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diff --git a/35517-h/35517-h.htm b/35517-h/35517-h.htm index ef8f603..3ae8c38 100644 --- a/35517-h/35517-h.htm +++ b/35517-h/35517-h.htm @@ -57,32 +57,59 @@ hr { .content {font-size: 0.8em;} +.h2, .h3, .h4, .h5 { + text-align: center; + display: block; + margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0; + font-weight: bold; +} +.h2 { + font-size: 1.5em; + margin-top: 0.83em; + margin-bottom: 0.83em; +} +.h3 { + font-size: 1.17em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} +.h4 { + font-size: 1em; + margin-top: 1.33em; + margin-bottom: 1.33em; +} +.h5 { + font-size: .83em; + margin-top: 1.67em; + margin-bottom: 1.67em; +} </style> </head> <body> <div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35517 ***</div> <h1>THE THREE IMPOSTORS</h1> -<h3>or The Transmutations</h3> +<div class="h3">or The Transmutations</div> -<h3>by</h3> +<div class="h3">by</div> -<h2>ARTHUR MACHEN</h2> +<div class="h2">ARTHUR MACHEN</div> -<h4>TRANSLATOR OF 'L'HEPTAMERON' AND</h4> +<div class="h4">TRANSLATOR OF 'L'HEPTAMERON' AND</div> -<h4>'LE MOYEN DE PARVENIR'; AUTHOR</h4> +<div class="h4">'LE MOYEN DE PARVENIR'; AUTHOR</div> -<h4>OF 'THE CHRONICLE OF CLEMENDY'</h4> +<div class="h4">OF 'THE CHRONICLE OF CLEMENDY'</div> -<h4>AND 'THE GREAT GOD PAN'</h4> +<div class="h4">AND 'THE GREAT GOD PAN'</div> -<h5>BOSTON: Roberts Bros, 1895</h5> +<div class="h5">BOSTON: Roberts Bros, 1895</div> -<h5>LONDON: John Lane, Vigo St.</h5> +<div class="h5">LONDON: John Lane, Vigo St.</div> @@ -123,7 +150,7 @@ charming appearance, who had chosen to make his ginger-colored mustache merge into a pair of short chin-whiskers.</p> <p>The two stood at the hall door, grinning evilly at each other; and -presently a girl ran quickly down, the stairs, and joined them. She was +presently a girl ran quickly down the stairs, and joined them. She was quite young, with a quaint and piquant rather than a beautiful face, and her eyes were of a shining hazel. She held a neat paper parcel in one hand, and laughed with her friends.</p> @@ -191,7 +218,7 @@ at the rough grasses and the nettles that grew thick over lawn and flower-beds; and at the sad water-pool in the midst of the weeds. There, above green and oily scum instead of lilies, stood a rusting Triton on the rocks, sounding a dirge through a shattered horn; and beyond, beyond -the sunk fence and the far meadows; the sun slid down and shone red +the sunk fence and the far meadows, the sun slid down and shone red through the bars of the elm trees.</p> <p>Richmond shivered and stamped his foot. "We had better be going soon," @@ -269,7 +296,7 @@ nature, and partly because he was a regular customer; he was allowed to sit on an empty cask, and to express his sentiments on literary and artistic matters till he was tired or the time for closing came; and if no fresh customers were attracted, it is believed that none were turned -away by his eloquence. Dyson, was addicted to wild experiments in +away by his eloquence. Dyson was addicted to wild experiments in tobacco; he never wearied of trying new combinations, and one evening he had just entered the shop and given utterance to his last preposterous formula, when a young fellow, of about his own age, who had come in a @@ -540,7 +567,7 @@ at first sunlight, the whole tale had faded utterly from his thoughts.</p> <h3><a id="THE_ENCOUNTER_OF_THE_PAVEMENT"></a>THE ENCOUNTER OF THE PAVEMENT.</h3> -<p>Mr. Dyson, walking leisurely along Oxford. Street, and staring with +<p>Mr. Dyson, walking leisurely along Oxford Street, and staring with bland inquiry at whatever caught his attention, enjoyed in all its rare flavors the sensation that he was really very hard at work. His observation of mankind, the traffic, and the shop-windows tickled his @@ -590,8 +617,8 @@ lamp-post and swayed and staggered like a ship in a heavy gale.</p> <p>"How shall I face the doctor?" he murmured to himself. "It is too hard to fail at the last moment." Then he seemed to recollect himself, and -stood straight again, and looked quietly at Dyson. I owe you an apology -for my violence, he said at last. "Many men would not be so patient as +stood straight again, and looked quietly at Dyson. "I owe you an apology +for my violence," he said at last. "Many men would not be so patient as you have been. Would you mind adding to your kindness by walking with me a little way? I feel a little sick; I think it's the sun."