diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:25:54 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:25:54 -0700 |
| commit | 4e785d587b47a769487d505254413bb114ac0e4f (patch) | |
| tree | bf215a4d91503673790af93b57ffe2b739bf39ce | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5651.txt | 8977 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5651.zip | bin | 0 -> 186713 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 8993 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5651.txt b/5651.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51675a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/5651.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8977 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dreams and Dream Stories, by Anna (Bonus) Kingsford + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Dreams and Dream Stories + +Author: Anna (Bonus) Kingsford + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5651] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 6, 2002] +[Most recently updated on August 18, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, DREAMS AND DREAM STORIES *** + + + +Digital Transcription--M.R.J. + + +Dreams and Dream Stories + By Anna (Bonus) Kingsford + + + + +Contents + +Preface + +Part I +Dreams + +I. The Doomed Train +II. The Wonderful Spectacles +III. The Counsel of Perfection +IV. The City of Blood +V. The Bird and the Cat +VI. The Treasure in the Lighted House +VII. The Forest Cathedral +VIII. The Enchanted Woman +IX. The Banquet of the Gods +X. The Difficult Path +XI. A Lion in the Way +XII. A Dream of Disembodiment +XIII. The Perfect Way with Animals +XIV. The Laboratory Underground +XV. The Old Young Man +XVI. The Metempsychosis +XVII. The Three Kings +XVIII. The Armed Goddess +XIX. The Game of Cards +XX. The Panic-Struck Pack-Horse +XXI. The Haunted Inn +XXII. An Eastern Apologue +XXIII. A Haunted House Indeed! +XXIV. The Square in the Hand + +Dream Verses + +I. "Through the Ages" +II. A Fragment +III. A Fragment +IV. Signs of the Times +V. With the Gods + +Part II +Dream Stories + +I. A Village of Seers +II. Steepside; A Ghost Story +III. Beyond the Sunset +IV. A Turn of Luck +V. Noemi +VI. The Little Old Man's Story +VII. The Nightshade +VIII. St. George the Chevalier + + + + + +Preface* + +The chronicles which I am about to present to the reader are not +the result of any conscious effort of the imagination. They are, +as the title-page indicates, records of dreams, occurring at intervals +during the last ten years, and transcribed, pretty nearly in the +order of their occurrence, from my Diary. Written down as soon as +possible after awaking from the slumber during which they presented +themselves, these narratives, necessarily unstudied in style and +wanting in elegance of diction, have at least the merit of fresh +and vivid color, for they were committed to paper at a moment when +the effect and impress of each successive vision were strong and +forceful in the mind, and before the illusion of reality conveyed +by the scenes witnessed and the sounds heard in sleep had had time +to pass away. + +I do not know whether these experiences of mine are unique. So far, +I have not yet met with any one in whom the dreaming faculty appears +to be either so strongly or so strangely developed as in myself. +Most dreams, even when of unusual vividness and lucidity, betray +a want of coherence in their action, and an incongruity of detail +and dramatis personae, that stamp + +--------------- +* Written in 1886. Some of the experiences in this volume were +subsequent to that date. This publication is made in accordance +with the author's last wishes. (Ed.) +-------------- + +them as the product of incomplete and disjointed cerebral function. +But the most remarkable features of the experiences I am about to +record are the methodical consecutiveness of their sequences, and +the intelligent purpose disclosed alike in the events witnessed and +in the words heard or read. Some of these last, indeed, resemble, +for point and profundity, the apologues of Eastern scriptures; and, +on more than one occasion, the scenery of the dream has accurately +portrayed characteristics of remote regions, city, forest and mountain, +which in this existence at least I have never beheld, nor, so far +as I can remember, even heard described, and yet, every feature +of these unfamiliar climes has revealed itself to my sleeping vision +with a splendour of coloring and distinctness of outline which made +the waking life seem duller and less real by contrast. I know of +no parallel to this phenomenon unless in the pages of Bulwer Lytton's +romance entitled--"The Pilgrims of the Rhine," in which is related +the story of a German student endowed with so marvellous a faculty +of dreaming, that for him the normal conditions of sleeping and +waking became reversed, his true life was that which he lived in +his slumbers, and his hours of wakefulness appeared to him as so +many uneventful and inactive intervals of arrest occurring in an +existence of intense and vivid interest which was wholly passed +in the hypnotic state. Not that to me there is any such inversion +of natural conditions. On the contrary, the priceless insights +and illuminations I have acquired by means of my dreams have gone +far to elucidate for me many difficulties and enigmas of life, and +even of religion, which might otherwise have remained dark to me, +and to throw upon the events and vicissitudes of a career filled +with bewildering situations, a light which, like sunshine, has +penetrated to the very causes and springs of circumstance, and has +given meaning and fitness to much in my life that would else have +appeared to me incoherent or inconsistent. + +I have no theory to offer the reader in explanation of my faculty, +--at least in so far as its physiological aspect is concerned. +Of course, having received a medical education, I have speculated +about the modus operandi of the phenomenon, but my speculations +are not of such a character as to entitle them to presentation in +the form even of an hypothesis. I am tolerably well acquainted +with most of the propositions regarding unconscious cerebration, +which have been put forward by men of science, but none of these +propositions can, by any process of reasonable expansion or +modification, be made to fit my case. Hysteria, to the multiform +and manifold categories of which, medical experts are wont to refer +the majority of the abnormal experiences encountered by them, is +plainly inadequate to explain or account for mine. The singular +coherence and sustained dramatic unity observable in these dreams, +as well as the poetic beauty and tender subtlety of the instructions +and suggestions conveyed in them do not comport with the conditions +characteristic of nervous disease. Moreover, during the whole period +covered by these dreams, I have been busily and almost continuously +engrossed with scientific and literary pursuits demanding accurate +judgment and complete self-possession and rectitude of mind. At +the time when many of the most vivid and remarkable visions occurred, +I was following my course as a student at the Paris Faculty of +Medicine, preparing for examinations, daily visiting hospital wards +as dresser, and attending lectures. Later, when I had taken my +degree, I was engaged in the duties of my profession and in writing +for the press on scientific subjects. Neither have I ever taken +opium, hashish or other dream-producing agent. A cup of tea or +coffee represents the extent of my indulgences in this direction. +I mention these details in order to guard against inferences which +otherwise might be drawn as to the genesis of my faculty. + +With regard to the interpretation and application of particular +dreams, I think it best to say nothing. The majority are obviously +allegorical, and although obscure in parts, they are invariably +harmonious, and tolerably clear in meaning to persons acquainted +with the method of Greek and Oriental myth. I shall not, therefore, +venture on any explanation of my own, but shall simply record the +dreams as they passed before me, and the impressions left upon my +mind when I awoke. + +Unfortunately, in some instances, which are not, therefore, here +transcribed, my waking memory failed to recall accurately, or +completely, certain discourses heard or written words seen in the +course of the vision, which in these cases left but a fragmentary +impression on the brain and baffled all waking endeavor to recall +their missing passages. + +These imperfect experiences have not, however, been numerous; on +the contrary, it is a perpetual marvel to me to find with what ease +and certainty I can, as a rule, on recovering ordinary consciousness, +recall the picture witnessed in my sleep, and reproduce the words +I have heard spoken or seen written. + +Sometimes several interims of months occur during which none of these +exceptional visions visit me, but only ordinary dreams, incongruous +and insignificant after their kind. Observation, based on an +experience of considerable length, justifies me, I think, in saying +that climate, altitude, and electrical conditions are not without +their influence in the production of the cerebral state necessary +to the exercise of the faculty I have described. Dry air, high +levels, and a crisp, calm, exhilarating atmosphere favor its activity; +while, on the other hand, moisture, proximity to rivers, cloudy +skies, and a depressing, heavy climate, will, for an indefinite +period, suffice to repress it altogether. It is not, therefore, +surprising that the greater number of these dreams, and, especially, +the most vivid, detailed and idyllic, have occurred to me while +on the continent. At my own residence on the banks of the Severn, +in a humid, low-lying tract of country, I very seldom experience +such manifestations, and sometimes, after a prolonged sojourn at +home, am tempted to fancy that the dreaming gift has left me never +to return. But the results of a visit to Paris or to Switzerland +always speedily reassure me; the necessary magnetic or psychic +tension never fails to reassert itself; and before many weeks have +elapsed my Diary is once more rich with the record of my +nightly visions. + +Some of these phantasmagoria have furnished me with the framework, and +even details, of stories which from time to time I have contributed +to various magazines. A ghost story,* published some years ago in +a London magazine, and much commented on because of its peculiarly +weird and startling character, had this origin; so had a fairy tale,** +which appeared in a Christmas Annual last year, and which has recently +been re-issued in German by the editor of a foreign periodical. Many +of my more + +--------------- +* "Steepside" +** "Beyond the Sunset" +---------------- + +serious contributions to literature have been similarly initiated; +and, more than once, fragments of poems, both in English and other +languages, have been heard or read by me in dreams. I regret much +that I have not yet been able to recover any one entire poem. My +memory always failed before I could finish writing out the lines, +no matter how luminous and recent the impressions made by them on +my mind.* However, even as regards verses, my experience has been +far richer and more successful than that of Coleridge, the only +product of whose faculty in this direction was the poetical fragment +Kubla Khan, and there was no scenic dreaming on the occasion, only +the verses were thus obtained; and I am not without hope that at +some future time, under more favorable conditions than those I now +enjoy, the broken threads may be resumed and these chapters of dream +verse perfected and made complete. + +It may, perhaps, be worthy of remark that by far the larger number +of the dreams set down in this volume, occurred towards dawn; +sometimes even, after sunrise, during a "second sleep." A condition +of fasting, united possibly, with some subtle magnetic or other +atmospheric state, seems therefore to be that most open to impressions +of the kind. And, in this connection, I think it right to add that +for the past fifteen years I have been an abstainer from flesh-meats; +not a "Vegetarian," because during the whole of that period I have +used such + +----------- +* The poem entitled "A Discourse on the Communion of Souls; or, the +Uses of Love between Creature and Creature, Being a part of the +Golden Book of Venus," which forms one of the appendices to "The +Perfect Way," would be an exception to this rule but that it was +necessary for the dream to be repeated before the whole poem could +be recalled. (Ed.) +-------------- + +animal produce as butter, cheese, eggs, and milk. That the influence +of fasting and of sober fare upon the perspicacity of the sleeping +brain was known to the ancients in times when dreams were far more +highly esteemed than they now are, appears evident from various +passages in the records of theurgy and mysticism. Philostratus, +in his "Life of Apollonius Tyaneus," represents the latter as informing +King Phraotes that "the Oneiropolists, or Interpreters of Visions, +are wont never to interpret any vision till they have first inquired +the time at which it befell; for, if it were early, and of the +morning sleep, they then thought that they might make a good +interpretation thereof (that is, that it might be worth the +interpreting), in that the soul was then fitted for divination, +and disencumbered. But if in the first sleep, or near midnight, +while the soul was as yet clouded and drowned in libations, they, +being wise, refused to give any interpretation. Moreover, the gods +themselves are of this opinion, and send their oracles only into +abstinent minds. For the priests, taking him who doth so consult, +keep him one day from meat and three days from wine, that he may +in a clear soul receive the oracles." And again, Iamblichus, writing +to Agathocles, says:--"There is nothing unworthy of belief in what +you have been told concerning the sacred sleep, and seeing by means +of dreams. I explain it thus:--The soul has a twofold life, a lower +and a higher. In sleep the soul is liberated from the constraint +of the body, and enters, as an emancipated being, on its divine +life of intelligence. Then, as the noble faculty which beholds +objects that truly are--the objects in the world of intelligence-- +stirs within, and awakens to its power, who can be astonished that +the mind which contains in itself the principles of all events, +should, in this its state of liberation, discern the future in those +antecedent principles which will constitute that future? The nobler +part of the mind is thus united by abstraction to higher natures, +and becomes a participant in the wisdom and foreknowledge of the +gods . . . . The night-time of the body is the day-time of the soul." + +But I have no desire to multiply citations, nor to vex the reader +with hypotheses inappropriate to the design of this little work. +Having, therefore, briefly recounted the facts and circumstances +of my experience so far as they are known to myself, I proceed, +without further commentary, to unroll my chart of dream-pictures, +and leave them to tell their own tale. + +--A.B.K. + + + + + +I. The Doomed Train* + + + + +I was visited last night by a dream of so strange and vivid a kind +that I feel impelled to communicate it to you, not only to relieve +my own mind of the impression which the recollection of it causes me, +but also to give you an opportunity of finding the meaning, which +I am sill far too much shaken and terrified to seek for myself. + +It seemed to me that you and I were two of a vast company of men +and women, upon all of whom, with the exception of myself--for I +was there voluntarily--sentence of death had been passed. I was +sensible of the knowledge--how obtained I know not--that this terrible +doom had been pronounced by the official agents of some new reign +of terror. Certain I was that none of the party had really been +guilty of any crime deserving of death; but that the penalty had +been incurred through + +------------------ +* This narrative was addressed to the friend particularly referred +to in it. The dream occurred near the close of 1876, and on the +eve, therefore, of the Russo-Turkish war, and was regarded by us +both as having relation to a national crisis, of a moral and spiritual +character, our interest in which was so profound as to be destined +to dominate all our subsequent lives and work. (Author's Note.) +--------------- + +their connection with some regime, political, social or religious, +which was doomed to utter destruction. It became known among us +that the sentence was about to be carried out on a colossal scale; +but we remained in absolute ignorance as to the place and method +of the intended execution. Thus far my dream gave me no intimation +of the horrible scene which next burst on me,--a scene which strained +to their utmost tension every sense of sight, hearing and touch, +in a manner unprecedented in any dream I have previously had. + +It was night, dark and starless, and I found myself, together with +the whole company of doomed men and women who knew that they were +soon to die, but not how or where, in a railway train hurrying +through the darkness to some unknown destination. I sat in a +carriage quite at the rear end of the train, in a corner seat, and +was leaning out of the open window, peering into the darkness, when, +suddenly, a voice, which seemed to speak out of the air, said to +me in a low, distinct, in-tense tone, the mere recollection of which +makes me shudder,--"The sentence is being carried out even now. +You are all of you lost. Ahead of the train is a frightful precipice +of monstrous height, and at its base beats a fathomless sea. The +railway ends only with the abyss, Over that will the train hurl +itself into annihilation, There Is No One On The Engine!" + +At this I sprang from my seat in horror, and looked round at the +faces of the persons in the carriage with me. No one of them had +spoken, or had heard those awful words. The lamplight from the +dome of the carriage flickered on the forms, about me. I looked +from one to the other, but saw no sign of alarm given by any of them. +Then again the voice out of the air spoke to me,--"There is but +one way to be saved. You must leap out of the train!" + +In frantic haste I pushed open the carriage door and stepped out +on the footboard. The train was going at a terrific pace, swaying +to and fro as with the passion of its speed; and the mighty wind +of its passage beat my hair about my face and tore at my garments. + +Until this moment I had not thought of you, or even seemed conscious +of your presence in the train. Holding tightly on to the rail by +the carriage door, I began to creep along the footboard towards the +engine, hoping to find a chance of dropping safely down on the line. +Hand over hand I passed along in this way from one carriage to another; +and as I did so I saw by the light within each carriage that the +passengers had no idea of the fate upon which they were being hurried. +At length, in one of the compartments, I saw you. "Come out!" I cried; +"come out! Save yourself! In another minute we shall be dashed +to pieces!" + +You rose instantly, wrenched open the door, and stood beside me +outside on the footboard. The rapidity at which we were going was +now more fearful than ever. The train rocked as it fled onwards. +The wind shrieked as we were carried through it. "Leap down," I +cried to you; "save yourself! It is certain death to stay here. +Before us is an abyss; and there is no one on the engine!" + +At this you turned your face full upon me with a look of intense +earnestness, and said, "No, we will not leap down. We will stop +the train." + +With these words you left me, and crept along the foot-board towards +the front of the train. Full of half angry anxiety at what seemed +to me a Quixotic act, I followed. In one of the carriages we +passed I saw my mother and eldest brother, unconscious as the rest. +Presently we reached the last carriage, and saw by the lurid light +of the furnace that the voice had spoken truly, and that there was +no one on the engine. + +You continued to move onwards. "Impossible! Impossible!" I cried; +"It cannot be done. O, pray, come away." + +Then you knelt upon the footboard, and said,--"You are right. It +cannot be done in that way; but we can save the train. Help me +to get these irons asunder." + +The engine was connected with the train by two great iron hooks +and staples. By a tremendous effort, in making which I almost lost +my balance, we unhooked the irons and detached the train; when, +with a mighty leap as of some mad supernatural monster, the engine +sped on its way alone, shooting back as it went a great flaming +trail of sparks, and was lost in the darkness. We stood together +on the footboard, watching in silence the gradual slackening of +the speed. When at length the train had come to a standstill, we +cried to the passengers, "Saved! Saved!" and then amid the confusion +of opening the doors and descending and eager talking, my dream +ended, leaving me shattered and palpitating with the horror of it. + +--London, Nov. 1876. + + + + + +II. The Wonderful Spectacles* + + + + +I was walking alone on the seashore. The day was singularly clear +and sunny. Inland lay the most beautiful landscape ever seen; +and far off were ranges of tall hills, the highest peaks of which +were white with glittering snows. Along the sands by the sea came +towards me a man accoutred as a postman. He gave me a letter. +It was from you. It ran thus:-- + +"I have got hold of the earliest and most precious book extant. +It was written before the world began. The text is easy enough +to read; but the notes, which are very copious and numerous, are +in such minute and obscure characters that I cannot make them out. +I want you to get for me the spectacles which Swedenborg used to +wear; not the smaller pair--those he gave to Hans Christian +Andersen--but the large pair, and these seem to have got mislaid. +I think they are Spinoza's make. You know he was an optical-glass +maker by profession, and the best we have ever had. See if you +can get them for me." + +When I looked up after reading this letter, I saw the postman +hastening away across the sands, and I cried out to him, "Stop! +how am I to send the answer? Will you not wait for it?" + +He looked round, stopped, and came back to me. + +"I have the answer here," he said, tapping his letter-bag, "and I +shall deliver it immediately." + +------------- +* From another letter to the friend mentioned in the note appended +to the "Doomed Train."--(Author's Note.) +------------- + +"How can you have the answer before I have written it?" I asked. +"You are making a mistake." + +"No," he said." In the city from which I come, the replies are +all written at the office, and sent out with the letters themselves. +Your reply is in my bag." + +"Let me see it," I said. He took another letter from his wallet +and gave it to me. I opened it, and read, in my own handwriting, +this answer, addressed to you:-- + +"The spectacles you want can be bought in London. But you will +not be able to use them at once, for they have not been worn for +many years, and they sadly want cleaning. This you will not be +able to do yourself in London, because it is too dark there to see +well, and because your fingers are not small enough to clean them +properly. Bring them here to me, and I will do it for you." + +I gave this letter back to the postman. He smiled and nodded at me; +and I then perceived to my astonishment that he wore a camel's-hair +tunic round his waist. I had been on the point of addressing him-- +I know not why--as Hermes. But I now saw that he must be John the +Baptist; and in my fright at having spoken with so great a saint, +I awoke! + +--London, Jan. 31, 1877 + +------------------------ +* The dreamer knew nothing of Spinoza at this time, and was quite +unaware that he was an optician. Subsequent experience made it clear +that the spectacles in question were intended to represent her own +remarkable faculty of intuitional and interpretative perception. (Ed.) +------------------- + + + + + +III. The Counsel of Perfection + + + + +I dreamed that I was in a large room, and there were in it seven +persons, all men, sitting at one long table; and each of them had +before him a scroll, some having books also; and all were greyheaded +and bent with age save one, and this was a youth of about twenty +without hair on his face. One of the aged men, who had his finger +on a place in a book open before him, said: + +"This spirit, who is of our order, writes in this book,--'Be ye +perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect.' How shall +we understand this word `perfection'?" And another, of the old +men, looking up, answered, "It must mean wisdom, for wisdom is the +sum of perfection." And another old man said, "That cannot be; +for no creature can be wise as God is wise. Where is he among us +who could attain to such a state? That which is part only, cannot +comprehend the whole. To bid a creature to be wise as God is wise +would be mockery." + +Then a fourth old man said:--"It must be Truth that is intended. +For truth only is perfection." But he who sat next the last speaker +answered, "Truth also is partial; for where is he among us who +shall be able to see as God sees?" + +And the sixth said, "It must surely be justice; for this is the +whole of righteousness." And the old man who had spoken first, +answered him: "Not so; for justice comprehends vengeance, and +it is written that vengeance is the Lord's alone." + +Then the young man stood up with an open book in his hand and said: +--"I have here another record of one who likewise heard these words. +Let us see whether his rendering of them can help us to the knowledge +we seek." And he found a place in the book and read aloud:-- + +"Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful." + +And all of them closed their books and fixed their eyes upon me. + +--London, April 9, 1877 + + + + + +IV. The City of Blood + + + + +I dreamed that I was wandering along a narrow street of vast length, +upon either hand of which was an unbroken line of high straight +houses, their walls and doors resembling those of a prison. The +atmosphere was dense and obscure, and the time seemed that of twilight; +in the narrow line of sky visible far overhead between the two rows +of house-roofs, I could not discern sun, moon, or stars, or color +of any kind. All was grey, impenetrable, and dim. Underfoot, between +the paving-stones of the street, grass was springing. Nowhere was +the least sign of life: the place seemed utterly deserted. I stood +alone in the midst of profound silence and desolation. Silence? +No! As I listened, there came to my ears from all sides, dully +at first and almost imperceptibly, a low creeping sound like subdued +moaning; a sound that never ceased, and that was so native to the +place, I had at first been unaware of it. But now I clearly gathered +in the sound and recognised it as expressive of the intensest physical +suffering. Looking steadfastly towards one of the houses from which +the most distinct of these sounds issued, I perceived a stream of +blood slowly oozing out from beneath the door and trickling down +into the street, staining the tufts of grass red here and there, +as it wound its way towards me. I glanced up and saw that the glass +in the closed and barred windows of the house was flecked and splashed +with the same horrible dye. + +"Some one has been murdered in this place!" I cried, and flew towards +the door. Then, for the first time, I perceived that the door had +neither lock nor handle on the outside, but could be opened only +from within. It had, indeed, the form and appearance of a door, +but in every other respect it was solid and impassable as the walls +themselves. In vain I searched for bell or knocker, or for some +means of making entry into the house. I found only a scroll fastened +with nails upon a crossbeam over the door, and upon it I read the +words:--"This is the Laboratory of a Vivisector." As I read, the +wailing sound redoubled in intensity, and a noise as of struggling +made itself audible within, as though some new victim had been added +to the first. I beat madly against the door with my hands and +shrieked for help; but in vain. My dress was reddened with the +blood upon the door step. In horror I looked down upon it, then +turned and fled. As I passed along the street, the sounds around +me grew and gathered volume, formulating themselves into distinct +cries and bursts of frenzied sobbing. Upon the door of every house +some scroll was attached, similar to that I had already seen. Upon +one was inscribed:--"Here is a husband murdering his wife:" upon +another:--"Here is a mother beating her child to death:" upon a +third: "This is a slaughter-house." + +Every door was impassable; every window was barred. The idea of +interference from without was futile. Vainly I lifted my voice +and cried for aid. The street was desolate as a graveyard; the +only thing that moved about me was the stealthy blood that came +creeping out from beneath the doors of these awful dwellings. Wild +with horror I fled along the street, seeking some outlet, the cries +and moans pursuing me as I ran. At length the street abruptly ended +in a high dead wall, the top of which was not discernible; it seemed, +indeed, to be limitless in height. Upon this wall was written in +great black