man had slipped +down in the chair, and his dressing-gown had rucked up until he looked +as if he had a monstrous hump to his back. His head, with the gold +glasses still fixed on his nose, was lolling over upon one side, and his +little mouth was open just like a dead fish. I could not see where the +blood was coming from, but I could still hear it drumming upon the +floor. She stood behind him with the candle shining full upon her face. +Her lips were pressed together and her eyes shining, and a touch of +colour had come into each of her cheeks. It just wanted that to make her +the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.</p> + +<p>"You've done it now!" said I.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said she, in her quiet way, "I've done it now."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" I asked. "They'll have you for murder as +sure as fate."</p> + +<p>"Never fear about me. I have nothing to live for, and it does not +matter. Give me a hand to set him straight in the chair. It is horrible +to see him like this!"</p> + +<p>I did so, though it turned me cold all over to touch him. Some of his +blood came on my hand and sickened me.</p> + +<p>"Now," said she, "you may as well have the medals as any one else. Take +them and go."</p> + +<p>"I don't want them. I only want to get away. I was never mixed up with a +business like this before."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said she. "You came for the medals, and here they are at +your mercy. Why should you not have them? There is no one to prevent +you."</p> + +<p>I held the bag still in my hand. She opened the case, and between us we +threw a hundred or so of the medals into it. They were all from the one +case, but I could not bring myself to wait for any more. Then I made for +the window, for the very air of this house seemed to poison me after +what I had seen and heard. As I looked back, I saw her standing there, +tall and graceful, with the light in her hand just as I had seen her +first. She waved good-bye, and I waved back at her and sprang out into +the gravel drive.</p> + +<p>I thank God that I can lay my hand upon my heart and say that I have +never done a murder, but perhaps it would be different if I had been +able to read that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> woman's mind and thoughts. There might have been two +bodies in the room instead of one if I could have seen behind that last +smile of hers. But I thought of nothing but of getting safely away, and +it never entered my head how she might be fixing the rope round my neck. +I had not taken five steps out from the window skirting down the shadow +of the house in the way that I had come, when I heard a scream that +might have raised the parish, and then another and another.</p> + +<p>"Murder!" she cried. "Murder! Murder! Help!" and her voice rang out in +the quiet of the night-time and sounded over the whole country-side. It +went through my head, that dreadful cry. In an instant lights began to +move and windows to fly up, not only in the house behind me, but at the +lodge and in the stables in front. Like a frightened rabbit I bolted +down the drive, but I heard the clang of the gate being shut before I +could reach it. Then I hid my bag of medals under some dry fagots, and I +tried to get away across the park, but some one saw me in the moonlight, +and presently I had half a dozen of them with dogs upon my heels. I +crouched down among the brambles, but those dogs were too many for me, +and I was glad enough when the men came up and prevented me from being +torn into pieces. They seized me, and dragged me back to the room from +which I had come.</p> + +<p>"Is this the man, your Ladyship?" asked the oldest of them—the same +whom I found out afterwards to be the butler.</p> + +<p>She had been bending over the body, with her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> handkerchief to her eyes, +and now she turned upon me with the face of a fury. Oh, what an actress +that woman was!</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, it is the very man," she cried. "Oh, you villain, you cruel +villain, to treat an old man so!"</p> + +<p>There was a man there who seemed to be a village constable. He laid his +hand upon my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"What do you say to that?" said he.</p> + +<p>"It was she who did it," I cried, pointing at the woman, whose eyes +never flinched before mine.</p> + +<p>"Come! come! Try another!" said the constable, and one of the +men-servants struck at me with his fist.</p> + +<p>"I tell you that I saw her do it. She stabbed him twice with a knife. +She first helped me to rob him, and then she murdered him."</p> + +<p>The footman tried to strike me again, but she held up her hand.</p> + +<p>"Do not hurt him," said she. "I think that his punishment may safely be +left to the law."</p> + +<p>"I'll see to that, your Ladyship," said the constable. "Your Ladyship +actually saw the crime committed, did you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, I saw it with my own eyes. It was horrible. We heard the +noise and we came down. My poor husband was in front. The man had one of +the cases open, and was filling a black leather bag which he held in his +hand. He rushed past us, and my husband seized him. There was a +struggle, and he stabbed him twice. There you can see the blood upon his +hands. If I am not mistaken, his knife is still in Lord Mannering's +body."</p> + +<p>"Look at the blood upon her hands!" I cried.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She has been holding up his Lordship's head, you lying rascal," said +the butler.</p> + +<p>"And here's the very sack her Ladyship spoke of," said the constable, as +a groom came in with the one which I had dropped in my flight. "And here +are the medals inside it. That's good enough for me. We will keep him +safe here to-night, and to-morrow the inspector and I can take him into +Salisbury."</p> + +<p>"Poor creature," said the woman. "For my own part, I forgive him any +injury which he has done me. Who knows what temptation may have driven +him to crime? His conscience and the law will give him punishment enough +without any reproach of mine rendering it more bitter."</p> + +<p>I could not answer—I tell you, sir, I could not answer, so taken aback +was I by the assurance of the woman. And so, seeming by my silence to +agree to all that she had said, I was dragged away by the butler and the +constable into the cellar, in which they locked me for the night.</p> + +<p>There, sir, I have told you the whole story of the events which led up +to the murder of Lord Mannering by his wife upon the night of September +the 14th, in the year 1894. Perhaps you will put my statement on one +side as the constable did at Mannering Towers, or the judge afterwards +at the county assizes. Or perhaps you will see that there is the ring of +truth in what I say, and you will follow it up, and so make your name +for ever as a man who does not grudge personal trouble where justice is +to be done. I have only you to look to, sir, and if you will clear my +name of this false accusation, then I will worship you as one man never +yet worshipped another. But if you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> fail me, then I give you my solemn +promise that I will rope myself up, this day month, to the bar of my +window, and from that time on I will come to plague you in your dreams +if ever yet one man was able to come back and to haunt another. What I +ask you to do is very simple. Make inquiries about this woman, watch +her, learn her past history, find out what she is making of the money +which has come to her, and whether there is not a man Edward as I have +stated. If from all this you learn anything which shows you her real +character, or which seems to you to corroborate the story which I have +told you, then I am sure that I can rely upon your goodness of heart to +come to the rescue of an innocent man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT</h3> + + +<p>Of all the sciences which have puzzled the sons of men, none had such an +attraction for the learned Professor von Baumgarten as those which +relate to psychology and the ill-defined relations between mind and +matter. A celebrated anatomist, a profound chemist, and one of the first +physiologists in Europe, it was a relief for him to turn from these +subjects and to bring his varied knowledge to bear upon the study of the +soul and the mysterious relationship of spirits. At first, when as a +young man he began to dip into the secrets of mesmerism, his mind seemed +to be wandering in a strange land where all was chaos and darkness, save +that here and there some great unexplainable and disconnected fact +loomed out in front of him. As the years passed, however, and as the +worthy Professor's stock of knowledge increased, for knowledge begets +knowledge as money bears interest, much which had seemed strange and +unaccountable began to take another shape in his eyes. New trains of +reasoning became familiar to him, and he perceived connecting links +where all had been incomprehensible and startling. By experiments which +extended over twenty years, he obtained a basis of facts upon which it +was his ambition to build up a new exact science which should embrace +mesmerism, spiritualism, and all cognate subjects. In this he was much +helped by his intimate knowledge of the more intricate parts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> of animal +physiology which treat of nerve currents and the working of the brain; +for Alexis von Baumgarten was Regius Professor of Physiology at the +University of Keinplatz, and had all the resources of the laboratory to +aid him in his profound researches.</p> + +<p>Professor von Baumgarten was tall and thin, with a hatchet face and +steel-grey eyes, which were singularly bright and penetrating. Much +thought had furrowed his forehead and contracted his heavy eyebrows, so +that he appeared to wear a perpetual frown, which often misled people as +to his character, for though austere he was tender-hearted. He was +popular among the students, who would gather round him after his +lectures and listen eagerly to his strange theories. Often he would call +for volunteers from amongst them in order to conduct some experiment, so +that eventually there was hardly a lad in the class who had not, at one +time or another, been thrown into a mesmeric trance by his Professor.</p> + +<p>Of all these young devotees of science there was none who equalled in +enthusiasm Fritz von Hartmann. It had often seemed strange to his +fellow-students that wild, reckless Fritz, as dashing a young fellow as +ever hailed from the Rhinelands, should devote the time and trouble +which he did in reading up abstruse works and in assisting the Professor +in his strange experiments. The fact was, however, that Fritz was a +knowing and long-headed fellow. Months before he had lost his heart to +young Elise, the blue-eyed, yellow-haired daughter of the lecturer. +Although he had succeeded in learning from her lips that she was not +indifferent to his suit, he had never dared to announce himself to her +family as a formal suitor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> Hence he would have found it a difficult +matter to see his young lady had he not adopted the expedient of making +himself useful to the Professor. By this means he frequently was asked +to the old man's house, where he willingly submitted to be experimented +upon in any way as long as there was a chance of his receiving one +bright glance from the eyes of Elise or one touch of her little hand.</p> + +<p>Young Fritz von Hartmann was a handsome lad enough. There were broad +acres, too, which would descend to him when his father died. To many he +would have seemed an eligible suitor; but Madame frowned upon his +presence in the house, and lectured the Professor at times on his +allowing such a wolf to prowl around their lamb. To tell the truth, +Fritz had an evil name in Keinplatz. Never was there a riot or a duel, +or any other mischief afoot, but the young Rhinelander figured as a +ringleader in it. No one used more free and violent language, no one +drank more, no one played cards more habitually, no one was more idle, +save in the one solitary subject. No wonder, then, that the good Frau +Professorin gathered her Fräulein under her wing, and resented the +attentions of such a <i>mauvais sujet</i>. As to the worthy lecturer, he was +too much engrossed by his strange studies to form an opinion upon the +subject one way or the other.</p> + +<p>For many years there was one question which had continually obtruded +itself upon his thoughts. All his experiments and his theories turned +upon a single point. A hundred times a day the Professor asked himself +whether it was possible for the human spirit to exist apart from the +body for a time and then to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> return to it once again. When the +possibility first suggested itself to him his scientific mind had +revolted from it. It clashed too violently with preconceived ideas and +the prejudices of his early training. Gradually, however, as he +proceeded farther and farther along the pathway of original research, +his mind shook off its old fetters and became ready to face any +conclusion which could reconcile the facts. There were many things which +made him believe that it was possible for mind to exist apart from +matter. At last it occurred to him that by a daring and original +experiment the question might be definitely decided.</p> + +<p>"It is evident," he remarked in his celebrated article upon invisible +entities, which appeared in the <i>Keinplatz wochentliche Medicalschrift</i> +about this time, and which surprised the whole scientific world—"it is +evident that under certain conditions the soul or mind does separate +itself from the body. In the case of a mesmerised person, the body lies +in a cataleptic condition, but the spirit has left it. Perhaps you reply +that the soul is there, but in a dormant condition. I answer that this +is not so, otherwise how can one account for the condition of +clairvoyance, which has fallen into disrepute through the knavery of +certain scoundrels, but which can easily be shown to be an undoubted +fact. I have been able myself, with a sensitive subject, to obtain an +accurate description of what was going on in another room or another +house. How can such knowledge be accounted for on any hypothesis save +that the soul of the subject has left the body and is wandering through +space? For a moment it is recalled by the voice of the operator and says +what it has seen, and then wings its way once more through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> the air. +Since the spirit is by its very nature invisible, we cannot see these +comings and goings, but we see their effect in the body of the subject, +now rigid and inert, now struggling to narrate impressions which could +never have come to it by natural means. There is only one way which I +can see by which the fact can be demonstrated. Although we in the flesh +are unable to see these spirits, yet our own spirits, could we separate +them from the body, would be conscious of the presence of others. It is +my intention, therefore, shortly to mesmerise one of my pupils. I shall +then mesmerise myself in a manner which has become easy to me. After +that, if my theory holds good, my spirit will have no difficulty in +meeting and communing with the spirit of my pupil, both being separated +from the body. I hope to be able to communicate the result of this +interesting experiment in an early number of the <i>Keinplatz wochenliche +Medicalschrift</i>."</p> + +<p>When the good Professor finally fulfilled his promise, and published an +account of what occurred, the narrative was so extraordinary that it was +received with general incredulity. The tone of some of the papers was so +offensive in their comments upon the matter that the angry savant +declared that he would never open his mouth again, or refer to the +subject in any way—a promise which he has faithfully kept. This +narrative has been compiled, however, from the most authentic sources, +and the events cited in it may be relied upon as substantially correct.</p> + +<p>It happened, then, that shortly after the time when Professor von +Baumgarten conceived the idea of the above-mentioned experiment, he was +walking thoughtfully homewards after a long day in the laboratory,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> when +he met a crowd of roystering students who had just streamed out from a +beer-house. At the head of them, half-intoxicated and very noisy, was +young Fritz von Hartmann. The Professor would have passed them, but his +pupil ran across and intercepted him.</p> + +<p>"Heh! my worthy master," he said, taking the old man by the sleeve, and +leading him down the road with him. "There is something that I have to +say to you, and it is easier for me to say it now, when the good beer is +humming in my head, than at another time."</p> + +<p>"What is it, then, Fritz?" the physiologist asked, looking at him in +mild surprise.</p> + +<p>"I hear, mein Herr, that you are about to do some wondrous experiment in +which you hope to take a man's soul out of his body, and then to put it +back again. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"It is true, Fritz."</p> + +<p>"And have you considered, my dear sir, that you may have some difficulty +in finding some one on whom to try this? Potztausend! Suppose that the +soul went out and would not come back. That would be a bad business. Who +is to take the risk?"</p> + +<p>"But, Fritz," the Professor cried, very much startled by this view of +the matter, "I had relied upon your assistance in the attempt. Surely +you will not desert me. Consider the honour and glory."</p> + +<p>"Consider the fiddlesticks!" the student cried angrily. "Am I to be paid +always thus? Did I not stand two hours upon a glass insulator while you +poured electricity into my body? Have you not stimulated my phrenic +nerves, besides ruining my digestion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> with a galvanic current round my +stomach? Four-and-thirty times you have mesmerised me, and what have I +got from all this? Nothing. And now you wish to take my soul out, as you +would take the works from a watch. It is more than flesh and blood can +stand."</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear!" the Professor cried in great distress. "That is very true, +Fritz. I never thought of it before. If you can but suggest how I can +compensate you, you will find me ready and willing."</p> + +<p>"Then listen," said Fritz solemnly. "If you will pledge your word that +after this experiment I may have the hand of your daughter, then I am +willing to assist you; but if not, I shall have nothing to do with it. +These are my only terms."</p> + +<p>"And what would my daughter say to this?" the Professor exclaimed, after +a pause of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Elise would welcome it," the young man replied. "We have loved each +other long."</p> + +<p>"Then she shall be yours," the physiologist said with decision, "for you +are a good-hearted young man, and one of the best neurotic subjects that +I have ever known—that is when you are not under the influence of +alcohol. My experiment is to be performed upon the fourth of next month. +You will attend at the physiological laboratory at twelve o'clock. It +will be a great occasion, Fritz. Von Gruben is coming from Jena, and +Hinterstein from Basle. The chief men of science of all South Germany +will be there."</p> + +<p>"I shall be punctual," the student said briefly; and so the two parted. +The Professor plodded homeward, thinking of the great coming event, +while the young man staggered along after his noisy companions, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +his mind full of the blue-eyed Elise, and of the bargain which he had +concluded with her father.</p> + +<p>The Professor did not exaggerate when he spoke of the widespread +interest excited by his novel psychological experiment. Long before the +hour had arrived the room was filled by a galaxy of talent. Besides the +celebrities whom he had mentioned, there had come from London the great +Professor Lurcher, who had just established his reputation by a +remarkable treatise upon cerebral centres. Several great lights of the +Spiritualistic body had also come a long distance to be present, as had +a Swedenborgian minister, who considered that the proceedings might +throw some light upon the doctrines of the Rosy Cross.</p> + +<p>There was considerable applause from this eminent assembly upon the +appearance of Professor von Baumgarten and his subject upon the +platform. The lecturer, in a few well-chosen words, explained what his +views were, and how he proposed to test them. "I hold," he said, "that +when a person is under the influence of mesmerism, his spirit is for the +time released from his body, and I challenge any one to put forward any +other hypothesis which will account for the fact of clairvoyance. I +therefore hope that upon mesmerising my young friend here, and then +putting myself into a trance, our spirits may be able to commune +together, though our bodies lie still and inert. After a time nature +will resume her sway, our spirits will return into our respective +bodies, and all will be as before. With your kind permission, we shall +now proceed to attempt the experiment."</p> + +<p>The applause was renewed at this speech, and the audience settled down +in expectant silence. With a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> few rapid passes the Professor mesmerised +the young man, who sank back in his chair, pale and rigid. He then took +a bright globe of glass from his pocket, and by concentrating his gaze +upon it and making a strong mental effort, he succeeded in throwing +himself into the same condition. It was a strange and impressive sight +to see the old man and the young sitting together in the same cataleptic +condition. Whither, then, had their souls fled? That was the question +which presented itself to each and every one of the spectators.</p> + +<p>Five minutes passed, and then ten, and then fifteen, and then fifteen +more, while the Professor and his pupil sat stiff and stark upon the +platform. During that time not a sound was heard from the assembled +savants, but every eye was bent upon the two pale faces, in search of +the first signs of returning consciousness. Nearly an hour had elapsed +before the patient watchers were rewarded. A faint flush came back to +the cheeks of Professor von Baumgarten. The soul was coming back once +more to its earthly tenement. Suddenly he stretched out his long thin +arms, as one awaking from sleep, and rubbing his eyes, stood up from his +chair and gazed about him as though he hardly realised where he was. +"Tausend Teufel!" he exclaimed, rapping out a tremendous South German +oath, to the great astonishment of his audience and to the disgust of +the Swedenborgian. "Where the Henker am I then, and what in thunder has +occurred? Oh yes, I remember now. One of these nonsensical mesmeric +experiments. There is no result this time, for I remember nothing at all +since I became unconscious; so you have had all your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> long journeys for +nothing, my learned friends, and a very good joke too"; at which the +Regius Professor of Physiology burst into a roar of laughter and slapped +his thigh in a highly indecorous fashion. The audience were so enraged +at this unseemly behaviour on the part of their host, that there might +have been a considerable disturbance, had it not been for the judicious +interference of young Fritz von Hartmann, who had now recovered from his +lethargy. Stepping to the front of the platform, the young man +apologised for the conduct of his companion. "I am sorry to say," he +said, "that he is a harum-scarum sort of fellow, although he appeared so +grave at the commencement of this experiment. He is still suffering from +mesmeric reaction, and is hardly accountable for his words. As to the +experiment itself, I do not consider it to be a failure. It is very +possible that our spirits may have been communing in space during this +hour; but, unfortunately, our gross bodily memory is distinct from our +spirit, and we cannot recall what has occurred. My energies shall now be +devoted to devising some means by which spirits may be able to recollect +what occurs to them in their free state, and I trust that when I have +worked this out, I may have the pleasure of meeting you all once again +in this hall, and demonstrating to you the result." This address, coming +from so young a student, caused considerable astonishment among the +audience, and some were inclined to be offended, thinking that he +assumed rather too much importance. The majority, however, looked upon +him as a young man of great promise, and many comparisons were made as +they left the hall between his dignified conduct and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> levity of his +professor, who during the above remarks was laughing heartily in a +corner, by no means abashed at the failure of the experiment.</p> + +<p>Now although all these learned men were filing out of the lecture-room +under the impression that they had seen nothing of note, as a matter of +fact one of the most wonderful things in the whole history of the world +had just occurred before their very eyes. Professor von Baumgarten had +been so far correct in his theory that both his spirit and that of his +pupil had been for a time absent from the body. But here a strange and +unforeseen complication had occurred. In their return the spirit of +Fritz von Hartmann had entered into the body of Alexis von Baumgarten, +and that of Alexis von Baumgarten had taken up its abode in the frame of +Fritz von Hartmann. Hence the slang and scurrility which issued from the +lips of the serious Professor, and hence also the weighty words and +grave statements which fell from the careless student. It was an +unprecedented event, yet no one knew of it, least of all those whom it +concerned.</p> + +<p>The body of the Professor, feeling conscious suddenly of a great dryness +about the back of the throat, sallied out into the street, still +chuckling to himself over the result of the experiment, for the soul of +Fritz within was reckless at the thought of the bride whom he had won so +easily. His first impulse was to go up to the house and see her, but on +second thought he came to the conclusion that it would be best to stay +away until Madame Baumgarten should be informed by her husband of the +agreement which had been made. He therefore made his way down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> to the +Grüner Mann, which was one of the favourite trysting-places of the +wilder students, and ran, boisterously waving his cane in the air, into +the little parlour, where sat Spiegle and Müller and half a dozen other +boon companions.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! my boys," he shouted. "I knew I should find you here. Drink up, +every one of you, and call for what you like, for I'm going to stand +treat to-day."</p> + +<p>Had the green man who is depicted upon the signpost of that well-known +inn suddenly marched into the room and called for a bottle of wine, the +students could not have been more amazed than they were by this +unexpected entry of their revered professor. They were so astonished +that for a minute or two they glared at him in utter bewilderment +without being able to make any reply to his hearty invitation.</p> + +<p>"Donner und Blitzen!" shouted the Professor angrily. "What the deuce is +the matter with you, then? You sit there like a set of stuck pigs +staring at me. What is it then?"</p> + +<p>"It is the unexpected honour," stammered Spiegel, who was in the chair.</p> + +<p>"Honour—rubbish!" said the Professor testily. "Do you think that just +because I happen to have been exhibiting mesmerism to a parcel of old +fossils, I am therefore too proud to associate with dear old friends +like you? Come out of that chair, Spiegel, my boy, for I shall preside +now. Beer, or wine, or schnapps, my lads—call for what you like, and +put it all down to me."</p> + +<p>Never was there such an afternoon in the Grüner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> Mann. The foaming +flagons of lager and the green-necked bottles of Rhenish circulated +merrily. By degrees the students lost their shyness in the presence of +their Professor. As for him, he shouted, he sang, he roared, he balanced +a long tobacco-pipe upon his nose, and offered to run a hundred yards +against any member of the company. The Kellner and the barmaid whispered +to each other outside the door their astonishment at such proceedings on +the part of a Regius Professor of the ancient university of Keinplatz. +They had still more to whisper about afterwards, for the learned man +cracked the Kellner's crown, and kissed the barmaid behind the kitchen +door.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said the Professor, standing up, albeit somewhat +totteringly, at the end of the table, and balancing his high +old-fashioned wine glass in his bony hand, "I must now explain to you +what is the cause of this festivity."</p> + +<p>"Hear! hear!" roared the students, hammering their beer glasses against +the table; "a speech, a speech!—silence for a speech!"</p> + +<p>"The fact is, my friends," said the Professor, beaming through his +spectacles, "I hope very soon to be married."</p> + +<p>"Married!" cried a student, bolder than the others. "Is Madame dead, +then?"</p> + +<p>"Madame who?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Madame von Baumgarten, of course."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha!" laughed the Professor; "I can see, then, that you know all +about my former difficulties. No, she is not dead, but I have reason to +believe that she will not oppose my marriage."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That is very accommodating of her," remarked one of the company.</p> + +<p>"In fact," said the Professor, "I hope that she will now be induced to +aid me in getting a wife. She and I never took to each other very much; +but now I hope all that may be ended, and when I marry she will come and +stay with me."</p> + +<p>"What a happy family!" exclaimed some wag.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed; and I hope you will come to my wedding, all of you. I +won't mention names, but here is to my little bride!" and the Professor +waved his glass in the air.</p> + +<p>"Here's to his little bride!" roared the roysterers, with shouts of +laughter. "Here's her health. Sie soll leben—Hoch!" And so the fun +waxed still more fast and furious, while each young fellow followed the +Professor's example, and drank a toast to the girl of his heart.</p> + +<p>While all this festivity had been going on at the Grüner Mann, a very +different scene had been enacted elsewhere. Young Fritz von Hartmann, +with a solemn face and a reserved manner, had, after the experiment, +consulted and adjusted some mathematical instruments; after which, with +a few peremptory words to the janitor, he had walked out into the street +and wended his way slowly in the direction of the house of the +Professor. As he walked he saw Von Althaus, the professor of anatomy, in +front of him, and quickening his pace he overtook him.</p> + +<p>"I say, Von Althaus," he exclaimed, tapping him on the sleeve, "you were +asking me for some information the other day concerning the middle coat +of the cerebral arteries. Now I find——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Donnerwetter!" shouted Von Althaus, who was a peppery old fellow. "What +the deuce do you mean by your impertinence! I'll have you up before the +Academical Senate for this, sir"; with which threat he turned on his +heel and hurried away. Von Hartmann was much surprised at this +reception. "It's on account of this failure of my experiment," he said +to himself, and continued moodily on his way.</p> + +<p>Fresh surprises were in store for him, however. He was hurrying along +when he was overtaken by two students. These youths, instead of raising +their caps or showing any other sign of respect, gave a wild whoop of +delight the instant that they saw him, and rushing at him, seized him by +each arm and commenced dragging him along with them.</p> + +<p>"Gott in Himmel!" roared Von Hartmann. "What is the meaning of this +unparalleled insult? Where are you taking me?"</p> + +<p>"To crack a bottle of wine with us," said the two students. "Come along! +That is an invitation which you have never refused."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of such insolence in my life!" cried Von Hartmann. "Let +go my arms! I shall certainly have you rusticated for this. Let me go, I +say!" and he kicked furiously at his captors.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you choose to turn ill-tempered, you may go where you like," the +students said, releasing him. "We can do very well without you."</p> + +<p>"I know you. I'll pay you out," said Von Hartmann furiously, and +continued in the direction which he imagined to be his own home, much +incensed at the two episodes which had occurred to him on the way.</p> + +<p>Now, Madame von Baumgarten, who was looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> out of the window and +wondering why her husband was late for dinner, was considerably +astonished to see the young student come stalking down the road. As +already remarked, she had a great antipathy to him, and if ever he +ventured into the house it was on sufferance, and under the protection +of the Professor. Still more astonished was she, therefore, when she +beheld him undo the wicket-gate and stride up the garden path with the +air of one who is master of the situation. She could hardly believe her +eyes, and hastened to the door with all her maternal instincts up in +arms. From the upper windows the fair Elise had also observed this +daring move upon the part of her lover, and her heart beat quick with +mingled pride and consternation.</p> + +<p>"Good day, sir," Madame von Baumgarten remarked to the intruder, as she +stood in gloomy majesty in the open doorway.</p> + +<p>"A very fine day indeed, Martha," returned the other. "Now, don't stand +there like a statue of Juno, but bustle about and get the dinner ready, +for I am well-nigh starved."</p> + +<p>"Martha! Dinner!" ejaculated the lady, falling back in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dinner, Martha, dinner!" howled Von Hartmann, who was becoming +irritable. "Is there anything wonderful in that request when a man has +been out all day? I'll wait in the dining-room. Anything will do. +Schinken, and sausage, and prunes—any little thing that happens to be +about. There you are, standing staring again. Woman, will you or will +you not stir your legs?"</p> + +<p>This last address, delivered with a perfect shriek of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> rage, had the +effect of sending good Madame von Baumgarten flying along the passage +and through the kitchen, where she locked herself up in the scullery and +went into violent hysterics. In the meantime Von Hartmann strode into +the room and threw himself down upon the sofa in the worst of tempers.</p> + +<p>"Elise!" he shouted. "Confound the girl! Elise!"</p> + +<p>Thus roughly summoned, the young lady came timidly downstairs and into +the presence of her lover. "Dearest!" she cried, throwing her arms round +him, "I know this is all done for my sake. It is a <i>ruse</i> in order to +see me."</p> + +<p>Von Hartmann's indignation at this fresh attack upon him was so great +that he became speechless for a minute from rage, and could only glare +and shake his fists, while he struggled in her embrace. When he at last +regained his utterance, he indulged in such a bellow of passion that the +young lady dropped back, petrified with fear, into an arm-chair.</p> + +<p>"Never have I passed such a day in my life," Von Hartmann cried, +stamping upon the floor. "My experiment has failed. Von Althaus has +insulted me. Two students have dragged me along the public road. My wife +nearly faints when I ask her for dinner, and my daughter flies at me and +hugs me like a grizzly bear."</p> + +<p>"You are ill, dear," the young lady cried. "Your mind is wandering. You +have not even kissed me once."</p> + +<p>"No, and I don't intend to either," Von Hartmann said with decision. +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Why don't you go and fetch my +slippers, and help your mother to dish the dinner?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And is it for this," Elise cried, burying her face in her +handkerchief—"is it for this that I have loved you passionately for +upwards of ten months? Is it for this that I have braved my mother's +wrath? Oh, you have broken my heart; I am sure you have!" and she sobbed +hysterically.</p> + +<p>"I can't stand much more of this," roared Von Hartmann furiously. "What +the deuce does the girl mean? What did I do ten months ago which +inspired you with such a particular affection for me? If you are really +so very fond, you would do better to run away down and find the Schinken +and some bread, instead of talking all this nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my darling!" cried the unhappy maiden, throwing herself into the +arms of what she imagined to be her lover, "you do but joke in order to +frighten your little Elise."</p> + +<p>Now it chanced that at the moment of this unexpected embrace Von +Hartmann was still leaning back against the end of the sofa, which, like +much German furniture, was in a somewhat rickety condition. It also +chanced that beneath this end of the sofa there stood a tank full of +water in which the physiologist was conducting certain experiments upon +the ova of fish, and which he kept in his drawing-room in order to +ensure an equable temperature. The additional weight of the maiden, +combined with the impetus with which she hurled herself upon him, caused +the precarious piece of furniture to give way, and the body of the +unfortunate student was hurled backwards into the tank, in which his +head and shoulders were firmly wedged, while his lower extremities +flapped helplessly about in the air. This was the last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> straw. +Extricating himself with some difficulty from his unpleasant position, +Von Hartmann gave an inarticulate yell of fury, and dashing out of the +room, in spite of the entreaties of Elise, he seized his hat and rushed +off into the town, all dripping and dishevelled, with the intention of +seeking in some inn the food and comfort which he could not find at +home.