</p> @@ -713,7 +740,7 @@ expected of the Anglican parson; and when my father died a few years ago, I, his only child, found myself thrown upon the world with a slender capital of less than a hundred pounds, and all the problem of existence before me. I felt that there was nothing for me to do in the -country, and as usually happens in such eases, London drew me like a +country, and as usually happens in such cases, London drew me like a magnet. One day in August, in the early morning, while the dew still glittered on the turf, and on the high green banks of the lane, a neighbor drove me to the railway station, and I bade good-bye to the @@ -842,12 +869,12 @@ my master was still almost a stranger to me; sometimes he would come to where I was sitting in the cars and make a few banal remarks about the country, but for the most part of the journey he sat by himself, not speaking to any one, and so far as I could judge, deep in his thoughts. -It was I think on the fifth day from New York when I received, the +It was I think on the fifth day from New York when I received the intimation that we should shortly leave the cars; I had been watching some distant mountains which rose wild and savage before us, and I was wondering if there were human beings so unhappy as to speak of home in connection with those piles of lumbered rock, when Mr. Smith touched me -lightly on the shoulder. "You will be glad to be done with, the cars, I +lightly on the shoulder. "You will be glad to be done with the cars, I have no doubt, Mr. Wilkins," he said. "You were looking at the mountains, I think? Well, I hope we shall be there to-night. The train stops at Reading, and I dare say we shall manage to find our way."</p> @@ -883,7 +910,7 @@ glances one to the other.</p> <p>"From New York!"</p> -<p>"All right; they 're ready, and you can have 'em when you choose. I know +<p>"All right; they're ready, and you can have 'em when you choose. I know my orders, you see, and I mean to run this business through."</p> <p>"Very well, Mr. Evans, that is what we want. Our money is good, you @@ -1035,7 +1062,7 @@ the other laughed, and said they were useful things sometimes.</p> <p>"What the hell do you mean?"</p> -<p>"Oh, nothing much. But they 're uncommon tough, these here vines, and +<p>"Oh, nothing much. But they're uncommon tough, these here vines, and sometimes rope is skerse and dear."</p> <p>The man who had sworn chuckled at this, and I heard them sit down and @@ -1131,7 +1158,7 @@ amazement that there were three men in the room. One of them had his hand on my shoulder and spoke to me.</p> <p>"Come, mister, wake up. Your time's up now, I reckon, and the boys are -waiting for you outside, and they 're in a big hurry. Come on; you can +waiting for you outside, and they're in a big hurry. Come on; you can put on your clothes, it's kind of chilly this morning."</p> <p>I saw the other two men smiling sourly at each other, but I understood @@ -1221,7 +1248,7 @@ addressed me:—</p> <p>"Say, mister," he began, "you've had an uncommon narrow squeak for it. The boys were just about lighting up when I came along with the posse, and I had as much as I could do to bring you off, I can tell you. And, -mind you, I don't blame, them; they had made up their minds, you see, +mind you, I don't blame them; they had made up their minds, you see, that you were the head of the Black Gulf gang, and at first nothing I could say would persuade them you weren't Jack Smith. Luckily, a man from here named Evans, that came along with us, allowed he had seen you @@ -1529,7 +1556,7 @@ encircled my brother's arm were all unshapen, claw-like things, and one was but a stump from which the end had rotted off. When I recovered my senses I saw the two passing out by that gate. I paused for a moment, and then with a rush as of fire to my heart I knew that no horror -could, stay me, but that I must follow my brother and save him, even +could stay me, but that I must follow my brother and save him, even though all hell rose up against me. I ran out and looked up the