letters-- "There is no way out." + +Overwhelmed with despair and anguish, I fell upon the stones of +the street, repeating aloud "There is no way out." + +- Hinton, Jan. 1877 + + + + + +V. The Bird and the Cat * + + + + +I dreamt that I had a beautiful bird in a cage, and that the cage +was placed on a table in a room where there was a cat. I took the +bird out of the cage and put him on the table. Instantly the cat +sprang upon + +----------------- +* This dream and the next occurred at a moment when it had almost +been decided to relax the rule of privacy until then observed in +regard to our psychological experiences, among other ways, by +submitting them to some of the savants of the Paris Faculty,--a +project of which these dreams at once caused the abandonment. This +was not the only occasion on which a dream bore a twofold aspect, +being a warning or a prediction, according to the heed given to it. (Ed.) +------------------ + +him and seized him in her mouth. I threw myself upon her and strove +to wrest away her prey, loading her with reproaches and bewailing +the fate of my beautiful bird. Then suddenly some one said to me, +"You have only yourself to blame for this misfortune. While the +bird remained in his cage he was safe. Why should you have taken +him out before the eyes of the cat?" + + + + + +VI. The Treasure in the Lighted House + + + + +A second time I dreamt, and saw a house built in the midst of a +forest. It was night, and all the rooms of the house were brilliantly +illuminated by lamps. But the strange thing was that the windows +were without shutters, and reached to the ground. In one of the +rooms sat an old man counting money and jewels on a table before him. +I stood in the spirit beside him, and presently heard outside the +windows a sound of footsteps and of men's voices talking together +in hushed tones. Then a face peered in at the lighted room, and +I became aware that there were many persons assembled without in +the darkness, watching the old man and his treasure. He also heard +them, and rose from his seat in alarm, clutching his gold and gems +and endeavoring to hide them. + +"Who are they?" I asked him. He answered, his face white with terror; +"They are robbers and assassins. This forest is their haunt. They +will murder me, and seize my treasure." "If this be so," said I, +"why did you build your house in the midst of this forest, and why +are there no shutters to the windows? Are you mad, or a fool, that +you do not know every one can see from without into your lighted +rooms?" He looked at me with stupid despair. "I never thought +of the shutters," said he. + +As we stood talking, the robbers outside congregated in great numbers, +and the old man fled from the room with his treasure bags into another +apartment. But this also was brilliantly illuminated within, and +the windows were shutterless. The robbers followed his movements +easily, and so pursued him from room to room all round the house. +Nowhere had he any shelter. Then came the sound of gouge and mallet +and saw, and I knew the assassins were breaking into the house, +and that before long, the owner would have met the death his folly +had invited, and his treasure would pass into the hands of the robbers. + +--Paris, Aug. 3, 1877 + + + + + +VII. The Forest Cathedral + + + + +I found myself--accompanied by a guide, a young man of Oriental +aspect and habit--passing through long vistas of trees which, as +we advanced, continually changed in character. Thus we threaded +avenues of English oaks and elms, the foliage of which gave way +as we proceeded to that of warmer and moister climes, and we saw +overhead the hanging masses of broad-leaved palms, and enormous trees +whose names I do not know, spreading their fingered leaves over +us like great green hands in a manner that frightened me. Here also +I saw huge grasses which rose over my shoulders, and through which +I had at times to beat my way as through a sea; and ferns of colossal +proportions; with every possible variety and mode of tree-life +and every conceivable shade of green, from the faintest and clearest +yellow to the densest blue-green. One wood in particular I stopped +to admire. It seemed as though every leaf of its trees were of gold, +so intensely yellow was the tint of the foliage. + +In these forests and thickets were numerous shrines of gods such +as the Hindus worship. Every now and then we came upon them in +open spaces. They were uncouth and rudely painted; but they all +were profusely adorned with gems, chiefly turquoises, and they all +had many arms and hands, in which they held lotus flowers, sprays +of palms, and colored berries. + +Passing by these strange figures, we came to a darker part of our +course, where the character of the trees changed and the air felt +colder. I perceived that a shadow had fallen on the way; and +looking upwards I found we were passing beneath a massive roof of +dark indigo-colored pines, which here and there were positively +black in their intensity and depth. Intermingled with them were firs, +whose great, straight stems were covered with lichen and mosses of +beautiful variety, and some looking strangely like green ice-crystals. + +Presently we came to a little broken-down rude kind of chapel in +the midst of the wood. It was built of stone; and masses of stone, +shapeless and moss-grown, were lying scattered about on the ground +around it. At a little rough-hewn altar within it stood a Christian +priest, blessing the elements. Overhead, the great dark sprays of +the larches and cone-laden firs swept its roof. I sat down to rest +on one of the stones, and looked upwards a while at the foliage. +Then turning my gaze again towards the earth, I saw a vast circle +of stones, moss-grown like that on which I sat, and ranged in a +circle such as that of Stonehenge. It occupied an open space in +the midst of the forest; and the grasses and climbing plants of +the place had fastened on the crevices of the stones. + +One stone, larger and taller than the rest, stood at the junction +of the circle, in a place of honor, as though it had stood for a +symbol of divinity. I looked at my guide, and said, " Here, at +least, is an idol whose semblance belongs to another type than that +of the Hindus." He smiled, and turning from me to the Christian +priest at the altar, said aloud, "Priest, why do your people receive +from sacerdotal hands the bread only, while you yourselves receive +both bread and wine?" And the priest answered, "We receive no more +than they. Yes, though under another form, the people are partakers +with us of the sacred wine with its particle. The blood is the +life of the flesh, and of it the flesh is formed, and without it +the flesh could not consist. The communion is the same." + +Then the young man my guide turned again to me and waved his hand +towards the stone before me. And as I looked the stone opened from +its summit to its base; and I saw that the strata within had the +form of a tree, and that every minute crystal of which it was formed, +--particles so fine that grains of sand would have been coarse in +comparison with, them,--and every atom composing its mass, were +stamped with this same tree-image, and bore the shape of the +ice-crystals, of the ferns and of the colossal palm-leaves I had +seen. And my guide said, "Before these stones were, the Tree of +Life stood in the midst of the Universe." + +And again we passed on, leaving behind us the chapel and the circle +of stones, the pines and the firs: and as we went the foliage +around us grew more and more stunted and like that at home. We +traveled quickly; but now and then, through breaks and openings +in the woods, I saw solitary oaks standing in the midst of green +spaces, and beneath them kings giving judgment to their peoples, +and magistrates administering laws. + +At last we came to a forest of trees so enormous that they made +me tremble to look at them. The hugeness of their stems gave them +an unearthly appearance; for they rose hundreds of feet from the +ground before they burst out far, far above us, into colossal +masses of vast-leaved foliage. I cannot sufficiently convey the +impressions of awe with which the sight of these monster trees +inspired me. There seemed to me something pitiless and phantom-like +in the severity of their enormous bare trunks, stretching on without +break or branch into the distance--overhead, and there at length +giving birth to a sea of dark waving plumes, the rustle of which +reached my ears as the sound of tossing waves. + +Passing beneath these vast trees we came to others of smaller growth, +but still of the same type,--straight-stemmed, with branching foliage +at their summit. Here we stood to rest, and as we paused I became +aware that the trees around me were losing their color, and turning +by imperceptible degrees into stone. In nothing was their form +or position altered; only a cold, grey hue overspread them, and +the intervening spaces between their stems became filled up, as +though by a cloud which gradually grew substantial. Presently I +raised my eyes, and lo! overhead were the arches of a vast cathedral, +spanning the sky and hiding it from my sight. The tree stems had +become tall columns of grey stone; and their plumed tops, the carven +architraves and branching spines of Gothic sculpture. The incense +rolled in great dense clouds to their outstretching arms, and, +breaking against them, hung in floating, fragrant wreaths about +their carven sprays. Looking downwards to the altar, I found it +covered with flowers and plants and garlands, in the midst of which +stood a great golden crucifix, and I turned to my guide wishing +to question him, but he had disappeared, and I could not find him. +Then a vast crowd of worshipers surrounded me, a priest before the +altar raised the pyx and the patten in his hands. The people fell +on their knees, and bent their heads, as a great field of corn over +which a strong wind passes. I knelt with the rest, and adored with +them in silence. + +--Paris, July 1877 + + + + + +VIII. The Enchanted Woman* + + + + +The first consciousness which broke my sleep last night was one +of floating, of being carried swiftly by some invisible force through +a vast space; then, of being gently lowered; then of light, until, +gradually, I found myself on + +--------------- +* On the night previous to this dream, Mrs Kingsford was awoke by +a bright light, and beheld a hand holding out towards her a glass +of foaming ale, the action being accompanied by the words, spoken +with strong emphasis,--" You must not drink this." It was not her +usual beverage, but she occasionally yielded to pressure and took +it when at home. In consequence of the above prohibition she +abstained for that day, and on the following night received this +vision, in order to fit her for which the prohibition had apparently +been imposed. It was originally entitled a Vision of the World's +Fall, on the supposition that it represented the loss of the Intuition, +mystically called the "Fall of the Woman," through the sorceries +of priestcraft. (Ed.) +------------------ + +my feet in a broad noon-day brightness, and before me an open country. +Hills, hills, as far as the eye could reach,--hills with snow on +their tops, and mists around their gorges. This was the first thing +I saw distinctly. Then, casting my eyes towards the ground, I +perceived that all about me lay huge masses of grey material which, +at first, I took for blocks of stone, having the form of lions; +but as I looked at them more intently, my sight grew clearer, and +I saw, to my horror, that they were really alive. A panic seized me, +and I tried to run away; but on turning, I became suddenly aware +that the whole country was filled with these awful shapes; and +the faces of those nearest to me were most dreadful, for their eyes, +and something in the expression, though not in the form, of their +faces, were human. I was absolutely alone in a terrible world peopled +with lions, too, of a monstrous kind. Recovering myself with an +effort, I resumed my flight, but, as I passed through the midst of +this concourse of monsters, it suddenly struck me that they were +perfectly unconscious of my presence. I even laid my hands, in +passing, on the heads and manes of several, but they gave no sign +of seeing me or of knowing that I touched them. At last I gained +the threshold of a great pavilion, not, apparently, built by hands, +but formed by Nature. The walls were solid, yet they were composed +of huge trees standing close together, like columns; and the roof +of the pavilion was formed by their massive foliage, through which +not a ray of outer light penetrated. Such light as there was seemed +nebulous, and appeared to rise out of the ground. In the centre +of this pavilion I stood alone, happy to have got clear away from +those terrible beasts and the gaze of their steadfast eyes. + +As I stood there, I became conscious of the fact that the nebulous +light of the place was concentrating itself into a focus on the +columned wall opposite to me. It grew there, became intenser, and +then spread, revealing, as it spread, a series of moving pictures +that appeared to be scenes actually enacted before me. For the +figures in the pictures were living, and they moved before my eyes, +though I heard neither word nor sound. And this is what I saw. +First there came a writing on the wall of the pavilion:--" This +is the History of our World." These words, as I looked at them, +appeared to sink into the wall as they had risen out of it, and +to yield place to the pictures which then began to come out in +succession, dimly at first, then strong and clear as actual scenes. + +First I beheld a beautiful woman, with the sweetest face and most +perfect form conceivable. She was dwelling in a cave among the +hills with her husband, and he, too, was beautiful, more like an +angel than a man. They seemed perfectly happy together; and their +dwelling was like Paradise. On every side was beauty, sunlight, +and repose. This picture sank into the wall as the writing had done. +And then came out another; the same man and woman driving together +in a sleigh drawn by reindeer over fields of ice; with all about +them glaciers and snow, and great mountains veiled in wreaths of +slowly moving mist. The sleigh went at a rapid pace, and its +occupants talked gaily to each other, so far as I could judge by +their smiles and the movement of their lips. But, what caused me +much surprise was that they carried between them, and actually in +their hands, a glowing flame, the fervor of which I felt reflected +from the picture upon my own cheeks. The ice around shone with +its brightness. The mists upon the snow mountains caught its gleam. +Yet, strong as were its light and heat, neither the man nor the +woman seemed to be burned or dazzled by it. This picture, too, +the beauty and brilliancy of which greatly impressed me, sank and +disappeared as the former. + +Next, I saw a terrible looking man clad in an enchanter's robe, +standing alone upon an ice-crag. In the air above him, poised like +a dragonfly, was an evil spirit, having a head and face like that +of a human being. The rest of it resembled the tail of a comet, +and seemed made of a green fire, which flickered in and out as though +swayed by a wind. And as I looked, suddenly, through an opening +among the hills, I saw the sleigh pass, carrying the beautiful woman +and her husband; and in the same instant the enchanter also saw +it, and his face contracted, and the evil spirit lowered itself +and came between me and him. Then this picture sank and vanished. + +I next beheld the same cave in the mountains which I had before seen; +and the beautiful couple together in it. Then a shadow darkened +the door of the cave; and the enchanter was there, asking admittance; +cheerfully they bade him enter, and, as he came forward with his +snake-like eyes fixed on the fair woman, I understood that he wished +to have her for his own, and was even then devising how to bear +her away. And the spirit in the air beside him seemed busy suggesting +schemes to this end. Then this picture melted and became confused, +giving place for but a brief moment to another, in which I saw the +enchanter carrying the woman away in his arms, she struggling and +lamenting, her long bright hair streaming behind her. This scene +passed from the wall as though a wind had swept over it, and there +rose up in its place a picture, which impressed me with a more vivid +sense of reality than all the rest. + +It represented a market place, in the midst of which was a pile +of faggots and a stake, such as were used formerly for the burning +of heretics and witches. The market place, round which were rows +of seats as though for a concourse of spectators, yet appeared quite +deserted. I saw only three living beings present,--the beautiful +woman, the enchanter, and the evil spirit. Nevertheless, I thought +that the seats were really occupied by invisible tenants, for every +now and then there seemed to be a stir in the atmosphere as of a +great multitude; and I had, moreover, a strange sense of facing +many witnesses. The enchanter led the woman to the stake, fastened +her there with iron chains, lit the faggots about her feet and +withdrew to a short distance, where he stood with his arms folded, +looking on as the flames rose about her. I understood that she +had refused his love, and that in his fury he had denounced her as +a sorceress. Then in the fire, above the pile, I saw the evil spirit +poising itself like a fly, and rising and sinking and fluttering +in the thick smoke. While I wondered what this meant, the flames +which had concealed the beautiful woman, parted in their midst, +and disclosed a sight so horrible and unexpected as to thrill me +from head to foot, and curdle my blood. Chained to the stake there +stood, not the fair woman I had seen there a moment before, but a +hideous monster,--a woman still, but a woman with three heads, and +three bodies linked in one. Each of her long arms ended, not in +a hand, but in a claw like that of a bird of rapine. Her hair +resembled the locks of the classic Medusa, and her faces were +inexpressibly loathsome. She seemed, with all her dreadful heads +and limbs, to writhe in the flames and yet not to be consumed by them. +She gathered them in to herself; her claws caught them and drew +them down; her triple body appeared to suck the fire into itself, +as though a blast drove it. The sight appalled me. I covered my +face and dared look no more. + +When at length I again turned my eyes upon the wall, the picture +that had so terrified me was gone, and instead of it, I saw the +enchanter flying through the world, pursued by the evil spirit and +that dreadful woman. Through all the world they seemed to go. +The scenes changed with marvellous rapidity. Now the picture glowed +with the wealth and gorgeousness of the torrid zone; now the +ice-fields of the North rose into view; anon a pine-forest; then +a wild seashore; but always the same three flying figures; always +the horrible three-formed harpy pursuing the enchanter, and beside +her the evil spirit with the dragonfly wings. + +At last this succession of images ceased, and I beheld a desolate +region, in the midst of which sat the woman with the enchanter beside +her, his head reposing in her lap. Either the sight of her must +have become familiar to him and, so, less horrible, or she had +subjugated him by some spell. At all events, they were mated at +last, and their offspring lay around them on the stony ground, or +moved to and fro. These were lions,--monsters with human faces, +such as I had seen in the beginning of my dream. Their jaws dripped +blood; they paced backwards and forwards, lashing their tails. +Then too, this picture faded and sank into the wall as the others +had done. And through its melting outlines came out again the words +I had first seen: "This is the History of our World," only they +seemed to me in some way changed, but how; I cannot tell. The +horror of the whole thing was too strong upon me to let me dare +look longer at the wall. And I awoke, repeating to myself the +question, "How could one woman become three?" + +--Hinton, Feb. 1877 + + + + + +IX. The Banquet of the Gods + + + + +I saw in my sleep a great table spread upon a beautiful mountain, +the distant peaks of which were covered with snow, and brilliant +with a bright light. Around the table reclined, twelve persons, +six male, six female, some of whom I recognised at once, the others +afterwards. Those whom I recognised at once were Zeus, Hera, Pallas +Athena, Phoebus Apollo, and Artemis. I knew them by the symbols +they wore. The table was covered with all kinds of fruit, of great +size, including nuts, almonds, and olives, with flat cakes of bread, +and cups of gold into which, before drinking, each divinity poured +two sorts of liquid, one of which was wine, the other water. As +I was looking on, standing on a step a little below the top of the +flight which led to the table, I was startled by seeing Hera suddenly +fix her eyes on me and say, "What seest thou at the lower end of +the table?" And I looked and answered, "I see two vacant seats." +Then she spoke again and said, "When you are able to eat of our +food and to drink of our cup, you also shall sit and feast with us." +Scarcely had she uttered these words, when Athena, who sat facing me, +added, "When you are able to eat of our food and to drink of our cup, +then you shall know as you are known." And immediately Artemis, +whom I knew by the moon upon her head; continued, "When you are +able to eat of our food and to drink of our cup, all things shall +become pure to you, and ye shall be made virgins." + +Then I said, "O Immortals, what is your food and your drink, and +how does your banquet differ from ours, seeing that we also eat +no flesh, and blood has no place in our repasts?" + +Then one of the Gods, whom at the time I did not know, but have +since recognised as Hermes, rose from the table, and coming to me +put into my hands a branch of a fig tree bearing upon it ripe fruit, +and said, "If you would be perfect, and able to know and to do all +things, quit the heresy of Prometheus. Let fire warm and comfort +you externally: it is heaven's gift. But do not wrest it from its +rightful purpose, as did that betrayer of your race, to fill the +veins of humanity with its contagion, and to consume your interior +being with its breath. All of you are men of clay, as was the image +which Prometheus made. Ye are nourished with stolen fire, and it +consumes you. Of all the evil uses of heaven's good gifts, none +is so evil as the internal use of fire. For your hot foods and +drinks have consumed and dried up the magnetic power of your nerves, +sealed your senses, and cut short your lives. Now, you neither +see nor hear; for the fire in your organs consumes your senses. +Ye are all blind and deaf, creatures of clay. We have sent you a +book to read. Practise its precepts, and your senses shall be opened." + +Then, not yet recognising him, I said, "Tell me your name, Lord." +At this he laughed and answered, "I have been about you from the +beginning. I am the white cloud on the noonday sky." "Do you, then," +I asked, "desire the whole world to abandon the use of fire in +preparing food and drink?" + +Instead of answering my question, he said, "We show you the excellent +way. Two places only are vacant at our table. We have told you +all that can be shown you on the level on which you stand. But +our perfect gifts, the fruits of the Tree of Life, are beyond your +reach now. We cannot give them to you until you are purified and +have come up higher. The conditions are God's; the will is with you." + +These last words seemed to be repeated from the sky overhead, and +again from beneath my feet. And at the instant I fell, as if shot +down like a meteor from a vast height; and with the swiftness and +shock of the fall I awoke. + +--Hinton, Sept. 1877 + +----------------- +* The book referred to was a volume entitled Fruit and Bread, which +had been sent anonymously on the previous morning. The fig-tree, +which both with the Hebrews and the Greeks was the type of intuitional +perception, was an especial symbol of Hermes, called by the Hebrews +Raphael. The plural used by the seer included myself as the partner +of her literary and other studies. The term virgin in its mystical +sense signifies a soul pure from admixture of matter.--(Ed.) +----------------------- + + + + + +X. The Difficult Path + + + + +Having fallen asleep last night while in a state of great perplexity +about the care and education of my daughter, I dreamt as follows. + +I was walking with the child along the border of a high cliff, at +the foot of which was the sea. The path was exceedingly narrow, +and on the inner side was flanked by a line of rocks and stones. +The outer side was so close to the edge of the cliff that she was +compelled to walk either before or behind me, or else on the stones. +And, as it was unsafe to let go her hand, it was on the stones that +she had to walk, much to her distress. I was in male attire, and +carried a staff in my hand. She wore skirts and had no staff; +and every moment she stumbled or her dress caught and was torn by +some jutting crag or bramble. In this way our progress was being +continually interrupted and rendered almost impossible, when suddenly +we came upon a sharp declivity leading to a steep path which wound +down the side of the precipice to the beach below. Looking down, +I saw on the shore beneath the cliff a collection of fishermen's huts, +and groups of men and women on the shingle, mending nets, hauling +up boats, and sorting fish of various kinds. In the midst of the +little village stood a great crucifix of lead, so cast in a mould +as to allow me from the elevated position I occupied behind it, +to see that though in front it looked solid, it was in reality hollow. +As I was noting this, a voice of some one close at hand suddenly +addressed me; and on turning my head I found standing before me +a man in the garb of a fisherman, who evidently had just scaled +the steep path leading from the beach. He stretched out his hand +to take the child, saying he bad come to fetch her, for that in +the path I was following there was room only for one. "Let her +come to us," he added; "she will do very well as a fisherman's +daughter." Being reluctant to part with her, and not perceiving +then the significance of his garb and vocation, I objected that +the calling was a dirty and unsavoury one, and would soil her hands +and dress. Whereupon the man became severe, and seemed to insist +with a kind of authority upon my acceptance of his proposition. +The child, too, was taken with him, and was moreover anxious to +leave the rough and dangerous path; and she accordingly went to +him of her own will and, placing her hand in his, left me without +any sign of regret, and I went on my way alone. Then lifting my +eyes to see whither my path led, I beheld it winding along the edge +of the cliff to an apparently endless distance, until, as I gazed +steadily on the extreme limit of my view, I saw the grey mist from +the sea here and there break and roll up into great masses of +slow-drifting cloud, in the intervals of which I caught the white +gleam of sunlit snow. And these intervals continually closed up +to open again in fresh places higher up, disclosing peak upon peak +of a range of mountains of enormous altitude.* + +By a curious coincidence, the very morning after this dream, a friend, +who knew of my perplexity, called to + +---------- +* Always the symbol of high mystical insight and spiritual attainment-- +Biblically called "the Hill of the Lord" and "Mount of God. " (Ed.) +---------- + +recommend a school in a certain convent as one suitable for my child. +There were, however, insuperable objections to the scheme. + +--Paris, Nov. 3, 1877 + + + + + +XI. A Lion In the Way + + + + +Owing to the many and great difficulties thrown in my way, I had +been seriously considering the advisability of withdrawing, if only +for a time, from my course of medical study, when I received the +following dream, which determined me to persevere:-- + +I found myself on the same narrow, rugged, and precipitous path +described in my last dream, and confronted by a lion. Afraid to +pass him I turned and fled. On this the beast gave chase, when, +finding escape by flight hopeless, I turned and boldly faced him. +Whereupon the lion at once stopped and slunk to the side of the path, +and suffered me to pass unmolested, though I was so close to him +that I could not avoid touching him with my garments in passing. + +--Paris, Nov. 15, 1877 + +------------ +* The prognostic was fully justified by the event.