</p> + +<p>As the spirit of Von Baumgarten encased in the body of Von Hartmann +strode down the winding pathway which led down to the little town, +brooding angrily over his many wrongs, he became aware that an elderly +man was approaching him who appeared to be in an advanced state of +intoxication. Von Hartmann waited by the side of the road and watched +this individual, who came stumbling along, reeling from one side of the +road to the other, and singing a student song in a very husky and +drunken voice. At first his interest was merely excited by the fact of +seeing a man of so venerable an appearance in such a disgraceful +condition, but as he approached nearer, he became convinced that he knew +the other well, though he could not recall when or where he had met him. +This impression became so strong with him, that when the stranger came +abreast of him he stepped in front of him and took a good look at his +features.</p> + +<p>"Well, sonny," said the drunken man, surveying Von Hartmann and swaying +about in front of him, "where the Henker have I seen you before? I know +you as well as I know myself. Who the deuce are you?"</p> + +<p>"I am Professor von Baumgarten," said the student. "May I ask who you +are? I am strangely familiar with your features."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You should never tell lies, young man," said the other. "You're +certainly not the Professor, for he is an ugly snuffy old chap, and you +are a big broad-shouldered young fellow. As to myself, I am Fritz von +Hartmann at your service."</p> + +<p>"That you certainly are not," exclaimed the body of Von Hartmann. "You +might very well be his father. But hullo, sir, are you aware that you +are wearing my studs and my watch-chain?"</p> + +<p>"Donnerwetter!" hiccoughed the other. "If those are not the trousers for +which my tailor is about to sue me, may I never taste beer again."</p> + +<p>Now as Von Hartmann, overwhelmed by the many strange things which had +occurred to him that day, passed his hand over his forehead and cast his +eyes downwards, he chanced to catch the reflection of his own face in a +pool which the rain had left upon the road. To his utter astonishment he +perceived that his face was that of a youth, that his dress was that of +a fashionable young student, and that in every way he was the antithesis +of the grave and scholarly figure in which his mind was wont to dwell. +In an instant his active brain ran over the series of events which had +occurred and sprang to the conclusion. He fairly reeled under the blow.</p> + +<p>"Himmel!" he cried, "I see it all. Our souls are in the wrong bodies. I +am you and you are I. My theory is proved—but at what an expense! Is +the most scholarly mind in Europe to go about with this frivolous +exterior? Oh the labours of a lifetime are ruined!" and he smote his +breast in his despair.</p> + +<p>"I say," remarked the real Von Hartmann from the body of the Professor, +"I quite see the force of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> your remarks, but don't go knocking my body +about like that. You received it in an excellent condition, but I +perceive that you have wet it and bruised it, and spilled snuff over my +ruffled shirt-front."</p> + +<p>"It matters little," the other said moodily. "Such as we are so must we +stay. My theory is triumphantly proved, but the cost is terrible."</p> + +<p>"If I thought so," said the spirit of the student, "it would be hard +indeed. What could I do with these stiff old limbs, and how could I woo +Elise and persuade her that I was not her father? No, thank Heaven, in +spite of the beer which has upset me more than ever it could upset my +real self, I can see a way out of it."</p> + +<p>"How?" gasped the Professor.</p> + +<p>"Why, by repeating the experiment. Liberate our souls once more, and the +chances are that they will find their way back into their respective +bodies."</p> + +<p>No drowning man could clutch more eagerly at a straw than did Von +Baumgarten's spirit at this suggestion. In feverish haste he dragged his +own frame to the side of the road and threw it into a mesmeric trance; +he then extracted the crystal ball from the pocket, and managed to bring +himself into the same condition.</p> + +<p>Some students and peasants who chanced to pass during the next hour were +much astonished to see the worthy Professor of Physiology and his +favourite student both sitting upon a very muddy bank and both +completely insensible. Before the hour was up quite a crowd had +assembled, and they were discussing the advisability of sending for an +ambulance to convey the pair to hospital, when the learned savant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +opened his eyes and gazed vacantly around him. For an instant he seemed +to forget how he had come there, but next moment he astonished his +audience by waving his skinny arms above his head and crying out in a +voice of rapture, "Gott sei gedanket! I am myself again. I feel I am!" +Nor was the amazement lessened when the student, springing to his feet, +burst into the same cry, and the two performed a sort of <i>pas de joie</i> +in the middle of the road.</p> + +<p>For some time after that people had some suspicion of the sanity of both +the actors in this strange episode. When the Professor published his +experiences in the <i>Medicalschrift</i> as he had promised, he was met by an +intimation, even from his colleagues, that he would do well to have his +mind cared for, and that another such publication would certainly +consign him to a madhouse. The student also found by experience that it +was wisest to be silent about the matter.</p> + +<p>When the worthy lecturer returned home that night he did not receive the +cordial welcome which he might have looked for after his strange +adventures. On the contrary, he was roundly upbraided by both his female +relatives for smelling of drink and tobacco, and also for being absent +while a young scapegrace invaded the house and insulted its occupants. +It was long before the domestic atmosphere of the lecturer's house +resumed its normal quiet, and longer still before the genial face of Von +Hartmann was seen beneath its roof. Perseverance, however, conquers +every obstacle, and the student eventually succeeded in pacifying the +enraged ladies and in establishing himself upon the old footing. He has +now no longer any cause to fear the enmity of Madame, for he is +Haupt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>mann von Hartmann of the Emperor's own Uhlans, and his loving wife +Elise has already presented him with two little Uhlans as a visible sign +and token of her affection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>CYPRIAN OVERBECK WELLS</h3> + +<h3>A LITERARY MOSAIC</h3> + + +<p>From my boyhood I have had an intense and overwhelming conviction that +my real vocation lay in the direction of literature. I have, however, +had a most unaccountable difficulty in getting any responsible person to +share my views. It is true that private friends have sometimes, after +listening to my effusions, gone the length of remarking, "Really, Smith, +that's not half bad!" or, "You take my advice, old boy, and send that to +some magazine!" but I have never on these occasions had the moral +courage to inform my adviser that the article in question had been sent +to well-nigh every publisher in London, and had come back again with a +rapidity and precision which spoke well for the efficiency of our postal +arrangements.</p> + +<p>Had my manuscripts been paper boomerangs they could not have returned +with greater accuracy to their unhappy despatcher. Oh, the vileness and +utter degradation of the moment when the stale little cylinder of +closely written pages, which seemed so fresh and full of promise a few +days ago, is handed in by a remorseless postman! And what moral +depravity shines through the editor's ridiculous plea of "want of +space!" But the subject is a painful one, and a digression from the +plain statement of facts which I originally contemplated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<p>From the age of seventeen to that of three-and-twenty I was a literary +volcano in a constant state of eruption. Poems and tales, articles and +reviews, nothing came amiss to my pen. From the great sea-serpent to +the nebular hypothesis, I was ready to write on anything or everything, +and I can safely say that I seldom handled a subject without throwing +new lights upon it. Poetry and romance, however, had always the greatest +attractions for me. How I have wept over the pathos of my heroines, and +laughed at the comicalities of my buffoons! Alas! I could find no one to +join me in my appreciation, and solitary admiration for one's self, +however genuine, becomes satiating after a time. My father remonstrated +with me too on the score of expense and loss of time, so that I was +finally compelled to relinquish my dreams of literary independence and +to become a clerk in a wholesale mercantile firm connected with the West +African trade.</p> + +<p>Even when condemned to the prosaic duties which fell to my lot in the +office, I continued faithful to my first love. I have introduced pieces +of word-painting into the most commonplace business letters which have, +I am told, considerably astonished the recipients. My refined sarcasm +has made defaulting creditors writhe and wince. Occasionally, like the +great Silas Wegg, I would drop into poetry, and so raise the whole tone +of the correspondence. Thus what could be more elegant than my rendering +of the firm's instructions to the captain of one of their vessels. It +ran in this way:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"From England, Captain, you must steer a</span><br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Course directly to Madeira,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Land the casks of salted beef,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then away to Teneriffe.</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pray be careful, cool, and wary</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With the merchants of Canary.</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When you leave them make the most</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of the trade winds to the coast.</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Down it you shall sail as far</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As the land of Calabar,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And from there you'll onward go</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To Bonny and Fernando Po"——</span><br> +</p> + +<p>and so on for four pages. The captain, instead of treasuring up this +little gem, called at the office next day, and demanded with quite +unnecessary warmth what the thing meant, and I was compelled to +translate it all back into prose. On this, as on other similar +occasions, my employer took me severely to task—for he was, you see, a +man entirely devoid of all pretensions to literary taste!</p> + +<p>All this, however, is a mere preamble, and leads up to the fact that +after ten years or so of drudgery I inherited a legacy which, though +small, was sufficient to satisfy my simple wants. Finding myself +independent, I rented a quiet house removed from the uproar and bustle +of London, and there I settled down with the intention of producing some +great work which should single me out from the family of the Smiths, and +render my name immortal. To this end I laid in several quires of +foolscap, a box of quill pens, and a sixpenny bottle of ink, and having +given my housekeeper injunctions to deny me to all visitors, I proceeded +to look round for a suitable subject.</p> + +<p>I was looking round for some weeks. At the end of that time I found that +I had by constant nibbling devoured a large number of the quills, and +had spread the ink out to such advantage, what with blots, spills, and +abortive commencements, that there appeared to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> be some everywhere +except in the bottle. As to the story itself, however, the facility of +my youth had deserted me completely, and my mind remained a complete +blank; nor could I, do what I would, excite my sterile imagination to +conjure up a single incident or character.</p> + +<p>In this strait I determined to devote my leisure to running rapidly +through the works of the leading English novelists, from Daniel Defoe to +the present day, in the hope of stimulating my latent ideas and of +getting a good grasp of the general tendency of literature. For some +time past I had avoided opening any work of fiction because one of the +greatest faults of my youth had been that I invariably and unconsciously +mimicked the style of the last author whom I had happened to read. Now, +however, I made up my mind to seek safety in a multitude, and by +consulting <i>all</i> the English classics to avoid the danger of imitating +any one too closely. I had just accomplished the task of reading through +the majority of the standard novels at the time when my narrative +commences.</p> + +<p>It was, then, about twenty minutes to ten on the night of the fourth of +June, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, that, after disposing of a pint +of beer and a Welsh rarebit for my supper, I seated myself in my +arm-chair, cocked my feet upon a stool, and lit my pipe, as was my +custom. Both my pulse and my temperature were, as far as I know, normal +at the time. I would give the state of the barometer, but that unlucky +instrument had experienced an unprecedented fall of forty-two +inches—from a nail to the ground—and was not in a reliable condition. +We live<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> in a scientific age, and I flatter myself that I move with the +times.</p> + +<p>Whilst in that comfortable lethargic condition which accompanies both +digestion and poisoning by nicotine, I suddenly became aware of the +extraordinary fact that my little drawing-room had elongated into a +great <i>salon</i>, and that my humble table had increased in proportion. +Round this colossal mahogany were seated a great number of people who +were talking earnestly together, and the surface in front of them was +strewn with books and pamphlets. I could not help observing that these +persons were dressed in a most extraordinary mixture of costumes, for +those at the end nearest to me wore peruke wigs, swords, and all the +fashions of two centuries back; those about the centre had tight +knee-breeches, high cravats, and heavy bunches of seals; while among +those at the far side the majority were dressed in the most modern +style, and among them I saw, to my surprise, several eminent men of +letters whom I had the honour of knowing. There were two or three women +in the company. I should have risen to my feet to greet these unexpected +guests, but all power of motion appeared to have deserted me, and I +could only lie still and listen to their conversation, which I soon +perceived to be all about myself.</p> + +<p>"Egad!" exclaimed a rough, weather-beaten man, who was smoking a long +church-warden pipe at my end of the table, "my heart softens for him. +Why, gossips, we've been in the same straits ourselves. Gadzooks, never +did mother feel more concern for her eldest born than I when Rory Random +went out to make his own way in the world."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Right, Tobias, right!" cried another man, seated at my very elbow. "By +my troth, I lost more flesh over poor Robin on his island, than had I +the sweating sickness twice told. The tale was well-nigh done when in +swaggers my Lord of Rochester—a merry gallant, and one whose word in +matters literary might make or mar. 'How now, Defoe,' quoth he, 'hast a +tale on hand?' 'Even so, your lordship,' I returned. 'A right merry one, +I trust,' quoth he. 'Discourse unto me concerning thy heroine, a comely +lass, Dan, or I mistake.' 'Nay,' I replied, 'there is no heroine in the +matter.' 'Split not your phrases,' quoth he; 'thou weighest every word +like a scald attorney. Speak to me of thy principal female character, be +she heroine or no.' 'My lord,' I answered, 'there is no female +character.' 'Then out upon thyself and thy book too!' he cried. 'Thou +hadst best burn it!'—and so out in great dudgeon, whilst I fell to +mourning over my poor romance, which was thus, as it were, sentenced to +death before its birth. Yet there are a thousand now who have heard of +Robin and his man Friday, to one who has heard of my Lord of Rochester."</p> + +<p>"Very true, Defoe," said a genial-looking man in a red waistcoat, who +was sitting at the modern end of the table. "But all this won't help our +good friend Smith in making a start at his story, which, I believe, was +the reason why we assembled."</p> + +<p>"The Dickens it is!" stammered a little man beside him, and everybody +laughed, especially the genial man, who cried out, "Charley Lamb, +Charley Lamb, you'll never alter. You would make a pun if you were +hanged for it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That would be a case of haltering," returned the other, on which +everybody laughed again.</p> + +<p>By this time I had begun to dimly realise in my confused brain the +enormous honour which had been done me. The greatest masters of fiction +in every age of English letters had apparently made a rendezvous beneath +my roof, in order to assist me in my difficulties. There were many faces +at the table whom I was unable to identify; but when I looked hard at +others I often found them to be very familiar to me, whether from +paintings or from mere description. Thus between the first two speakers, +who had betrayed themselves as Defoe and Smollett, there sat a dark, +saturnine, corpulent old man, with harsh prominent features, who I was +sure could be none other than the famous author of Gulliver. There were +several others of whom I was not so sure, sitting at the other side of +the table, but I conjecture that both Fielding and Richardson were among +them, and I could swear to the lantern-jaws and cadaverous visage of +Lawrence Sterne. Higher up I could see among the crowd the high forehead +of Sir Walter Scott, the masculine features of George Eliot, and the +flattened nose of Thackeray; while amongst the living I recognised James +Payn, Walter Besant, the lady known as "Ouida," Robert Louis Stevenson, +and several of lesser note. Never before, probably, had such an +assemblage of choice spirits gathered under one roof.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Sir Walter Scott, speaking with a very pronounced accent, +"ye ken the auld proverb, sirs, 'Ower mony cooks,' or as the Border +minstrel sang<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Black Johnstone wi' his troopers ten</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Might mak' the heart turn cauld,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But Johnstone when he's a' alane</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Is waur ten thoosand fauld.'</span><br> +</p> + +<p>The Johnstones were one of the Redesdale families, second cousins of the +Armstrongs, and connected by marriage to——"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, Sir Walter," interrupted Thackeray, "you would take the +responsibility off our hands by yourself dictating the commencement of a +story to this young literary aspirant."</p> + +<p>"Na, na!" cried Sir Walter; "I'll do my share, but there's Chairlie over +there as full o' wut as a Radical's full o' treason. He's the laddie to +give a cheery opening to it."</p> + +<p>Dickens was shaking his head, and apparently about to refuse the honour, +when a voice from among the moderns—I could not see who it was for the +crowd—said:</p> + +<p>"Suppose we begin at the end of the table and work round, any one +contributing a little as the fancy seizes him?"</p> + +<p>"Agreed! agreed!" cried the whole company; and every eye was turned on +Defoe, who seemed very uneasy, and filled his pipe from a great +tobacco-box in front of him.</p> + +<p>"Nay, gossips," he said, "there are others more worthy——" But he was +interrupted by loud cries of "No! no!" from the whole table; and +Smollett shouted out, "Stand to it, Dan—stand to it! You and I and the +Dean here will make three short tacks just to fetch her out of harbour, +and then she may drift where she pleases." Thus encouraged, Defoe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +cleared his throat, and began in this way, talking between the puffs of +his pipe:—</p> + +<p>"My father was a well-to-do yeoman of Cheshire, named Cyprian Overbeck, +but, marrying about the year 1617, he assumed the name of his wife's +family, which was Wells; and thus I, their eldest son, was named Cyprian +Overbeck Wells. The farm was a very fertile one, and contained some of +the best grazing land in those parts, so that my father was enabled to +lay by money to the extent of a thousand crowns, which he laid out in an +adventure to the Indies with such surprising success that in less than +three years it had increased fourfold. Thus encouraged, he bought a part +share of the trader, and, fitting her out once more with such +commodities as were most in demand (viz. old muskets, hangers and axes, +besides glasses, needles, and the like), he placed me on board as +supercargo to look after his interests, and despatched us upon our +voyage.</p> + +<p>"We had a fair wind as far as Cape de Verde, and there, getting into the +north-west trade-winds, made good progress down the African coast. +Beyond sighting a Barbary rover once, whereat our mariners were in sad +distress, counting themselves already as little better than slaves, we +had good luck until we had come within a hundred leagues of the Cape of +Good Hope, when the wind veered round to the southward and blew +exceeding hard, while the sea rose to such a height that the end of the +mainyard dipped into the water, and I heard the master say that though +he had been at sea for five-and-thirty years he had never seen the like +of it, and that he had little expectation of riding through it. On this +I fell to wringing my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> hands and bewailing myself, until the mast going +by the board with a crash, I thought that the ship had struck, and +swooned with terror, falling into the scuppers and lying like one dead, +which was the saving of me, as will appear in the sequel. For the +mariners, giving up all hope of saving the ship, and being in momentary +expectation that she would founder, pushed off in the long-boat, whereby +I fear that they met the fate which they hoped to avoid, since I have +never from that day heard anything of them. For my own part, on +recovering from the swoon into which I had fallen, I found that, by the +mercy of Providence, the sea had gone down, and that I was alone in the +vessel. At which last discovery I was so terror-struck that I could but +stand wringing my hands and bewailing my sad fate, until at last taking +heart, I fell to comparing my lot with that of my unhappy camerados, on +which I became more cheerful, and descending to the cabin, made a meal +off such dainties as were in the captain's locker."</p> + +<p>Having got so far, Defoe remarked that he thought he had given them a +fair start, and handed over the story to Dean Swift, who, after +premising that he feared he would find himself as much at sea as Master +Cyprian Overbeck Wells, continued in this way:—</p> + +<p>"For two days I drifted about in great distress, fearing that there +should be a return of the gale, and keeping an eager look-out for my +late companions. Upon the third day, towards evening, I observed to my +extreme surprise that the ship was under the influence of a very +powerful current, which ran to the north-east with such violence that +she was carried, now bows on, now stern on, and occasionally drifting +side<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>ways like a crab, at a rate which I cannot compute at less than +twelve or fifteen knots an hour. For several weeks I was borne away in +this manner, until one morning, to my inexpressible joy, I sighted an +island upon the starboard quarter. The current would, however, have +carried me past it had I not made shift, though single-handed, to set +the flying-jib so as to turn her bows, and then clapping on the +sprit-sail, studding-sail, and fore-sail, I clewed up the halliards upon +the port side, and put the wheel down hard a-starboard, the wind being +at the time north-east-half-east."</p> + +<p>At the description of this nautical manœuvre I observed that Smollett +grinned, and a gentleman who was sitting higher up the table in the +uniform of the Royal Navy, and who I guessed to be Captain Marryat, +became very uneasy and fidgeted in his seat.</p> + +<p>"By this means I got clear of the current and was able to steer within a +quarter of a mile of the beach, which indeed I might have approached +still nearer by making another tack, but being an excellent swimmer, I +deemed it best to leave the vessel, which was almost waterlogged, and to +make the best of my way to the shore.</p> + +<p>"I had had my doubts hitherto as to whether this new-found country was +inhabited or no, but as I approached nearer to it, being on the summit +of a great wave, I perceived a number of figures on the beach, engaged +apparently in watching me and my vessel. My joy, however, was +considerably lessened when on reaching the land I found that the figures +consisted of a vast concourse of animals of various sorts who were +standing about in groups, and who hurried down to the water's edge to +meet me. I had scarce put my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> foot upon the sand before I was surrounded +by an eager crowd of deer, dogs, wild boars, buffaloes, and other +creatures, none of whom showed the least fear either of me or of each +other, but, on the contrary, were animated by a common feeling of +curiosity, as well as, it would appear, by some degree of disgust."</p> + +<p>"A second edition," whispered Lawrence Sterne to his neighbour; +"Gulliver served up cold."</p> + +<p>"Did you speak, sir?" asked the Dean very sternly, having evidently +overheard the remark.</p> + +<p>"My words were not addressed to you, sir," answered Sterne, looking +rather frightened.</p> + +<p>"They were none the less insolent," roared the Dean. "Your reverence +would fain make a Sentimental Journey of the narrative, I doubt not, and +find pathos in a dead donkey—though faith, no man can blame thee for +mourning over thy own kith and kin."</p> + +<p>"Better that than to wallow in all the filth of Yahooland," returned +Sterne warmly, and a quarrel would certainly have ensued but for the +interposition of the remainder of the company. As it was, the Dean +refused indignantly to have any further hand in the story, and Sterne +also stood out of it, remarking with a sneer that he was loth to fit a +good blade on to a poor handle. Under these circumstances some further +unpleasantness might have occurred had not Smollett rapidly taken up the +narrative, continuing it in the third person instead of the first:—</p> + +<p>"Our hero, being considerably alarmed at this strange reception, lost +little time in plunging into the sea again and regaining his vessel, +being convinced that the worst which might befall him from the ele<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>ments +would be as nothing compared to the dangers of this mysterious island. +It was as well that he took this course, for before nightfall his ship +was overhauled and he himself picked up by a British man-of-war, the +<i>Lightning</i> (74), then returning from the West Indies, where it had +formed part of the fleet under the command of Admiral Benbow. Young +Wells, being a likely lad enough, well-spoken and high-spirited, was at +once entered on the books as officer's servant, in which capacity he +both gained great popularity on account of the freedom of his manners, +and found an opportunity for indulging in those practical pleasantries +for which he had all his life been famous.</p> + +<p>"Among the quartermasters of the <i>Lightning</i> there was one named +Jedediah Anchorstock, whose appearance was so remarkable that it quickly +attracted the attention of our hero. He was a man of about fifty, dark +with exposure to the weather, and so tall that as he came along the +'tween decks he had to bend himself nearly double. The most striking +peculiarity of this individual was, however, that in his boyhood some +evil-minded person had tattooed eyes all over his countenance with such +marvellous skill that it was difficult at a short distance to pick out +his real ones among so many counterfeits. On this strange personage +Master Cyprian determined to exercise his talents for mischief, the more +so as he learned that he was extremely superstitious, and also that he +had left behind him in Portsmouth a strong-minded spouse of whom he +stood in mortal terror. With this object he secured one of the sheep +which were kept on board for the officers' table, and pouring a can of +rumbo down its throat, re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>duced it to a state of utter intoxication. He +then conveyed it to Anchorstock's berth, and with the assistance of some +other imps, as mischievous as himself, dressed it up in a high nightcap +and gown, and covered it over with the bedclothes.</p> + +<p>"When the quartermaster came down from his watch our hero met him at the +door of his berth with an agitated face. 'Mr. Anchorstock,' said he, +'can it be that your wife is on board?' 'Wife!' roared the astonished +sailor. 'Ye white-faced swab, what d'ye mean?' 'If she's not here in the +ship it must be her ghost,' said Cyprian, shaking his head gloomily. 'In +the ship! How in thunder could she get into the ship? Why, master, I +believe as how you're weak in the upper works, d'ye see? to as much as +think o' such a thing. My Poll is moored head and starn, behind the +point at Portsmouth, more'n two thousand mile away.' 'Upon my word,' +said our hero, very earnestly, 'I saw a female look out of your cabin +not five minutes ago.' 'Ay, ay, Mr. Anchorstock,' joined in several of +the conspirators. 'We all saw her—a spanking-looking craft with a +dead-light mounted on one side.' 'Sure enough,' said Anchorstock, +staggered by this accumulation of evidence, 'my Polly's starboard eye +was doused for ever by long Sue Williams of the Hard. But if so be as +she be there I must see her, be she ghost or quick'; with which the +honest sailor, in much perturbation and trembling in every limb, began +to shuffle forward into the cabin, holding the light well in front of +him. It chanced, however, that the unhappy sheep, which was quietly +engaged in sleeping off the effects of its unusual potations, was +awakened by the noise of his approach, and finding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> herself in such an +unusual position, sprang out of bed and rushed furiously for the door, +bleating wildly, and rolling about like a brig in a tornado, partly from +intoxication and partly from the night-dress which impeded her +movements. As Anchorstock saw this extraordinary apparition bearing down +upon him, he uttered a yell and fell flat upon his face, convinced that +he had to do with a supernatural visitor, the more so as the +confederates heightened the effect by a chorus of most ghastly groans +and cries. The joke had nearly gone beyond what was originally intended, +for the quartermaster lay as one dead, and it was only with the greatest +difficulty that he could be brought to his senses. To the end of the +voyage he stoutly asserted that he had seen the distant Mrs. +Anchorstock, remarking with many oaths that though he was too woundily +scared to take much note of the features, there was no mistaking the +strong smell of rum which was characteristic of his better half.</p> + +<p>"It chanced shortly after this to be the king's birthday, an event which +was signalised aboard the <i>Lightning</i> by the death of the commander +under singular circumstances. This officer, who was a real fairweather +Jack, hardly knowing the ship's keel from her ensign, had obtained his +position through parliamentary interest, and used it with such tyranny +and cruelty that he was universally execrated. So unpopular was he that +when a plot was entered into by the whole crew to punish his misdeeds +with death, he had not a single friend among six hundred souls to warn +him of his danger. It was the custom on board the king's ships that upon +his birthday the entire ship's company should be drawn up upon deck, and +that at a signal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> they should discharge their muskets into the air in +honour of his Majesty. On this occasion word had been secretly passed +round for every man to slip a slug into his firelock, instead of the +blank cartridge provided. On the boatswain blowing his whistle the men +mustered upon deck and formed line, whilst the captain, standing well in +front of them, delivered a few words to them. 'When I give the word,' he +concluded, 'you shall discharge your pieces, and by thunder, if any man +is a second before or a second after his fellows I shall trice him up to +the weather rigging!' With these words he roared 'Fire!' on which every +man levelled his musket straight at his head and pulled the trigger. So +accurate was the aim and so short the distance, that more than five +hundred bullets struck him simultaneously, blowing away his head and a +large portion of his body. There were so many concerned in this matter, +and it was so hopeless to trace it to any individual, that the officers +were unable to punish any one for the affair—the more readily as the +captain's haughty ways and heartless conduct had made him quite as +hateful to them as to the men whom he commanded.</p> + +<p>"By his pleasantries and the natural charm of his manners our hero so +far won the good wishes of the ship's company that they parted with +infinite regret upon their arrival in England. Filial duty, however, +urged him to return home and report himself to his father, with which +object he posted from Portsmouth to London, intending to proceed thence +to Shropshire. As it chanced, however, one of the horses sprained his +off foreleg while passing through Chichester, and as no change could be +obtained, Cyprian found him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>self compelled to put up at the Crown and +Bull for the night.</p> + +<p>"Ods bodikins!" continued Smollett, laughing, "I never could pass a +comfortable hostel without stopping and so, with your permission, I'll +e'en stop here, and whoever wills may lead friend Cyprian to his further +adventures. Do you, Sir Walter, give us a touch of the Wizard of the +North."</p> + +<p>With these words Smollett produced a pipe, and filling it at Defoe's +tobacco-pot, waited patiently for the continuation of the story.</p> + +<p>"If I must, I must," remarked the illustrious Scotchman, taking a pinch +of snuff; "but I must beg leave to put Mr. Wells back a few hundred +years, for of all things I love the true mediæval smack. To proceed +then:—</p> + +<p>"Our hero, being anxious to continue his journey, and learning that it +would be some time before any conveyance would be ready, determined to +push on alone mounted on his gallant grey steed. Travelling was +particularly dangerous at that time, for besides the usual perils which +beset wayfarers, the southern parts of England were in a lawless and +disturbed state which bordered on insurrection. The young man, however, +having loosened his sword in his sheath, so as to be ready for every +eventuality, galloped cheerily upon his way, guiding himself to the best +of his ability by the light of the rising moon.</p> + +<p>"He had not gone far before he realised that the cautions which had been +impressed upon him by the landlord, and which he had been inclined to +look upon as self-interested advice, were only too well justified. At a +spot where the road was particularly rough, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> ran across some marsh +land, he perceived a short distance from him a dark shadow, which his +practised eye detected at once as a body of crouching men. Reining up +his horse within a few yards of the ambuscade, he wrapped his cloak +round his bridle-arm and summoned the party to stand forth.</p> + +<p>"'What ho, my masters!' he cried. 'Are beds so scarce, then, that ye +must hamper the high road of the king with your bodies? Now, by St. +Ursula of Alpuxerra, there be those who might think that birds who fly +o' nights were after higher game than the moorhen or the woodcock!'</p> + +<p>"'Blades and targets, comrades!' exclaimed a tall powerful man, +springing into the centre of the road with several companions, and +standing in front of the frightened horse. 'Who is this swashbuckler who +summons his Majesty's lieges from their repose? A very soldado, o' +truth. Hark ye, sir, or my lord, or thy grace, or whatsoever title your +honour's honour may be pleased to approve, thou must curb thy tongue +play, or by the seven witches of Gambleside thou may find thyself in but +a sorry plight.'</p> + +<p>"'I prythee, then, that thou wilt expound to me who and what ye are,' +quoth our hero, 'and whether your purpose be such as an honest man may +approve of. As to your threats, they turn from my mind as your caitiffly +weapons would shiver upon my hauberk from Milan.'</p> + +<p>"'Nay, Allen,' interrupted one of the party, addressing him who seemed +to be their leader; 'this is a lad of mettle, and such a one as our +honest Jack longs for. But we lure not hawks with empty hands. Look ye, +sir, there is game afoot which it may need such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> bold hunters as thyself +to follow. Come with us and take a firkin of canary, and we will find +better work for that glaive of thine than getting its owner into broil +and bloodshed; for, by my troth! Milan or no Milan, if my curtel axe do +but ring against that morion of thine it will be an ill day for thy +father's son.'</p> + +<p>"For a moment our hero hesitated as to whether it would best become his +knightly traditions to hurl himself against his enemies, or whether it +might not be better to obey their requests. Prudence, mingled with a +large share of curiosity, eventually carried the day, and dismounting +from his horse, he intimated that he was ready to follow his captors.