pavement, and saw the two figures walking amidst the crowd. I ran across the road, and saw them turn up that side street, and I reached the @@ -1741,7 +1768,7 @@ stepped across the threshold that had sheltered me, I consciously bade adieu to all hopes and all remembrances; the door clanged behind me with the noise of thunder, and I felt that an iron curtain had fallen on the brief passages of my life, and that henceforth I was to walk a little -way in a world, of gloom and shadow; I entered on the stage of the first +way in a world of gloom and shadow; I entered on the stage of the first act of death. Then came my wandering in the mist, the whiteness wrapping all things, the void streets, and muffled silence, till when that voice spoke to me, it was as if I had died and life returned to me. In a few @@ -1755,7 +1782,7 @@ indeed I had not the slightest notion of where I had wandered, he spoke.</p> cannot think how you alarmed me. But may I inquire the nature of your trouble? I assure you that you can safely confide in me."</p> -<p>"You are very kind," I replied; "but, I fear there is nothing to be +<p>"You are very kind," I replied; "but I fear there is nothing to be done. My condition seems a hopeless one."</p> <p>"Oh, nonsense, nonsense! You are too young to talk like that. Come, let @@ -1808,7 +1835,7 @@ good-bye, asking me to call in a day or two.</p> <p>Such was my introduction to Professor Gregg, and can you wonder that the remembrance of despair and the cold blast that had blown from the gates of death upon me, made me regard him as a second father? Before the -close of the week. I was installed in my new duties; the professor had +close of the week I was installed in my new duties; the professor had leased an old brick manor house in a western suburb of London, and here, surrounded by pleasant lawns and orchards, and soothed with the murmur of the ancient elms that rocked their boughs above the roof, the new @@ -1820,7 +1847,7 @@ man whose one thought was for knowledge, and I too before long caught something of his enthusiasm, and strove to enter into his passion for research. In a few months I was perhaps more his secretary than the governess of the two children, and many a night I have sat at the desk -in the glow of the shaded lamp while he, pacing up and down in the rich, +in the glow of the shaded lamp while he, pacing up and down in the rich gloom of the firelight, dictated to me the substance of his "Text-book of Ethnology." But amidst these more sober and accurate studies I always detected a something hidden, a longing and desire for some object to @@ -1991,7 +2018,7 @@ still all mystery. The long, lovely valley, with the river winding in and out below, crossed in mid vision by a mediæval bridge of vaulted and buttressed stone, the clear presence of the rising ground beyond, and the woods that I had only seen in shadow the night before, seemed -tinged with enchantment, and the soft breath, of air that sighed in at +tinged with enchantment, and the soft breath of air that sighed in at the opened pane was like no other wind. I looked across the valley, and beyond, hill followed on hill as wave on wave, and here a faint blue pillar of smoke rose still in the morning air from the chimney of an @@ -2174,7 +2201,7 @@ Thank you very much, Miss Lally."</p> to count a number of marks on the black seal, when suddenly there flashed into my mind what I had read in the morning.</p> -<p>"But, Professor Gregg, I cried, breathless, the seal, the seal. Why, it +<p>"But, Professor Gregg," I cried, breathless, "the seal, the seal. Why, it is the stone Hexecontalithos that Solinus writes of; it is Ixaxar."</p> <p>"Yes," he said, "I suppose it is. Or it maybe a mere coincidence. It @@ -2215,7 +2242,7 @@ my way. But I am going to get the boy this morning."</p> <p>"Oh, I have no doubt as to that. I may have to walk a mile or two at the most, but I am sure to find just the boy I require."</p> -<p>I thought the professor was poking, but though his tone was airy enough +<p>I thought the professor was joking, but though his tone was airy enough there was something grim and set about his features that puzzled me. He got his stick, and stood at the door looking meditatively before him, and as I passed through the hall he called to me.