--(Ed.) +------------- + + + + + +XII. A Dream of Disembodiment + + + + +I dreamt that I was dead, and wanted to take form and appear to C. +in order to converse with him. And it was suggested by those about me-- +spirits like myself I suppose--that I might materialise myself through +the medium of some man whom they indicated to me. Coming to the +place where he was, I was directed to throw myself out forward towards +him by an intense concentration of will; which I accordingly tried +to do, but without success, though the effort I made was enormous. +I can only compare it to the attempt made by a person unable to +swim, to fling himself off a platform into deep water. Do all I +would, I could not gather myself up for it; and although encouraged +and stimulated, and assured I had only to let myself go, my attempts +were ineffectual. Even when I had sufficiently collected and prepared +myself in one part of my system, the other part failed me. + +At length it was suggested to me that I should find it easier if +I first took on me the form of the medium. This I at length succeeded +in doing, and, to my annoyance, so completely that I materialised +myself into the shape not only of his features, but of his clothing +also. The effort requisite for this exhausted me to the utmost, +so that I was unable to keep up the apparition for more than a few +minutes, when I had no choice but to yield to the strain and let +myself go again, only in the opposite way. So I went out, and mounted +like a sudden flame, and saw myself for a moment like a thin streak +of white mist rising in the air; while the comfort and relief I +experienced by regaining my light spirit-condition, were indescribable. +It was because I had, for want of skill, dematerialised myself without +sufficient deliberation, that I had thus rapidly mounted in the air. + +After an interval I dreamt that, wishing to see what A. would do +in case I appeared to him after my death, I went to him as a spirit +and called him by his name. Upon hearing my voice he rose and went +to the window and looked out uneasily. On my going close to him +and speaking in his ear, he was much disturbed, and ran his hand +through his hair and rubbed his head in a puzzled and by no means +pleased manner. At the third attempt to attract his attention he +rushed to the door, and, calling for a glass, poured out some wine, +which he drank. On seeing this, and finding him inaccessible, +I desisted, thinking it must often happen to the departed to be +distressed by the inability or unwillingness of those they love to +receive and recognise them. + +--Paris, Jan. 1878 + + + +XIII. The Perfect Way with Animals + + + + +I saw in my sleep a cart-horse who, coming to me, conversed with +me in what seemed a perfectly simple and natural manner, for it +caused me no surprise that he should speak. And this is what he said:-- + +"Kindness to animals of the gentler orders is the very foundation +of civilisation. For it is the cruelty and harshness of men towards +the animals under their protection which is the cause of the present +low standard of humanity itself. Brutal usage creates brutes; +and the ranks of mankind are constantly recruited from spirits +already hardened and depraved by a long course of ill-treatment. +Nothing developes the spirit so much as sympathy. Nothing cultivates, +refines, and aids it in its progress towards perfection so much as +kind and gentle treatment. On the contrary, the brutal usage and +want of sympathy with which we meet at the hands of men, stunt our +development and reverse all the currents of a our nature. We grow +coarse with coarseness, vile with reviling, and brutal with the +brutality of those who surround us. And when we pass out of this +stage we enter on the next depraved and hardened, and with the bent +of our dispositions such that we are ready by our nature to do in +our turn that which has been done to us. The greater number of us, +indeed, know no other or better way. For the spirit learns by +experience and imitation, and inclines necessarily to do those +things which it has been in the habit of seeing done. Humanity +will never become perfected until this doctrine is understood and +received and made the rule of conduct." + +--Paris, Oct. 28, 1879 + + + + + +XIV. The Laboratory Underground + + + + +I dreamed that I found myself underground in a vault artificially +lighted. Tables were ranged along the walls of the vault, and upon +these tables were bound down the living bodies of half-dissected +and mutilated animals. Scientific experts were busy at work on +their victims with scalpel, hot iron and forceps. But, as I looked +at the creatures lying bound before them, they no longer appeared +to be mere rabbits, or hounds, for in each I saw a human shape, +the shape of a man, with limbs and lineaments resembling those of +their torturers, hidden within the outward form. And when they +led into the place an old worn-out horse, crippled with age and +long toil in the service of man, and bound him down, and lacerated +his flesh with their knives, I saw the human form within him stir +and writhe as though it were an unborn babe moving in its mother's +womb. And I cried aloud--"Wretches! you are tormenting an unborn man!" +But they heard not, nor could they see what I saw. Then they brought +in a white rabbit, and thrust its eyes through with heated irons. +And as I gazed, the rabbit seemed to me like a tiny infant, with +human face, and hands which stretched themselves towards me in +appeal, and lips which sought to cry for help in human accents. +And I could bear no more, but broke forth into a bitter rain of +tears, exclaiming--"O blind! blind! not to see that you torture a +child, the youngest of your own flesh and blood!" + +And with that I woke, sobbing vehemently. + +--Paris, Feb. 2, 1880 + + + + + +XV. The Old Young Man + + + + +I dreamed that I was in Rome with C., and a friend of his called +on us there, and asked leave to introduce to us a young man, a student +of art, whose history and condition were singular. They came together +in the evening. In the room where we sat was a kind of telephonic +tube, through which, at intervals, a voice spoke to me. When the +young man entered, these words were spoken in my ear through the tube:-- + +"You have made a good many diagnoses lately of cases of physical +disease; here is a curious and interesting type of spiritual pathology, +the like of which is rarely met with. Question this young man." + +Accordingly I did so, and drew from him that about a year ago he +had been seriously ill of Roman fever; but as he hesitated, and +seemed unwilling to speak on the subject, I questioned the friend. +From him I learnt that the young man had formerly been a very +proficient pupil in one of the best-known studios in Rome, but that +a year ago he had suffered from a most terrible attack of malaria, +in consequence of his remaining in Rome to work after others had +found it necessary to go into the country, and that the malady had +so affected the nervous system that since his recovery he had been +wholly unlike his former self. His great aptitude for artistic work, +from which so much had been expected, seemed to have entirely left him; +he was no longer master of his pencil; his former faculty and +promise of excellence had vanished. The physician who had attended +him during his illness affirmed that all this was readily accounted +for by the assumption that the malaria had affected the cerebral +centres, and in particular, the nerve-cells of the memory; that +such consequences of severe continuous fever were by no means uncommon, +and might last for an indefinite period. Meanwhile the young man +was now, by slow and painful application, doing his utmost to recover +his lost power and skill. Naturally, the subject was distasteful +to him, and he shrank from discussing it. Here the voice again spoke +to me through the tube, telling me to observe the young man, and +especially his face. On this I scanned his countenance with attention, +and remarked that it wore a singularly odd look,--the look of a +man advanced in years and experience. But that I surmised to be +a not unusual effect of severe fever. + +"How old do you suppose the patient to be?" asked the interrogative voice. + +"About twenty years old, I suppose," said I. + +"He is a year old," rejoined the voice. + +"A year! How can that be?" + +"If you will not allow that he is only a year old, then you must admit +that he is sixty-five, for he is certainly either one or the other." + +This enigma so perplexed me, that I begged my invisible informant +for a solution of the difficulty, which was at once vouchsafed in +the following terms:-- + +"Here is the history of your patient. The youth who was the proficient +and gifted student, who astonished his masters, and gave such brilliant +indications of future greatness, is dead. The malaria killed him. +But he had a father, who, while alive, had loved his son as the +apple of his eye, and whose whole being and desire centred in the boy. +This father died some six years ago, about the age of sixty. After +his death his devotion to the youth continued, and as a "spirit," +he followed him everywhere, never quitting his side. So entirely +was he absorbed in the lad and in his career, that he made no advance +in his own spiritual life, nor, indeed, was he fully aware of the +fact that he had himself quitted the earthly plane. For there are +souls which, having been obtuse and dull in their apprehension of +spiritual things during their existence in the flesh, and having +neither hopes nor aims beyond the body, are very slow to realise +the fact of their dissolution, and remain, therefore, chained to +the earth by earthly affections and interests, haunting the places +or persons they have most affected. But the young artist was not of +this order. Idealist and genius, he was already highly spiritualised +and vitalised even upon earth, and when death rent the bond between +him and his body, he passed at once from the atmosphere of carnal +things into a loftier sphere. But at the moment of his death, the +phantom father was watching beside the son's sick-bed, and filled +with agony at beholding the wreck of all the brilliant hopes he +had cherished for the boy, thought only of preserving the physical +life of that dear body, since the death of the outward form was +still for him the death of all he had loved. He would cling to it, +preserve it, re-animate it at any cost. The spirit had quitted it; +it lay before him a corpse. What, then, did the father do? With +a supreme effort of desire, ineffectual indeed to recall the departed +ghost, but potent in its reaction upon himself, he projected his +own vitality into his son's dead body, re-animated it with his own +soul, and thus effected the resuscitation for which he had so +ardently longed. So the body you now behold is, indeed, the son's +body, but the soul which animates it is that of the father. And +it is a year since this event occurred. Such is the real solution +of the problem, whose natural effects the physician attributes to +the result of disease. The spirit which now tenants this young man's +form had no knowledge of art when he was so strangely reborn into +the world, beyond the mere rudiments of drawing which he had learned +while watching his son at work during the previous six years. What, +therefore, seems to the physician to be a painful recovery of +previous aptitude, is, in fact, the imperfect endeavour of a novice +entering a new and unsuitable career. + +"For the father the experience is by no means an unprofitable one. +He would certainly, sooner or later, have resumed existence upon +earth in the flesh, and it is as well that his return should be +under the actual circumstances. The study of art upon which he +has thus entered is likely to prove to him an excellent means of +spiritual education. By means of it his soul may ascend as it has +never yet done; while the habits of the body he now possesses, +trained as it is to refined and gentle modes of life, may do much +to accomplish the purgation and redemption of its new tenant. +It is far better for the father that this strange event should +have occurred, than that he should have remained an earth-bound +phantom, unable to realise his own position, or to rise above the +affection which chained him to merely worldly things." + +--Paris, Feb. 21, 1880 + + + + + +XVI. The Metempsychosis + + + + +I was visited last night in my sleep by one whom I presently +recognised as the famous Adept and Mystic of the first century of +our era, Apollonius of Tyana, called the " Pagan Christ." He was +clad in a grey linen robe with a hood, like that of a monk, and +had a smooth, beardless face, and seemed to be between forty and +fifty years of age. He made himself known to me by asking if I +had heard of his lion.* He commenced by speaking of Metempsychosis, +concerning which he informed + +--------- +* This was a tame captive lion, in whom Apollonius is said to have +recognised the soul of the Egyptian King Amasis, who had lived 500 +years previously. The lion burst into tears at the recognition, +and showed much misery. (Author's Note.) +---------- + +me as follows:--"There are two streams or currents, an upward and +a downward one, by which souls are continually passing and repassing +as on a ladder. The carnivorous animals are souls undergoing penance +by being imprisoned for a time in such forms on account of their +misdeeds. Have you not heard the story of my lion?" I said yes, +but that I did not understand it, because I thought it impossible +for a human soul to suffer the degradation of returning into the +body of a lower creature after once attaining humanity. At this +he laughed out, and said that the real degradation was not in the +penance but in the sin. "It is not by the penance, but by incurring +the need of the penance, that the soul is degraded. The man who +sullies his humanity by cruelty or lust, is already degraded thereby +below humanity; and the form which his soul afterwards assumes +is the mere natural consequence of that degradation. He may again +recover humanity, but only by means of passing through another +form than that of the carnivora. When you were told * that certain +creatures were redeemable or not redeemable, the meaning was this: +They who are redeemable may, on leaving their present form, return +directly into humanity. Their penance is accomplished in that form, +and in it, therefore, they are redeemed. But they who are not +redeemable, are they whose sin has been too deep or too ingrained +to suffer them to return until they have passed through other lower +forms. They are not redeemable therein, but will be on ascending +again. Others, altogether vile and past redemption, sink continually +lower and lower down the stream, until at length they burn out. +They shall neither be redeemed in the form they now occupy, nor in +any other." + +--Paris, May 11, 1880 + +---------- +* The reference is to an instruction received by her four years +previously, but not in sleep, and not from Apollonius, though from +a source no less transcendental. (Ed.) + +*** Remembering, on being told this dream, that "Eliphas Levi," +in his Haute Magic, had described an interview with the phantom +of Apollonius, which he had evoked, I referred to the book, and +found that he also saw him with a smooth-shaven face, but wearing +a shroud (linceul). (Ed.) + + + + + +XVII. The Three Kings + + + + +The time was drawing towards dawn in a wild and desolate region. +And I stood with my genius at the foot of a mountain the summit +of which was