</p> + +<p>"'Spoken like a man!' cried he whom they addressed as Allen. 'Jack Cade +will be right glad of such a recruit. Blood and carrion! but thou hast +the thews of a young ox; and I swear, by the haft of my sword, that it +might have gone ill with some of us hadst thou not listened to reason!'</p> + +<p>"'Nay, not so, good Allen—not so,' squeaked a very small man, who had +remained in the background while there was any prospect of a fray, but +who now came pushing to the front. 'Hadst thou been alone it might +indeed have been so, perchance, but an expert swordsman can disarm at +pleasure such a one as this young knight. Well I remember in the +Palatinate how I clove to the chine even such another—the Baron von +Slogstaff. He struck at me, look ye, so; but I, with buckler and blade, +did, as one might say, deflect it; and then, countering in carte, I +returned in tierce, and so—St. Agnes save us! who comes here?'</p> + +<p>"The apparition which frightened the loquacious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> little man was +sufficiently strange to cause a qualm even in the bosom of the knight. +Through the darkness there loomed a figure which appeared to be of +gigantic size, and a hoarse voice, issuing apparently some distance +above the heads of the party, broke roughly on the silence of the night.</p> + +<p>"'Now, out upon thee, Thomas Allen, and foul be thy fate if thou hast +abandoned thy post without good and sufficient cause. By St. Anselm of +the Holy Grove, thou hadst best have never been born than rouse my +spleen this night. Wherefore is it that you and your men are trailing +over the moor like a flock of geese when Michaelmas is near?'</p> + +<p>"'Good captain,' said Allen, doffing his bonnet, an example followed by +others of the band, 'we have captured a goodly youth who was pricking it +along the London road. Methought that some word of thanks were meet +reward for such service, rather than taunt or threat.'</p> + +<p>"'Nay, take it not to heart, bold Allen,' exclaimed their leader, who +was none other than the great Jack Cade himself. 'Thou knowest of old +that my temper is somewhat choleric, and my tongue not greased with that +unguent which oils the mouths of the lip-serving lords of the land. And +you,' he continued, turning suddenly upon our hero, 'are you ready to +join the great cause which will make England what it was when the +learned Alfred reigned in the land? Zounds, man, speak out, and pick not +your phrases.'</p> + +<p>"'I am ready to do aught which may become a knight and a gentleman,' +said the soldier stoutly.</p> + +<p>"'Taxes shall be swept away!' cried Cade excitedly—'the impost and the +anpost—the tithe and the hun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>dred-tax. The poor man's salt-box and +flour-bin shall be as free as the nobleman's cellar. Ha! what sayest +thou?'</p> + +<p>"'It is but just,' said our hero.</p> + +<p>"'Ay, but they give us such justice as the falcon gives the leveret!' +roared the orator. 'Down with them, I say—down with every man of them! +Noble and judge, priest and king, down with them all!'</p> + +<p>"'Nay,' said Sir Overbeck Wells, drawing himself up to his full height, +and laying his hand upon the hilt of his sword, 'there I cannot follow +thee, but must rather defy thee as traitor and faineant, seeing that +thou art no true man, but one who would usurp the rights of our master +the king, whom may the Virgin protect!'</p> + +<p>"At these bold words, and the defiance which they conveyed, the rebels +seemed for a moment utterly bewildered; but, encouraged by the hoarse +shout of their leader, they brandished their weapons and prepared to +fall upon the knight, who placed himself in a posture for defence and +awaited their attack.</p> + +<p>"There now!" cried Sir Walter, rubbing his hands and chuckling, "I've +put the chiel in a pretty warm corner, and we'll see which of you +moderns can take him oot o't. Ne'er a word more will ye get frae me to +help him one way or the other."</p> + +<p>"You try your hand, James," cried several voices, and the author in +question had got so far as to make an allusion to a solitary horseman +who was approaching, when he was interrupted by a tall gentleman a +little farther down with a slight stutter and a very nervous manner.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," he said, "but I fancy that I may be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> able to do something +here. Some of my humble productions have been said to excel Sir Walter +at his best, and I was undoubtedly stronger all round. I could picture +modern society as well as ancient; and as to my plays, why Shakespeare +never came near <i>The Lady of Lyons</i> for popularity. There is this little +thing——" (Here he rummaged among a great pile of papers in front of +him.) "Ah! that's a report of mine, when I was in India. Here it is. No, +this is one of my speeches in the House, and this is my criticism on +Tennyson. Didn't I warm him up? I can't find what I wanted, but of +course you have read them all—<i>Rienzi</i> and <i>Harold</i>, and <i>The Last of +the Barons</i>. Every schoolboy knows them by heart, as poor Macaulay would +have said. Allow me to give you a sample:—</p> + +<p>"In spite of the gallant knight's valiant resistance the combat was too +unequal to be sustained. His sword was broken by a slash from a brown +bill, and he was borne to the ground. He expected immediate death, but +such did not seem to be the intention of the ruffians who had captured +him. He was placed upon the back of his own charger and borne, bound +hand and foot, over the trackless moor, in the fastnesses of which the +rebels secreted themselves.</p> + +<p>"In the depths of these wilds there stood a stone building which had +once been a farmhouse, but having been for some reason abandoned had +fallen into ruin, and had now become the headquarters of Cade and his +men. A large cowhouse near the farm had been utilised as sleeping +quarters, and some rough attempts had been made to shield the principal +room of the main building from the weather by stopping up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> the gaping +apertures in the walls. In this apartment was spread out a rough meal +for the returning rebels, and our hero was thrown, still bound, into an +empty outhouse, there to await his fate."</p> + +<p>Sir Walter had been listening with the greatest impatience to Bulwer +Lytton's narrative, but when it had reached this point he broke in +impatiently.</p> + +<p>"We want a touch of your own style, man," he said. "The +animal-magnetico-electro-hysterical-biological-mysterious sort of story +is all your own, but at present you are just a poor copy of myself, and +nothing more."</p> + +<p>There was a murmur of assent from the company, and Defoe remarked, +"Truly, Master Lytton, there is a plaguey resemblance in the style, +which may indeed be but a chance, and yet methinks it is sufficiently +marked to warrant such words as our friend hath used."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will think that this is an imitation also," said Lytton +bitterly, and leaning back in his chair with a morose countenance, he +continued the narrative in this way:—</p> + +<p>"Our unfortunate hero had hardly stretched himself upon the straw with +which his dungeon was littered, when a secret door opened in the wall +and a venerable old man swept majestically into the apartment. The +prisoner gazed upon him with astonishment not unmixed with awe, for on +his broad brow was printed the seal of much knowledge—such knowledge as +it is not granted to a son of man to know. He was clad in a long white +robe, crossed and chequered with mystic devices in the Arabic character, +while a high scarlet tiara marked with the square and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> circle enhanced +his venerable appearance. 'My son,' he said, turning his piercing and +yet dreamy gaze upon Sir Overbeck, 'all things lead to nothing, and +nothing is the foundation of all things. Cosmos is impenetrable. Why +then should we exist?'</p> + +<p>"Astounded at this weighty query, and at the philosophic demeanour of +his visitor, our hero made shift to bid him welcome and to demand his +name and quality. As the old man answered him his voice rose and fell in +musical cadences, like the sighing of the east wind, while an ethereal +and aromatic vapour pervaded the apartment.</p> + +<p>"'I am the eternal non-ego,' he answered. 'I am the concentrated +negative—the everlasting essence of nothing. You see in me that which +existed before the beginning of matter many years before the +commencement of time. I am the algebraic <i>x</i> which represents the +infinite divisibility of a finite particle.'</p> + +<p>"Sir Overbeck felt a shudder as though an ice-cold hand had been placed +upon his brow. 'What is your message?' he whispered, falling prostrate +before his mysterious visitor.</p> + +<p>"'To tell you that the eternities beget chaos, and that the immensities +are at the mercy of the divine ananke. Infinitude crouches before a +personality. The mercurial essence is the prime mover in spirituality, +and the thinker is powerless before the pulsating inanity. The cosmical +procession is terminated only by the unknowable and unpronounceable'——</p> + +<p>"May I ask, Mr. Smollett, what you find to laugh at?"</p> + +<p>"Gadzooks, master," cried Smollett, who had been sniggering for some +time back. "It seems to me that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> there is little danger of any one +venturing to dispute that style with you."</p> + +<p>"It's all your own," murmured Sir Walter.</p> + +<p>"And very pretty, too," quoth Lawrence Sterne, with a malignant grin. +"Pray sir, what language do you call it?"</p> + +<p>Lytton was so enraged at these remarks, and at the favour with which +they appeared to be received, that he endeavoured to stutter out some +reply, and then, losing control of himself completely, picked up all his +loose papers and strode out of the room, dropping pamphlets and speeches +at every step. This incident amused the company so much that they +laughed for several minutes without cessation. Gradually the sound of +their laughter sounded more and more harshly in my ears, the lights on +the table grew dim and the company more misty, until they and their +symposium vanished away altogether. I was sitting before the embers of +what had been a roaring fire, but was now little more than a heap of +grey ashes, and the merry laughter of the august company had changed to +the recriminations of my wife, who was shaking me violently by the +shoulder and exhorting me to choose some more seasonable spot for my +slumbers. So ended the wondrous adventures of Master Cyprian Overbeck +Wells, but I still live in the hopes that in some future dream the great +masters may themselves finish that which they have begun.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>PLAYING WITH FIRE</h3> + + +<p>I cannot pretend to say what occurred on the 14th of April last at No. +17, Badderly Gardens. Put down in black and white, my surmise might seem +too crude, too grotesque, for serious consideration. And yet that +something did occur, and that it was of a nature which will leave its +mark upon every one of us for the rest of our lives, is as certain as +the unanimous testimony of five witnesses can make it. I will not enter +into any argument or speculation. I will only give a plain statement, +which will be submitted to John Moir, Harvey Deacon, and Mrs. Delamere, +and withheld from publication unless they are prepared to corroborate +every detail. I cannot obtain the sanction of Paul Le Duc, for he +appears to have left the country.</p> + +<p>It was John Moir (the well-known senior partner of Moir, Moir, and +Sanderson) who had originally turned our attention to occult subjects. +He had, like many very hard and practical men of business, a mystic side +to his nature, which had led him to the examination, and eventually to +the acceptance, of those elusive phenomena which are grouped together +with much that is foolish, and much that is fraudulent, under the common +heading of spiritualism. His researches, which had begun with an open +mind, ended unhappily in dogma, and he became as positive and fanatical +as any other bigot. He represented in our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> little group the body of men +who have turned these singular phenomena into a new religion.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Delamere, our medium, was his sister, the wife of Delamere, the +rising sculptor. Our experience had shown us that to work on these +subjects without a medium was as futile as for an astronomer to make +observations without a telescope. On the other hand, the introduction of +a paid medium was hateful to all of us. Was it not obvious that he or +she would feel bound to return some result for money received, and that +the temptation to fraud would be an overpowering one? No phenomena could +be relied upon which were produced at a guinea an hour. But, +fortunately, Moir had discovered that his sister was mediumistic—in +other words, that she was a battery of that animal magnetic force which +is the only form of energy which is subtle enough to be acted upon from +the spiritual plane as well as from our own material one. Of course, +when I say this, I do not mean to beg the question; but I am simply +indicating the theories upon which we were ourselves, rightly or +wrongly, explaining what we saw. The lady came, not altogether with the +approval of her husband, and though she never gave indications of any +very great psychic force, we were able, at least, to obtain those usual +phenomena of message-tilting which are at the same time so puerile and +so inexplicable. Every Sunday evening we met in Harvey Deacon's studio +at Badderly Gardens, the next house to the corner of Merton Park Road.</p> + +<p>Harvey Deacon's imaginative work in art would prepare any one to find +that he was an ardent lover of everything which was <i>outré</i> and +sensational. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> certain picturesqueness in the study of the occult had +been the quality which had originally attracted him to it, but his +attention was speedily arrested by some of those phenomena to which I +have referred, and he was coming rapidly to the conclusion that what he +had looked upon as an amusing romance and an after-dinner entertainment +was really a very formidable reality. He is a man with a remarkably +clear and logical brain—a true descendant of his ancestor, the +well-known Scotch professor—and he represented in our small circle the +critical element, the man who has no prejudices, is prepared to follow +facts as far as he can see them, and refuses to theorise in advance of +his data. His caution annoyed Moir as much as the latter's robust faith +amused Deacon, but each in his own way was equally keen upon the matter.</p> + +<p>And I? What am I to say that I represented? I was not the devotee. I was +not the scientific critic. Perhaps the best that I can claim for myself +is that I was the dilettante man about town, anxious to be in the swim +of every fresh movement, thankful for any new sensation which would take +me out of myself and open up fresh possibilities of existence. I am not +an enthusiast myself, but I like the company of those who are. Moir's +talk, which made me feel as if we had a private pass-key through the +door of death, filled me with a vague contentment. The soothing +atmosphere of the séance with the darkened lights was delightful to me. +In a word, the thing amused me, and so I was there.</p> + +<p>It was, as I have said, upon the 14th of April last that the very +singular event which I am about to put upon record took place. I was the +first of the men to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> arrive at the studio, but Mrs. Delamere was already +there, having had afternoon tea with Mrs. Harvey Deacon. The two ladies +and Deacon himself were standing in front of an unfinished picture of +his upon the easel. I am not an expert in art, and I have never +professed to understand what Harvey Deacon meant by his pictures; but I +could see in this instance that it was all very clever and imaginative, +fairies and animals and allegorical figures of all sorts. The ladies +were loud in their praises, and indeed the colour effect was a +remarkable one.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it, Markham?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's above me," said I. "These beasts—what are they?"</p> + +<p>"Mythical monsters, imaginary creatures, heraldic emblems—a sort of +weird, bizarre procession of them."</p> + +<p>"With a white horse in front!"</p> + +<p>"It's not a horse," said he, rather testily—which was surprising, for +he was a very good-humoured fellow as a rule, and hardly ever took +himself seriously.</p> + +<p>"What is it, then?"</p> + +<p>"Can't you see the horn in front? It's a unicorn. I told you they were +heraldic beasts. Can't you recognise one?"</p> + +<p>"Very sorry, Deacon," said I, for he really seemed to be annoyed.</p> + +<p>He laughed at his own irritation.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Markham!" said he; "the fact is that I have had an awful job +over the beast. All day I have been painting him in and painting him +out, and trying to imagine what a real live, ramping unicorn would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> look +like. At last I got him, as I hoped; so when you failed to recognise it, +it took me on the raw."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course it's a unicorn," said I, for he was evidently depressed +at my obtuseness. "I can see the horn quite plainly, but I never saw a +unicorn except beside the Royal Arms, and so I never thought of the +creature. And these others are griffins and cockatrices, and dragons of +sorts?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I had no difficulty with them. It was the unicorn which bothered +me. However, there's an end of it until to-morrow." He turned the +picture round upon the easel, and we all chatted about other subjects.</p> + +<p>Moir was late that evening, and when he did arrive he brought with him, +rather to our surprise, a small, stout Frenchman, whom he introduced as +Monsieur Paul Le Duc. I say to our surprise, for we held a theory that +any intrusion into our spiritual circle deranged the conditions, and +introduced an element of suspicion. We knew that we could trust each +other, but all our results were vitiated by the presence of an outsider. +However, Moir soon reconciled us to the innovation. Monsieur Paul Le Duc +was a famous student of occultism, a seer, a medium, and a mystic. He +was travelling in England with a letter of introduction to Moir from the +President of the Parisian brothers of the Rosy Cross. What more natural +than that he should bring him to our little séance, or that we should +feel honoured by his presence?</p> + +<p>He was, as I have said, a small, stout man, undistinguished in +appearance, with a broad, smooth, clean-shaven face, remarkable only +for a pair of large, brown, velvety eyes, staring vaguely out in front +of him. He was well dressed, with the manners of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> gentleman, and his +curious little turns of English speech set the ladies smiling. Mrs. +Deacon had a prejudice against our researches and left the room, upon +which we lowered the lights, as was our custom, and drew up our chairs +to the square mahogany table which stood in the centre of the studio. +The light was subdued, but sufficient to allow us to see each other +quite plainly. I remember that I could even observe the curious, podgy +little square-topped hands which the Frenchman laid upon the table.</p> + +<p>"What a fun!" said he. "It is many years since I have sat in this +fashion, and it is to me amusing. Madame is medium. Does madame make the +trance?"</p> + +<p>"Well, hardly that," said Mrs. Delamere. "But I am always conscious of +extreme sleepiness."</p> + +<p>"It is the first stage. Then you encourage it, and there comes the +trance. When the trance comes, then out jumps your little spirit and in +jumps another little spirit, and so you have direct talking or writing. +You leave your machine to be worked by another. <i>Hein?</i> But what have +unicorns to do with it?"</p> + +<p>Harvey Deacon started in his chair. The Frenchman was moving his head +slowly round and staring into the shadows which draped the walls.</p> + +<p>"What a fun!" said he. "Always unicorns. Who has been thinking so hard +upon a subject so bizarre?"</p> + +<p>"This is wonderful!" cried Deacon. "I have been trying to paint one all +day. But how could you know it?"</p> + +<p>"You have been thinking of them in this room."</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>"But thoughts are things, my friend. When you imagine a thing you make a +thing. You did not know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> it, <i>hein</i>? But I can see your unicorns because +it is not only with my eye that I can see."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say that I create a thing which has never existed by +merely thinking of it?"</p> + +<p>"But certainly. It is the fact which lies under all other facts. That is +why an evil thought is also a danger."</p> + +<p>"They are, I suppose, upon the astral plane?" said Moir.</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, these are but words, my friends. They are +there—somewhere—everywhere—I cannot tell myself. I see them. I could +touch them."</p> + +<p>"You could not make <i>us</i> see them."</p> + +<p>"It is to materialise them. Hold! It is an experiment. But the power is +wanting. Let us see what power we have, and then arrange what we shall +do. May I place you as I wish?"</p> + +<p>"You evidently know a great deal more about it than we do," said Harvey +Deacon; "I wish that you would take complete control."</p> + +<p>"It may be that the conditions are not good. But we will try what we can +do. Madame will sit where she is, I next, and this gentleman beside me. +Meester Moir will sit next to madame, because it is well to have blacks +and blondes in turn. So! And now with your permission I will turn the +lights all out."</p> + +<p>"What is the advantage of the dark?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Because the force with which we deal is a vibration of ether and so +also is light. We have the wires all for ourselves now—<i>hein</i>? You will +not be frightened in the darkness, madame? What a fun is such a séance!"</p> + +<p>At first the darkness appeared to be absolutely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> pitchy, but in a few +minutes our eyes became so far accustomed to it that we could just make +out each other's presence—very dimly and vaguely, it is true. I could +see nothing else in the room—only the black loom of the motionless +figures. We were all taking the matter much more seriously than we had +ever done before.</p> + +<p>"You will place your hands in front. It is hopeless that we touch, since +we are so few round so large a table. You will compose yourself, madame, +and if sleep should come to you you will not fight against it. And now +we sit in silence and we expect—<i>hein</i>?"</p> + +<p>So we sat in silence and expected, staring out into the blackness in +front of us. A clock ticked in the passage. A dog barked intermittently +far away. Once or twice a cab rattled past in the street, and the gleam +of its lamps through the chink in the curtains was a cheerful break in +that gloomy vigil. I felt those physical symptoms with which previous +séances had made me familiar—the coldness of the feet, the tingling in +the hands, the glow of the palms, the feeling of a cold wind upon the +back. Strange little shooting pains came in my forearms, especially as +it seemed to me in my left one, which was nearest to our visitor—due no +doubt to disturbance of the vascular system, but worthy of some +attention all the same. At the same time I was conscious of a strained +feeling of expectancy which was almost painful. From the rigid, absolute +silence of my companions I gathered that their nerves were as tense as +my own.</p> + +<p>And then suddenly a sound came out of the darkness—a low, sibilant +sound, the quick, thin breathing of a woman. Quicker and thinner yet it +came, as be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>tween clenched teeth, to end in a loud gasp with a dull +rustle of cloth.</p> + +<p>"What's that? Is all right?" some one asked in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Yes, all is right," said the Frenchman. "It is madame. She is in her +trance. Now, gentlemen, if you will wait quiet you will see something, I +think, which will interest you much."</p> + +<p>Still the ticking in the hall. Still the breathing, deeper and fuller +now, from the medium. Still the occasional flash, more welcome than +ever, of the passing lights of the hansoms. What a gap we were bridging, +the half-raised veil of the eternal on the one side and the cabs of +London on the other. The table was throbbing with a mighty pulse. It +swayed steadily, rhythmically, with an easy swooping, scooping motion +under our fingers. Sharp little raps and cracks came from its substance, +file-firing, volley-firing, the sounds of a fagot burning briskly on a +frosty night.</p> + +<p>"There is much power," said the Frenchman. "See it on the table!"</p> + +<p>I had thought it was some delusion of my own, but all could see it now. +There was a greenish-yellow phosphorescent light—or I should say a +luminous vapour rather than a light—which lay over the surface of the +table. It rolled and wreathed and undulated in dim glimmering folds, +turning and swirling like clouds of smoke. I could see the white, +square-ended hands of the French medium in this baleful light.</p> + +<p>"What a fun!" he cried. "It is splendid!"</p> + +<p>"Shall we call the alphabet?" asked Moir.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But no—for we can do much better," said our visitor. "It is but a +clumsy thing to tilt the table for every letter of the alphabet, and +with such a medium as madame we should do better than that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you will do better," said a voice.</p> + +<p>"Who was that? Who spoke? Was that you, Markham?"</p> + +<p>"No, I did not speak."</p> + +<p>"It was madame who spoke."</p> + +<p>"But it was not her voice."</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Mrs. Delamere?"</p> + +<p>"It is not the medium, but it is the power which uses the organs of the +medium," said the strange, deep voice.</p> + +<p>"Where is Mrs. Delamere? It will not hurt her, I trust."</p> + +<p>"The medium is happy in another plane of existence. She has taken my +place, as I have taken hers."</p> + +<p>"Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"It cannot matter to you who I am. I am one who has lived as you are +living, and who has died as you will die."</p> + +<p>We heard the creak and grate of a cab pulling up next door. There was an +argument about the fare, and the cabman grumbled hoarsely down the +street. The green-yellow cloud still swirled faintly over the table, +dull elsewhere, but glowing into a dim luminosity in the direction of +the medium. It seemed to be piling itself up in front of her. A sense of +fear and cold struck into my heart. It seemed to me that lightly and +flippantly we had approached the most real and august of sacraments, +that communion with the dead of which the fathers of the Church had +spoken.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't you think we are going too far? Should we not break up this +séance?" I cried.</p> + +<p>But the others were all earnest to see the end of it. They laughed at my +scruples.</p> + +<p>"All the powers are made for use," said Harvey Deacon. "If we <i>can</i> do +this, we <i>should</i> do this. Every new departure of knowledge has been +called unlawful in its inception. It is right and proper that we should +inquire into the nature of death."</p> + +<p>"It is right and proper," said the voice.</p> + +<p>"There, what more could you ask?" cried Moir, who was much excited. "Let +us have a test. Will you give us a test that you are really there?"</p> + +<p>"What test do you demand?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now—I have some coins in my pocket. Will you tell me how many?"</p> + +<p>"We come back in the hope of teaching and of elevating, and not to guess +childish riddles."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, Meester Moir, you catch it that time," cried the Frenchman. +"But surely this is very good sense what the Control is saying."</p> + +<p>"It is a religion, not a game," said the cold, hard voice.</p> + +<p>"Exactly—the very view I take of it," cried Moir. "I am sure I am very +sorry if I have asked a foolish question. You will not tell me who you +are?"</p> + +<p>"What does it matter?"</p> + +<p>"Have you been a spirit long?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"How long?"</p> + +<p>"We cannot reckon time as you do. Our conditions are different."</p> + +<p>"Are you happy?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You would not wish to come back to life?"</p> + +<p>"No—certainly not."</p> + +<p>"Are you busy?"</p> + +<p>"We could not be happy if we were not busy."</p> + +<p>"What do you do?"</p> + +<p>"I have said that the conditions are entirely different."</p> + +<p>"Can you give us no idea of your work?"</p> + +<p>"We labour for our own improvement and for the advancement of others."</p> + +<p>"Do you like coming here to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I am glad to come if I can do any good by coming."</p> + +<p>"Then to do good is your object?"</p> + +<p>"It is the object of all life on every plane."</p> + +<p>"You see, Markham, that should answer your scruples."</p> + +<p>It did, for my doubts had passed and only interest remained.</p> + +<p>"Have you pain in your life?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No; pain is a thing of the body."</p> + +<p>"Have you mental pain?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; one may always be sad or anxious."</p> + +<p>"Do you meet the friends whom you have known on earth?"</p> + +<p>"Some of them."</p> + +<p>"Why only some of them?"</p> + +<p>"Only those who are sympathetic."</p> + +<p>"Do husbands meet wives?"</p> + +<p>"Those who have truly loved."</p> + +<p>"And the others?"</p> + +<p>"They are nothing to each other."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There must be a spiritual connection?"</p> + +<p>"Of course."</p> + +<p>"Is what we are doing right?"</p> + +<p>"If done in the right spirit."</p> + +<p>"What is the wrong spirit?"</p> + +<p>"Curiosity and levity."</p> + +<p>"May harm come of that?"</p> + +<p>"Very serious harm."</p> + +<p>"What sort of harm?"</p> + +<p>"You may call up forces over which you have no control."</p> + +<p>"Evil forces?"</p> + +<p>"Undeveloped forces."</p> + +<p>"You say they are dangerous. Dangerous to body or mind?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes to both."</p> + +<p>There was a pause, and the blackness seemed to grow blacker still, while +the yellow-green fog swirled and smoked upon the table.</p> + +<p>"Any questions you would like to ask, Moir?" said Harvey Deacon.</p> + +<p>"Only this—do you pray in your world?"</p> + +<p>"One should pray in every world."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because it is the acknowledgment of forces outside ourselves."</p> + +<p>"What religion do you hold over there?"</p> + +<p>"We differ exactly as you do."</p> + +<p>"You have no certain knowledge?"</p> + +<p>"We have only faith."</p> + +<p>"These questions of religion," said the Frenchman, "they are of interest +to you serious English people, but they are not so much fun. It seems to +me that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> with this power here we might be able to have some great +experience—<i>hein</i>? Something of which we could talk."</p> + +<p>"But nothing could be more interesting than this," said Moir.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you think so, that is very well," the Frenchman answered, +peevishly. "For my part, it seems to me that I have heard all this +before, and that to-night I should weesh to try some experiment with all +this force which is given to us. But if you have other questions, then +ask them, and when you are finish we can try something more."</p> + +<p>But the spell was broken. We asked and asked, but the medium sat silent +in her chair. Only her deep, regular breathing showed that she was +there. The mist still whirled upon the table.</p> + +<p>"You have disturbed the harmony. She will not answer."</p> + +<p>"But we have learned already all that she can tell—<i>hein</i>? For my part +I wish to see something I have never seen before."</p> + +<p>"What then?"</p> + +<p>"You will let me try?"</p> + +<p>"What would you do?"</p> + +<p>"I have said to you that thoughts are things. Now I wish to <i>prove</i> it +to you, and to show you that which is only a thought. Yes, yes, I can do +it and you will see. Now I ask you only to sit still and say nothing, +and keep ever your hands quiet upon the table."</p> + +<p>The room was blacker and more silent than ever. The same feeling of +apprehension which had lain heavily upon me at the beginning of the +séance was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> back at my heart once more. The roots of my hair were +tingling.</p> + +<p>"It is working! It is working!" cried the Frenchman, and there was a +crack in his voice as he spoke which told me that he also was strung to +his tightest.</p> + +<p>The luminous fog drifted slowly off the table, and wavered and flickered +across the room. There in the farther and darkest corner it gathered and +glowed, hardening down into a shining core—a strange, shifty, luminous, +and yet non-illuminating patch of radiance, bright itself, but throwing +no rays into the darkness. It had changed from a greenish-yellow to a +dusky sullen red. Then round this centre there coiled a dark, smoky +substance, thickening, hardening, growing denser and blacker. And then +the light went out, smothered in that which had grown round it.</p> + +<p>"It has gone."</p> + +<p>"Hush—there's something in the room."</p> + +<p>We heard it in the corner where the light had been, something which +breathed deeply and fidgeted in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Le Duc, what have you done?"</p> + +<p>"It is all right. No harm will come." The Frenchman's voice was treble +with agitation.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, Moir, there's a large animal in the room. Here it is, +close by my chair! Go away! Go away!"</p> + +<p>It was Harvey Deacon's voice, and then came the sound of a blow upon +some hard object. And then ... And then ... how can I tell you what +happened then?</p> + +<p>Some huge thing hurtled against us in the darkness, rearing, stamping, +smashing, springing, snorting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> The table was splintered. We were +scattered in every direction. It clattered and scrambled amongst us, +rushing with horrible energy from one corner of the room to another. We +were all screaming with fear, grovelling upon our hands and knees to get +away from it. Something trod upon my left hand, and I felt the bones +splinter under the weight.</p> + +<p>"A light! A light!" some one yelled.</p> + +<p>"Moir, you have matches, matches!"</p> + +<p>"No, I have none. Deacon, where are the matches? For God's sake, the +matches!"</p> + +<p>"I can't find them. Here, you Frenchman, stop it!"</p> + +<p>"It is beyond me. Oh, <i>mon Dieu</i>, I cannot stop it. The door! Where is +the door?"</p> + +<p>My hand, by good luck, lit upon the handle as I groped about in the +darkness. The hard-breathing, snorting, rushing creature tore past me +and butted with a fearful crash against the oaken partition. The instant +that it had passed I turned the handle, and next moment we were all +outside, and the door shut behind us. From within came a horrible +crashing and rending and stamping.</p> + +<p>"What is it? In Heaven's name, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"A horse. I saw it when the door opened. But Mrs. Delamere——?"</p> + +<p>"We must fetch her out. Come on, Markham; the longer we wait the less we +shall like it."</p> + +<p>He flung open the door and we rushed in. She was there on the ground +amidst the splinters of her chair. We seized her and dragged her swiftly +out, and as we gained the door I looked over my shoulder into the +darkness. There were two strange eyes glowing at us, a rattle of hoofs, +and I had just time to slam the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> door when there came a crash upon it +which split it from top to bottom.</p> + +<p>"It's coming through! It's coming!"</p> + +<p>"Run, run for your lives!" cried the Frenchman.</p> + +<p>Another crash, and something shot through the riven door. It was a long +white spike, gleaming in the lamplight. For a moment it shone before us, +and then with a snap it disappeared again.</p> + +<p>"Quick! Quick! This way!" Harvey Deacon shouted. "Carry her in! Here! +Quick!"</p> + +<p>We had taken refuge in the dining-room, and shut the heavy oak door. We +laid the senseless woman upon the sofa, and as we did so, Moir, the hard +man of business, drooped and fainted across the hearth-rug. Harvey +Deacon was as white as a corpse, jerking and twitching like an +epileptic. With a crash we heard the studio door fly to pieces, and the +snorting and stamping were in the passage, up and down, shaking the +house with their fury. The Frenchman had sunk his face on his hands, and +sobbed like a frightened child.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" I shook him roughly by the shoulder. "Is a gun any +use?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. The power will pass. Then it will end."</p> + +<p>"You might have killed us all—you unspeakable fool—with your infernal +experiments."</p> + +<p>"I did not know. How could I tell that it would be frightened? It is mad +with terror. It was his fault. He struck it."</p> + +<p>Harvey Deacon sprang up. "Good heavens!" he cried.</p> + +<p>A terrible scream sounded through the house.</p> + +<p>"It's my wife! Here, I'm going out. If it's the Evil One himself I am +going out!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>He had thrown open the door and rushed out into the passage. At the end +of it, at the foot of the stairs, Mrs. Deacon was lying senseless, +struck down by the sight which she had seen. But there was nothing else.