</p> @@ -2792,11 +2819,11 @@ theory of reversion might explain many things which seem wholly inexplicable. Thus stood my position; I saw good reason to believe that much of the tradition, a vast deal of the earliest and uncorrupted tradition of the so-called fairies, represented solid fact, and I -thought that the purely supernatural element in these traditions, was to +thought that the purely supernatural element in these traditions was to be accounted for on the hypothesis that a race which had fallen out of the grand march of evolution might have retained, as a survival, certain powers which would be to us wholly miraculous. Such was my theory as it -stood conceived in my mind; and working with, this in view, I seemed to +stood conceived in my mind; and working with this in view, I seemed to gather confirmation from every side, from the spoils of a tumulus or a barrow, from a local paper reporting an antiquarian meeting in the country, and from general literature of all kinds. Amongst other @@ -2816,7 +2843,7 @@ reputation. Yet I could read between the lines that all this scandal was purely hypothetical, and in all probability invented to account for what was in any other manner unaccountable. A flight to London or Liverpool, or an undiscovered body lying with a weight about its neck in the foul -depths of a woodland pool, of perhaps murder,—such were the theories of +depths of a woodland pool, or perhaps murder,—such were the theories of the wretched girl's neighbors. But as I idly scanned the paragraph, a flash of thought passed through me with the violence of an electric shock: What if the obscure and horrible race of the hills still @@ -2860,7 +2887,7 @@ were indulged in. Yet, as I thought with a kind of glee, the wildest conjectures went far astray; and I took the pains to enter into correspondence with the local doctor, who was called at the inquest. He, a man of some acuteness, was dumfoundered. "It will not do to speak of -these things in country places, he wrote to me; but, frankly, Professor +these things in country places," he wrote to me; "but, frankly, Professor Gregg, there is some hideous mystery here. I have obtained possession of the stone axe, and have been so curious as to test its powers. I took it into the back-garden of my house one Sunday afternoon when my family and @@ -3185,7 +3212,7 @@ thought aloud. As you heard what I said, and seem interested, perhaps you may be able to relieve my perplexity?"</p> <p>"Indeed. I scarcely know; it is an odd coincidence. One has to be -cautions. I suppose, sir, that you would have no repulsion in assisting +cautious. I suppose, sir, that you would have no repulsion in assisting the ends of justice."</p> <p>"Justice," replied Dyson, "is a term of such wide meaning, that I too @@ -3241,8 +3268,8 @@ le Strand, its preservation is a miracle, nothing more or less. A thing of exquisite beauty <i>versus</i> four buses abreast! Really, the conclusion is too obvious. Didn't you read the letter of the man who proposed that the whole mysterious system, the immemorial plan of computing Easter, -should, be abolished off-hand because he doesn't like his son having his -holidays as early as March 20th? But shall we be going on?"</p> +should be abolished off-hand because he doesn't like his son having his +holidays as early as March 25th? But shall we be going on?"</p> <p>They had lingered at the corner of a street on the north side of the Strand, enjoying the contrasts and the glamour of the scene. Dyson @@ -3304,8 +3331,8 @@ man since?"</p> of course, he may have left London, and England too for the matter of that."</p> -<p>Hardly, I think. Well, Mr. Dyson, it is only fair that I should explain -my story, now that I have listened, to yours. I must tell you, then, +<p>"Hardly, I think. Well, Mr. Dyson, it is only fair that I should explain +my story, now that I have listened to yours. I must tell you, then, that I am an agent for curiosities and precious things of all kinds. An odd employment, isn't it? Of course I wasn't brought up to the business; I gradually fell into it. I have always been fond of things queer and @@ -3600,7 +3627,7 @@ part—of my business has been as commonplace as linen-drapery. But of course things happen now and then. It is ten years since I have established my agency, and I suppose that a house and estate agent who had been in trade for an equal time could tell you some queer stories. -But I must give you a sample of my experiences some night.