hidden in mist. At a few paces from me stood three +persons, clad in splendid robes and wearing crowns on their heads. +Each personage carried a casket and a key: the three caskets +differed from one another, but the keys were all alike. And my +genius said to me, "These are the three kings of the East, and +they journey hither over the river that is dried up, to go up into +the mountain of Sion and rebuild the Temple of the Lord God." +Then I looked more closely at the three royalties, and I saw that +the one who stood nearest to me on the left hand was a man, and +the color of his skin was dark like that of an Indian. And the +second was in form like a woman, and her complexion was fair: and +the third had the wings of an Angel, and carried a staff of gold. +And I heard them say one to another, "Brother, what hast thou in +thy casket?" And the first answered, " I am the Stonelayer, and I +carry the implements of my craft; also a bundle of myrrh for thee +and for me." And the king who bore the aspect of a woman, answered, +"I am the Carpenter, and I bear the instruments of my craft; also +a box of frankincense for thee and for me." And the Angel-king +answered, "I am the Measurer, and I carry the secrets of the living +God, and the rod of gold to measure your work withal." Then the +first said, "Therefore let us go up into the hill of the Lord and +build the walls of Jerusalem. And they turned to ascend the mountain. +But they had not taken the first step when the king, whose name +was Stonelayer, said to him who was called the Carpenter, "Give +me first the implements of thy craft, and the plan of thy building, +that I may know after what sort thou buildest, and may fashion +thereto my masonry." And the other asked him, "What buildest thou, +brother?" And he answered, "I build the Outer Court." Then the +Carpenter unlocked his casket and gave him a scroll written over +in silver, and a crystal rule, and a carpenter's plane and a saw. +And the other took them and put them into his casket. Then the +Carpenter said to the Stonelayer, "Brother, give me also the plan +of thy building, and the tools of thy craft. For I build the Inner +Place, and must needs fit my designing to thy foundation." But +the other answered, "Nay, my brother, for I have promised the +laborers. Build thou alone. It is enough that I know thy secrets; +ask not mine of me." And the Carpenter answered, "How then shall +the Temple of the Lord be builded? Are we not of three Ages, and +is the temple yet perfected?" Then the Angel spoke, and said to +the Stonelayer, "Fear not, brother: freely hast thou received; +freely give. For except thine elder brother had been first a +Stonelayer, he could not now be a Carpenter. Art thou not of +Solomon, and he of Christ? Therefore he hath already handled thy +tools, and is of thy craft. And I also, the Measurer, I know the +work of both. But now is that time when the end cometh, and that +which hath been spoken in the ear in closets, the same shall be +proclaimed on the housetops." Then the first king unlocked his +casket, and gave to the Carpenter a scroll written in red, and a +compass and a trowel. But the Carpenter answered him: "It is enough. +I have seen, and I remember. For this is the writing King Solomon +gave into my hands when I also was a Stonelayer, and when thou wert +of the company of them that labor. For I also am thy Brother, and +that thou knowest I know also." Then the third king, the Angel, +spoke again and said, "Now is the knowledge perfected and the bond +fulfilled. For neither can the Stonelayer build alone, nor the +Carpenter construct apart. Therefore, until this day, is the Temple +of the Lord unbuilt. But now is the time come, and Salem shall +have her habitation on the Hill of the Lord." + +And there came down a mist from the mountain, and out of the mist +a star. And my Genius said, "Thou shalt yet see more on this wise." +But I saw then only the mist, which filled the valley, and moistened +my hair and my dress; and so I awoke. + +--London, April 30, 1882 + +---------- +** For the full comprehension of the above dream, it is necessary +to be profoundly versed at once in the esoteric signification of +the Scriptures and in the mysteries of Freemasonry. It was the +dreamer's great regret that she neither knew, nor could know, the +latter, women being excluded from initiation. (Ed.) + + + + + +XVIII. The Armed Goddess + + + + +I dreamed that I sat reading in my study, with books lying about +all round me. Suddenly a voice, marvellously clear and silvery, +called me by name. Starting up and turning, I saw behind me a long +vista of white marble columns, Greek in architecture, flanking on +either side a gallery of white marble. At the end of this gallery +stood a shape of exceeding brilliancy, the shape of a woman above +mortal height, clad from head to foot in shining mail armour. In +her right hand was a spear, on her left arm a shield. Her brow +was hidden by a helmet, and the aspect of her face was stern,-- +severe even, I thought. I approached her, and as I went, my body +was lifted up from the earth, and I was aware of that strange +sensation of floating above the surface of the ground, which is so +common with me in sleep that at times I can scarce persuade myself +after waking that it has not been a real experience. When I alighted +at the end of the long gallery before the armed woman, she said to me: + +"Take off the night-dress thou wearest." + +I looked at my attire and was about to answer-- "This is not a +night-dress," when she added, as though perceiving my thought:-- + +"The woman's garb is a night-dress; it is a garment made to sleep in. +The man's garb is the dress for the day. Look eastward!" + +I raised my eyes and, behind the mail-clad shape, I saw the dawn +breaking, blood-red, and with great clouds like pillars of smoke +rolling up on either side of the place where the sun was about to rise. +But as yet the sun was not visible. And as I looked, she cried aloud, +and her voice rang through the air like the clash of steel:-- + +"Listen!" + +And she struck her spear on the marble pavement. At the same moment +there came from afar off, a confused sound of battle. Cries, and +human voices in conflict, and the stir as of a vast multitude, the +distant clang of arms and a noise of the galloping of many horses +rushing furiously over the ground. And then, sudden silence. + +Again she smote the pavement, and again the sounds arose, nearer +now, and more tumultuous. Once more they ceased, and a third time +she struck the marble with her spear. Then the noises arose all +about and around the very spot where we stood, and the clang of +the arms was so close that it shook and thrilled the very columns +beside me. And the neighing and snorting of horses, and the thud +of their ponderous hoofs flying over the earth made, as it were, +a wind in my ears, so that it seemed as though a furious battle +were raging all around us. But I could see nothing. Only the +sounds increased, and became so violent that they awoke me, and +even after waking I still seemed to catch the commotion of them +in the air. * + +--Paris, February 15, 1883. + +---------- +* This dream was shortly followed by Mrs Kingsford's antivivisection +expedition to Switzerland, the fierce conflict of which amply +fulfilled any predictive significance it may have had. +----------- + + + + + +XIX. The Game of Cards: A Parable + + + + +I dreamed I was playing at cards with three persons, the two opposed +to me being a man and a woman with hoods pulled over their heads, +and cloaks covering their persons. I did not particularly observe +them. My partner was an old man without hood or cloak, and there +was about him this peculiarity, that he did not from one minute +to another appear to remain the same. Sometimes he looked like a +very young man, the features not appearing to change in order to +produce this effect, but an aspect of youth and even of mirth coming +into the face as though the features were lighted up from within. +Behind me stood a personage whom I could not see, for his hand and +arm only appeared, handing me a pack of cards. So far as I discerned, +it was a man's figure, habited in black. Shortly after the dream +began, my partner addressed me, saying, + +"Do you play by luck or by skill?" + +I answered: "I play by luck chiefly; I don't know how to play +by skill. But I have generally been lucky." In fact, I had already, +lying by me, several "tricks" I had taken. He answered me:-- + +"To play by luck is to trust to without; to play by skill is to +trust to within. In this game, Within goes further than Without." + +"What are trumps?" I asked. + +"Diamonds are trumps," he answered. + +I looked at the cards in my hand and said to him:--"I have more +clubs than anything else." + +At this he laughed, and seemed all at once quite a youth. "Clubs +are strong cards, after all," he said. "Don't despise the black +suits. I have known some of the best games ever played won by +players holding more clubs than you have." + +I examined the cards and found something very odd about them. There +were the four suits, diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades. But the +picture cards in my hand seemed different altogether from any I +had ever seen before. One was queen of Clubs, and her face altered +as I looked at it. First it was dark,--almost dusky,--with the +imperial crown on the head; then it seemed quite fair, the crown +changing to a smaller one of English aspect, and the dress also +transforming itself. There was a queen of Hearts, too, in an antique +peasant's gown, with brown hair, and presently this melted into a +suit of armor which shone as if reflecting firelight in its burnished +scales. The other cards seemed alive likewise, even the ordinary +ones, just like the court-cards. There seemed to be pictures moving +inside the emblems on their faces. The clubs in my hand ran into +higher figures than the spades; these came next in number, and +diamonds next. I had no picture-cards of diamonds, but I had the Ace. +And this was so bright I could not look at it. Except the two queens +of Clubs and Hearts I think I had no picture-cards in my hand, and +very few red cards of any kind. There were high figures in the spades. +It was the personage behind my chair who dealt the cards always. +I said to my partner:--"It is difficult to play at all, whether +by luck or by skill, for I get such a bad hand dealt me each time." + +"That is your fault," he said. "Play your best with what you have, +and next time you will get better cards." + +"How can that be?" I asked. + +"Because after each game, the `tricks' you take are added to the +bottom of the pack which the dealer holds, and you get the `honors' +you have taken up from the table. Play well and take all you can. +But you must put more head into it. You trust too much to fortune. +Don't blame the dealer; he can't see." + +"I shall lose this game," I said presently, for the two persons +playing against us seemed to be taking up all the cards quickly, +and the "lead" never came to my turn. + +"It is because you don't count your points before putting down a card," +my partner said. "If they play high numbers, you must play higher." + +"But they have all the trumps," I said. + +"No," he answered, "you have the highest trump of all in your own +hand. It is the first and the last. You may take every card they +have with that, for it is the chief of the whole series. But you +have spades too, and high ones." (He seemed to know what I had.) + +"Diamonds are better than spades," I answered. "And nearly all +my cards are black ones. Besides, I can't count, it wants so much +thinking. Can't you come over here and play for me?" + +He shook his head, and I thought that again he laughed." No," he +replied, "that is against the law of the game. You must play for +yourself. Think it out." + +He uttered these words very emphatically and with so strange an +intonation that they dissipated the rest of the dream, and I remember +no more of it. But I did "think it out;" and I found it was a parable; +of Karma. + +--Atcham, Dec. 7, 1883 + + + + + +XX. The Panic-Struck Pack-Horse + + + + +Out of a veil of palpitating mist there arose before me in my sleep +the image of a colossal and precipitous cliff; standing sheer up +against a sky of cloud and sea-mist, the tops of the granite peaks +being merged and hidden in the vapor. At the foot of the precipice +beat a wild sea, tossing and flecked with foam; and out of the +flying spray rose sharp splinters of granite, standing like spearheads +about the base of the solid rock. As I looked, something stirred +far off in the distance, like a fly crawling over the smooth crag. +Fixing my gaze upon it I became aware that there was at a great +height above the sea, midway between sky and water, a narrow +unprotected footpath winding up and down irregularly along the side +of the mighty cliff;--a slender, sloping path, horrible to look at, +like a rope or a thread stretched mid-air, hanging between heaven +and the hungry foam. One by one, came towards me along this awful +path a procession of horses, drawing tall narrow carts filled with +bales of merchandise. The horses moved along the edge of the crag +as though they clung to it, their bodies aslant towards the wall +of granite on their right, their legs moving with the precision of +creatures feeling and grasping every step. Like deer they moved,-- +not like horses, and as they advanced, the carts they drew swayed +behind them, and I thought every jolt would hurl them over the +precipice. Fascinated I watched,--I could not choose but watch. +At length came a grey horse, not drawing a cart, but carrying +something on his back,--on a pack-saddle apparently. Like the +rest he came on stealthily, sniffing every inch of the terrible way, +until, just at the worst and giddiest point he paused, hesitated, +and seemed about to turn.