</p> + +<p>With eyes of horror we looked about us, but all was perfectly quiet and +still. I approached the black square of the studio door, expecting with +every slow step that some atrocious shape would hurl itself out of it. +But nothing came, and all was silent inside the room. Peeping and +peering, our hearts in our mouths, we came to the very threshold, and +stared into the darkness. There was still no sound, but in one direction +there was also no darkness. A luminous, glowing cloud, with an +incandescent centre, hovered in the corner of the room. Slowly it dimmed +and faded, growing thinner and fainter, until at last the same dense, +velvety blackness filled the whole studio. And with the last flickering +gleam of that baleful light the Frenchman broke into a shout of joy.</p> + +<p>"What a fun!" he cried. "No one is hurt, and only the door broken, and +the ladies frightened. But, my friends, we have done what has never been +done before."</p> + +<p>"And as far as I can help," said Harvey Deacon, "it will certainly never +be done again."</p> + +<p>And that was what befell on the 14th of April last at No. 17 Badderly +Gardens. I began by saying that it would seem too grotesque to dogmatise +as to what it was which actually did occur; but I give my impressions, +<i>our</i> impressions (since they are corroborated by Harvey Deacon and John +Moir), for what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> they are worth. You may, if it pleases you, imagine +that we were the victims of an elaborate and extraordinary hoax. Or you +may think with us that we underwent a very real and a very terrible +experience. Or perhaps you may know more than we do of such occult +matters, and can inform us of some similar occurrence. In this latter +case a letter to William Markham, 146<span class="smcap">m</span>, the Albany, would help to throw +a light upon that which is very dark to us.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE RING OF THOTH</h3> + + +<p>Mr. John Vansittart Smith, F.R.S., of 147-<span class="smcap">a</span> Gower Street, was a man +whose energy of purpose and clearness of thought might have placed him +in the very first rank of scientific observers. He was the victim, +however, of a universal ambition which prompted him to aim at +distinction in many subjects rather than pre-eminence in one. In his +early days he had shown an aptitude for zoology and for botany which +caused his friends to look upon him as a second Darwin, but when a +professorship was almost within his reach he had suddenly discontinued +his studies and turned his whole attention to chemistry. Here his +researches upon the spectra of the metals had won him his fellowship in +the Royal Society; but again he played the coquette with his subject, +and after a year's absence from the laboratory he joined the Oriental +Society, and delivered a paper on the Hieroglyphic and Demotic +inscriptions of El Kab, thus giving a crowning example both of the +versatility and of the inconstancy of his talents.</p> + +<p>The most fickle of wooers, however, is apt to be caught at last, and so +it was with John Vansittart Smith. The more he burrowed his way into +Egyptology the more impressed he became by the vast field which it +opened to the inquirer, and by the extreme importance of a subject which +promised to throw a light upon the first germs of human civilisation +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> the origin of the greater part of our arts and sciences. So struck +was Mr. Smith that he straightway married an Egyptological young lady +who had written upon the sixth dynasty, and having thus secured a sound +base of operations he set himself to collect materials for a work which +should unite the research of Lepsius and the ingenuity of Champollion. +The preparation of this <i>magnum opus</i> entailed many hurried visits to +the magnificent Egyptian collections of the Louvre, upon the last of +which, no longer ago than the middle of last October, he became involved +in a most strange and noteworthy adventure.</p> + +<p>The trains had been slow and the Channel had been rough, so that the +student arrived in Paris in a somewhat befogged and feverish condition. +On reaching the Hôtel de France, in the Rue Laffitte, he had thrown +himself upon a sofa for a couple of hours, but finding that he was +unable to sleep, he determined, in spite of his fatigue, to make his way +to the Louvre, settle the point which he had come to decide, and take +the evening train back to Dieppe. Having come to this conclusion, he +donned his greatcoat, for it was a raw rainy day, and made his way +across the Boulevard des Italiens and down the Avenue de l'Opéra. Once +in the Louvre he was on familiar ground, and he speedily made his way to +the collection of papyri which it was his intention to consult.</p> + +<p>The warmest admirers of John Vansittart Smith could hardly claim for him +that he was a handsome man. His high-beaked nose and prominent chin had +something of the same acute and incisive character which distinguished +his intellect. He held his head in a birdlike fashion, and birdlike, +too, was the peck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>ing motion with which, in conversation, he threw out +his objections and retorts. As he stood, with the high collar of his +greatcoat raised to his ears, he might have seen from the reflection in +the glass-case before him that his appearance was a singular one. Yet it +came upon him as a sudden jar when an English voice behind him exclaimed +in very audible tones, "What a queer-looking mortal!"</p> + +<p>The student had a large amount of petty vanity in his composition which +manifested itself by an ostentatious and overdone disregard of all +personal considerations. He straightened his lips and looked rigidly at +the roll of papyrus, while his heart filled with bitterness against the +whole race of travelling Britons.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said another voice, "he really is an extraordinary fellow."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," said the first speaker, "one could almost believe that by +the continual contemplation of mummies the chap has become half a mummy +himself?"</p> + +<p>"He has certainly an Egyptian cast of countenance," said the other.</p> + +<p>John Vansittart Smith spun round upon his heel with the intention of +shaming his countrymen by a corrosive remark or two. To his surprise and +relief, the two young fellows who had been conversing had their +shoulders turned towards him, and were gazing at one of the Louvre +attendants who was polishing some brass-work at the other side of the +room.</p> + +<p>"Carter will be waiting for us at the Palais Royal," said one tourist to +the other, glancing at his watch, and they clattered away, leaving the +student to his labours.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wonder what these chatterers call an Egyptian cast of countenance," +thought John Vansittart Smith, and he moved his position slightly in +order to catch a glimpse of the man's face. He started as his eyes fell +upon it. It was indeed the very face with which his studies had made him +familiar. The regular statuesque features, broad brow, well-rounded +chin, and dusky complexion were the exact counterpart of the innumerable +statues, mummy-cases, and pictures which adorned the walls of the +apartment. The thing was beyond all coincidence. The man must be an +Egyptian. The national angularity of the shoulders and narrowness of the +hips were alone sufficient to identify him.</p> + +<p>John Vansittart Smith shuffled towards the attendant with some intention +of addressing him. He was not light of touch in conversation, and found +it difficult to strike the happy mean between the brusqueness of the +superior and the geniality of the equal. As he came nearer, the man +presented his side face to him, but kept his gaze still bent upon his +work. Vansittart Smith, fixing his eyes upon the fellow's skin, was +conscious of a sudden impression that there was something inhuman and +preternatural about its appearance. Over the temple and cheek-bone it +was as glazed and as shiny as varnished parchment. There was no +suggestion of pores. One could not fancy a drop of moisture upon that +arid surface. From brow to chin, however, it was cross-hatched by a +million delicate wrinkles, which shot and interlaced as though Nature in +some Maori mood had tried how wild and intricate a pattern she could +devise.</p> + +<p>"Où est la collection de Memphis?" asked the stu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>dent with the awkward +air of a man who is devising a question merely for the purpose of +opening a conversation.</p> + +<p>"C'est là," replied the man brusquely, nodding his head at the other +side of the room.</p> + +<p>"Vous êtes un Egyptien, n'est-ce pas?" asked the Englishman.</p> + +<p>The attendant looked up and turned his strange dark eyes upon his +questioner. They were vitreous, with a misty dry shininess, such as +Smith had never seen in a human head before. As he gazed into them he +saw some strong emotion gather in their depths, which rose and deepened +until it broke into a look of something akin both to horror and to +hatred.</p> + +<p>"Non, monsieur; je suis français." The man turned abruptly and bent low +over his polishing. The student gazed at him for a moment in +astonishment, and then turning to a chair in a retired corner behind one +of the doors he proceeded to make notes of his researches among the +papyri. His thoughts, however, refused to return into their natural +groove. They would run upon the enigmatical attendant with the +sphinx-like face and the parchment skin.</p> + +<p>"Where have I seen such eyes?" said Vansittart Smith to himself. "There +is something saurian about them, something reptilian. There's the +membrana nictitans of the snakes," he mused, bethinking himself of his +zoological studies. "It gives a shiny effect. But there was something +more here. There was a sense of power, of wisdom—so I read them—and of +weariness, utter weariness, and ineffable despair. It may be all +imagination, but I never had so strong an impression. By Jove, I must +have another look at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> them!" He rose and paced round the Egyptian rooms, +but the man who had excited his curiosity had disappeared.</p> + +<p>The student sat down again in his quiet corner, and continued to work at +his notes. He had gained the information which he required from the +papyri, and it only remained to write it down while it was still fresh +in his memory. For a time his pencil travelled rapidly over the paper, +but soon the lines became less level, the words more blurred, and +finally the pencil tinkled down upon the floor, and the head of the +student dropped heavily forward upon his chest. Tired out by his +journey, he slept so soundly in his lonely post behind the door that +neither the clanking civil guard, nor the footsteps of sightseers, nor +even the loud hoarse bell which gives the signal for closing, were +sufficient to arouse him.</p> + +<p>Twilight deepened into darkness, the bustle from the Rue de Rivoli waxed +and then waned, distant Notre Dame clanged out the hour of midnight, and +still the dark and lonely figure sat silently in the shadow. It was not +until close upon one in the morning that, with a sudden gasp and an +intaking of the breath, Vansittart Smith returned to consciousness. For +a moment it flashed upon him that he had dropped asleep in his +study-chair at home. The moon was shining fitfully through the +unshuttered window, however, and as his eye ran along the lines of +mummies and the endless array of polished cases, he remembered clearly +where he was and how he came there. The student was not a nervous man. +He possessed that love of a novel situation which is peculiar to his +race. Stretching out his cramped limbs, he looked at his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> watch, and +burst into a chuckle as he observed the hour. The episode would make an +admirable anecdote to be introduced into his next paper as a relief to +the graver and heavier speculations. He was a little cold, but wide +awake and much refreshed. It was no wonder that the guardians had +overlooked him, for the door threw its heavy black shadow right across +him.</p> + +<p>The complete silence was impressive. Neither outside nor inside was +there a creak or a murmur. He was alone with the dead men of a dead +civilisation. What though the outer city reeked of the garish nineteenth +century! In all this chamber there was scarce an article, from the +shrivelled ear of wheat to the pigment-box of the painter, which had not +held its own against four thousand years. Here was the flotsam and +jetsam washed up by the great ocean of time from that far-off empire. +From stately Thebes, from lordly Luxor, from the great temples of +Heliopolis, from a hundred rifled tombs, these relics had been brought. +The student glanced round at the long silent figures who flickered +vaguely up through the gloom, at the busy toilers who were now so +restful, and he fell into a reverent and thoughtful mood. An unwonted +sense of his own youth and insignificance came over him. Leaning back in +his chair, he gazed dreamily down the long vista of rooms, all silvery +with the moonshine, which extend through the whole wing of the +widespread building. His eyes fell upon the yellow glare of a distant +lamp.</p> + +<p>John Vansittart Smith sat up on his chair with his nerves all on edge. +The light was advancing slowly towards him, pausing from time to time, +and then coming jerkily onwards. The bearer moved noise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>lessly. In the +utter silence there was no suspicion of the pat of a footfall. An idea +of robbers entered the Englishman's head. He snuggled up further into +the corner. The light was two rooms off. Now it was in the next chamber, +and still there was no sound. With something approaching to a thrill of +fear the student observed a face, floating in the air as it were, behind +the flare of the lamp. The figure was wrapped in shadow, but the light +fell full upon the strange eager face. There was no mistaking the +metallic glistening eyes and the cadaverous skin. It was the attendant +with whom he had conversed.</p> + +<p>Vansittart Smith's first impulse was to come forward and address him. A +few words of explanation would set the matter clear, and lead doubtless +to his being conducted to some side door from which he might make his +way to his hotel. As the man entered the chamber, however, there was +something so stealthy in his movements, and so furtive in his +expression, that the Englishman altered his intention. This was clearly +no ordinary official walking the rounds. The fellow wore felt-soled +slippers, stepped with a rising chest, and glanced quickly from left to +right, while his hurried gasping breathing thrilled the flame of his +lamp. Vansittart Smith crouched silently back into the corner and +watched him keenly, convinced that his errand was one of secret and +probably sinister import.</p> + +<p>There was no hesitation in the other's movements. He stepped lightly and +swiftly across to one of the great cases, and, drawing a key from his +pocket, he unlocked it. From the upper shelf he pulled down a mummy, +which he bore away with him, and laid it with much care and solicitude +upon the ground. By<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> it he placed his lamp, and then squatting down +beside it in Eastern fashion he began with long quivering fingers to +undo the cerecloths and bandages which girt it round. As the crackling +rolls of linen peeled off one after the other, a strong aromatic odour +filled the chamber, and fragments of scented wood and of spices pattered +down upon the marble floor.</p> + +<p>It was clear to John Vansittart Smith that this mummy had never been +unswathed before. The operation interested him keenly. He thrilled all +over with curiosity, and his birdlike head protruded further and further +from behind the door. When, however, the last roll had been removed from +the four-thousand-year-old head, it was all that he could do to stifle +an outcry of amazement. First, a cascade of long, black, glossy tresses +poured over the workman's hands and arms. A second turn of the bandage +revealed a low, white forehead, with a pair of delicately arched +eyebrows. A third uncovered a pair of bright, deeply fringed eyes, and a +straight, well-cut nose, while a fourth and last showed a sweet, full, +sensitive mouth, and a beautifully curved chin. The whole face was one +of extraordinary loveliness, save for the one blemish that in the centre +of the forehead there was a single irregular, coffee-coloured splotch. +It was a triumph of the embalmer's art. Vansittart Smith's eyes grew +larger and larger as he gazed upon it, and he chirruped in his throat +with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Its effect upon the Egyptologist was as nothing, however, compared with +that which it produced upon the strange attendant. He threw his hands up +into the air, burst into a harsh clatter of words, and then, hurling +himself down upon the ground beside the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> mummy, he threw his arms round +her, and kissed her repeatedly upon the lips and brow. "Ma petite!" he +groaned in French. "Ma pauvre petite!" His voice broke with emotion, and +his innumerable wrinkles quivered and writhed, but the student observed +in the lamplight that his shining eyes were still dry and tearless as +two beads of steel. For some minutes he lay, with a twitching face, +crooning and moaning over the beautiful head. Then he broke into a +sudden smile, said some words in an unknown tongue, and sprang to his +feet with the vigorous air of one who has braced himself for an effort.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the room there was a large circular case which +contained, as the student had frequently remarked, a magnificent +collection of early Egyptian rings and precious stones. To this the +attendant strode, and, unlocking it, threw it open. On the edge at the +side he placed his lamp, and beside it a small earthenware jar which he +had drawn from his pocket. He then took a handful of rings from the +case, and with the most serious and anxious face he proceeded to smear +each in turn with some liquid substance from the earthen pot, holding +them to the light as he did so. He was clearly disappointed with the +first lot, for he threw them petulantly back into the case and drew out +some more. One of these, a massive ring with a large crystal set in it, +he seized and eagerly tested with the contents of the jar. Instantly he +uttered a cry of joy, and threw out his arms in a wild gesture which +upset the pot and sent the liquid streaming across the floor to the very +feet of the Englishman. The attendant drew a red handkerchief from his +bosom, and, mopping up the mess, he followed it into the corner,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> where +in a moment he found himself face to face with his observer.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," said John Vansittart Smith, with all imaginable politeness; +"I have been unfortunate enough to fall asleep behind this door."</p> + +<p>"And you have been watching me?" the other asked in English, with a most +venomous look on his corpse-like face.</p> + +<p>The student was a man of veracity. "I confess," said he, "that I have +noticed your movements, and that they have aroused my curiosity and +interest in the highest degree."</p> + +<p>The man drew a long flamboyant-bladed knife from his bosom. "You have +had a very narrow escape," he said; "had I seen you ten minutes ago, I +should have driven this through your heart. As it is, if you touch me or +interfere with me in any way you are a dead man."</p> + +<p>"I have no wish to interfere with you," the student answered. "My +presence here is entirely accidental. All I ask is that you will have +the extreme kindness to show me out through some side door." He spoke +with great suavity, for the man was still pressing the tip of his dagger +against the palm of his left hand, as though to assure himself of its +sharpness, while his face preserved its malignant expression.</p> + +<p>"If I thought——" said he. "But no, perhaps it is as well. What is your +name?"</p> + +<p>The Englishman gave it.</p> + +<p>"Vansittart Smith," the other repeated. "Are you the same Vansittart +Smith who gave a paper in London upon El Kab? I saw a report of it. Your +knowledge of the subject is contemptible."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Sir!" cried the Egyptologist.</p> + +<p>"Yet it is superior to that of many who make even greater pretensions. +The whole keystone of our old life in Egypt was not the inscriptions or +monuments of which you make so much, but was our hermetic philosophy and +mystic knowledge of which you say little or nothing."</p> + +<p>"Our old life!" repeated the scholar, wide-eyed; and then suddenly, +"Good God, look at the mummy's face!"</p> + +<p>The strange man turned and flashed his light upon the dead woman, +uttering a long doleful cry as he did so. The action of the air had +already undone all the art of the embalmer. The skin had fallen away, +the eyes had sunk inwards, the discoloured lips had writhed away from +the yellow teeth, and the brown mark upon the forehead alone showed that +it was indeed the same face which had shown such youth and beauty a few +short minutes before.</p> + +<p>The man flapped his hands together in grief and horror. Then mastering +himself by a strong effort he turned his hard eyes once more upon the +Englishman.</p> + +<p>"It does not matter," he said, in a shaking voice. "It does not really +matter. I came here to-night with the fixed determination to do +something. It is now done. All else is as nothing. I have found my +quest. The old curse is broken. I can rejoin her. What matter about her +inanimate shell so long as her spirit is awaiting me at the other side +of the veil!"</p> + +<p>"These are wild words," said Vansittart Smith. He was becoming more and +more convinced that he had to do with a madman.</p> + +<p>"Time presses, and I must go," continued the other.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> "The moment is at +hand for which I have waited this weary time. But I must show you out +first. Come with me."</p> + +<p>Taking up the lamp, he turned from the disordered chamber, and led the +student swiftly through the long series of the Egyptian, Assyrian, and +Persian apartments. At the end of the latter he pushed open a small door +let into the wall and descended a winding stone stair. The Englishman +felt the cold fresh air of the night upon his brow. There was a door +opposite him which appeared to communicate with the street. To the right +of this another door stood ajar, throwing a spurt of yellow light across +the passage. "Come in here!" said the attendant shortly.</p> + +<p>Vansittart Smith hesitated. He had hoped that he had come to the end of +his adventure. Yet his curiosity was strong within him. He could not +leave the matter unsolved, so he followed his strange companion into the +lighted chamber.</p> + +<p>It was a small room, such as is devoted to a <i>concierge</i>. A wood fire +sparkled in the grate. At one side stood a truckle bed, and at the other +a coarse wooden chair, with a round table in the centre, which bore the +remains of a meal. As the visitor's eye glanced round he could not but +remark with an ever-recurring thrill that all the small details of the +room were of the most quaint design and antique workmanship. The +candlesticks, the vases upon the chimneypiece, the fire-irons, the +ornaments upon the walls, were all such as he had been wont to associate +with the remote past. The gnarled heavy-eyed man sat himself down upon +the edge of the bed, and motioned his guest into the chair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There may be design in this," he said, still speaking excellent +English. "It may be decreed that I should leave some account behind as a +warning to all rash mortals who would set their wits up against workings +of Nature. I leave it with you. Make such use as you will of it. I speak +to you now with my feet upon the threshold of the other world.</p> + +<p>"I am, as you surmised, an Egyptian—not one of the down-trodden race of +slaves who now inhabit the Delta of the Nile, but a survivor of that +fiercer and harder people who tamed the Hebrew, drove the Ethiopian back +into the southern deserts, and built those mighty works which have been +the envy and the wonder of all after generations. It was in the reign of +Tuthmosis, sixteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, that I +first saw the light. You shrink away from me. Wait, and you will see +that I am more to be pitied than to be feared.</p> + +<p>"My name was Sosra. My father had been the chief priest of Osiris in the +great temple of Abaris, which stood in those days upon the Bubastic +branch of the Nile. I was brought up in the temple and was trained in +all those mystic arts which are spoken of in your own Bible. I was an +apt pupil. Before I was sixteen I had learned all which the wisest +priest could teach me. From that time on I studied Nature's secrets for +myself, and shared my knowledge with no man.</p> + +<p>"Of all the questions which attracted me there were none over which I +laboured so long as over those which concern themselves with the nature +of life. I probed deeply into the vital principle. The aim of medicine +had been to drive away disease when it appeared. It seemed to me that a +method might be de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>vised which should so fortify the body as to prevent +weakness or death from ever taking hold of it. It is useless that I +should recount my researches. You would scarce comprehend them if I did. +They were carried out partly upon animals, partly upon slaves, and +partly on myself. Suffice it that their result was to furnish me with a +substance which, when injected into the blood, would endow the body with +strength to resist the effects of time, of violence, or of disease. It +would not indeed confer immortality, but its potency would endure for +many thousands of years. I used it upon a cat, and afterwards drugged +the creature with the most deadly poisons. That cat is alive in Lower +Egypt at the present moment. There was nothing of mystery or magic in +the matter. It was simply a chemical discovery, which may well be made +again.</p> + +<p>"Love of life runs high in the young. It seemed to me that I had broken +away from all human care now that I had abolished pain and driven death +to such a distance. With a light heart I poured the accursed stuff into +my veins. Then I looked round for some one whom I could benefit. There +was a young priest of Thoth, Parmes by name, who had won my goodwill by +his earnest nature and his devotion to his studies. To him I whispered +my secret, and at his request I injected him with my elixir. I should +now, I reflected, never be without a companion of the same age as +myself.</p> + +<p>"After this grand discovery I relaxed my studies to some extent, but +Parmes continued his with redoubled energy. Every day I could see him +working with his flasks and his distiller in the Temple of Thoth, but he +said little to me as to the result of his labours. For<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> my own part, I +used to walk through the city and look around me with exultation as I +reflected that all this was destined to pass away, and that only I +should remain. The people would bow to me as they passed me, for the +fame of my knowledge had gone abroad.</p> + +<p>"There was war at this time, and the Great King had sent down his +soldiers to the eastern boundary to drive away the Hyksos. A Governor, +too, was sent to Abaris, that he might hold it for the King. I had heard +much of the beauty of the daughter of this Governor, but one day as I +walked out with Parmes we met her, borne upon the shoulders of her +slaves. I was struck with love as with lightning. My heart went out from +me. I could have thrown myself beneath the feet of her bearers. This was +my woman. Life without her was impossible. I swore by the head of Horus +that she should be mine. I swore it to the Priest of Thoth. He turned +away from me with a brow which was as black as midnight.</p> + +<p>"There is no need to tell you of our wooing. She came to love me even as +I loved her. I learned that Parmes had seen her before I did, and had +shown her that he too loved her, but I could smile at his passion, for I +knew that her heart was mine. The white plague had come upon the city +and many were stricken, but I laid my hands upon the sick and nursed +them without fear or scathe. She marvelled at my daring. Then I told her +my secret, and begged her that she would let me use my art upon her.</p> + +<p>"'Your flower shall then be unwithered, Atma,' I said. 'Other things may +pass away, but you and I, and our great love for each other, shall +outlive the tomb of King Chefru.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But she was full of timid, maidenly objections. 'Was it right?' she +asked, 'was it not a thwarting of the will of the gods? If the great +Osiris had wished that our years should be so long, would he not himself +have brought it about?'</p> + +<p>"With fond and loving words I overcame her doubts, and yet she +hesitated. It was a great question, she said. She would think it over +for this one night. In the morning I should know of her resolution. +Surely one night was not too much to ask. She wished to pray to Isis for +help in her decision.</p> + +<p>"With a sinking heart and a sad foreboding of evil I left her with her +tirewomen. In the morning, when the early sacrifice was over, I hurried +to her house. A frightened slave met me upon the steps. Her mistress was +ill, she said, very ill. In a frenzy I broke my way through the +attendants, and rushed through hall and corridor to my Atma's chamber. +She lay upon her couch, her head high upon the pillow, with a pallid +face and a glazed eye. On her forehead there blazed a single angry +purple patch. I knew that hell-mark of old. It was the scar of the white +plague, the sign-manual of death.</p> + +<p>"Why should I speak of that terrible time? For months I was mad, +fevered, delirious, and yet I could not die. Never did an Arab thirst +after the sweet wells as I longed after death. Could poison or steel +have shortened the thread of my existence, I should soon have rejoined +my love in the land with the narrow portal. I tried, but it was of no +avail. The accursed influence was too strong upon me. One night as I lay +upon my couch, weak and weary, Parmes, the priest of Thoth, came to my +chamber. He stood in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> the circle of the lamplight, and he looked down +upon me with eyes which were bright with a mad joy.</p> + +<p>"'Why did you let the maiden die?' he asked; 'why did you not strengthen +her as you strengthened me?'</p> + +<p>"'I was too late,' I answered. 'But I had forgot. You also loved her. +You are my fellow in misfortune. Is it not terrible to think of the +centuries which must pass ere we look upon her again? Fools, fools, that +we were to take death to be our enemy!'</p> + +<p>"'You may say that,' he cried with a wild laugh; 'the words come well +from your lips. For me they have no meaning.'</p> + +<p>"'What mean you?' I cried, raising myself upon my elbow. 'Surely, +friend, this grief has turned your brain.' His face was aflame with joy, +and he writhed and shook like one who hath a devil.</p> + +<p>"'Do you know whither I go?' he asked.</p> + +<p>"'Nay,' I answered, 'I cannot tell.'</p> + +<p>"'I go to her,' said he. 'She lies embalmed in the further tomb by the +double palm-tree beyond the city wall.'</p> + +<p>"'Why do you go there?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'To die!' he shrieked, 'to die! I am not bound by earthen fetters.'</p> + +<p>"'But the elixir is in your blood,' I cried.</p> + +<p>"'I can defy it,' said he; 'I have found a stronger principle which will +destroy it. It is working in my veins at this moment, and in an hour I +shall be a dead man. I shall join her, and you shall remain behind.'</p> + +<p>"As I looked upon him I could see that he spoke words of truth. The +light in his eye told me that he was indeed beyond the power of the +elixir.</p> + +<p>"'You will teach me!' I cried.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Never!' he answered.</p> + +<p>"'I implore you, by the wisdom of Thoth, by the majesty of Anubis!'</p> + +<p>"'It is useless,” he said coldly.</p> + +<p>"'Then I will find it out,' I cried.</p> + +<p>"'You cannot,' he answered; 'it came to me by chance. There is one +ingredient which you can never get. Save that which is in the ring of +Thoth, none will ever more be made.'</p> + +<p>"'In the ring of Thoth!' I repeated, 'where then is the ring of Thoth?'</p> + +<p>"'That also you shall never know,' he answered. 'You won her love. Who +has won in the end? I leave you to your sordid earth life. My chains are +broken. I must go!' He turned upon his heel and fled from the chamber. +In the morning came the news that the Priest of Thoth was dead.</p> + +<p>"My days after that were spent in study. I must find this subtle poison +which was strong enough to undo the elixir. From early dawn to midnight +I bent over the test-tube and the furnace. Above all, I collected the +papyri and the chemical flasks of the Priest of Thoth. Alas! they taught +me little. Here and there some hint or stray expression would raise hope +in my bosom, but no good ever came of it. Still, month after month, I +struggled on. When my heart grew faint I would make my way to the tomb +by the palm-trees. There, standing by the dead casket from which the +jewel had been rifled, I would feel her sweet presence, and would +whisper to her that I would rejoin her if mortal wit could solve the +riddle.</p> + +<p>"Parmes had said that his discovery was connected with the ring of +Thoth. I had some remembrance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> of the trinket. It was a large and +weighty circlet, made, not of gold, but of a rarer and heavier metal +brought from the mines of Mount Harbal. Platinum, you call it. The ring +had, I remembered, a hollow crystal set in it, in which some few drops +of liquid might be stored. Now, the secret of Parmes could not have to +do with the metal alone, for there were many rings of that metal in the +Temple. Was it not more likely that he had stored his precious poison +within the cavity of the crystal? I had scarce come to this conclusion +before, in hunting through his papers, I came upon one which told me +that it was indeed so, and that there was still some of the liquid +unused.</p> + +<p>"But how to find the ring? It was not upon him when he was stripped for +the embalmer. Of that I made sure. Neither was it among his private +effects. In vain I searched every room that he had entered, every box +and vase and chattel that he had owned. I sifted the very sand of the +desert in the place where he had been wont to walk; but, do what I +would, I could come upon no traces of the ring of Thoth. Yet it may be +that my labours would have overcome all obstacles had it not been for a +new and unlooked-for misfortune.</p> + +<p>"A great war had been waged against the Hyksos, and the Captains of the +Great King had been cut off in the desert, with all their bowmen and +horsemen. The shepherd tribes were upon us like the locusts in a dry +year. From the wilderness of Shur to the great bitter lake there was +blood by day and fire by night. Abaris was the bulwark of Egypt, but we +could not keep the savages back. The city fell. The Governor and the +soldiers were put to the sword, and I, with many more, was led away into +captivity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<p>"For years and years I tended cattle in the great plains by the +Euphrates. My master died, and his son grew old, but I was still as far +from death as ever. At last I escaped upon a swift camel, and made my +way back to Egypt. The Hyksos had settled in the land which they had +conquered, and their own King ruled over the country. Abaris had been +torn down, the city had been burned, and of the great Temple there was +nothing left save an unsightly mound. Everywhere the tombs had been +rifled and the monuments destroyed. Of my Atma's grave no sign was left. +It was buried in the sands of the desert, and the palm-trees which +marked the spot had long disappeared. The papers of Parmes and the +remains of the Temple of Thoth were either destroyed or scattered far +and wide over the deserts of Syria. All search after them was vain.</p> + +<p>"From that time I gave up all hope of ever finding the ring or +discovering the subtle drug. I set myself to live as patiently as might +be until the effect of the elixir should wear away. How can you +understand how terrible a thing time is, you who have experience only of +the narrow course which lies between the cradle and the grave! I know it +to my cost, I who have floated down the whole stream of history. I was +old when Ilium fell. I was very old when Herodotus came to Memphis. I +was bowed down with years when the new gospel came upon earth. Yet you +see me much as other men are, with the cursed elixir still sweetening my +blood, and guarding me against that which I would court. Now at last, at +last I have come to the end of it!</p> + +<p>"I have travelled in all lands and I have dwelt with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> all nations. Every +tongue is the same to me. I learned them all to help pass the weary +time. I need not tell you how slowly they drifted by, the long dawn of +modern civilisation, the dreary middle years, the dark times of +barbarism. They are all behind me now. I have never looked with the eyes +of love upon another woman. Atma knows that I have been constant to her.</p> + +<p>"It was my custom to read all that the scholars had to say upon Ancient +Egypt. I have been in many positions, sometimes affluent, sometimes +poor, but I have always found enough to enable me to buy the journals +which deal with such matters. Some nine months ago I was in San +Francisco, when I read an account of some discoveries made in the +neighbourhood of Abaris. My heart leapt into my mouth as I read it. It +said that the excavator had busied himself in exploring some tombs +recently unearthed. In one there had been found an unopened mummy with +an inscription upon the outer case setting forth that it contained the +body of the daughter of the Governor of the city in the days of +Tuthmosis. It added that on removing the outer case there had been +exposed a large platinum ring set with a crystal, which had been laid +upon the breast of the embalmed woman. This, then, was where Parmes had +hid the ring of Thoth. He might well say that it was safe, for no +Egyptian would ever stain his soul by moving even the outer case of a +buried friend.