</p> +But I must give you a sample of my experiences some night."</p> <p>"Why not to-night?" said Dyson. "This evening seems to me admirably adapted for an odd chapter. Look out into the street; you can catch a @@ -3657,15 +3684,15 @@ and I had to walk through nine miles of such streets, deserted as those of Pompeii. I knew pretty well what direction to take; so I set out wearily, looking at the stretch of lamps vanishing in perspective; and as I walked, street after street branched off to right and left,—some -far reaching to distances that seemed endless, communicating with, other +far reaching to distances that seemed endless, communicating with other systems of thoroughfare; and some mere protoplasmic streets, beginning in orderly fashion with serried two-storied houses, and ending suddenly in waste, and pits, and rubbish heaps, and fields whence the magic had departed. I have spoken of systems of thoroughfare, and I assure you that, walking alone through these silent places, I felt phantasy growing -on me, and some glamour of the infinite. There was here. I felt, an +on me, and some glamour of the infinite. There was here, I felt, an immensity as in the outer void of the universe. I passed from unknown -to unknown, my way marked by lamps like stars, and on either band was an +to unknown, my way marked by lamps like stars, and on either hand was an unknown world where myriads of men dwelt and slept, street leading into street, as it seemed to world's end. At first the road by which I was travelling was lined with houses of unutterable monotony,—a wall of @@ -3882,9 +3909,9 @@ order for a book, I think I should go mad."</p> <p>"My dear fellow, you take it all too seriously. You should let the ink flow more readily. Above all, firmly believe, when you sit down to write, that you are an artist, and that whatever you are about is a -masterpiece. Suppose ideas fail you, say; as I heard one of our most -exquisite artists say, "It's of no consequence; the ideas are all there, -at the bottom of that box of cigarettes." You, indeed, smoke tobacco, +masterpiece. Suppose ideas fail you, say, as I heard one of our most +exquisite artists say, 'It's of no consequence; the ideas are all there, +at the bottom of that box of cigarettes.' You, indeed, smoke tobacco, but the application is the same. Besides, you must have some happy moments, and these should be ample consolation."</p> @@ -3912,7 +3939,7 @@ and faded, on the blind, as they swayed on tightened cords,—the shadows of a man and a woman hanging in a vulgar, gas-lit parlor. These were my fancies; but when pen touched paper, they shrivelled and vanished away,"</p> -<p>"Yes," said. Dyson, "there is a lot in that. I envy you the pains of +<p>"Yes," said Dyson, "there is a lot in that. I envy you the pains of transmuting vision into reality, and still more I envy you the day when you will look at your bookshelf and see twenty goodly books upon the shelves,—the series complete and done forever. Let me entreat you to @@ -3994,7 +4021,7 @@ seems of a coy and retiring nature."</p> <p>"Excuse me, madam," said Dyson, "he is not coy, but he is a realist; and perhaps you are aware that no Carthusian monk can emulate the cloistral seclusion in which a realistic novelist loves to shroud himself. It is -his way of observing human, nature."</p> +his way of observing human nature."</p> <p>"Well, well," said the lady; "all this, though deeply interesting is not germane to our affair. I must tell you my history."</p> @@ -4007,7 +4034,7 @@ germane to our affair. I must tell you my history."</p> <h3><a id="NOVEL_OF_THE_WHITE_POWDER"></a>NOVEL OF THE WHITE POWDER.