---I saw him back himself in a crouching +attitude against the wall of rock behind him, lowering his haunches, +and rearing his head in a strange manner. The idea flashed on me +that he would certainly turn, and then--what could happen? More +horses were advancing, and two beasts could not possibly pass each +other on that narrow ledge! But I was totally unprepared for the +ghastly thing that actually did happen. The miserable horse had +been seized with the awful mountain-madness that sometimes overtakes +men on stupendous heights,--the madness of suicide. With a frightful +scream, that sounded partly like a cry of supreme desperation, partly +like one of furious and frenzied joy, the horse reared himself to +his full height on the horrible ledge, shook his head wildly, and-- +leaped with a frantic spring into the air, sheer over the precipice, +and into the foam beneath. His eyes glared as he shot into the void, +a great dark living mass against the white mist. Was he speared +on those terrible shafts of rock below, or was his life dashed out +in horrible crimson splashes against the cliffside? Or did he sink +into the reeling swirl of the foaming waters, and die more mercifully +in their steel-dark depths? I could not see. I saw only the flying +form dart through the mist like an arrow from a bow. I heard only +the appalling cry, like nothing earthly ever heard before; and I +woke in a panic, with hands tightly clasped, and my body damp with +moisture. It was but a dream--this awful picture; it was gone +as an image from a mirror, and I was awake, and gazing only upon +blank darkness. + +--Atcham, Sept. 15, 1884 + + + + + +XXI. The Haunted Inn + + + + +I seemed in my vision to be on a long and wearisome journey, and to +have arrived at an Inn, in which I was offered shelter and rest. The +apartment given me consisted of a bedroom and parlour, communicating, +and furnished in an antique manner, everything in the rooms appearing +to be worm-eaten, dusty and out of date. The walls were bare and +dingy; there was not a picture or an ornament in the apartment. +An extremely dim light prevailed in the scene; indeed, I do not +clearly remember, whether, with the exception of the fire and a +nightlamp, the rooms were illumined at all. I seated myself in a +chair, by the hearth; it was late, and I thought only of rest. +But, presently, I became aware of strange things going on about me. +On a table in a corner lay some papers and a pencil. With a feeling +of indescribable horror I saw this pencil assume an erect position +and begin of itself to write on the paper, precisely as though an +invisible hand held and guided it. At the same time, small detonations +sounded in different parts of the room; tiny bright sparks appeared, +burst, and immediately expired in smoke. The pencil having ceased +to write, laid itself gently down, and taking the paper in my hand +I found on it a quantity of writing which at first appeared to me +to be in cipher, but I presently perceived that the words composing +it were written backwards, from right to left, exactly as one sees +writing reflected on a looking glass. What was written made a +considerable impression on me at the time, but I cannot now recall it. +I know, however, that the dominant feeling I experienced was one +of horror. + +I called the owners of the inn and related to them what had taken +place. They received my statement with perfect equanimity, and +told me that in their house this was the normal state of things, +of which, in fact, they were extremely proud; and they ended by +congratulating me as a visitor much favored by the invisible agencies +of the place. + +"We call them our Lights," they said. + +"It is true," I observed, "that I saw lights in the air about the +room, but they went out instantaneously, and left only smoke behind +them. And why do they write backwards? Who are They?" + +As I asked this last question, the pencil on the table rose again, +and wrote thus on the paper:-- + +".ksatonoD" + +Again horror seized on me, and the air becoming full of smoke I +found it impossible to breathe. "Let me out!" I cried, "I am stifled +here,--the air is full of smoke!" + +"Outside," the people of the house answered, "you will lose your way; +it is quite dark, and we have no other rooms to let. And, besides, +it is the same in all the other apartments of the inn." + +"But the place is haunted!" I cried; and I pushed past them, and +burst out of the house. + +Before the doorway stood a tall veiled figure, like translucent silver. +A sense of reverence overcame me. The night was balmy, and bright +almost as day with resplendent starlight. The stars seemed to lean +out of heaven; they looked down on me like living eyes, full of a +strange immeasurable sympathy. I crossed the threshold, and stood +in the open plain, breathing with rapture and relief the pure warm +air of that delicious night. How restful, calm, and glorious was +the dark landscape, outlined in purple against the luminous sky! +And what a consciousness of vastness and immensity above and around me! +"Where am I?" I cried. The silver figure stood beside me, and lifted +its veil. It was Pallas Athena. + +"Under the Stars of the East," she answered me, "the true eternal +Lights of the World." + +After I was awake, a text in the Gospels was vividly brought to my +mind:--"There was no room for then in the Inn." What is this Inn, +I wondered, all the rooms of which are haunted, and in which the +Christ cannot be born? And this open country under the eastern +night,--is it not the same in which they were "abiding," to whom +that Birth was first angelically announced? + +--Atcham, Nov. 5, 1885 + +---------- +** The solution of the enigma was afterwards recognised in an +instruction, also imparted in sleep, in which it was said, "If +Occultism were all, and held the key of heaven, there would be no +need of Christ." (Ed.) + + + + + +XXII. An Eastern Apologue + + + + +The following was read by me during sleep, in an old book printed +in archaic type. As with many other things similarly read by me, +I do not know whether it is to be found in any book:-- + +"After Buddha had been ten years in retirement, certain sages sent +their disciples to him, asking him,--'What dost thou claim to be, Gotama?' + +"Buddha answered them, 'I claim to be nothing.' + +"Ten years afterwards they sent again to him, asking the same question, +and again Buddha answered:--'I claim to be nothing.' + +"Then after yet another ten years had passed, they sent a third +time, asking, 'What dost thou claim to be, Gotama?' + +"And Buddha replied, 'I claim to be the utterance of the most high God.' + +"Then they said to him: 'How is this, that hitherto thou hast +proclaimed thyself to be nothing, and now thou declarest thyself +to be the very utterance of God?' + +"Buddha answered: `Either I am nothing, or I am the very utterance +of God, for between these two all is silence."' + +--Atcham, March 5, 1885 + + + + + +XXIII. A Haunted House Indeed! + + + + +I dreamt that during a tour on the Continent with my friend C. we +stayed in a town wherein there was an ancient house of horrible +reputation, concerning which we received the following account. +At the top of the house was a suite of rooms, from which no one +who entered at night ever again emerged. No corpse was ever found; +but it was said by some that the victims were absorbed bodily by +the walls; by others that there were in the rooms a number of +pictures in frames, one frame, however, containing a blank canvas, +which had the dreadful power, first, of fascinating the beholder, +and next of drawing him towards it, so that he was compelled to +approach and gaze at it. Then, by the same hideous enchantment, +he was forced to touch it, and the touch was fatal. For the canvas +seized him as a devil-fish seizes its prey, and sucked him in, so +that he perished without leaving a trace of himself, or of the +manner of his death. The legend said further that if any person +could succeed in passing a night in these rooms and in resisting +their deadly influence, the spell would for ever be broken, and +no one would thenceforth be sacrificed. + +Hearing all this, and being somewhat of the knight-errant order, +C. and I determined to face the danger, and, if possible, deliver +the town from the enchantment. We were assured that the attempt +would be vain, for that it had already been many times made, and +the Devils of the place were always triumphant. They had the power, +we were told, of hallucinating the senses of their victims; we +should be subjected to some illusion, and be fatally deceived. +Nevertheless, we were resolved to try what we could do, and in order +to acquaint ourselves with the scene of the ordeal, we visited the +place in the daytime. It was a gloomy-looking building, consisting +of several vast rooms, filled with lumber of old furniture, worm-eaten +and decaying; scaffoldings, which seemed to have been erected for the +sake of making repairs and then left; the windows were curtainless, +the floors bare, and rats ran hither and thither among the rubbish +accumulated in the corners. Nothing could possibly look more desolate +and gruesome. We saw no pictures; but as we did not explore every +part of the rooms, they may have been there without our seeing them. + +We were further informed by the people of the town that in order +to visit the rooms at night it was necessary to wear a special costume, +and that without it we should have no chance whatever of issuing +from them alive. This costume was of black and white, and each +of us was to carry a black stave. So we put on this attire,--which +somewhat resembled the garb of an ecclesiastical order,--and when +the appointed time came, repaired to the haunted house, where, +after toiling up the great staircase in the darkness, we reached +the door of the haunted apartments to find it closed. But light +was plainly visible beneath it, and within was the sound of voices. +This greatly surprised us; but after a short conference we knocked. +The door was presently opened by a servant, dressed as a modern +indoor footman usually is, who civilly asked us to walk in. On +entering we found the place altogether different from what we expected +to find, and had found on our daylight visit. It was brightly lighted, +had decorated walls, pretty ornaments, carpets, and every kind of +modern garnishment, and, in short, bore all the appearance of an +ordinary well-appointed private "flat." While we stood in the corridor, +astonished, a gentleman in evening dress advanced towards us from +one of the reception rooms. As he looked interrogatively at us, +we thought it best to explain the intrusion, adding that we presumed +we had either entered the wrong house, or stopped at the wrong apartment. + +He laughed pleasantly at our tale, and said, "I don't know anything +about haunted rooms, and, in fact, don't believe in anything of the +kind. As for these rooms, they have for a long time been let for +two or three nights every week to our Society for the purpose of +social reunion. We are members of a musical and literary association, +and are in the habit of holding conversaziones in these rooms on +certain evenings, during which we entertain ourselves with dancing, +singing, charades, and literary gossip. The rooms are spacious and +lofty, and exactly adapted to our requirements. As you are here, +I may say, in the name of the rest of the members, that we shall +be happy if you will join us." At this I glanced at our dresses +in some confusion, which being observed by the gentleman, he hastened +to say: "You need be under no anxiety about your appearance, for +this is a costume night, and the greater number of our guests are +in travesty." As he spoke he threw open the door of a large +drawing-room and invited us in. On entering we found a company of +men and women, well-dressed, some in ordinary evening attire and +some costumed. The room was brilliantly lighted and beautifully +furnished and decorated. At one end was a grand piano, round which +several persons were grouped; others were seated on ottomans taking +tea or coffee; and others strolled about, talking. Our host, who +appeared to be master of the ceremonies, introduced us to several +persons, and we soon became deeply interested in a conversation +on literary subjects. So the evening wore on pleasantly, but I +never ceased to wonder how we could have mistaken the house or the +staircase after the precaution we had taken of visiting it in the +daytime in order to avoid the possibility of error. + +Presently, being tired of conversation, I wandered away from the +group with which C. was still engaged, to look at the beautiful +decorations of the great salon, the walls of which were covered +with artistic designs in fresco. Between each couple of panels, +the whole length of the salon, was a beautiful painting, representing +a landscape or a sea-piece. I passed from one to the other, admiring +each, till I had reached the extreme end, and was far away from +the rest of the company, where the lights were not so many or so +bright as in the centre. The last fresco in the series then caught +my attention. At first it appeared to me to be unfinished; and +then I observed that there was upon its background no picture at all, +but only a background of merging tints which seemed to change, and +to be now sky, now sea, now green grass. This empty picture had, +moreover, an odd metallic coloring which fascinated me; and saying +to myself "Is there really any painting on it?" I mechanically +put out my hand and touched it. On this I was instantly seized +by a frightful sensation, a shock that ran from the tips of my +fingers to my brain, and steeped my whole being. Simultaneously +I was aware of an overwhelming sense of sucking and dragging, which, +from my hand and arm, and, as it were, through them, seemed to +possess and envelop my whole person. Face, hair, eyes, bosom, limbs, +every portion of my body was locked in an awful embrace which, like +the vortex of a whirlpool, drew me irresistibly towards the picture. +I felt the hideous impulse clinging over me and sucking me forwards +into the wall. I strove in vain to resist it. My efforts were +more futile than the flutter of gossamer wings. And then there +rushed upon my mind the consciousness that all we had been told +about the haunted rooms was true; that a strong delusion had been +cast over us; that all this brilliant throng of modern ladies and +gentlemen were fiends masquerading, prepared beforehand for our coming; +that all the beauty and splendor of our surroundings were mere glamor; +and that in reality the rooms were those we had seen in the daytime, +filled with lumber and rot and vermin. As I realised all this, +and was thrilled with the certainty of it, a sudden access of strength +came to me, and I was impelled, as a last desperate effort, to turn +my back on the awful fresco, and at least to save my face from coming +into contact with it and being glued to its surface. With a shriek +of anguish I wrenched myself round and fell prostrate on the ground, +face downwards, with my back to the wall, feeling as though the +flesh had been torn from my hand and arm. Whether I was saved or +not I knew not. My whole being was over-powered by the realisation +of the deception to which I had succumbed. I had looked for something +so different,--darkness, vacant, deserted rooms, and perhaps a tall, +white, empty canvas in a frame, against which I should have been +on my guard. Who could have anticipated or suspected this cheerful +welcome, these entertaining literati, these innocent-looking frescoes? +Who could have foreseen so deadly a horror in such a guise? Was +I doomed? Should