</p> + +<p>"That very night I set off from San Francisco, and in a few weeks I +found myself once more at Abaris, if a few sand-heaps and crumbling +walls may retain the name of the great city. I hurried to the French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>men +who were digging there and asked them for the ring. They replied that +both the ring and the mummy had been sent to the Boulak Museum at Cairo. +To Boulak I went, but only to be told that Mariette Bey had claimed them +and had shipped them to the Louvre. I followed them, and there at last, +in the Egyptian chamber, I came, after close upon four thousand years, +upon the remains of my Atma, and upon the ring for which I had sought so +long.</p> + +<p>"But how was I to lay hands upon them? How was I to have them for my +very own? It chanced that the office of attendant was vacant. I went to +the Director. I convinced him that I knew much about Egypt. In my +eagerness I said too much. He remarked that a Professor's chair would +suit me better than a seat in the conciergerie. I knew more, he said, +than he did. It was only by blundering, and letting him think that he +had over-estimated my knowledge, that I prevailed upon him to let me +move the few effects which I have retained into this chamber. It is my +first and my last night here.</p> + +<p>"Such is my story, Mr. Vansittart Smith. I need not say more to a man of +your perception. By a strange chance you have this night looked upon the +face of the woman whom I loved in those far-off days. There were many +rings with crystals in the case, and I had to test for the platinum to +be sure of the one which I wanted. A glance at the crystal has shown me +that the liquid is indeed within it, and that I shall at last be able to +shake off that accursed health which has been worse to me than the +foulest disease. I have nothing more to say to you. I have unburdened +myself. You may tell my story or you may withhold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> it at your pleasure. +The choice rests with you. I owe you some amends, for you have had a +narrow escape of your life this night. I was a desperate man, and not to +be baulked in my purpose. Had I seen you before the thing was done, I +might have put it beyond your power to oppose me or to raise an alarm. +This is the door. It leads into the Rue de Rivoli. Good-night."</p> + +<p>The Englishman glanced back. For a moment the lean figure of Sosra the +Egyptian stood framed in the narrow doorway. The next the door had +slammed, and the heavy rasping of a bolt broke on the silent night.</p> + +<p>It was on the second day after his return to London that Mr. John +Vansittart Smith saw the following concise narrative in the Paris +correspondence of the <i>Times</i>:—</p> + +<p>"<i>Curious Occurrence in the Louvre.</i>—Yesterday morning a strange +discovery was made in the principal Eastern chamber. The <i>ouvriers</i> who +are employed to clean out the rooms in the morning found one of the +attendants lying dead upon the floor with his arms round one of the +mummies. So close was his embrace that it was only with the utmost +difficulty that they were separated. One of the cases containing +valuable rings had been opened and rifled. The authorities are of +opinion that the man was bearing away the mummy with some idea of +selling it to a private collector, but that he was struck down in the +very act by long-standing disease of the heart. It is said that he was a +man of uncertain age and eccentric habits, without any living relations +to mourn over his dramatic and untimely end."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE LOS AMIGOS FIASCO</h3> + + +<p>I used to be the leading practitioner of Los Amigos. Of course, every +one has heard of the great electrical generating gear there. The town is +wide spread, and there are dozens of little townlets and villages all +around, which receive their supply from the same centre, so that the +works are on a very large scale. The Los Amigos folk say that they are +the largest upon earth, but then we claim that for everything in Los +Amigos except the gaol and the death-rate. Those are said to be the +smallest.</p> + +<p>Now, with so fine an electrical supply, it seemed to be a sinful waste +of hemp that the Los Amigos criminals should perish in the old-fashioned +manner. And then came the news of the electrocutions in the East, and +how the results had not after all been so instantaneous as had been +hoped. The Western engineers raised their eyebrows when they read of the +puny shocks by which these men had perished, and they vowed in Los +Amigos that when an irreclaimable came their way he should be dealt +handsomely by, and have the run of all the big dynamos. There should be +no reserve, said the engineers, but he should have all that they had +got. And what the result of that would be none could predict, save that +it must be absolutely blasting and deadly. Never before had a man been +so charged with electricity as they would charge him. He was to be +smitten by the essence of ten thunder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>bolts. Some prophesied combustion, +and some disintegration and disappearance. They were waiting eagerly to +settle the question by actual demonstration, and it was just at that +moment that Duncan Warner came that way.</p> + +<p>Warner had been wanted by the law, and by nobody else, for many years. +Desperado, murderer, train robber, and road agent, he was a man beyond +the pale of human pity. He had deserved a dozen deaths, and the Los +Amigos folk grudged him so gaudy a one as that. He seemed to feel +himself to be unworthy of it, for he made two frenzied attempts at +escape. He was a powerful, muscular man, with a lion heart, tangled +black locks, and a sweeping beard which covered his broad chest. When he +was tried, there was no finer head in all the crowded court. It's no new +thing to find the best face looking from the dock. But his good looks +could not balance his bad deeds. His advocate did all he knew, but the +cards lay against him, and Duncan Warner was handed over to the mercy of +the big Los Amigos dynamos.</p> + +<p>I was there at the committee meeting when the matter was discussed. The +town council had chosen four experts to look after the arrangements. +Three of them were admirable. There was Joseph M'Connor, the very man +who had designed the dynamos, and there was Joshua Westmacott, the +chairman of the Los Amigos Electrical Supply Company, Limited. Then +there was myself as the chief medical man, and lastly an old German of +the name of Peter Stulpnagel. The Germans were a strong body at Los +Amigos, and they all voted for their man. That was how he got on the +committee. It was said that he had been a won<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>derful electrician at +home, and he was eternally working with wires and insulators and Leyden +jars; but, as he never seemed to get any further, or to have any results +worth publishing, he came at last to be regarded as a harmless crank, +who had made science his hobby. We three practical men smiled when we +heard that he had been elected as our colleague, and at the meeting we +fixed it all up very nicely among ourselves without much thought of the +old fellow who sat with his ears scooped forward in his hands, for he +was a trifle hard of hearing, taking no more part in the proceedings +than the gentlemen of the press who scribbled their notes on the back +benches.</p> + +<p>We did not take long to settle it all. In New York a strength of some +two thousand volts had been used, and death had not been instantaneous. +Evidently their shock had been too weak. Los Amigos should not fall into +that error. The charge should be six times greater, and therefore, of +course, it would be six times more effective. Nothing could possibly be +more logical. The whole concentrated force of the great dynamos should +be employed on Duncan Warner.</p> + +<p>So we three settled it, and had already risen to break up the meeting, +when our silent companion opened his mouth for the first time.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said he, "you appear to me to show an extraordinary +ignorance upon the subject of electricity. You have not mastered the +first principles of its actions upon a human being."</p> + +<p>The committee was about to break into an angry reply to this brusque +comment, but the chairman of the Electrical Company tapped his forehead +to claim its indulgence for the crankiness of the speaker.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Pray tell us, sir," said he, with an ironical smile, "what is there in +our conclusions with which you find fault?"</p> + +<p>"With your assumption that a large dose of electricity will merely +increase the effect of a small dose. Do you not think it possible that +it might have an entirely different result? Do you know anything, by +actual experiment, of the effect of such powerful shocks?"</p> + +<p>"We know it by analogy," said the chairman pompously. "All drugs +increase their effect when they increase their dose; for example—for +example——"</p> + +<p>"Whisky," said Joseph M'Connor.</p> + +<p>"Quite so. Whisky. You see it there."</p> + +<p>Peter Stulpnagel smiled and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Your argument is not very good," said he. "When I used to take whisky, +I used to find that one glass would excite me, but that six would send +me to sleep, which is just the opposite. Now, suppose that electricity +were to act in just the opposite way also, what then?"</p> + +<p>We three practical men burst out laughing. We had known that our +colleague was queer, but we never had thought that he would be as queer +as this.</p> + +<p>"What then?" repeated Peter Stulpnagel.</p> + +<p>"We'll take our chances," said the chairman.</p> + +<p>"Pray consider," said Peter, "that workmen who have touched the wires, +and who have received shocks of only a few hundred volts, have died +instantly. The fact is well known. And yet when a much greater force was +used upon a criminal at New York, the man struggled for some little +time. Do you not clearly see that the smaller dose is the more deadly?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think, gentlemen, that this discussion has been carried on quite long +enough," said the chairman, rising again. "The point, I take it, has +already been decided by the majority of the committee, and Duncan Warner +shall be electrocuted on Tuesday by the full strength of the Los Amigos +dynamos. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"I agree," said Joseph M'Connor.</p> + +<p>"I agree," said I.</p> + +<p>"And I protest," said Peter Stulpnagel.</p> + +<p>"Then the motion is carried, and your protest will be duly entered in +the minutes," said the chairman, and so the sitting was dissolved.</p> + +<p>The attendance at the electrocution was a very small one. We four +members of the committee were, of course, present with the executioner, +who was to act under their orders. The others were the United States +Marshal, the governor of the gaol, the chaplain, and three members of +the press. The room was a small brick chamber, forming an out-house to +the Central Electrical station. It had been used as a laundry, and had +an oven and copper at one side, but no other furniture save a single +chair for the condemned man. A metal plate for his feet was placed in +front of it, to which ran a thick insulated wire. Above, another wire +depended from the ceiling, which could be connected with a small +metallic rod projecting from a cap which was to be placed upon his head. +When this connection was established Duncan Warner's hour was come.</p> + +<p>There was a solemn hush as we waited for the coming of the prisoner. The +practical engineers looked a little pale, and fidgeted nervously with +the wires. Even the hardened Marshal was ill at ease, for a mere hanging +was one thing, and this blasting of flesh and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> blood a very different +one. As to the pressmen, their faces were whiter than the sheets which +lay before them. The only man who appeared to feel none of the influence +of these preparations was the little German crank, who strolled from one +to the other with a smile on his lips and mischief in his eyes. More +than once he even went so far as to burst into a shout of laughter, +until the chaplain sternly rebuked him for his ill-timed levity.</p> + +<p>"How can you so far forget yourself, Mr. Stulpnagel," said he, "as to +jest in the presence of death?"</p> + +<p>But the German was quite unabashed.</p> + +<p>"If I were in the presence of death I should not jest," said he, "but +since I am not I may do what I choose."</p> + +<p>This flippant reply was about to draw another and a sterner reproof from +the chaplain, when the door was swung open and two warders entered +leading Duncan Warner between them. He glanced round him with a set +face, stepped resolutely forward, and seated himself upon the chair.</p> + +<p>"Touch her off!" said he.</p> + +<p>It was barbarous to keep him in suspense. The chaplain murmured a few +words in his ear, the attendant placed the cap upon his head, and then, +while we all held our breath, the wire and the metal were brought in +contact.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott!" shouted Duncan Warner.</p> + +<p>He had bounded in his chair as the frightful shock crashed through his +system. But he was not dead. On the contrary, his eyes gleamed far more +brightly than they had done before. There was only one change, but it +was a singular one. The black had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> passed from his hair and beard as the +shadow passes from a landscape. They were both as white as snow. And yet +there was no other sign of decay. His skin was smooth and plump and +lustrous as a child's.</p> + +<p>The Marshal looked at the committee with a reproachful eye.</p> + +<p>"There seems to be some hitch here, gentlemen," said he.</p> + +<p>We three practical men looked at each other.</p> + +<p>Peter Stulpnagel smiled pensively.</p> + +<p>"I think that another one should do it," said I.</p> + +<p>Again the connection was made, and again Duncan Warner sprang in his +chair and shouted, but, indeed, were it not that he still remained in +the chair none of us would have recognised him. His hair and his beard +had shredded off in an instant, and the room looked like a barber's shop +on a Saturday night. There he sat, his eyes still shining, his skin +radiant with the glow of perfect health, but with a scalp as bald as a +Dutch cheese, and a chin without so much as a trace of down. He began to +revolve one of his arms, slowly and doubtfully at first, but with more +confidence as he went on.</p> + +<p>"That joint," said he, "has puzzled half the doctors on the Pacific +slope. It's as good as new, and as limber as a hickory twig."</p> + +<p>"You are feeling pretty well?" asked the old German.</p> + +<p>"Never better in my life," said Duncan Warner cheerily.</p> + +<p>The situation was a painful one. The Marshal glared at the committee. +Peter Stulpnagel grinned and rubbed his hands. The engineers scratched +their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> heads. The bald-headed prisoner revolved his arm and looked +pleased.</p> + +<p>"I think that one more shock——" began the chairman.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said the Marshal; "we've had foolery enough for one morning. +We are here for an execution, and an execution we'll have."</p> + +<p>"What do you propose?"</p> + +<p>"There's a hook handy upon the ceiling. Fetch a rope, and we'll soon set +this matter straight."</p> + +<p>There was another awkward delay while the warders departed for the cord. +Peter Stulpnagel bent over Duncan Warner, and whispered something in his +ear. The desperado stared in surprise.</p> + +<p>"You don't say?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The German nodded.</p> + +<p>"What! No ways?"</p> + +<p>Peter shook his head, and the two began to laugh as though they shared +some huge joke between them.</p> + +<p>The rope was brought, and the Marshal himself slipped the noose over the +criminal's neck. Then the two warders, the assistant and he swung their +victim into the air. For half an hour he hung—a dreadful sight—from +the ceiling. Then in solemn silence they lowered him down, and one of +the warders went out to order the shell to be brought round. But as he +touched ground again what was our amazement when Duncan Warner put his +hands up to his neck, loosened the noose, and took a long, deep breath.</p> + +<p>"Paul Jefferson's sale is goin' well," he remarked, "I could see the +crowd from up yonder," and he nodded at the hook in the ceiling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Up with him again!" shouted the Marshal, "we'll get the life out of him +somehow."</p> + +<p>In an instant the victim was up at the hook once more.</p> + +<p>They kept him there for an hour, but when he came down he was perfectly +garrulous.</p> + +<p>"Old man Plunket goes too much to the Arcady Saloon," said he. "Three +times he's been there in an hour; and him with a family. Old man Plunket +would do well to swear off."</p> + +<p>It was monstrous and incredible, but there it was. There was no getting +round it. The man was there talking when he ought to have been dead. We +all sat staring in amazement, but United States Marshal Carpenter was +not a man to be euchred so easily. He motioned the others to one side, +so that the prisoner was left standing alone.</p> + +<p>"Duncan Warner," said he slowly, "you are here to play your part, and I +am here to play mine. Your game is to live if you can, and my game is to +carry out the sentence of the law. You've beat us on electricity, I'll +give you one there. And you've beat us on hanging, for you seem to +thrive on it. But it's my turn to beat you now, for my duty has to be +done."</p> + +<p>He pulled a six-shooter from his coat as he spoke, and fired all the +shots through the body of the prisoner. The room was so filled with +smoke that we could see nothing, but when it cleared the prisoner was +still standing there, looking down in disgust at the front of his coat.</p> + +<p>"Coats must be cheap where you come from," said he. "Thirty dollars it +cost me, and look at it now.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> The six holes in front are bad enough, but +four of the balls have passed out, and a pretty fine state the back must +be in."</p> + +<p>The Marshal's revolver fell from his hand, and he dropped his arms to +his sides, a beaten man.</p> + +<p>"Maybe some of you gentlemen can tell me what this means," said he, +looking helplessly at the committee.</p> + +<p>Peter Stulpnagel took a step forward.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you all about it," said he.</p> + +<p>"You seem to be the only person who knows anything."</p> + +<p>"I <i>am</i> the only person who knows anything. I should have warned these +gentlemen; but, as they would not listen to me, I have allowed them to +learn by experience. What you have done with your electricity is that +you have increased the man's vitality until he can deny death for +centuries."</p> + +<p>"Centuries!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it will take the wear of hundreds of years to exhaust the enormous +nervous energy with which you have drenched him. Electricity is life, +and you have charged him with it to the utmost. Perhaps in fifty years +you might execute him, but I am not sanguine about it."</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! What shall I do with him?" cried the unhappy Marshal.</p> + +<p>Peter Stulpnagel shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that it does not much matter what you do with him now," +said he.</p> + +<p>"Maybe we could drain the electricity out of him again. Suppose we hang +him up by the heels?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, it's out of the question."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, he shall do no more mischief in Los<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> Amigos, anyhow," said +the Marshal, with decision. "He shall go into the new gaol. The prison +will wear him out."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," said Peter Stulpnagel, "I think that it is much more +probable that he will wear out the prison."</p> + +<p>It was rather a fiasco, and for years we didn't talk more about it than +we could help, but it's no secret now, and I thought you might like to +jot down the facts in your case-book.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>HOW IT HAPPENED</h3> + + +<p>She was a writing medium. This is what she wrote:—</p> + +<p>I can remember some things upon that evening most distinctly, and others +are like some vague, broken dreams. That is what makes it so difficult +to tell a connected story. I have no idea now what it was that had taken +me to London and brought me back so late. It just merges into all my +other visits to London. But from the time that I got out at the little +country station everything is extraordinarily clear. I can live it +again—every instant of it.</p> + +<p>I remember so well walking down the platform and looking at the +illuminated clock at the end which told me that it was half-past eleven. +I remember also my wondering whether I could get home before midnight. +Then I remember the big motor, with its glaring headlights and glitter +of polished brass, waiting for me outside. It was my new +thirty-horse-power Robur, which had only been delivered that day. I +remember also asking Perkins, my chauffeur, how she had gone, and his +saying that he thought she was excellent.</p> + +<p>"I'll try her myself," said I, and I climbed into the driver's seat.</p> + +<p>"The gears are not the same," said he. "Perhaps, sir, I had better +drive."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No; I should like to try her," said I.</p> + +<p>And so we started on the five-mile drive for home.</p> + +<p>My old car had the gears as they used always to be in notches on a bar. +In this car you passed the gear-lever through a gate to get on the +higher ones. It was not difficult to master, and soon I thought that I +understood it. It was foolish, no doubt, to begin to learn a new system +in the dark, but one often does foolish things, and one has not always +to pay the full price for them. I got along very well until I came to +Claystall Hill. It is one of the worst hills in England, a mile and a +half long and one in six in places, with three fairly sharp curves. My +park gates stand at the very foot of it upon the main London road.</p> + +<p>We were just over the brow of this hill, where the grade is steepest, +when the trouble began. I had been on the top speed, and wanted to get +her on the free; but she stuck between gears, and I had to get her back +on the top again. By this time she was going at a great rate, so I +clapped on both brakes, and one after the other they gave way. I didn't +mind so much when I felt my footbrake snap, but when I put all my weight +on my side-brake, and the lever clanged to its full limit without a +catch, it brought a cold sweat out of me. By this time we were fairly +tearing down the slope. The lights were brilliant, and I brought her +round the first curve all right. Then we did the second one, though it +was a close shave for the ditch. There was a mile of straight then with +the third curve beneath it, and after that the gate of the park. If I +could shoot into that harbour all would be well, for the slope up to the +house would bring her to a stand.</p> + +<p>Perkins behaved splendidly. I should like that to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> be known. He was +perfectly cool and alert. I had thought at the very beginning of taking +the bank, and he read my intention.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't do it, sir," said he. "At this pace it must go over and we +should have it on the top of us."</p> + +<p>Of course he was right. He got to the electric switch and had it off, so +we were in the free; but we were still running at a fearful pace. He +laid his hands on the wheel.</p> + +<p>"I'll keep her steady," said he, "if you care to jump and chance it. We +can never get round that curve. Better jump, sir."</p> + +<p>"No," said I; "I'll stick it out. You can jump if you like."</p> + +<p>"I'll stick it with you, sir," said he.</p> + +<p>If it had been the old car I should have jammed the gear-lever into the +reverse, and seen what would happen. I expect she would have stripped +her gears or smashed up somehow, but it would have been a chance. As it +was, I was helpless. Perkins tried to climb across, but you couldn't do +it going at that pace. The wheels were whirring like a high wind and the +big body creaking and groaning with the strain. But the lights were +brilliant, and one could steer to an inch. I remember thinking what an +awful and yet majestic sight we should appear to any one who met us. It +was a narrow road, and we were just a great, roaring, golden death to +any one who came in our path.</p> + +<p>We got round the corner with one wheel three feet high upon the bank. I +thought we were surely over, but after staggering for a moment she +righted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> darted onwards. That was the third corner and the last one. +There was only the park gate now. It was facing us, but, as luck would +have it, not facing us directly. It was about twenty yards to the left +up the main road into which we ran. Perhaps I could have done it, but I +expect that the steering-gear had been jarred when we ran on the bank. +The wheel did not turn easily. We shot out of the lane. I saw the open +gate on the left. I whirled round my wheel with all the strength of my +wrists. Perkins and I threw our bodies across, and then the next +instant, going at fifty miles an hour, my right front wheel struck full +on the right-hand pillar of my own gate. I heard the crash. I was +conscious of flying through the air, and then—and then——!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>When I became aware of my own existence once more I was among some +brushwood in the shadow of the oaks upon the lodge side of the drive. A +man was standing beside me. I imagined at first that it was Perkins, but +when I looked again I saw that it was Stanley, a man whom I had known at +college some years before, and for whom I had a really genuine +affection. There was always something peculiarly sympathetic to me in +Stanley's personality; and I was proud to think that I had some similar +influence upon him. At the present moment I was surprised to see him, +but I was like a man in a dream, giddy and shaken and quite prepared to +take things as I found them without questioning them.</p> + +<p>"What a smash!" I said. "Good Lord, what an awful smash!"</p> + +<p>He nodded his head, and even in the gloom I could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> see that he was +smiling the gentle, wistful smile which I connected with him.</p> + +<p>I was quite unable to move. Indeed, I had not any desire to try to move. +But my senses were exceedingly alert. I saw the wreck of the motor lit +up by the moving lanterns. I saw the little group of people and heard +the hushed voices. There were the lodge-keeper and his wife, and one or +two more. They were taking no notice of me, but were very busy round the +car. Then suddenly I heard a cry of pain.</p> + +<p>"The weight is on him. Lift it easy," cried a voice.</p> + +<p>"It's only my leg!" said another one, which I recognised as Perkins's. +"Where's master?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Here I am," I answered, but they did not seem to hear me. They were all +bending over something which lay in front of the car.</p> + +<p>Stanley laid his hand upon my shoulder, and his touch was inexpressibly +soothing. I felt light and happy, in spite of all.</p> + +<p>"No pain, of course?" said he.</p> + +<p>"None," said I.</p> + +<p>"There never is," said he.</p> + +<p>And then suddenly a wave of amazement passed over me. Stanley! Stanley! +Why, Stanley had surely died of enteric at Bloemfontein in the Boer War!</p> + +<p>"Stanley!" I cried, and the words seemed to choke my throat—"Stanley, +you are dead."</p> + +<p>He looked at me with the same old gentle, wistful smile.</p> + +<p>"So are you," he answered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>LOT NO. 249</h3> + + +<p>Of the dealings of Edward Bellingham with William Monkhouse Lee, and of +the cause of the great terror of Abercrombie Smith, it may be that no +absolute and final judgment will ever be delivered. It is true that we +have the full and clear narrative of Smith himself, and such +corroboration as he could look for from Thomas Styles the servant, from +the Reverend Plumptree Peterson, Fellow of Old's, and from such other +people as chanced to gain some passing glance at this or that incident +in a singular chain of events. Yet, in the main, the story must rest +upon Smith alone, and the most will think that it is more likely that +one brain, however outwardly sane, has some subtle warp in its texture, +some strange flaw in its workings, than that the path of Nature has been +overstepped in open day in so famed a centre of learning and light as +the University of Oxford. Yet when we think how narrow and how devious +this path of Nature is, how dimly we can trace it, for all our lamps of +science, and how from the darkness which girds it round great and +terrible possibilities loom ever shadowly upwards, it is a bold and +confident man who will put a limit to the strange by-paths into which +the human spirit may wander.</p> + +<p>In a certain wing of what we will call Old College in Oxford there is a +corner turret of an exceeding great age. The heavy arch which spans the +open door has bent downwards in the centre under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> weight of its +years, and the grey, lichen-blotched blocks of stone are bound and +knitted together with withes and strand of ivy, as though the old mother +had set herself to brace them up against wind and weather. From a door a +stone stair curves upwards spirally, passing two landings, and +terminating in a third one, its steps all shapeless and hollowed by the +tread of so many generations of the seekers after knowledge. Life has +flowed like water down this winding stair, and, waterlike, has left +these smooth-worn grooves behind it. From the long-gowned, pedantic +scholars of Plantagenet days down to the young bloods of a later age, +how full and strong had been that tide of young English life. And what +was left now of all those hopes, those strivings, those fiery energies, +save here and there in some old-world churchyard a few scratches upon a +stone, and perchance a handful of dust in a mouldering coffin? Yet here +were the silent stair and the grey old wall, with bend and saltire and +many another heraldic device still to be read upon its surface, like +grotesque shadows thrown back from the days that had passed.</p> + +<p>In the month of May, in the year 1884, three young men occupied the sets +of rooms which opened on to the separate landings of the old stair. Each +set consisted simply of a sitting-room and a bedroom, while the two +corresponding rooms upon the ground-floor were used, the one as a +coal-cellar, and the other as the living-room of the servant, or scout, +Thomas Styles, whose duty it was to wait upon the three men above him. +To right and to left was a line of lecture-rooms and of offices, so that +the dwellers in the old turret enjoyed a certain seclusion, which made +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> chambers popular among the more studious undergraduates. Such were +the three who occupied them now—Abercrombie Smith above, Edward +Bellingham beneath him, and William Monkhouse Lee upon the lowest story.</p> + +<p>It was ten o'clock on a bright spring night, and Abercrombie Smith lay +back in his armchair, his feet upon the fender, and his briar-root pipe +between his lips. In a similar chair, and equally at his ease, there +lounged on the other side of the fireplace his old school friend Jephro +Hastie. Both men were in flannels, for they had spent their evening upon +the river, but apart from their dress no one could look at their +hard-cut, alert faces without seeing that they were open-air men—men +whose minds and tastes turned naturally to all that was manly and +robust. Hastie, indeed, was stroke of his college boat, and Smith was an +even better oar, but a coming examination had already cast its shadow +over him and held him to his work, save for the few hours a week which +health demanded. A litter of medical books upon the table, with +scattered bones, models, and anatomical plates, pointed to the extent as +well as the nature of his studies, while a couple of single-sticks and a +set of boxing-gloves above the mantelpiece hinted at the means by which, +with Hastie's help, he might take his exercise in its most compressed +and least distant form. They knew each other very well—so well that +they could sit now in that soothing silence which is the very highest +development of companionship.</p> + +<p>"Have some whisky," said Abercrombie Smith at last between two +cloudbursts. "Scotch in the jug and Irish in the bottle."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, thanks. I'm in for the sculls. I don't liquor when I'm training. +How about you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm reading hard. I think it best to leave it alone."</p> + +<p>Hastie nodded, and they relapsed into a contented silence.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Smith," asked Hastie, presently, "have you made the +acquaintance of either of the fellows on your stair yet?"</p> + +<p>"Just a nod when we pass. Nothing more."</p> + +<p>"Hum! I should be inclined to let it stand at that. I know something of +them both. Not much, but as much as I want. I don't think I should take +them to my bosom if I were you. Not that there's much amiss with +Monkhouse Lee."</p> + +<p>"Meaning the thin one?"</p> + +<p>"Precisely. He is a gentlemanly little fellow. I don't think there is +any vice in him. But then you can't know him without knowing +Bellingham."</p> + +<p>"Meaning the fat one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the fat one. And he's a man whom I, for one, would rather not +know."</p> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith raised his eyebrows and glanced across at his +companion.</p> + +<p>"What's up, then?" he asked. "Drink? Cards? Cad? You used not to be +censorious."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you evidently don't know the man, or you wouldn't ask. There's +something damnable about him—something reptilian. My gorge always rises +at him. I should put him down as a man with secret vices—an evil liver. +He's no fool, though. They say that he is one of the best men in his +line that they have ever had in the college."</p> + +<p>"Medicine or classics?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Eastern languages. He's a demon at them. Chillingworth met him +somewhere above the second cataract last long, and he told me that he +just prattled to the Arabs as if he had been born and nursed and weaned +among them. He talked Coptic to the Copts, and Hebrew to the Jews, and +Arabic to the Bedouins, and they were all ready to kiss the hem of his +frock-coat. There are some old hermit Johnnies up in those parts who +sit on rocks and scowl and spit at the casual stranger. Well, when they +saw this chap Bellingham, before he had said five words they just lay +down on their bellies and wriggled. Chillingworth said that he never saw +anything like it. Bellingham seemed to take it as his right, too, and +strutted about among them and talked down to them like a Dutch uncle. +Pretty good for an undergrad. of Old's, wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you say you can't know Lee without knowing Bellingham?"</p> + +<p>"Because Bellingham is engaged to his sister Eveline. Such a bright +little girl, Smith! I know the whole family well. It's disgusting to see +that brute with her. A toad and a dove, that's what they always remind +me of."</p> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith grinned and knocked his ashes out against the side of +the grate.</p> + +<p>"You show every card in your hand, old chap," said he. "What a +prejudiced, green-eyed, evil-thinking old man it is! You have really +nothing against the fellow except that."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've known her ever since she was as long as that cherry-wood +pipe, and I don't like to see her taking risks. And it is a risk. He +looks beastly. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> he has a beastly temper, a venomous temper. You +remember his row with Long Norton?"</p> + +<p>"No; you always forget that I am a freshman."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it was last winter. Of course. Well, you know the towpath along by +the river. There were several fellows going along it, Bellingham in +front, when they came on an old market-woman coming the other way. It +had been raining—you know what those fields are like when it has +rained—and the path ran between the river and a great puddle that was +nearly as broad. Well, what does this swine do but keep the path, and +push the old girl into the mud, where she and her marketings came to +terrible grief. It was a blackguard thing to do, and Long Norton, who is +as gentle a fellow as ever stepped, told him what he thought of it. One +word led to another, and it ended in Norton laying his stick across the +fellow's shoulders. There was the deuce of a fuss about it, and it's a +treat to see the way in which Bellingham looks at Norton when they meet +now. By Jove, Smith, it's nearly eleven o'clock!"</p> + +<p>"No hurry. Light your pipe again."</p> + +<p>"Not I. I'm supposed to be in training. Here I've been sitting gossiping +when I ought to have been safely tucked up. I'll borrow your skull, if +you can share it. Williams has had mine for a month. I'll take the +little bones of your ear, too, if you are sure you won't need them. +Thanks very much. Never mind a bag, I can carry them very well under my +arm. Good-night, my son, and take my tip as to your neighbour."