</h3> -<p>My name is Leicester; my father. Major General Wyn Leicester, a +<p>My name is Leicester; my father, Major General Wyn Leicester, a distinguished officer of artillery, succumbed five years ago to a complicated liver complaint acquired in the deadly climate of India. A year later my only brother, Francis, came home after an exceptionally @@ -4028,7 +4055,7 @@ diminish, and his daily tale of hours increased. I spoke to him seriously, suggesting some occasional relaxation, if it were but an idle afternoon with a harmless novel; but he laughed, and said that he read about feudal tenures when he felt in need of amusement, and scoffed at -the notion of theatres, or a month's fresh confessed that he looked +the notion of theatres, or a month's fresh air. I confessed that he looked well, and seemed not to suffer from his labors; but I knew that such unnatural toil would take revenge at last, and I was not mistaken. A look of anxiety began to lurk about his eyes, and he seemed languid, and @@ -4442,7 +4469,7 @@ to the window, and saw there was a black wet stain upon her hand.</p> bedclothes, and all of a sudden there was something fell upon my hand wet, and I looked up, and the ceiling was black and dripping on me."</p> -<p>I looked bard at her, and bit my lip. "Come with me," I said. "Bring +<p>I looked hard at her, and bit my lip. "Come with me," I said. "Bring your candle with you."</p> <p>The room I slept in was beneath my brother's, and as I went in I felt I @@ -4639,7 +4666,7 @@ of remote times surviving into the Middle Ages, secrets of an evil science which existed long before Aryan man entered Europe. Men and women, seduced from their homes on specious pretences, were met by beings well qualified to assume, as they did assume, the part of devils, -and taken by their guides to some, desolate and lonely place, known to +and taken by their guides to some desolate and lonely place, known to the initiate by long tradition and unknown to all else. Perhaps it was a cave in some bare and wind-swept hill; perhaps some inmost recess of a great forest, and there the Sabbath was held. There, in the blackest @@ -4804,7 +4831,7 @@ realist. He had been almost continuously at work on some scheme that struck him as well-nigh magical in its possibilities since the night of his adventure with the ingenious tenant of the first floor in Abingdon Grove; and as he laid down the pen with a glow of triumph, he reflected -that he had not viewed, the streets for five days in succession. With +that he had not viewed the streets for five days in succession. With all the enthusiasm of his accomplished labor still working in his brain, he put away his papers, and went out, pacing the pavement at first in that rare mood of exultation which finds in every stone upon the way the @@ -5088,7 +5115,7 @@ their conversation I understood that my friend was a dealer in antiques; they spoke of the Hittite seal, and of the prospects of further discoveries, and later, when two or three more persons had joined us, there was an argument as to the possibility of a systematic exploration -of the pre-celtic monuments in England I was; in fact, present at an +of the pre-celtic monuments in England. I was; in fact, present at an archæological reception of an informal kind; and at nine o'clock, when the antiquaries were gone, I stared at Lipsius in a manner that showed I was puzzled, and sought an explanation.</p> @@ -5130,7 +5157,7 @@ date, or signature, and ran as follows:—</p> <p>"Mr. James Headley, F.S.A., will receive from his agent in Armenia, on the 12th inst., a unique coin, the gold Tiberius. It bears on the -reverse a faun, with the legend VICTORIA. It is believed that this coin +reverse a faun, with the legend <span class="smcap">Victoria</span>. It is believed that this coin is of immense value. Mr. Headley will come up to town to show the coin to his friend, Professor Memys, of Chenies Street, Oxford Street, on some date between the 13th and the 18th."</p> @@ -5593,7 +5620,7 @@ longer pulled forward imaginary ruffles, or tapped a ghostly snuff-box.</p> <p>"It's a foolish fancy," he said at last, "but I keep thinking I hear a noise like some one groaning. Listen; no, I can't hear it now. There it -is again! Did you notice it, Phillipps?</p> +is again! Did you notice it, Phillipps?"</p> <p>"No, I can't say I heard anything. But I believe that old places like this are like shells from the shore, ever echoing with noises. The old @@ -5645,4 +5672,3 @@ mounted still, a black vapor.</p> <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35517 ***</div> </body> </html> - |