</p> + +<p>When Hastie, bearing his anatomical plunder, had clattered off down the +winding stair, Abercrombie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> Smith hurled his pipe into the wastepaper +basket, and drawing his chair nearer to the lamp, plunged into a +formidable green-covered volume, adorned with great coloured maps of +that strange internal kingdom of which we are the hapless and helpless +monarchs. Though a freshman at Oxford, the student was not so in +medicine, for he had worked for four years at Glasgow and at Berlin, and +this coming examination would place him finally as a member of his +profession. With his firm mouth, broad forehead, and clear-cut, somewhat +hard-featured face, he was a man who, if he had no brilliant talent, was +yet so dogged, so patient, and so strong that he might in the end +overtop a more showy genius. A man who can hold his own among Scotchmen +and North Germans is not a man to be easily set back. Smith had left a +name at Glasgow and at Berlin, and he was bent now upon doing as much at +Oxford, if hard work and devotion could accomplish it.</p> + +<p>He had sat reading for about an hour, and the hands of the noisy +carriage clock upon the side table were rapidly closing together upon +the twelve, when a sudden sound fell upon the student's ear—a sharp, +rather shrill sound, like the hissing intake of a man's breath who gasps +under some strong emotion. Smith laid down his book and slanted his ear +to listen. There was no one on either side or above him, so that the +interruption came certainly from the neighbour beneath—the same +neighbour of whom Hastie had given so unsavory an account. Smith knew +him only as a flabby, pale-faced man of silent and studious habits, a +man whose lamp threw a golden bar from the old turret even after he had +extinguished his own. This community in late<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>ness had formed a certain +silent bond between them. It was soothing to Smith when the hours stole +on towards dawning to feel that there was another so close who set as +small a value upon his sleep as he did. Even now, as his thoughts turned +towards him, Smith's feelings were kindly. Hastie was a good fellow, but +he was rough, strong-fibred, with no imagination or sympathy. He could +not tolerate departures from what he looked upon as the model type of +manliness. If a man could not be measured by a public-school standard, +then he was beyond the pale with Hastie. Like so many who are themselves +robust, he was apt to confuse the constitution with the character, to +ascribe to want of principle what was really a want of circulation. +Smith, with his stronger mind, knew his friend's habit, and made +allowance for it now as his thoughts turned towards the man beneath him.</p> + +<p>There was no return of the singular sound, and Smith was about to turn +to his work once more, when suddenly there broke out in the silence of +the night a hoarse cry, a positive scream—the call of a man who is +moved and shaken beyond all control. Smith sprang out of his chair and +dropped his book. He was a man of fairly firm fibre, but there was +something in this sudden, uncontrollable shriek of horror which chilled +his blood and pringled in his skin. Coming in such a place and at such +an hour, it brought a thousand fantastic possibilities into his head. +Should he rush down, or was it better to wait? He had all the national +hatred of making a scene, and he knew so little of his neighbour that he +would not lightly intrude upon his affairs. For a moment he stood in +doubt and even as he balanced the matter there was a quick rattle of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +footsteps upon the stairs, and young Monkhouse Lee, half dressed and as +white as ashes, burst into his room.</p> + +<p>"Come down!" he gasped. "Bellingham's ill."</p> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith followed him closely downstairs into the sitting-room +which was beneath his own, and intent as he was upon the matter in hand, +he could not but take an amazed glance around him as he crossed the +threshold. It was such a chamber as he had never seen before—a museum +rather than a study. Walls and ceiling were thickly covered with a +thousand strange relics from Egypt and the East. Tall, angular figures +bearing burdens or weapons stalked in an uncouth frieze round the +apartments. Above were bull-headed, stork-headed, cat-headed, owl-headed +statues, with viper-crowned, almond-eyed monarchs, and strange, +beetle-like deities cut out of the blue Egyptian lapis lazuli. Horus and +Isis and Osiris peeped down from every niche and shelf, while across the +ceiling a true son of Old Nile, a great, hanging-jawed crocodile, was +slung in a double noose.</p> + +<p>In the centre of this singular chamber was a large, square table, +littered with papers, bottles, and the dried leaves of some graceful, +palm-like plant. These varied objects had all been heaped together in +order to make room for a mummy case, which had been conveyed from the +wall, as was evident from the gap there, and laid across the front of +the table. The mummy itself, a horrid, black, withered thing, like a +charred head on a gnarled bush, was lying half out of the case, with its +clawlike hand and bony forearm resting upon the table. Propped up +against the sarcophagus was an old yellow scroll of papyrus, and in +front of it, in a wooden armchair, sat the owner of the room, his head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +thrown back, his widely-opened eyes directed in a horrified stare to the +crocodile above him, and his blue, thick lips puffing loudly with every +expiration.</p> + +<p>"My God! he's dying!" cried Monkhouse Lee distractedly.</p> + +<p>He was a slim, handsome young fellow, olive-skinned and dark-eyed, of a +Spanish rather than of an English type, with a Celtic intensity of +manner which contrasted with the Saxon phlegm of Abercrombie Smith.</p> + +<p>"Only a faint, I think," said the medical student. "Just give me a hand +with him. You take his feet. Now on to the sofa. Can you kick all those +little wooden devils off? What a litter it is! Now he will be all right +if we undo his collar and give him some water. What has he been up to at +all?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I heard him cry out. I ran up. I know him pretty well, +you know. It is very good of you to come down."</p> + +<p>"His heart is going like a pair of castanets," said Smith, laying his +hand on the breast of the unconscious man. "He seems to me to be +frightened all to pieces. Chuck the water over him! What a face he has +got on him!"</p> + +<p>It was indeed a strange and most repellent face, for colour and outline +were equally unnatural. It was white, not with the ordinary pallor of +fear, but with an absolutely bloodless white, like the under side of a +sole. He was very fat, but gave the impression of having at some time +been considerably fatter, for his skin hung loosely in creases and +folds, and was shot with a meshwork of wrinkles. Short, stubbly brown +hair bristled up from his scalp, with a pair of thick,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> wrinkled ears +protruding at the sides. His light grey eyes were still open, the pupils +dilated and the balls projecting in a fixed and horrid stare. It seemed +to Smith as he looked down upon him that he had never seen Nature's +danger signals flying so plainly upon a man's countenance, and his +thoughts turned more seriously to the warning which Hastie had given him +an hour before.</p> + +<p>"What the deuce can have frightened him so?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It's the mummy."</p> + +<p>"The mummy? How, then?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. It's beastly and morbid. I wish he would drop it. It's +the second fright he has given me. It was the same last winter. I found +him just like this, with that horrid thing in front of him."</p> + +<p>"What does he want with the mummy, then?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's a crank, you know. It's his hobby. He knows more about these +things than any man in England. But I wish he wouldn't! Ah, he's +beginning to come to."</p> + +<p>A faint tinge of colour had begun to steal back into Bellingham's +ghastly cheeks, and his eyelids shivered like a sail after a calm. He +clasped and unclasped his hands, drew a long, thin breath between his +teeth, and suddenly jerking up his head, threw a glance of recognition +around him. As his eyes fell upon the mummy, he sprang off the sofa, +seized the roll of papyrus, thrust it into a drawer, turned the key, and +then staggered back on to the sofa.</p> + +<p>"What's up?" he asked. "What do you chaps want?"</p> + +<p>"You've been shrieking out and making no end of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> fuss," said Monkhouse +Lee. "If our neighbour here from above hadn't come down, I'm sure I +don't know what I should have done with you."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it's Abercrombie Smith," said Bellingham, glancing up at him. "How +very good of you to come in! What a fool I am! Oh, my God, what a fool I +am!"</p> + +<p>He sunk his head on to his hands, and burst into peal after peal of +hysterical laughter.</p> + +<p>"Look here! Drop it!" cried Smith, shaking him roughly by the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Your nerves are all in a jangle. You must drop these little midnight +games with mummies, or you'll be going off your chump. You're all on +wires now."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Bellingham, "whether you would be as cool as I am if +you had seen——"</p> + +<p>"What then?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing. I meant that I wonder if you could sit up at night with a +mummy without trying your nerves. I have no doubt that you are quite +right. I dare say that I have been taking it out of myself too much +lately. But I am all right now. Please don't go, though. Just wait for a +few minutes until I am quite myself."</p> + +<p>"The room is very close," remarked Lee, throwing open the window and +letting in the cool night air.</p> + +<p>"It's balsamic resin," said Bellingham. He lifted up one of the dried +palmate leaves from the table and frizzled it over the chimney of the +lamp. It broke away into heavy smoke wreaths, and a pungent, biting +odour filled the chamber. "It's the sacred plant—the plant of the +priests," he remarked. "Do you know anything of Eastern languages, +Smith?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing at all. Not a word."</p> + +<p>The answer seemed to lift a weight from the Egyptologist's mind.</p> + +<p>"By the way," he continued, "how long was it from the time that you ran +down, until I came to my senses?"</p> + +<p>"Not long. Some four or five minutes."</p> + +<p>"I thought it could not be very long," said he, drawing a long breath. +"But what a strange thing unconsciousness is! There is no measurement to +it. I could not tell from my own sensations if it were seconds or weeks. +Now that gentleman on the table was packed up in the days of the +eleventh dynasty, some forty centuries ago, and yet if he could find his +tongue, he would tell us that this lapse of time has been but a closing +of the eyes and a reopening of them. He is a singularly fine mummy, +Smith."</p> + +<p>Smith stepped over to the table and looked down with a professional eye +at the black and twisted form in front of him. The features, though +horribly discoloured, were perfect, and two little nut-like eyes still +lurked in the depths of the black, hollow sockets. The blotched skin was +drawn tightly from bone to bone, and a tangled wrap of black coarse hair +fell over the ears. Two thin teeth, like those of a rat, overlay the +shrivelled lower lip. In its crouching position, with bent joints and +craned head, there was a suggestion of energy about the horrid thing +which made Smith's gorge rise. The gaunt ribs, with their parchment-like +covering, were exposed, and the sunken, leaden-hued abdomen, with the +long slit where the embalmer had left his mark; but the lower limbs were +wrapped round with coarse yellow bandages. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> number of little +clove-like pieces of myrrh and of cassia were sprinkled over the body, +and lay scattered on the inside of the case.</p> + +<p>"I don't know his name," said Bellingham, passing his hand over the +shrivelled head. "You see the outer sarcophagus with the inscriptions is +missing. Lot 249 is all the title he has now. You see it printed on his +case. That was his number in the auction at which I picked him up."</p> + +<p>"He has been a very pretty sort of fellow in his day," remarked +Abercrombie Smith.</p> + +<p>"He has been a giant. His mummy is six feet seven in length, and that +would be a giant over there, for they were never a very robust race. +Feel these great knotted bones, too. He would be a nasty fellow to +tackle."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps these very hands helped to build the stones into the pyramids," +suggested Monkhouse Lee, looking down with disgust in his eyes at the +crooked, unclean talons.</p> + +<p>"No fear. This fellow has been pickled in natron, and looked after in +the most approved style. They did not serve hodsmen in that fashion. +Salt or bitumen was enough for them. It has been calculated that this +sort of thing cost about seven hundred and thirty pounds in our money. +Our friend was a noble at the least. What do you make of that small +inscription near his feet, Smith?"</p> + +<p>"I told you that I know no Eastern tongue."</p> + +<p>"Ah, so you did. It is the name of the embalmer, I take it. A very +conscientious worker he must have been. I wonder how many modern works +will survive four thousand years?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<p>He kept on speaking lightly and rapidly, but it was evident to +Abercrombie Smith that he was still palpitating with fear. His hands +shook, his lower lip trembled, and look where he would, his eye always +came sliding round to his gruesome companion. Through all his fear, +however, there was a suspicion of triumph in his tone and manner. His +eyes shone, and his footstep, as he paced the room, was brisk and +jaunty. He gave the impression of a man who has gone through an ordeal, +the marks of which he still bears upon him, but which has helped him to +his end.</p> + +<p>"You're not going yet?" he cried, as Smith rose from the sofa.</p> + +<p>At the prospect of solitude, his fears seemed to crowd back upon him, +and he stretched out a hand to detain him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I must go. I have my work to do. You are all right now. I think +that with your nervous system you should take up some less morbid +study."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am not nervous as a rule; and I have unwrapped mummies before."</p> + +<p>"You fainted last time," observed Monkhouse Lee.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, so I did. Well, I must have a nerve tonic or a course of +electricity. You are not going, Lee?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do whatever you wish, Ned."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll come down with you and have a shakedown on your sofa. +Good-night, Smith. I am so sorry to have disturbed you with my +foolishness."</p> + +<p>They shook hands, and as the medical student stumbled up the spiral and +irregular stair he heard a key turn in a door, and the steps of his two +new acquaintances as they descended to the lower floor.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>In this strange way began the acquaintance between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> Edward Bellingham +and Abercrombie Smith, an acquaintance which the latter, at least, had +no desire to push forward. Bellingham, however, appeared to have taken a +fancy to his rough-spoken neighbour, and made his advances in such a way +that he could hardly be repulsed without absolute brutality. Twice he +called to thank Smith for his assistance, and many times afterwards he +looked in with books, papers and such other civilities as two bachelor +neighbours can offer each other. He was, as Smith soon found, a man of +wide reading, with catholic tastes and an extraordinary memory. His +manner, too, was so pleasing and suave that one came, after a time, to +overlook his repellent appearance. For a jaded and wearied man he was no +unpleasant companion, and Smith found himself, after a time, looking +forward to his visits, and even returning them.</p> + +<p>Clever as he undoubtedly was, however, the medical student seemed to +detect a dash of insanity in the man. He broke out at times into a high, +inflated style of talk which was in contrast with the simplicity of his +life.</p> + +<p>"It is a wonderful thing," he cried, "to feel that one can command +powers of good and of evil—a ministering angel or a demon of +vengeance." And again, of Monkhouse Lee, he said,—"Lee is a good +fellow, an honest fellow, but he is without strength or ambition. He +would not make a fit partner for a man with a great enterprise. He would +not make a fit partner for me."</p> + +<p>At such hints and innuendoes stolid Smith, puffing solemnly at his pipe, +would simply raise his eyebrows and shake his head, with little +interjections of medical wisdom as to earlier hours and fresher air.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> + +<p>One habit Bellingham had developed of late which Smith knew to be a +frequent herald of a weakening mind. He appeared to be for ever talking +to himself. At late hours of the night, when there could be no visitor +with him, Smith could still hear his voice beneath him in a low, muffled +monologue, sunk almost to a whisper, and yet very audible in the +silence. This solitary babbling annoyed and distracted the student, so +that he spoke more than once to his neighbour about it. Bellingham, +however, flushed up at the charge, and denied curtly that he had uttered +a sound; indeed, he showed more annoyance over the matter than the +occasion seemed to demand.</p> + +<p>Had Abercrombie Smith had any doubt as to his own ears he had not to go +far to find corroboration. Tom Styles, the little wrinkled man-servant +who had attended to the wants of the lodgers in the turret for a longer +time than any man's memory could carry him, was sorely put to it over +the same matter.</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir," said he, as he tidied down the top chamber one +morning, "do you think Mr. Bellingham is all right, sir?"</p> + +<p>"All right, Styles?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Right in his head, sir."</p> + +<p>"Why should he not be, then?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know, sir. His habits has changed of late. He's not the +same man he used to be, though I make free to say that he was never +quite one of my gentlemen, like Mr. Hastie or yourself, sir. He's took +to talkin' to himself something awful. I wonder it don't disturb you. I +don't know what to make of him, sir."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what business it is of yours, Styles."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I takes an interest, Mr. Smith. It may be forward of me, but I +can't help it. I feel sometimes as if I was mother and father to my +young gentlemen. It all falls on me when things go wrong and the +relations come. But Mr. Bellingham, sir. I want to know what it is that +walks about his room sometimes when he's out and when the door's locked +on the outside."</p> + +<p>"Eh? you're talking nonsense, Styles."</p> + +<p>"Maybe so, sir; but I heard it more'n once with my own ears."</p> + +<p>"Rubbish, Styles."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir. You'll ring the bell if you want me."</p> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith gave little heed to the gossip of the old man-servant, +but a small incident occurred a few days later which left an unpleasant +effect upon his mind, and brought the words of Styles forcibly to his +memory.</p> + +<p>Bellingham had come up to see him late one night, and was entertaining +him with an interesting account of the rock tombs of Beni Hassan in +Upper Egypt, when Smith, whose hearing was remarkably acute, distinctly +heard the sound of a door opening on the landing below.</p> + +<p>"There's some fellow gone in or out of your room," he remarked.</p> + +<p>Bellingham sprang up and stood helpless for a moment, with the +expression of a man who is half incredulous and half afraid.</p> + +<p>"I surely locked it. I am almost positive that I locked it," he +stammered. "No one could have opened it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, I hear some one coming up the steps now," said Smith.</p> + +<p>Bellingham rushed out through the door, slammed it loudly behind him, +and hurried down the stairs. About half-way down Smith heard him stop, +and thought he caught the sound of whispering. A moment later the door +beneath him shut, a key creaked in a lock, and Bellingham, with beads of +moisture upon his pale face, ascended the stairs once more, and +re-entered the room.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," he said, throwing himself down in a chair. "It was +that fool of a dog. He had pushed the door open. I don't know how I came +to forget to lock it."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you kept a dog," said Smith, looking very thoughtfully at +the disturbed face of his companion.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I haven't had him long. I must get rid of him. He's a great +nuisance."</p> + +<p>"He must be, if you find it so hard to shut him up. I should have +thought that shutting the door would have been enough, without locking +it."</p> + +<p>"I want to prevent old Styles from letting him out. He's of some value, +you know, and it would be awkward to lose him."</p> + +<p>"I am a bit of a dog-fancier myself," said Smith, still gazing hard at +his companion from the corner of his eyes. "Perhaps you'll let me have a +look at it."</p> + +<p>"Certainly. But I am afraid it cannot be to-night; I have an +appointment. Is that clock right? Then I am a quarter of an hour late +already. You'll excuse me, I am sure."</p> + +<p>He picked up his cap and hurried from the room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> In spite of his +appointment, Smith heard him re-enter his own chamber and lock his door +upon the inside.</p> + +<p>This interview left a disagreeable impression upon the medical student's +mind. Bellingham had lied to him, and lied so clumsily that it looked as +if he had desperate reasons for concealing the truth. Smith knew that +his neighbour had no dog. He knew, also, that the step which he had +heard upon the stairs was not the step of an animal. But if it were not, +then what could it be? There was old Styles's statement about the +something which used to pace the room at times when the owner was +absent. Could it be a woman? Smith rather inclined to the view. If so, +it would mean disgrace and expulsion to Bellingham if it were discovered +by the authorities, so that his anxiety and falsehoods might be +accounted for. And yet it was inconceivable that an undergraduate could +keep a woman in his rooms without being instantly detected. Be the +explanation what it might, there was something ugly about it, and Smith +determined, as he turned to his books, to discourage all further +attempts at intimacy on the part of his soft-spoken and ill-favoured +neighbour.</p> + +<p>But his work was destined to interruption that night. He had hardly +caught up the broken threads when a firm, heavy footfall came three +steps at a time from below, and Hastie, in blazer and flannels, burst +into the room.</p> + +<p>"Still at it!" said he, plumping down into his wonted arm-chair. "What a +chap you are to stew! I believe an earthquake might come and knock +Oxford into a cocked hat, and you would sit perfectly placid with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> your +books among the ruins. However, I won't bore you long. Three whiffs of +baccy, and I am off."</p> + +<p>"What's the news, then?" asked Smith, cramming a plug of bird's-eye into +his briar with his forefinger.</p> + +<p>"Nothing very much. Wilson made 70 for the freshmen against the eleven. +They say that they will play him instead of Buddicomb, for Buddicomb is +clean off colour. He used to be able to bowl a little, but it's nothing +but half-volleys and long hops now."</p> + +<p>"Medium right," suggested Smith, with the intense gravity which comes +upon a 'varsity man when he speaks of athletics.</p> + +<p>"Inclining to fast, with a work from leg. Comes with the arm about three +inches or so. He used to be nasty on a wet wicket. Oh, by-the-way, have +you heard about Long Norton?"</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"He's been attacked."</p> + +<p>"Attacked?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, just as he was turning out of the High Street, and within a +hundred yards of the gate of Old's."</p> + +<p>"But who——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's the rub! If you said 'what,' you would be more grammatical. +Norton swears that it was not human, and, indeed, from the scratches on +his throat, I should be inclined to agree with him."</p> + +<p>"What, then? Have we come down to spooks?"</p> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith puffed his scientific contempt.</p> + +<p>"Well, no; I don't think that is quite the idea, either. I am inclined +to think that if any showman has lost a great ape lately, and the brute +is in these parts, a jury would find a true bill against it. Norton +passes that way every night, you know, about the same hour.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> There's a +tree that hangs low over the path—the big elm from Rainy's garden. +Norton thinks the thing dropped on him out of the tree. Anyhow, he was +nearly strangled by two arms, which, he says, were as strong and as thin +as steel bands. He saw nothing; only those beastly arms that tightened +and tightened on him. He yelled his head nearly off, and a couple of +chaps came running, and the thing went over the wall like a cat. He +never got a fair sight of it the whole time. It gave Norton a shake up, +I can tell you. I tell him it has been as good as a change at the +seaside for him."</p> + +<p>"A garrotter, most likely," said Smith.</p> + +<p>"Very possible. Norton says not; but we don't mind what he says. The +garrotter had long nails, and was pretty smart at swinging himself over +walls. By-the-way, your beautiful neighbour would be pleased if he heard +about it. He had a grudge against Norton, and he's not a man, from what +I know of him, to forget his little debts. But hallo, old chap, what +have you got in your noddle?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," Smith answered curtly.</p> + +<p>He had started in his chair, and the look had flashed over his face +which comes upon a man who is struck suddenly by some unpleasant idea.</p> + +<p>"You looked as if something I had said had taken you on the raw. +By-the-way, you have made the acquaintance of Master B. since I looked +in last, have you not? Young Monkhouse Lee told me something to that +effect."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I know him slightly. He has been up here once or twice."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're big enough and ugly enough to take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> care of yourself. He's +not what I should call exactly a healthy sort of Johnny, though, no +doubt, he's very clever, and all that. But you'll soon find out for +yourself. Lee is all right; he's a very decent little fellow. Well, so +long, old chap! I row Mullins for the Vice-Chancellor's pot on Wednesday +week, so mind you come down, in case I don't see you before."</p> + +<p>Bovine Smith laid down his pipe and turned stolidly to his books once +more. But with all the will in the world, he found it very hard to keep +his mind upon his work. It would slip away to brood upon the man beneath +him, and upon the little mystery which hung round his chambers. Then his +thoughts turned to this singular attack of which Hastie had spoken, and +to the grudge which Bellingham was said to owe the object of it. The two +ideas would persist in rising together in his mind, as though there were +some close and intimate connection between them. And yet the suspicion +was so dim and vague that it could not be put down in words.</p> + +<p>"Confound the chap!" cried Smith, as he shied his book on pathology +across the room. "He has spoiled my night's reading, and that's reason +enough, if there were no other, why I should steer clear of him in the +future."</p> + +<p>For ten days the medical student confined himself so closely to his +studies that he neither saw nor heard anything of either of the men +beneath him. At the hours when Bellingham had been accustomed to visit +him, he took care to sport his oak, and though he more than once heard a +knocking at his outer door, he resolutely refused to answer it. One +afternoon, however, he was descending the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> stairs when, just as he was +passing it, Bellingham's door flew open, and young Monkhouse Lee came +out with his eyes sparkling and a dark flush of anger upon his olive +cheeks. Close at his heels followed Bellingham, his fat, unhealthy face +all quivering with malignant passion.</p> + +<p>"You fool!" he hissed. "You'll be sorry."</p> + +<p>"Very likely," cried the other. "Mind what I say. It's off! I won't hear +of it!"</p> + +<p>"You've promised, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll keep that! I won't speak. But I'd rather little Eva was in her +grave. Once for all, it's off. She'll do what I say. We don't want to +see you again."</p> + +<p>So much Smith could not avoid hearing, but he hurried on, for he had no +wish to be involved in their dispute. There had been a serious breach +between them, that was clear enough, and Lee was going to cause the +engagement with his sister to be broken off. Smith thought of Hastie's +comparison of the toad and the dove, and was glad to think that the +matter was at an end. Bellingham's face when he was in a passion was not +pleasant to look upon. He was not a man to whom an innocent girl could +be trusted for life. As he walked, Smith wondered languidly what could +have caused the quarrel, and what the promise might be which Bellingham +had been so anxious that Monkhouse Lee should keep.</p> + +<p>It was the day of the sculling match between Hastie and Mullins, and a +stream of men were making their way down to the banks of the Isis. A May +sun was shining brightly, and the yellow path was barred with the black +shadows of the tall elm-trees. On either side<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> the grey colleges lay +back from the road, the hoary old mothers of minds looking out from +their high, mullioned windows at the tide of young life which swept so +merrily past them. Black-clad tutors, prim officials, pale reading men, +brown-faced, straw-hatted young athletes in white sweaters or +many-coloured blazers, all were hurrying towards the blue winding river +which curves through the Oxford meadows.</p> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith, with the intuition of an old oarsman, chose his +position at the point where he knew that the struggle, if there were a +struggle, would come. Far off he heard the hum which announced the +start, the gathering roar of the approach, the thunder of running feet, +and the shouts of the men in the boats beneath him. A spray of +half-clad, deep-breathing runners shot past him, and craning over their +shoulders, he saw Hastie pulling a steady thirty-six, while his +opponent, with a jerky forty, was a good boat's length behind him. Smith +gave a cheer for his friend, and pulling out his watch, was starting off +again for his chambers, when he felt a touch upon his shoulder, and +found that young Monkhouse Lee was beside him.</p> + +<p>"I saw you there," he said, in a timid, deprecating way. "I wanted to +speak to you, if you could spare me a half-hour. This cottage is mine. I +share it with Harrington of King's. Come in and have a cup of tea."</p> + +<p>"I must be back presently," said Smith. "I am hard on the grind at +present. But I'll come in for a few minutes with pleasure. I wouldn't +have come out only Hastie is a friend of mine."</p> + +<p>"So he is of mine. Hasn't he a beautiful style? Mullins wasn't in it. +But come into the cottage. It's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> a little den of a place, but it is +pleasant to work in during the summer months."</p> + +<p>It was a small, square, white building, with green doors and shutters, +and a rustic trellis-work porch, standing back some fifty yards from the +river's bank. Inside, the main room was roughly fitted up as a +study—deal table, unpainted shelves with books, and a few cheap +oleographs upon the wall. A kettle sang upon a spirit-stove, and there +were tea things upon a tray on the table.</p> + +<p>"Try that chair and have a cigarette," said Lee. "Let me pour you out a +cup of tea. It's so good of you to come in, for I know that your time is +a good deal taken up. I wanted to say to you that, if I were you, I +should change my rooms at once."</p> + +<p>"Eh?"</p> + +<p>Smith sat staring with a lighted match in one hand and his unlit +cigarette in the other.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it must seem very extraordinary, and the worst of it is that I +cannot give my reasons, for I am under a solemn promise—a very solemn +promise. But I may go so far as to say that I don't think Bellingham is +a very safe man to live near. I intend to camp out here as much as I can +for a time."</p> + +<p>"Not safe! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's what I mustn't say. But do take my advice, and move your +rooms. We had a grand row to-day. You must have heard us, for you came +down the stairs."</p> + +<p>"I saw that you had fallen out."</p> + +<p>"He's a horrible chap, Smith. That is the only word for him. I have had +doubts about him ever since that night when he fainted—you remember, +when you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> came down. I taxed him to-day, and he told me things that made +my hair rise, and wanted me to stand in with him. I'm not strait-laced, +but I am a clergyman's son, you know, and I think there are some things +which are quite beyond the pale. I only thank God that I found him out +before it was too late, for he was to have married into my family."</p> + +<p>"This is all very fine, Lee," said Abercrombie Smith curtly. "But either +you are saying a great deal too much or a great deal too little."</p> + +<p>"I give you a warning."</p> + +<p>"If there is real reason for warning, no promise can bind you. If I see +a rascal about to blow a place up with dynamite no pledge will stand in +my way of preventing him."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but I cannot prevent him, and I can do nothing but warn you."</p> + +<p>"Without saying what you warn me against."</p> + +<p>"Against Bellingham."</p> + +<p>"But that is childish. Why should I fear him, or any man?"</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you. I can only entreat you to change your rooms. You are +in danger where you are. I don't even say that Bellingham would wish to +injure you. But it might happen, for he is a dangerous neighbour just +now."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I know more than you think," said Smith, looking keenly at the +young man's boyish, earnest face. "Suppose I tell you that some one else +shares Bellingham's rooms."</p> + +<p>Monkhouse Lee sprang from his chair in uncontrollable excitement.</p> + +<p>"You know, then?" he gasped.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A woman."</p> + +<p>Lee dropped back again with a groan.</p> + +<p>"My lips are sealed," he said. "I must not speak."</p> + +<p>"Well, anyhow," said Smith, rising, "it is not likely that I should +allow myself to be frightened out of rooms which suit me very nicely. It +would be a little too feeble for me to move out all my goods and +chattels because you say that Bellingham might in some unexplained way +do me an injury. I think that I'll just take my chance, and stay where I +am, and as I see that it's nearly five o'clock, I must ask you to excuse +me."</p> + +<p>He bade the young student adieu in a few curt words, and made his way +homeward through the sweet spring evening, feeling half-ruffled, +half-amused, as any other strong, unimaginative man might who has been +menaced by a vague and shadowy danger.</p> + +<p>There was one little indulgence which Abercrombie Smith always allowed +himself, however closely his work might press upon him. Twice a week, on +the Tuesday and the Friday, it was his invariable custom to walk over to +Farlingford, the residence of Doctor Plumptree Peterson, situated about +a mile and a half out of Oxford. Peterson had been a close friend of +Smith's elder brother Francis, and as he was a bachelor, fairly +well-to-do, with a good cellar and a better library, his house was a +pleasant goal for a man who was in need of a brisk walk. Twice a week, +then, the medical student would swing out there along the dark country +roads, and spend a pleasant hour in Peterson's comfortable study, +discussing, over a glass of old port, the gossip of the 'varsity or the +latest developments of medicine or of surgery.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the day which followed his interview with Monkhouse Lee, Smith shut +up his books at a quarter past eight, the hour when he usually started +for his friend's house. As he was leaving his room, however, his eyes +chanced to fall upon one of the books which Bellingham had lent him, and +his conscience pricked him for not having returned it. However repellent +the man might be, he should not be treated with discourtesy. Taking the +book, he walked downstairs and knocked at his neighbour's door. There +was no answer; but on turning the handle he found that it was unlocked. +Pleased at the thought of avoiding an interview, he stepped inside, and +placed the book with his card upon the table.</p> + +<p>The lamp was turned half down, but Smith could see the details of the +room plainly enough. It was all much as he had seen it before—the +frieze, the animal-headed gods, the hanging crocodile, and the table +littered over with papers and dried leaves. The mummy case stood upright +against the wall, but the mummy itself was missing. There was no sign of +any second occupant of the room, and he felt as he withdrew that he had +probably done Bellingham an injustice. Had he a guilty secret to +preserve, he would hardly leave his door open so that all the world +might enter.</p> + +<p>The spiral stair was as black as pitch, and Smith was slowly making his +way down its irregular steps, when he was suddenly conscious that +something had passed him in the darkness. There was a faint sound, a +whiff of air, a light brushing past his elbow, but so slight that he +could scarcely be certain of it. He stopped and listened, but the wind +was rustling among the ivy outside, and he could hear nothing else.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Is that you, Styles?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>There was no answer, and all was still behind him. It must have been a +sudden gust of air, for there were crannies and cracks in the old +turret. And yet he could almost have sworn that he heard a footfall by +his very side. He had emerged into the quadrangle, still turning the +matter over in his head, when a man came running swiftly across the +smooth-cropped lawn.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Smith?"</p> + +<p>"Hullo, Hastie!"</p> + +<p>"For God's sake come at once! Young Lee is drowned! Here's Harrington of +King's with the news. The doctor is out. You'll do, but come along at +once. There may be life in him."</p> + +<p>"Have you brandy?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"I'll bring some. There's a flask on my table."</p> + +<p>Smith bounded up the stairs, taking three at a time, seized the flask, +and was rushing down with it, when, as he passed Bellingham's room, his +eyes fell upon something which left him gasping and staring upon the +landing.</p> + +<p>The door, which he had closed behind him, was now open, and right in +front of him, with the lamp-light shining upon it, was the mummy case. +Three minutes ago it had been empty. He could swear to that. Now it +framed the lank body of its horrible occupant, who stood, grim and +stark, with his black shrivelled face towards the door. The form was +lifeless and inert, but it seemed to Smith as he gazed that there still +lingered a lurid spark of vitality, some faint sign of consciousness in +the little eyes which lurked in the depths of the hollow sockets. So +astounded and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> shaken was he that he had forgotten his errand, and was +still staring at the lean, sunken figure when the voice of his friend +below recalled him to himself.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Smith!" he shouted. "It's life and death, you know. Hurry up! +Now, then," he added, as the medical student reappeared, "let us do a +sprint. It is well under a mile, and we should do it in five minutes. A +human life is better worth running for than a pot."</p> + +<p>Neck and neck they dashed through the darkness, and did not pull up +until panting and spent, they had reached the little cottage by the +river. Young Lee, limp and dripping like a broken water-plant, was +stretched upon the sofa, the green scum of the river upon his black +hair, and a fringe of white foam upon his leaden-hued lips. Beside him +knelt his fellow student, Harrington, endeavouring to chafe some warmth +back into his rigid limbs.</p> + +<p>"I think there's life in him," said Smith, with his hand to the lad's +side. "Put your watch glass to his lips. Yes, there's dimming on it. You +take one arm, Hastie. Now work it as I do, and we'll soon pull him +round."</p> + +<p>For ten minutes they worked in silence, inflating and depressing the +chest of the unconscious man. At the end of that time a shiver ran +through his body, his lips trembled, and he opened his eyes. The three +students burst out into an irrepressible cheer.</p> + +<p>"Wake up, old chap. You've frightened us quite enough."</p> + +<p>"Have some brandy. Take a sip from the flask."</p> + +<p>"He's all right now," said his companion Harrington. "Heavens, what a +fright I got! I was reading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> here, and had gone out for a stroll as far +as the river, when I heard a scream and a splash. Out I ran, and by the +time I could find him and fish him out, all life seemed to have gone. +Then Simpson couldn't get a doctor, for he has a game-leg, and I had to +run, and I don't know what I'd have done without you fellows. That's +right, old chap. Sit up."</p> + +<p>Monkhouse Lee had raised himself on his hands, and looked wildly about +him.</p> + +<p>"What's up?" he asked. "I've been in the water. Ah, yes; I remember."</p> + +<p>A look of fear came into his eyes, and he sank his face into his hands.</p> + +<p>"How did you fall in?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't fall in."</p> + +<p>"How then?"</p> + +<p>"I was thrown in. I was standing by the bank, and something from behind +picked me up like a feather and hurled me in. I heard nothing, and I saw +nothing. But I know what it was, for all that."</p> + +<p>"And so do I," whispered Smith.</p> + +<p>Lee looked up with a quick glance of surprise.</p> + +<p>"You've learned, then?" he said. "You remember the advice I gave you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I begin to think that I shall take it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what the deuce you fellows are talking about," said +Hastie, "but I think, if I were you, Harrington, I should get Lee to bed +at once. It will be time enough to discuss the why and the wherefore +when he is a little stronger. I think, Smith, you and I can leave him +alone now. I am walking back to college; if you are coming in that +direction, we can have a chat."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> + +<p>But it was little chat that they had upon their homeward path. Smith's +mind was too full of the incidents of the evening, the absence of the +mummy from his neighbour's rooms, the step that passed him on the stair, +the reappearance—the extraordinary, inexplicable reappearance of the +grisly thing—and then this attack upon Lee, corresponding so closely to +the previous outrage upon another man against whom Bellingham bore a +grudge. All this settled in his thoughts, together with the many little +incidents which had previously turned him against his neighbour, and the +singular circumstances under which he was first called in to him. What +had been a dim suspicion, a vague, fantastic conjecture, had suddenly +taken form, and stood out in his mind as a grim fact, a thing not to be +denied. And yet, how monstrous it was! how unheard of! how entirely +beyond all bounds of human experience. An impartial judge, or even the +friend who walked by his side, would simply tell him that his eyes had +deceived him, that the mummy had been there all the time, that young Lee +had tumbled into the river as any other man tumbles into a river, and +that blue pill was the best thing for a disordered liver. He felt that +he would have said as much if the positions had been reversed. And yet +he could swear that Bellingham was a murderer at heart, and that he +wielded a weapon such as no man had ever used in all the grim history of +crime.</p> + +<p>Hastie had branched off to his rooms with a few crisp and emphatic +comments upon his friend's unsociability, and Abercrombie Smith crossed +the quadrangle to his corner turret with a strong feeling of repulsion +for his chambers and their associations. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> would take Lee's advice, +and move his quarters as soon as possible, for how could a man study +when his ear was ever straining for every murmur or footstep in the room +below? He observed, as he crossed over the lawn, that the light was +still shining in Bellingham's window, and as he passed up the staircase +the door opened, and the man himself looked out at him. With his fat, +evil face he was like some bloated spider fresh from the weaving of his +poisonous web.</p> + +<p>"Good-evening," said he. "Won't you come in?"</p> + +<p>"No," cried Smith fiercely.</p> + +<p>"No? You are busy as ever? I wanted to ask you about Lee. I was sorry to +hear that there was a rumour that something was amiss with him."</p> + +<p>His features were grave, but there was the gleam of a hidden laugh in +his eyes as he spoke. Smith saw it, and he could have knocked him down +for it.</p> + +<p>"You'll be sorrier still to hear that Monkhouse Lee is doing very well, +and is out of all danger," he answered. "Your hellish tricks have not +come off this time. Oh, you needn't try to brazen it out. I know all +about it."</p> + +<p>Bellingham took a step back from the angry student, and half-closed the +door as if to protect himself.</p> + +<p>"You are mad," he said. "What do you mean? Do you assert that I had +anything to do with Lee's accident?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," thundered Smith. "You and that bag of bones behind you; you +worked it between you. I tell you what it is, Master B., they have given +up burning folk like you, but we still keep a hangman, and, by George! +if any man in this college meets his death while you are here, I'll have +you up, and if you don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> swing for it, it won't be my fault. You'll +find that your filthy Egyptian tricks won't answer in England."</p> + +<p>"You're a raving lunatic," said Bellingham.</p> + +<p>"All right. You just remember what I say, for you'll find that I'll be +better than my word."</p> + +<p>The door slammed, and Smith went fuming up to his chamber, where he +locked the door upon the inside, and spent half the night in smoking his +old briar and brooding over the strange events of the evening.</p> + +<p>Next morning Abercrombie Smith heard nothing of his neighbour, but +Harrington called upon him in the afternoon to say that Lee was almost +himself again. All day Smith stuck fast to his work, but in the evening +he determined to pay the visit to his friend Doctor Peterson upon which +he had started the night before. A good walk and a friendly chat would +be welcome to his jangled nerves.</p> + +<p>Bellingham's door was shut as he passed, but glancing back when he was +some distance from the turret, he saw his neighbour's head at the window +outlined against the lamp-light, his face pressed apparently against the +glass as he gazed out into the darkness. It was a blessing to be away +from all contact with him, if but for a few hours, and Smith stepped out +briskly, and breathed the soft spring air into his lungs. The half-moon +lay in the west between two Gothic pinnacles, and threw upon the +silvered street a dark tracery from the stone-work above. There was a +brisk breeze, and light, fleecy clouds drifted swiftly across the sky. +Old's was on the very border of the town, and in five minutes Smith +found himself beyond the houses and between the hedges of a May-scented +Oxfordshire lane.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was a lonely and little frequented road which led to his friend's +house. Early as it was, Smith did not meet a single soul upon his way. +He walked briskly along until he came to the avenue gate, which opened +into the long gravel drive leading up to Farlingford. In front of him he +could see the cosy red light of the windows glimmering through the +foliage. He stood with his hand upon the iron latch of the swinging +gate, and he glanced back at the road along which he had come. Something +was coming swiftly down it.</p> + +<p>It moved in the shadow of the hedge, silently and furtively, a dark, +crouching figure, dimly visible against the black background. Even as he +gazed back at it, it had lessened its distance by twenty paces, and was +fast closing upon him. Out of the darkness he had a glimpse of a scraggy +neck, and of two eyes that will ever haunt him in his dreams. He turned, +and with a cry of terror he ran for his life up the avenue. There were +the red lights, the signals of safety, almost within a stone's-throw of +him. He was a famous runner, but never had he run as he ran that night.</p> + +<p>The heavy gate had swung into place behind him, but he heard it dash +open again before his pursuer. As he rushed madly and wildly through the +night, he could hear a swift, dry patter behind him, and could see, as +he threw back a glance, that this horror was bounding like a tiger at +his heels, with blazing eyes and one stringy arm out-thrown. Thank God, +the door was ajar. He could see the thin bar of light which shot from +the lamp in the hall. Nearer yet sounded the clatter from behind. He +heard a hoarse gurgling at his very shoulder. With a shriek he flung +himself against the door, slammed and bolted it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> behind him, and sank +half-fainting on to the hall chair.</p> + +<p>"My goodness, Smith, what's the matter?" asked Peterson, appearing at +the door of his study.</p> + +<p>"Give me some brandy."</p> + +<p>Peterson disappeared, and came rushing out again with a glass and a +decanter.</p> + +<p>"You need it," he said, as his visitor drank off what he poured out for +him. "Why, man, you are as white as a cheese."</p> + +<p>Smith laid down his glass, rose up, and took a deep breath.</p> + +<p>"I am my own man again now," said he. "I was never so unmanned before. +But, with your leave, Peterson, I will sleep here to-night, for I don't +think I could face that road again except by daylight. It's weak, I +know, but I can't help it."</p> + +<p>Peterson looked at his visitor with a very questioning eye.</p> + +<p>"Of course you shall sleep here if you wish. I'll tell Mrs. Burney to +make up the spare bed. Where are you off to now?"</p> + +<p>"Come up with me to the window that overlooks the door. I want you to +see what I have seen."</p> + +<p>They went up to the window of the upper hall whence they could look down +upon the approach to the house. The drive and the fields on either side +lay quiet and still, bathed in the peaceful moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Well, really, Smith," remarked Peterson, "it is well that I know you to +be an abstemious man. What in the world can have frightened you?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you presently. But where can it have gone? Ah, now, look, +look! See the curve of the road just beyond your gate."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, I see; you needn't pinch my arm off. I saw some one pass. I should +say a man, rather thin, apparently, and tall, very tall. But what of +him? And what of yourself? You are still shaking like an aspen leaf."</p> + +<p>"I have been within hand-grip of the devil, that's all. But come down to +your study, and I shall tell you the whole story."</p> + +<p>He did so. Under the cheery lamp-light, with a glass of wine on the +table beside him, and the portly form and florid face of his friend in +front, he narrated, in their order, all the events, great and small, +which had formed so singular a chain, from the night on which he had +found Bellingham fainting in front of the mummy case until this horrid +experience of an hour ago.</p> + +<p>"There now," he said as he concluded, "that's the whole black business. +It is monstrous and incredible, but it is true."</p> + +<p>Doctor Plumptree Peterson sat for some time in silence with a very +puzzled expression upon his face.</p> + +<p>"I never heard of such a thing in my life, never!" he said at last. "You +have told me the facts. Now tell me your inferences."</p> + +<p>"You can draw your own."</p> + +<p>"But I should like to hear yours. You have thought over the matter, and +I have not."</p> + +<p>"Well, it must be a little vague in detail, but the main points seem to +me to be clear enough. This fellow Bellingham, in his Eastern studies, +has got hold of some infernal secret by which a mummy—or possibly only +this particular mummy—can be temporarily brought to life. He was trying +this disgusting busi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>ness on the night when he fainted. No doubt the +sight of the creature moving had shaken his nerve, even though he had +expected it. You remember that almost the first words he said were to +call out upon himself as a fool. Well, he got more hardened afterwards, +and carried the matter through without fainting. The vitality which he +could put into it was evidently only a passing thing, for I have seen it +continually in its case as dead as this table. He has some elaborate +process, I fancy, by which he brings the thing to pass. Having done it, +he naturally bethought him that he might use the creature as an agent. +It has intelligence and it has strength. For some purpose he took Lee +into his confidence; but Lee, like a decent Christian, would have +nothing to do with such a business. Then they had a row, and Lee vowed +that he would tell his sister of Bellingham's true character. +Bellingham's game was to prevent him, and he nearly managed it, by +setting this creature of his on his track. He had already tried its +powers upon another man—Norton—towards whom he had a grudge. It is the +merest chance that he has not two murders upon his soul. Then, when I +taxed him with the matter, he had the strongest reasons for wishing me +out of the way, before I could convey my knowledge to any one else. He +got his chance when I went out, for he knew my habits and where I was +bound for. I have had a narrow shave, Peterson, and it is mere luck you +didn't find me on your doorstep in the morning. I'm not a nervous man as +a rule, and I never thought to have the fear of death put upon me as it +was to-night."</p> + +<p>"My dear boy, you take the matter too seriously," said his companion. +"Your nerves are out of order<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> with your work, and you make too much of +it. How could such a thing as this stride about the streets of Oxford, +even at night, without being seen?"</p> + +<p>"It has been seen. There is quite a scare in the town about an escaped +ape, as they imagine the creature to be. It is the talk of the place."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's a striking chain of events. And yet, my dear fellow, you +must allow that each incident in itself is capable of a more natural +explanation."</p> + +<p>"What! even my adventure of to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. You come out with your nerves all unstrung, and your head +full of this theory of yours. Some gaunt, half-famished tramp steals +after you, and seeing you run, is emboldened to pursue you. Your fears +and imagination do the rest."</p> + +<p>"It won't do, Peterson; it won't do."</p> + +<p>"And again, in the instance of your finding the mummy case empty, and +then a few moments later with an occupant, you know that it was +lamp-light, that the lamp was half turned down, and that you had no +special reason to look hard at the case. It is quite possible that you +may have overlooked the creature in the first instance."</p> + +<p>"No, no; it is out of the question."</p> + +<p>"And then Lee may have fallen into the river, and Norton been garrotted. +It is certainly a formidable indictment that you have against +Bellingham; but if you were to place it before a police magistrate, he +would simply laugh in your face."</p> + +<p>"I know he would. That is why I mean to take the matter into my own +hands."</p> + +<p>"Eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I feel that a public duty rests upon me, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> besides, I must do +it for my own safety, unless I choose to allow myself to be hunted by +this beast out of the college, and that would be a little too feeble. I +have quite made up my mind what I shall do. And first of all, may I use +your paper and pens for an hour?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly. You will find all that you want upon that side-table."</p> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith sat down before a sheet of foolscap, and for an hour, +and then for a second hour his pen travelled swiftly over it. Page after +page was finished and tossed aside while his friend leaned back in his +arm-chair, looking across at him with patient curiosity. At last, with +an exclamation of satisfaction, Smith sprang to his feet, gathered his +papers up into order, and laid the last one upon Peterson's desk.</p> + +<p>"Kindly sign this as a witness," he said.</p> + +<p>"A witness? Of what?"</p> + +<p>"Of my signature, and of the date. The date is the most important. Why, +Peterson, my life might hang upon it."</p> + +<p>"My dear Smith, you are talking wildly. Let me beg you to go to bed."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, I never spoke so deliberately in my life. And I will +promise to go to bed the moment you have signed it."</p> + +<p>"But what is it?"</p> + +<p>"It is a statement of all that I have been telling you to-night. I wish +you to witness it."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said Peterson, signing his name under that of his +companion. "There you are! But what is the idea?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You will kindly retain it, and produce it in case I am arrested."</p> + +<p>"Arrested? For what?"</p> + +<p>"For murder. It is quite on the cards. I wish to be ready for every +event. There is only one course open to me, and I am determined to take +it."</p> + +<p>"For Heaven's sake, don't do anything rash!"</p> + +<p>"Believe me, it would be far more rash to adopt any other course. I hope +that we won't need to bother you, but it will ease my mind to know that +you have this statement of my motives. And now I am ready to take your +advice and to go to roost, for I want to be at my best in the morning."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Abercrombie Smith was not an entirely pleasant man to have as an enemy. +Slow and easy-tempered, he was formidable when driven to action. He +brought to every purpose in life the same deliberate resoluteness which +had distinguished him as a scientific student. He had laid his studies +aside for a day, but he intended that the day should not be wasted. Not +a word did he say to his host as to his plans, but by nine o'clock he +was well on his way to Oxford.</p> + +<p>In the High Street he stopped at Clifford's the gunmaker's, and bought +a heavy revolver, with a box of central-fire cartridges. Six of them he +slipped into the chambers, and half-cocking the weapon, placed it in the +pocket of his coat. He then made his way to Hastie's rooms, where the +big oarsman was lounging over his breakfast, with the <i>Sporting Times</i> +propped up against the coffee-pot.</p> + +<p>"Hullo! What's up?" he asked. "Have some coffee?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, thank you. I want you to come with me, Hastie, and do what I ask +you."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my boy."</p> + +<p>"And bring a heavy stick with you."</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" Hastie stared. "Here's a hunting crop that would fell an ox."</p> + +<p>"One other thing. You have a box of amputating knives. Give me the +longest of them."</p> + +<p>"There you are. You seem to be fairly on the war trail. Anything else?"</p> + +<p>"No; that will do." Smith placed the knife inside his coat, and led the +way to the quadrangle. "We are neither of us chickens, Hastie," said he. +"I think I can do this job alone, but I take you as a precaution. I am +going to have a little talk with Bellingham. If I have only him to deal +with, I won't, of course, need you. If I shout, however, up you come, +and lam out with your whip as hard as you can lick. Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>"All right. I'll come if I hear you bellow."</p> + +<p>"Stay here, then. I may be a little time, but don't budge until I come +down."</p> + +<p>"I'm a fixture."</p> + +<p>Smith ascended the stairs, opened Bellingham's door and stepped in. +Bellingham was seated behind his table, writing. Beside him, among his +litter of strange possessions, towered the mummy case, with its sale +number 249 still stuck upon its front, and its hideous occupant stiff +and stark within it. Smith looked very deliberately round him, closed +the door, and then stepping across to the fire-place, struck a match and +set the fire alight. Bellingham sat staring, with amazement and rage +upon his bloated face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, really now, you make yourself at home," he gasped.</p> + +<p>Smith sat himself deliberately down, placing his watch upon the table, +drew out his pistol, cocked it, and laid it in his lap. Then he took the +long amputating knife from his bosom, and threw it down in front of +Bellingham.</p> + +<p>"Now, then," said he, "just get to work and cut up that mummy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is that it?" said Bellingham with a sneer.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is it. They tell me that the law can't touch you. But I have +a law that will set matters straight. If in five minutes you have not +set to work, I swear by the God who made me that I will put a bullet +through your brain!"</p> + +<p>"You would murder me?"</p> + +<p>Bellingham had half risen, and his face was the colour of putty.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And for what?"</p> + +<p>"To stop your mischief. One minute has gone."</p> + +<p>"But what have I done?"</p> + +<p>"I know and you know."</p> + +<p>"This is mere bullying."</p> + +<p>"Two minutes are gone."</p> + +<p>"But you must give reasons. You are a madman—a dangerous madman. Why +should I destroy my own property? It is a valuable mummy."</p> + +<p>"You must cut it up, and you must burn it."</p> + +<p>"I will do no such thing."</p> + +<p>"Four minutes are gone."</p> + +<p>Smith took up the pistol and he looked towards Bellingham with an +inexorable face. As the second<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>hand stole round, he raised his hand, and +the finger twitched upon the trigger.</p> + +<p>"There! there! I'll do it!" screamed Bellingham.</p> + +<p>In frantic haste he caught up the knife and hacked at the figure of the +mummy, ever glancing round to see the eye and the weapon of his terrible +visitor bent upon him. The creature crackled and snapped under every +stab of the keen blade. A thick yellow dust rose up from it. Spices and +dried essences rained down upon the floor. Suddenly, with a rending +crack, its backbone snapped asunder, and it fell, a brown heap of +sprawling limbs, upon the floor.</p> + +<p>"Now into the fire!" said Smith.</p> + +<p>The flames leaped and roared as the dried and tinder-like debris was +piled upon it. The little room was like the stoke-hole of a steamer and +the sweat ran down the faces of the two men; but still the one stooped +and worked, while the other sat watching him with a set face. A thick, +fat smoke oozed out from the fire, and a heavy smell of burned rosin and +singed hair filled the air. In a quarter of an hour a few charred and +brittle sticks were all that was left of Lot No. 249.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that will satisfy you," snarled Bellingham, with hate and fear +in his little grey eyes as he glanced back at his tormentor.</p> + +<p>"No; I must make a clean sweep of all your materials. We must have no +more devil's tricks. In with all these leaves! They may have something +to do with it."</p> + +<p>"And what now?" asked Bellingham, when the leaves also had been added to +the blaze.</p> + +<p>"Now the roll of papyrus which you had on the table that night. It is in +that drawer, I think."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, no," shouted Bellingham. "Don't burn that! Why, man, you don't know +what you do. It is unique; it contains wisdom which is nowhere else to +be found."</p> + +<p>"Out with it!"</p> + +<p>"But look here, Smith, you can't really mean it. I'll share the +knowledge with you. I'll teach you all that is in it. Or, stay, let me +only copy it before you burn it!"</p> + +<p>Smith stepped forward and turned the key in the drawer. Taking out the +yellow, curled roll of paper, he threw it into the fire, and pressed it +down with his heel. Bellingham screamed, and grabbed at it; but Smith +pushed him back and stood over it until it was reduced to a formless +grey ash.</p> + +<p>"Now, Master B.," said he, "I think I have pretty well drawn your teeth. +You'll hear from me again, if you return to your old tricks. And now +good-morning, for I must go back to my studies."</p> + +<p>And such is the narrative of Abercrombie Smith as to the singular events +which occurred in Old College, Oxford, in the spring of '84. As +Bellingham left the university immediately afterwards, and was last +heard of in the Soudan, there is no one who can contradict his +statement. But the wisdom of men is small, and the ways of Nature are +strange, and who shall put a bound to the dark things which may be found +by those who seek for them?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>"DE PROFUNDIS"</h3> + + +<p>So long as the oceans are the ligaments which bind together the great +broadcast British Empire, so long will there be a dash of romance in our +minds. For the soul is swayed by the waters, as the waters are by the +moon, and when the great highways of an empire are along such roads as +these, so full of strange sights and sounds, with danger ever running +like a hedge on either side of the course, it is a dull mind indeed +which does not bear away with it some trace of such a passage. And now, +Britain lies far beyond herself, for the three-mile limit of every +seaboard is her frontier, which has been won by hammer and loom and pick +rather than by arts of war. For it is written in history that neither +king nor army can bar the path to the man who having twopence in his +strong box, and knowing well where he can turn it to threepence, sets +his mind to that one end. And as the frontier has broadened the mind of +Britain has broadened too, spreading out until all men can see that the +ways of the island are continental, even as those of the Continent are +insular.</p> + +<p>But for this a price must be paid, and the price is a grievous one. As +the beast of old must have one young human life as a tribute every year, +so to our Empire we throw from day to day the pick and flower of our +youth. The engine is world-wide and strong, but the only fuel that will +drive it is the lives of British<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> men. Thus it is that in the grey old +cathedrals, as we look round upon the brasses on the walls, we see +strange names, such names as they who reared those walls had never +heard, for it is in Peshawur, and Umballah, and Korti, and Fort Pearson +that the youngsters die, leaving only a precedent and a brass behind +them. But if every man had his obelisk, even where he lay, then no +frontier line need be drawn, for a cordon of British graves would ever +show how high the Anglo-Celtic tide had lapped.</p> + +<p>This, then, as well as the waters which join us to the world, has done +something to tinge us with romance. For when so many have their loved +ones over the seas, walking amid hillmen's bullets, or swamp malaria, +where death is sudden and distance great, then mind communes with mind, +and strange stories arise of dream, presentiment, or vision, where the +mother sees her dying son, and is past the first bitterness of her grief +ere the message comes which should have broken the news. The learned +have of late looked into the matter and have even labelled it with a +name; but what can we know more of it save that a poor stricken soul, +when hard-pressed and driven, can shoot across the earth some +ten-thousand-mile-distant picture of its trouble to the mind which is +most akin to it. Far be it from me to say that there lies no such power +within us, for of all things which the brain will grasp the last will be +itself; but yet it is well to be very cautious over such matters, for +once at least I have known that which was within the laws of Nature seem +to be far upon the further side of them.</p> + +<p>John Vansittart was the younger partner of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> firm of Hudson and +Vansittart, coffee exporters of the Island of Ceylon, three-quarters +Dutchman by descent, but wholly English in his sympathies. For years I +had been his agent in London, and when in '72 he came over to England +for a three months' holiday, he turned to me for the introductions which +would enable him to see something of town and country life. Armed with +seven letters he left my offices, and for many weeks scrappy notes from +different parts of the country let me know that he had found favour in +the eyes of my friends. Then came word of his engagement to Emily +Lawson, of a cadet branch of the Hereford Lawsons, and at the very tail +of the first flying rumour the news of his absolute marriage, for the +wooing of a wanderer must be short, and the days were already crowding +on towards the date when he must be upon his homeward journey. They were +to return together to Colombo in one of the firm's own thousand-ton +barque-rigged sailing ships, and this was to be their princely +honeymoon, at once a necessity and a delight.</p> + +<p>Those were the royal days of coffee-planting in Ceylon, before a single +season and a rotting fungus drove a whole community through years of +despair to one of the greatest commercial victories which pluck and +ingenuity ever won. Not often is it that men have the heart when their +one great industry is withered to rear up in a few years another as rich +to take its place, and the tea-fields of Ceylon are as true a monument +to courage as is the lion at Waterloo. But in '72 there was no cloud yet +above the skyline, and the hopes of the planters were as high and as +bright as the hill-sides on which they reared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> their crops. Vansittart +came down to London with his young and beautiful wife. I was introduced, +dined with them, and it was finally arranged that I, since business +called me also to Ceylon, should be a fellow-passenger with them on the +<i>Eastern Star</i>, which was timed to sail on the following Monday.</p> + +<p>It was on the Sunday evening that I saw him again. He was shown up into +my rooms about nine o'clock at night, with the air of a man who is +bothered and out of sorts. His hand, as I shook it, was hot and dry.</p> + +<p>"I wish, Atkinson," said he, "that you could give me a little lime-juice +and water. I have a beastly thirst upon me, and the more I take the more +I seem to want."</p> + +<p>I rang and ordered a caraffe and glasses. "You are flushed," said I. +"You don't look the thing."</p> + +<p>"No, I'm clean off colour. Got a touch of rheumatism in my back, and +don't seem to taste my food. It is this vile London that is choking me. +I'm not used to breathing air which has been used up by four million +lungs all sucking away on every side of you." He flapped his crooked +hands before his face, like a man who really struggles for his breath.</p> + +<p>"A touch of the sea will soon set you right."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm of one mind with you there. That's the thing for me. I want no +other doctor. If I don't get to sea to-morrow I'll have an illness. +There are no two ways about it." He drank off the tumbler of lime-juice, +and clapped his two hands with his knuckles doubled up into the small of +his back.</p> + +<p>"That seems to ease me," said he, looking at me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> with a filmy eye. "Now +I want your help, Atkinson, for I am rather awkwardly placed."</p> + +<p>"As how?"</p> + +<p>"This way. My wife's mother got ill and wired for her. I couldn't +go—you know best yourself how tied I have been—so she had to go alone. +Now I've had another wire to say that she can't come to-morrow, but that +she will pick up the ship at Falmouth on Wednesday. We put in there, you +know, though I count it hard, Atkinson, that a man should be asked to +believe in a mystery, and cursed if he can't do it. Cursed, mind you, no +less." He leaned forward and began to draw a catchy breath like a man +who is poised on the very edge of a sob.</p> + +<p>Then first it came into my mind that I had heard much of the +hard-drinking life of the island, and that from brandy came these wild +words and fevered hands. The flushed cheek and the glazing eye were +those of one whose drink is strong upon him. Sad it was to see so noble +a young man in the grip of that most bestial of all the devils.</p> + +<p>"You should lie down," I said, with some severity.</p> + +<p>He screwed up his eyes like a man who is striving to wake himself, and +looked up with an air of surprise.</p> + +<p>"So I shall presently," said he, quite rationally. "I felt quite swimmy +just now, but I am my own man again now. Let me see, what was I talking +about? Oh, ah, of course, about the wife. She joins the ship at +Falmouth. Now I want to go round by water. I believe my health depends +upon it. I just want a little clean first-lung air to set me on my feet +again. I ask you, like a good fellow, to go to Falmouth by rail, so that +in case we should be late you may be there to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> look after the wife. Put +up at the Royal Hotel, and I will wire her that you are there. Her +sister will bring her down, so that it will be all plain sailing."</p> + +<p>"I'll do it with pleasure," said I. "In fact, I would rather go by rail, +for we shall have enough and to spare of the sea before we reach +Colombo. I believe too that you badly need a change. Now, I should go +and turn in, if I were you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will. I sleep aboard to-night. You know," he continued, as the +film settled down again over his eyes, "I've not slept well the last few +nights. I've been troubled with theolololog—that is to say, +theolological—hang it," with a desperate effort, "with the doubts of +theolologicians. Wondering why the Almighty made us, you know, and why +He made our heads swimmy, and fixed little pains into the small of our +backs. Maybe I'll do better to-night." He rose and steadied himself with +an effort against the corner of the chair back.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Vansittart," said I gravely, stepping up to him, and laying +my hand upon his sleeve, "I can give you a shakedown here. You are not +fit to go out. You are all over the place. You've been mixing your +drinks."</p> + +<p>"Drinks!" He stared at me stupidly.</p> + +<p>"You used to carry your liquor better than this."</p> + +<p>"I give you my word, Atkinson, that I have not had a drain for two days. +It's not drink. I don't know what it is. I suppose you think this is +drink." He took up my hand in his burning grasp, and passed it over his +own forehead.</p> + +<p>"Great Lord!" said I.</p> + +<p>His skin felt like a thin sheet of velvet beneath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> which lies a +close-packed layer of small shot. It was smooth to the touch at any one +place, but to a finger passed along it, rough as a nutmeg-grater.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," said he, smiling at my startled face. "I've had the +prickly heat nearly as bad."</p> + +<p>"But this is never prickly heat."</p> + +<p>"No, it's London. It's breathing bad air. But to-morrow it'll be all +right. There's a surgeon aboard, so I shall be in safe hands. I must be +off now."</p> + +<p>"Not you," said I, pushing him back into a chair. "This is past a joke. +You don't move from here until a doctor sees you. Just stay where you +are."</p> + +<p>I caught up my hat and rushing round to the house of a neighbouring +physician, I brought him back with me. The room was empty and Vansittart +gone. I rang the bell. The servant said that the gentleman had ordered a +cab the instant that I had left, and had gone off in it. He had told the +cabman to drive to the docks.</p> + +<p>"Did the gentleman seem ill?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ill!" The man smiled. "No, sir, he was singin' his 'ardest all the +time."</p> + +<p>The information was not as reassuring as my servant seemed to think, but +I reflected that he was going straight back to the <i>Eastern Star</i>, and +that there was a doctor aboard of her, so that there was nothing which I +could do in the matter. None the less, when I thought of his thirst, his +burning hands, his heavy eye, his tripping speech, and lastly, of that +leprous forehead, I carried with me to bed an unpleasant memory of my +visitor and his visit.</p> + +<p>At eleven o'clock next day I was at the docks, but the <i>Eastern Star</i> +had already moved down the river,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> and was nearly at Gravesend. To +Gravesend I went by train, but only to see her topmasts far off, with a +plume of smoke from a tug in front of her. I would hear no more of my +friend until I rejoined him at Falmouth. When I got back to my offices, +a telegram was awaiting me from Mrs. Vansittart, asking me to meet her; +and next evening found us both at the Royal Hotel, Falmouth, where we +were to wait for the <i>Eastern Star</i>. Ten days passed, and there came no +news of her.</p> + +<p>They were ten days which I am not likely to forget. On the very day that +the <i>Eastern Star</i> had cleared from the Thames, a furious easterly gale +had sprung up, and blew on from day to day for the greater part of a +week without the sign of a lull. Such a screaming, raving, long-drawn +storm has never been known on the southern coast. From our hotel windows +the sea view was all banked in haze, with a little rain-swept +half-circle under our very eyes, churned and lashed into one tossing +stretch of foam. So heavy was the wind upon the waves that little sea +could rise, for the crest of each billow was torn shrieking from it, and +lashed broadcast over the bay. Clouds, wind, sea, all were rushing to +the west, and there, looking down at this mad jumble of elements, I +waited on day after day, my sole companion a white, silent woman, with +terror in her eyes, her forehead pressed ever against the window, her +gaze from early morning to the fall of night fixed upon that wall of +grey haze through which the loom of a vessel might come. She said +nothing, but that face of hers was one long wail of fear.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day I took counsel with an old seaman.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<p>I should have preferred to have done so alone, but she saw me speak with +him, and was at our side in an instant, with parted lips and a prayer in +her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Seven days out from London," said he, "and five in the gale. Well, the +Channel's swept clear by this wind. There's three things for it. She may +have popped into port on the French side. That's like enough."</p> + +<p>"No, no; he knew we were here. He would have telegraphed."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, so he would. Well, then, he might have run for it, and if he +did that he won't be very far from Madeira by now. That'll be it, marm, +you may depend."</p> + +<p>"Or else? You said there was a third chance."</p> + +<p>"Did I, marm? No, only two, I think. I don't think I said anything of a +third. Your ship's out there, depend upon it, away out in the Atlantic, +and you'll hear of it time enough, for the weather is breaking. Now +don't you fret, marm, and wait quiet, and you'll find a real blue +Cornish sky to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The old seaman was right in his surmise, for the next day broke calm and +bright, with only a low dwindling cloud in the west to mark the last +trailing wreaths of the storm-wrack. But still there came no word from +the sea, and no sign of the ship. Three more weary days had passed, the +weariest that I have ever spent, when there came a seafaring man to the +hotel with a letter. I gave a shout of joy. It was from the captain of +the <i>Eastern Star</i>. As I read the first lines of it I whisked my hand +over it, but she laid her own upon it and drew it away. "I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> seen +it," said she, in a cold, quiet voice. "I may as well see the rest, +too."</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir,</span>" said the letter,</p> + +<p>"Mr. Vansittart is down with the smallpox, and we are blown so far +on our course that we don't know what to do, he being off his head +and unfit to tell us. By dead reckoning we are but three hundred +miles from Funchal, so I take it that it is best that we should +push on there, get Mr. V. into hospital, and wait in the Bay until +you come. There's a sailing-ship due from Falmouth to Funchal in a +few days' time, as I understand. This goes by the brig <i>Marian</i> of +Falmouth, and five pounds is due to the master,</p> + +<p class="center">"Yours respectfully,</p> + +<p class="author">"<span class="smcap">Jno. Hines</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>She was a wonderful woman that, only a chit of a girl fresh from school, +but as quiet and strong as a man. She said nothing—only pressed her +lips together tight, and put on her bonnet.</p> + +<p>"You are going out?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Can I be of use?"</p> + +<p>"No; I am going to the doctor's."</p> + +<p>"To the doctor's?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. To learn how to nurse a small-pox case."</p> + +<p>She was busy at that all the evening, and next morning we were off with +a fine ten-knot breeze in the barque <i>Rose of Sharon</i> for Madeira. For +five days we made good time, and were no great way from the island; but +on the sixth there fell a calm,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> and we lay without motion on a sea of +oil, heaving slowly, but making not a foot of way.</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock that night Emily Vansittart and I stood leaning on the +starboard railing of the poop, with a full moon shining at our backs, +and casting a black shadow of the barque, and of our own two heads, upon +the shining water. From the shadow a broadening path of moonshine +stretched away to the lonely skyline, flickering and shimmering in the +gentle heave of the swell. We were talking with bent heads, chatting of +the calm, of the chances of wind, of the look of the sky, when there +came a sudden plop, like a rising salmon, and there, in the clear light, +John Vansittart sprang out of the water and looked up at us.</p> + +<p>I never saw anything clearer in my life than I saw that man. The moon +shone full upon him, and he was but three oars' length away. His face +was more puffed than when I had seen him last, mottled here and there +with dark scabs, his mouth and eyes open as one who is struck with some +overpowering surprise. He had some white stuff streaming from his +shoulders, and one hand was raised to his ear, the other crooked across +his breast. I saw him leap from the water into the air, and in the dead +calm the waves of his coming lapped up against the sides of the vessel. +Then his figure sank back into the water again, and I heard a rending, +crackling sound like a bundle of brushwood snapping in the fire on a +frosty night. There were no signs of him when I looked again, but a +swift swirl and eddy on the still sea still marked the spot where he had +been. How long I stood there, tingling to my finger-tips, holding up an +un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>conscious woman with one hand, clutching at the rail of the vessel +with the other, was more than I could afterwards tell. I had been noted +as a man of slow and unresponsive emotions, but this time at least I was +shaken to the core. Once and twice I struck my foot upon the deck to be +certain that I was indeed the master of my own senses, and that this was +not some mad prank of an unruly brain. As I stood, still marvelling, the +woman shivered, opened her eyes, gasped, and then standing erect with +her hands upon the rail, looked out over the moonlit sea with a face +which had aged ten years in a summer night.</p> + +<p>"You saw his vision?" she murmured.</p> + +<p>"I saw something."</p> + +<p>"It was he! It was John! He is dead!"</p> + +<p>I muttered some lame words of doubt.</p> + +<p>"Doubtless he died at this hour," she whispered. "In hospital at +Madeira. I have read of such things. His thoughts were with me. His +vision came to me. Oh, my John, my dear, dear, lost John!"</p> + +<p>She broke out suddenly into a storm of weeping, and I led her down into +her cabin, where I left her with her sorrow. That night a brisk breeze +blew up from the east, and in the evening of the next day we passed the +two islets of Los Desertos, and dropped anchor at sundown in the Bay of +Funchal. The <i>Eastern Star</i> lay no great distance from us, with the +quarantine flag flying from her main, and her Jack half-way up her peak.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Mrs. Vansittart quickly. She was dry-eyed now, for she +had known how it would be.</p> + +<p>That night we received permission from the authorities to move on board +the <i>Eastern Star</i>. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> captain, Hines, was waiting upon deck with +confusion and grief contending upon his bluff face as he sought for +words with which to break this heavy tidings, but she took the story +from his lips.</p> + +<p>"I know that my husband is dead," she said. "He died yesterday night, +about ten o'clock, in hospital at Madeira, did he not?"</p> + +<p>The seaman stared aghast. "No, marm, he died eight days ago at sea, and +we had to bury him out there, for we lay in a belt of calm, and could +not say when we might make the land."</p> + +<p>Well, those are the main facts about the death of John Vansittart, and +his appearance to his wife somewhere about lat. 35 N. and long. 15 W. A +clearer case of a wraith has seldom been made out, and since then it has +been told as such, and put into print as such, and endorsed by a learned +society as such, and so floated off with many others to support the +recent theory of telepathy. For myself, I hold telepathy to be proved, +but I would snatch this one case from amid the evidence, and say that I +do not think that it was the wraith of John Vansittart, but John +Vansittart himself whom we saw that night leaping into the moonlight out +of the depths of the Atlantic. It has ever been my belief that some +strange chance—one of those chances which seem so improbable and yet so +constantly occur—had becalmed us over the very spot where the man had +been buried a week before. For the rest, the surgeon tells me that the +leaden weight was not too firmly fixed, and that seven days bring about +changes which fetch a body to the surface. Coming from the depth to +which the weight would have sunk it, he explains that it might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> well +attain such a velocity as to carry it clear of the water. Such is my own +explanation of the matter, and if you ask me what then became of the +body, I must recall to you that snapping, crackling sound, with the +swirl in the water. The shark is a surface feeder and is plentiful in +those parts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>THE LIFT</h3> + + +<p>Flight-Commander Stangate should have been happy. He had come safely +through the war without a hurt, and with a good name in the most heroic +of services. He had only just turned thirty, and a great career seemed +to lie ahead of him. Above all, beautiful Mary MacLean was walking by +his side, and he had her promise that she was there for life. What could +a young man ask for more? And yet there was a heavy load upon his heart.</p> + +<p>He could not explain it himself, and endeavoured to reason himself out +of it. There was the blue sky above him, the blue sea in front, the +beautiful gardens with their throngs of happy pleasure-seekers around. +Above all, there was that sweet face turned upon him with questioning +concern. Why could he not raise himself to so joyful an environment? He +made effort after effort, but they were not convincing enough to deceive +the quick instinct of a loving woman.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Tom?" she asked anxiously. "I can see that something is +clouding you. Do tell me if I can help you in any way."</p> + +<p>He laughed in shame-faced fashion.</p> + +<p>"It is such a sin to spoil our little outing," he said. "I could kick +myself round these gardens when I think of it. Don't worry, my darling, +for I know the cloud will roll off. I suppose I am a creature of nerves, +though I should have got past that by now. The Fly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>ing Service is +supposed either to break you or to warrant you for life."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing definite, then?"</p> + +<p>"No, it is nothing definite. That's the worst of it. You could fight it +more easily if it was. It's just a dead, heavy depression here in my +chest and across my forehead. But do forgive me, dear girl! What a brute +I am to shadow you like this."</p> + +<p>"But I love to share even the smallest trouble."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's gone—vamosed—vanished. We will talk about it no more."</p> + +<p>She gave him a swift, penetrating glance.</p> + +<p>"No, no, Tom; your brow shows, as well as feels. Tell me, dear, have you +often felt like this? You really look very ill. Sit here, dear, in the +shade and tell me of it."</p> + +<p>They sat together in the shadow of the great latticed Tower which reared +itself six hundred feet high beside them.</p> + +<p>"I have an absurd faculty," said he; "I don't know that I have ever +mentioned it to any one before. But when imminent danger is threatening +me I get these strange forebodings. Of course it is absurd to-day in +these peaceful surroundings. It only shows how queerly these things +work. But it is the first time that it has deceived me."</p> + +<p>"When had you it before?"</p> + +<p>"When I was a lad it seized me one morning. I was nearly drowned that +afternoon. I had it when the burglar came to Morton Hall and I got a +bullet through my coat. Then twice in the war when I was overmatched and +escaped by a miracle, I had this strange feeling before ever I climbed +into my machine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> Then it lifts quite suddenly, like a mist in the +sunshine. Why, it is lifting now. Look at me! Can't you see that it is +so?"</p> + +<p>She could indeed. He had turned in a minute from a haggard man to a +laughing boy. She found herself laughing in sympathy. A rush of high +spirits and energy had swept away his strange foreboding and filled his +whole soul with the vivid, dancing joy of youth.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness!" he cried. "I think it is your dear eyes that have done +it. I could not stand that wistful look in them. What a silly, foolish +nightmare it all has been! There's an end for ever in my belief in +presentiments. Now, dear girl, we have just time for one good turn +before luncheon. After that the gardens get so crowded that it is +hopeless to do anything. Shall we have a side show, or the great wheel, +or the flying boat, or what?"</p> + +<p>"What about the Tower?" she asked, glancing upwards. "Surely that +glorious air and the view from the top would drive the last wisps of +cloud out of your mind."</p> + +<p>He looked at his watch.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's past twelve, but I suppose we could do it all in an hour. +But it doesn't seem to be working. What about it, conductor?"</p> + +<p>The man shook his head and pointed to a little knot of people who were +assembled at the entrance.</p> + +<p>"They've all been waiting, sir. It's hung up, but the gear is being +overhauled, and I expect the signal every minute. If you join the others +I promise it won't be long."</p> + +<p>They had hardly reached the group when the steel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> face of the lift +rolled aside—a sign that there was hope in the future. The motley crowd +drifted through the opening and waited expectantly upon the wooden +platform. They were not numerous, for the gardens are not crowded until +the afternoon, but they were fair samples of the kindly, good-humoured +north-country folk who take their annual holiday at Northam. Their faces +were all upturned now, and they were watching with keen interest a man +who was descending the steel framework. It seemed a dangerous, +precarious business, but he came as swiftly as an ordinary mortal upon a +staircase.</p> + +<p>"My word!" said the conductor, glancing up. "Jim has got a move on this +morning."</p> + +<p>"Who is he?" asked Commander Stangate.</p> + +<p>"That's Jim Barnes, sir, the best workman that ever went on a scaffold. +He fair lives up there. Every bolt and rivet are under his care. He's a +wonder, is Jim."</p> + +<p>"But don't argue religion with him," said one of the group.</p> + +<p>The attendant laughed.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you know him, then," said he. "No, don't argue religion with him."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" asked the officer.</p> + +<p>"Well, he takes it very hard, he does. He's the shining light of his +sect."</p> + +<p>"It ain't hard to be that," said the knowing one. "I've heard there are +only six folk in the fold. He's one of those who picture heaven as the +exact size of their own back street conventicle and every one else left +outside it."</p> + +<p>"Better not tell him so while he's got that hammer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> in his hand," said +the conductor, in a hurried whisper. "Hallo, Jim, how goes it this +morning?"</p> + +<p>The man slid swiftly down the last thirty feet, and then balanced +himself on a cross-bar while he looked at the little group in the lift. +As he stood there, clad in a leather suit, with his pliers and other +tools dangling from his brown belt, he was a figure to please the eye of +an artist. The man was very tall and gaunt, with great straggling limbs +and every appearance of giant strength. His face was a remarkable one, +noble and yet sinister, with dark eyes and hair, a prominent hooked +nose, and a beard which flowed over his chest. He steadied himself with +one knotted hand, while the other held a steel hammer dangling by his +knee.</p> + +<p>"It's all ready aloft," said he. "I'll go up with you if I may." He +sprang down from his perch and joined the others in the lift.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you are always watching it," said the young lady.</p> + +<p>"That is what I am engaged for, miss. From morning to night, and often +from night to morning, I am up here. There are times when I feel as if I +were not a man at all, but a fowl of the air. They fly round me, the +creatures, as I lie out on the girders, and they cry to me until I find +myself crying back to the poor soulless things."</p> + +<p>"It's a great charge," said the Commander, glancing up at the wonderful +tracery of steel outlined against the deep blue sky.</p> + +<p>"Aye, sir, and there is not a nut nor a screw that is not in my +keeping. Here's my hammer to ring them true and my spanner to wrench +them tight. As the Lord over the earth, so am I—even I—over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +Tower, with power of life and power of death, aye of death and of life."</p> + +<p>The hydraulic machinery had begun to work and the lift very slowly +ascended. As it mounted, the glorious panorama of the coast and bay +gradually unfolded itself. So engrossing was the view that the +passengers hardly noticed it when the platform stopped abruptly between +stages at the five hundred foot level. Barnes, the workman, muttered +that something must be amiss, and springing like a cat across the gap +which separated them from the trellis-work of metal he clambered out of +sight. The motley little party, suspended in mid-air, lost something of +their British shyness under such unwonted conditions and began to +compare notes with each other. One couple, who addressed each other as +Dolly and Billy, announced to the company that they were the particular +stars of the Hippodrome bill, and kept their neighbours tittering with +their rather obvious wit. A buxom mother, her precocious son, and two +married couples upon holiday formed an appreciative audience.</p> + +<p>"You'd like to be a sailor, would you?" said Billy the comedian, in +answer to some remark of the boy. "Look 'ere, my nipper, you'll end up +as a blooming corpse if you ain't careful. See 'im standin' at the edge. +At this hour of the morning I can't bear to watch it."</p> + +<p>"What's the hour got to do with it?" asked a stout commercial traveller.</p> + +<p>"My nerves are worth nothin' before midday. Why, lookin' down there, and +seem' those folks like dots, puts me all in a twitter. My family is all +alike in the mornin'."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I expect," said Dolly, a high-coloured young woman, "that they're all +alike the evening before."</p> + +<p>There was a general laugh, which was led by the comedian.</p> + +<p>"You got it across that time, Dolly. It's K.O. for Battling Billy—still +senseless when last heard of. If my family is laughed at I'll leave the +room."</p> + +<p>"It's about time we did," said the commercial traveller, who was a +red-faced, choleric person. "It's a disgrace the way they hold us up. +I'll write to the company."</p> + +<p>"Where's the bell-push?" said Billy. "I'm goin' to ring."</p> + +<p>"What for—the waiter?" asked the lady.</p> + +<p>"For the conductor, the chauffeur, whoever it is that drives the old bus +up and down. Have they run out of petrol, or broke the mainspring, or +what?"</p> + +<p>"We have a fine view, anyhow," said the Commander.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've had that," remarked Billy. "I'm done with it, and I'm for +getting on."</p> + +<p>"I'm getting nervous," cried the stout mother. "I do hope there is +nothing wrong with the lift."</p> + +<p>"I say, hold on to the slack of my coat, Dolly. I'm going to look over +and chance it. Oh, Lord, it makes me sick and giddy! There's a horse +down under, and it ain't bigger than a mouse. I don't see any one +lookin' after us. Where's old Isaiah the prophet who came up with us?"</p> + +<p>"He shinned out of it mighty quick when he thought trouble was coming."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Dolly, looking very perturbed, "this is a nice thing, +I don't think. Here we are five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> hundred foot up, and stuck for the day +as like as not. I'm due for the <i>matinée</i> at the Hippodrome. I'm sorry +for the company if they don't get me down in time for that. I'm billed +all over the town for a new song."</p> + +<p>"A new one! What's that, Dolly?"</p> + +<p>"A real pot o' ginger, I tell you. It's called 'On the Road to Ascot.' +I've got a hat four foot across to sing it in."</p> + +<p>"Come on, Dolly, let's have a rehearsal while we wait."</p> + +<p>"No, no; the young lady here wouldn't understand."</p> + +<p>"I'd be very glad to hear it," cried Mary MacLean. "Please don't let me +prevent you."</p> + +<p>"The words were written to the hat. I couldn't sing the verses without +the hat. But there's a nailin' good chorus to it:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'If you want a little mascot</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When you're on the way to Ascot,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Try the lady with the cartwheel hat.'"</span><br> +</p> + +<p>She had a tuneful voice and a sense of rhythm which set every one +nodding. "Try it now all together," she cried; and the strange little +haphazard company sang it with all their lungs.</p> + +<p>"I say," said Billy, "that ought to wake somebody up. What? Let's try a +shout all together."</p> + +<p>It was a fine effort, but there was no response. It was clear that the +management down below was quite ignorant or impotent. No sound came back +to them.</p> + +<p>The passengers became alarmed. The commercial traveller was rather less +rubicund. Billy still tried to joke, but his efforts were not well +received. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> officer in his blue uniform at once took his place as +rightful leader in a crisis. They all looked to him and appealed to him.</p> + +<p>"What would you advise, sir? You don't think there's any danger of it +coming down, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least. But it's awkward to be stuck here all the same. I think +I could jump across on to that girder. Then perhaps I could see what is +wrong."</p> + +<p>"No, no, Tom; for goodness' sake, don't leave us!"</p> + +<p>"Some people have a nerve," said Billy. "Fancy jumping across a +five-hundred-foot drop!"</p> + +<p>"I dare say the gentleman did worse things in the war."</p> + +<p>"Well, I wouldn't do it myself—not if they starred me in the bills. +It's all very well for old Isaiah. It's his job, and I wouldn't do him +out of it."</p> + +<p>Three sides of the lift were shut in with wooden partitions, pierced +with windows for the view. The fourth side, facing the sea, was clear. +Stangate leaned as far as he could and looked upwards. As he did so +there came from above him a peculiar sonorous metallic twang, as if a +mighty harp-string had been struck. Some distance up—a hundred feet, +perhaps—he could see a long brown corded arm, which was working +furiously among the wire cordage above. The form was beyond his view, +but he was fascinated by this bare sinewy arm which tugged and pulled +and sagged and stabbed.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," he said, and a general sigh of relief broke from his +strange comrades at his words. "There is some one above us setting +things right."</p> + +<p>"It's old Isaiah," said Billy, stretching his neck round the corner. "I +can't see him, but it's his arm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> for a dollar. What's he got in his +hand? Looks like a screwdriver or something. No, by George, it's a +file."</p> + +<p>As he spoke there came another sonorous twang from above. There was a +troubled frown upon the officer's brow.</p> + +<p>"I say, dash it all, that's the very sound our steel hawser made when it +parted, strand by strand, at Dixmude. What the deuce is the fellow +about? Hey, there! what are you trying to do?"</p> + +<p>The man had ceased his work and was now slowly descending the iron +trellis.</p> + +<p>"All right, he's coming," said Stangate to his startled companions. +"It's all right, Mary. Don't be frightened, any of you. It's absurd to +suppose he would really weaken the cord that holds us."</p> + +<p>A pair of high boots appeared from above. Then came the leathern +breeches, the belt with its dangling tools, the muscular form, and, +finally, the fierce, swarthy, eagle face of the workman. His coat was +off and his shirt open, showing the hairy chest. As he appeared there +came another sharp snapping vibration from above. The man made his way +down in leisurely fashion, and then, balancing himself upon the +cross-girder and leaning against the side piece, he stood with folded +arms, looking from under his heavy black brows at the huddled passengers +upon the platform.</p> + +<p>"Hallo!" said Stangate. "What's the matter?"</p> + +<p>The man stood impassive and silent, with something indescribably +menacing in his fixed, unwinking stare.</p> + +<p>The flying officer grew angry.</p> + +<p>"Hallo! Are you deaf?" he cried. "How long do you mean to have us stuck +here?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<p>The man stood silent. There was something devilish in his appearance.</p> + +<p>"I'll complain of you, my lad," said Billy, in a quivering voice. "This +won't stop here, I can promise you."</p> + +<p>"Look here!" cried the officer. "We have ladies here and you are +alarming them. Why are we stuck here? Has the machinery gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>"You are here," said the man, "because I have put a wedge against the +hawser above you."</p> + +<p>"You fouled the line! How dared you do such a thing! What right have you +to frighten the women and put us all to this inconvenience? Take that +wedge out this instant, or it will be the worse for you."</p> + +<p>The man was silent.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear what I say? Why the devil don't you answer? Is this a joke +or what? We've had about enough of it, I tell you."</p> + +<p>Mary MacLean had gripped her lover by the arm in agony of sudden panic.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom!" she cried. "Look at his eyes—look at his horrible eyes! The +man is a maniac."</p> + +<p>The workman stirred suddenly into sinister life. His dark face broke +into writhing lines of passion, and his fierce eyes glowed like embers, +while he shook one long arm in the air.</p> + +<p>"Behold," he cried, "those who are mad to the children of this world are +in very truth the Lord's anointed and the dwellers in the inner temple. +Lo, I am one who is prepared to testify even to the uttermost, for of a +verity the day has now come when the humble will be exalted and the +wicked will be cut off in their sins!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mother! Mother!" cried the little boy, in terror.</p> + +<p>"There, there! It's all right, Jack," said the buxom woman, and then, in +a burst of womanly wrath, "What d'you want to make the child cry for? +You're a pretty man, you are!"</p> + +<p>"Better he should cry now than in the outer darkness. Let him seek +safety while there is yet time."</p> + +<p>The officer measured the gap with a practised eye. It was a good eight +feet across, and the fellow could push him over before he could steady +himself. It would be a desperate thing to attempt. He tried soothing +words once more.</p> + +<p>"See here, my lad, you've carried this joke too far. Why should you wish +to injure us? Just shin up and get that wedge out, and we will agree to +say no more about it."</p> + +<p>Another rending snap came from above.</p> + +<p>"By George, the hawser is going!" cried Stangate. "Here! Stand aside! +I'm coming over to see to it."</p> + +<p>The workman had plucked the hammer from his belt, and waved it furiously +in the air.</p> + +<p>"Stand back, young man! Stand back! Or come—if you would hasten your +end."</p> + +<p>"Tom, Tom, for God's sake, don't spring! Help! Help!"</p> + +<p>The passengers all joined in the cry for aid. The man smiled malignantly +as he watched them.</p> + +<p>"There is no one to help. They could not come if they would. You would +be wiser to turn to your own souls that ye be not cast to the burning. +Lo, strand by strand the cable snaps which holds you. There is yet +another, and with each that goes there is more strain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> upon the rest. +Five minutes of time, and all eternity beyond."</p> + +<p>A moan of fear rose from the prisoners in the lift. Stangate felt a cold +sweat upon his brow as he passed his arm round the shrinking girl. If +this vindictive devil could only be coaxed away for an instant he would +spring across and take his chance in a hand-to-hand fight.</p> + +<p>"Look here, my friend! We give you best!" he cried. "We can do nothing. +Go up and cut the cable if you wish. Go on—do it now, and get it over!"</p> + +<p>"That you may come across unharmed. Having set my hand to the work, I +will not draw back from it."</p> + +<p>Fury seized the young officer.</p> + +<p>"You devil!" he cried. "What do you stand there grinning for? I'll give +you something to grin about. Give me a stick, one of you."</p> + +<p>The man waved his hammer.</p> + +<p>"Come, then! Come to judgment!" he howled.</p> + +<p>"He'll murder you, Tom! Oh, for God's sake, don't! If we must die, let +us die together."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't try it, sir," cried Billy. "He'll strike you down before you +get a footing. Hold up, Dolly, my dear! Faintin' won't 'elp us. You +speak to him, miss. Maybe he'll listen to you."</p> + +<p>"Why should you wish to hurt us?" said Mary. "What have we ever done to +you? Surely you will be sorry afterwards if we are injured. Now do be +kind and reasonable and help us to get back to the ground."</p> + +<p>For a moment there may have been some softening in the man's fierce eyes +as he looked at the sweet face<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> which was upturned to him. Then his +features set once more into their grim lines of malice.</p> + +<p>"My hand is set to the work, woman. It is not for the servant to look +back from his task."</p> + +<p>"But why should this be your task?"</p> + +<p>"Because there is a voice within me which tells me so. In the night-time +I have heard it, and in the daytime too, when I have lain out alone upon +the girders and seen the wicked dotting the streets beneath me, each +busy on his own evil intent. 'John Barnes, John Barnes,' said the voice. +'You are here that you may give a sign to a sinful generation—such a +sign as shall show them that the Lord liveth and that there is a +judgment upon sin.' Who am I that I should disobey the voice of the +Lord?"</p> + +<p>"The voice of the devil," said Stangate. "What is the sin of this lady, +or of these others, that you should seek their lives?"</p> + +<p>"You are as the others, neither better nor worse. All day they pass me, +load by load, with foolish cries and empty songs and vain babble of +voices. Their thoughts are set upon the things of the flesh. Too long +have I stood aside and watched and refused to testify. But now the day +of wrath is come and the sacrifice is ready. Think not that a woman's +tongue can turn me from my task."</p> + +<p>"It is useless!" Mary cried. "Useless! I read death in his eyes."</p> + +<p>Another cord had snapped.</p> + +<p>"Repent! Repent!" cried the madman. "One more, and it is over!"</p> + +<p>Commander Stangate felt as if it were all some extraordinary dream—some +monstrous nightmare.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> Could it be possible that he, after all his +escapes of death in warfare, was now, in the heart of peaceful England, +at the mercy of a homicidal lunatic, and that his dear girl, the one +being whom he would shield from the very shadow of danger, was helpless +before this horrible man? All his energy and manhood rose up in him for +one last effort.</p> + +<p>"Here, we won't be killed like sheep in the shambles!" he cried, +throwing himself against the wooden wall of the lift and kicking with +all his force. "Come on, boys! Kick it! Beat it! It's only +matchboarding, and it is giving. Smash it down! Well done! Once more all +together! There she goes! Now for the side! Out with it! Splendid!"</p> + +<p>First the back and then the side of the little compartment had been +knocked out, and the splinters dropped down into the abyss. Barnes +danced upon his girder, his hammer in the air.</p> + +<p>"Strive not!" he shrieked. "It avails not. The day is surely come."</p> + +<p>"It's not two feet from the side girder," cried the officer. "Get +across! Quick! Quick! All of you. I'll hold this devil off!" He had +seized a stout stick from the commercial traveller and faced the madman, +daring him to spring across.</p> + +<p>"Your turn now, my friend!" he hissed. "Come on, hammer and all! I'm +ready for you."</p> + +<p>Above him he heard another snap, and the frail platform began to rock. +Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that his companions were all safe +upon the side girder. A strange line of terrified castaways they +appeared as they clung in an ungainly row to the trellis-work of steel. +But their feet were on the iron<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> support. With two quick steps and a +spring he was at their side. At the same instant the murderer, hammer in +hand, jumped the gap. They had one vision of him there—a vision which +will haunt their dreams—the convulsed face, the blazing eyes, the +wind-tossed raven locks. For a moment he balanced himself upon the +swaying platform. The next, with a rending crash, he and it were gone. +There was a long silence and then, far down, the thud and clatter of a +mighty fall.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>With white faces, the forlorn group clung to the cold steel bars and +gazed down into the terrible abyss. It was the Commander who broke the +silence.</p> + +<p>"They'll send for us now. It's all safe," he cried, wiping his brow. +"But, by Jove, it was a close call!"</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 32777 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/32777-h/images/001.jpg b/32777-h/images/001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ba19a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/32777-h/images/001.jpg diff --git a/32777-h/images/cover.jpg b/32777-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5ad10f --- /dev/null +++ b/32777-h/images/cover.jpg |