I, too, be sucked in and absorbed, and perhaps +C. after me, knowing nothing of my fate? I had no voice; I could +not warn him; all my force seemed to have been spent on the single +shriek I had uttered as I turned my back on the wall. I lay prone +upon the floor, and knew that I had swooned. + +And thus, on seeking me, C. would doubtless have found me, lying +insensible among the rubbish, with the rooms restored to the condition +in which we had seen them by day, my success in withdrawing myself +having dissolved the spell and destroyed the enchantment. But as +it was, I awoke from my swoon only to find that I had been dreaming. + + + + + +XXIV. The Square in the Hand + + + + +The foregoing dream was almost immediately succeeded by another, +in which I dreamt that I was concerned in a very prominent way in +a political struggle in France for liberty and the people's rights. +My part in this struggle was, indeed, the leading one, but my friend +C. had been drawn into it at my instance, and was implicated in a +secondary manner only. The government sought our arrest, and, for +a time, we evaded all attempts to take us, but at last we were +surprised and driven under escort in a private carriage to a military +station, where we were to be detained for examination. With us +was arrested a man popularly known as "Fou," a poor weakling whom I +much pitied. When we arrived at the station which was our destination, +"Fou" gave some trouble to the officials. I think he fainted, but +at all events his conveyance from the carriage to the caserne needed +the conjoined efforts of our escort, and some commotion was caused +by his appearance among the crowd assembled to see us. Clearly +the crowd was sympathetic with us and hostile to the military. +I particularly noticed one woman who pressed forward as "Fou" was +being carried into the station, and who loudly called on all present +to note his feeble condition and the barbarity of arresting a witless +creature such as he. At that moment C. laid his hand on my arm and +whispered: "Now is our time; the guards are all occupied with 'Fou;' +we are left alone for a minute; let us jump out of the carriage +and run!" As he said this he opened the carriage door on the side +opposite to the caserne and alighted in the street. I instantly +followed, and the people favoring us, we pressed through them and +fled at the top of our speed down the road. As we ran I espied a +pathway winding up a hillside away from the town, and cried, "Let +us go up there; let us get away from the street!" C. answered, +"No, no; they would see us there immediately at that height, the +path is too conspicuous. Our best safety is to lose ourselves in +the town. We may throw them off our track by winding in and out +of the streets." Just then a little child, playing in the road, +got in our way, and nearly threw us down as we ran. We had to pause +a moment to recover ourselves. "That child may have cost us our +lives," whispered C., breathlessly. A second afterwards we reached +the bottom of the street which branched off right and left. I +hesitated a moment; then we both turned to the right. As we did so-- +in the twinkling of an eye--we found ourselves in the midst of a +group of soldiers coming round the corner. I ran straight into +the arms of one of them, who the same instant knew me and seized +me by throat and waist with a grip of iron. This was a horrible +moment! The iron grasp was sudden and solid as the grip of a vice; +the man's arm held my waist like a bar of steel. "I arrest you!" +he cried, and the soldiers immediately closed round us. At once +I realised the hopelessness of the situation,--the utter futility +of resistance. "Vous n'avez pas besoin de me tenir ainsi," I said +to the officer; "j irai tranquillement" He loosened his hold and +we were then marched off to another military station, in a different +part of the town from that whence we had escaped. The man who had +arrested me was a sergeant or some officer in petty command. He +took me alone with him into the guardroom, and placed before me +on a wooden table some papers which he told me to fill in and sign. +Then he sat down opposite to me and I looked through the papers. +They were forms, with blanks left for descriptions specifying the +name, occupation, age, address and so forth of arrested persons. +I signed these, and pushing them across the table to the man, asked +him what was to be done with us. "You will be shot," he replied, +quickly and decisively. "Both of us?" I asked. "Both," he replied. +"But," said I, "my companion has done nothing to deserve death. +He was drawn into this struggle entirely by me. Consider, too, +his advanced age. His hair is white; he stoops, and, had it not +been for the difficulty with which he moves his limbs, both of us +would probably be at this moment in a place of safety. What can +you gain by shooting an old man such as he?" The officer was silent. +He neither favored nor discouraged me by his manner. While I sat +awaiting his reply, I glanced at the hand with which I had just +signed the papers, and a sudden idea flashed into my mind. "At +least," I said, "grant me one request. If my companion must die, +let me die first." Now I made this request for the following reason. +In my right hand, the line of life broke abruptly halfway in its +length, indicating a sudden and violent death. But the point at +which it broke was terminated by a perfectly marked square, +extraordinarily clear-cut and distinct. Such a square, occurring +at the end of a broken line means rescue, salvation. I had long +been aware of this strange figuration in my hand, and had often +wondered what it presaged. But now, as once more I looked at it, +it came upon me with sudden conviction that in some way I was +destined to be delivered from death at the last moment, and I thought +that if this be so it would be horrible should C. have been killed +first. If I were to be saved I should certainly save him also, +for my pardon would involve the pardon of both, or my rescue the +rescue of both. Therefore it was important to provide for his safety +until after my fate was decided. The officer seemed to take this +last request into more serious consideration than the first. He +said shortly: "I may be able to manage that for you," and then +at once rose and took up the papers I had signed. "When are we to +be shot?" I asked him. "Tomorrow morning," he replied, as promptly +as before. Then he went out, turning the key of the guardroom upon me. + + +The dawn of the next day broke darkly. It was a terribly stormy day; +great black lurid thunderclouds lay piled along the horizon, and +came up slowly and awfully against the wind. I looked upon them +with terror; they seemed so near the earth, and so like living, +watching things. They hung out of the sky, extending long ghostly +arms downwards, and their gloom and density seemed supernatural. +The soldiers took us out, our hands bound behind us, into a quadrangle +at the back of their barracks. The scene is sharply impressed on +my mind. A palisade of two sides of a square, made of wooden planks, +ran round the quadrangle. Behind this palisade, and pressed up +close against it, was a mob of men and women--the people of the +town--come to see the execution. But their faces were sympathetic; +an unmistakable look of mingled grief and rage, not unmixed with +desperation--for they were a down-trodden folk--shone in the hundreds +of eyes turned towards us. I was the only woman among the condemned. +C. was there, and poor "Fou," looking bewildered, and one or two +other prisoners. On the third and fourth sides of the quadrangle +was a high wall, and in a certain place was a niche partly enclosing +the trunk of a tree, cut off at the top. An iron ring was driven +into the trunk midway, evidently for the purpose of securing condemned +persons for execution. I guessed it would be used for that now. +In the centre of the square piece of ground stood a file of soldiers, +armed with carbines, and an officer with a drawn sabre. The palisade +was guarded by a row of soldiers somewhat sparsely distributed, +ertainly not more than a dozen in all. A Catholic priest in a black +cassock walked beside me, and as we were conducted into the enclosure, +he turned to me and offered religious consolation. I declined his +ministrations, but asked him anxiously if he knew which of us was +to die first. "You," he replied; "the officer in charge of you +said you wished it, and he has been able to accede to your request." +Even then I felt a singular joy at hearing this, though I had no +longer any expectation of release. Death was, I thought, far too +near at hand for that. Just then a soldier approached us, and led me, +bare-headed, to the tree trunk, where he placed me with my back +against it, and made fast my hands behind me with a rope to the +iron ring. No bandage was put over my eyes. I stood thus, facing +the file of soldiers in the middle of the quadrangle, and noticed +that the officer with the drawn sabre placed himself at the extremity +of the line, composed of six men. In that supreme moment I also +noticed that their uniform was bright with steel accoutrements. +Their helmets were of steel, and their carbines, as they raised +them and pointed them at me, ready cocked, glittered in a fitful +gleam of sunlight with the same burnished metal. There was an +instant's stillness and hush while the men took aim; then I saw +the officer raise his bared sabre as the signal to fire. It flashed +in the air; then, with a suddenness impossible to convey, the +whole quadrangle blazed with an awful light,--a light so vivid, +so intense, so blinding, so indescribable that everything was blotted +out and devoured by it. It crossed my brain with instantaneous +conviction that this amazing glare was the physical effect of being +shot, and that the bullets had pierced my brain or heart, and caused +this frightful sense of all-pervading flame. Vaguely I remembered +having read or having been told that such was the result produced +on the nervous system of a victim to death from firearms. "It is +over," I said, "that was the bullets." But presently there forced +itself on my dazed senses a sound--a confusion of sounds--darkness +succeeding the white flash--then steadying itself into gloomy daylight; +a tumult; a heap of stricken, tumbled men lying stone-still before me; +a fearful horror upon every living face; and then . . . it all +burst on me with distinct conviction. The storm which had been +gathering all the morning had culminated in its blackest and most +electric point immediately overhead. The file of soldiers appointed +to shoot us stood exactly under it. Sparkling with bright steel +on head and breast and carbines, they stood shoulder to shoulder, +a complete lightning conductor, and at the end of the chain they +formed, their officer, at the critical moment, raised his shining, +naked blade towards the sky. Instantaneously heaven opened, and +the lightning fell, attracted by the burnished steel. From blade +to carbine, from helmet to breastplate it ran, smiting every man +dead as he stood. + +They fell like a row of ninepins, blackened in face and hand in +an instant,--in the twinkling of an eye. Dead. The electric flame +licked the life out of seven men in that second; not one moved a +muscle or a finger again. Then followed a wild scene. The crowd, +stupefied for a minute by the thunderbolt and the horror of the +devastation it had wrought, presently recovered sense, and with +a mighty shout hurled itself against the palisade, burst it, leapt +over it and swarmed into the quadrangle, easily overpowering the +unnerved guards. I was surrounded; eager hands unbound mine; +arms were thrown about me; the people roared, and wept, and triumphed, +and fell about me on their knees praising Heaven. I think rain fell, +my face was wet with drops, and my hair,--but I knew no more, for +I swooned and lay unconscious in the arms of the crowd. My rescue +had indeed come, and from the very Heavens! + +--Rome, April 12, 1887 + + + + + +Dream-Verses + + + + +"Through the Ages" + + +Wake, thou that sleepest! Soul, awake! + Thy light is come, arise and shine! + For darkness melts, and dawn divine +Doth from the holy Orient break; + +Swift-darting down the shadowy ways + And misty deeps of unborn Time, + God's Light, God's Day, whose perfect prime +Is as the light of seven days. + +Wake, prophet-soul, the time draws near, + "The God who knows" within thee stirs + And speaks, for His thou art, and Hers +Who bears the mystic shield and spear. + +The hidden secrets of their shrine + Where thou, initiate, didst adore, + Their quickening finger shall restore +And make its glories newly thine. + +A touch divine shall thrill thy brain, + Thy soul shall leap to life, and lo! + What she has known, again shall know; +What she has seen, shall see again; + +The ancient Past through which she came,-- + A cloud across a sunset sky,-- + A cactus flower of scarlet dye,-- +A bird with throat and wings of flame;-- + +A red wild roe, whose mountain bed + Nor ever hound or hunter knew, + Whose flying footprint dashed the dew +In nameless forests, long since dead. + +And ever thus in ceaseless roll + The wheels of Destiny and Time + Through changing form and age and clime + Bear onward the undying Soul: + +Till now a Sense, confused and dim, + Dawns in a shape of nobler mould, + Less beast, scarce human; uncontrolled, +With free fierce life in every limb; + +A savage youth, in painted gear, + Foot fleeter than the summer wind; + Scant speech for scanty needs designed, +Content with sweetheart, spoil and spear + +And, passing thence, with burning breath, + A fiery Soul that knows no fear, + The armed hosts of Odin hear +Her voice amid the ranks of death; + +There, where the sounds of war are shrill, + And clarion shrieks, and battle roars, + Once more set free, she leaps and soars +A Soul of flame, aspiring still! + +Till last, in fairer shape she stands + Where lotus-scented waters glide, + A Theban Priestess, dusky-eyed, +Barefooted on the golden sands; + +Or, prostrate, in the Temple-halls, + When Spirits wake, and mortals sleep, + She hears what mighty Voices sweep +Like winds along the columned walls. + +A Princess then beneath the palms + Which wave o'er Afric's burning plains, + The blood of Afric in thy veins, +A golden circlet on thine arms. + +By sacred Ganges' sultry tide, + With dreamy gaze and clasped hands + Thou walkst a Seeress in the lands +Where holy Buddha lived and died. + +Anon, a sea-bleached mountain cave + Makes shelter for thee, grave and wan, + Thou solemn, solitary Man, +Who, nightly, by the star-lit wave + +Invokest with illumined eyes + The steadfast Lords who rule and wait + Beyond the heavens and Time and fate, +Until the perfect Dawn shall rise, + +And oracles, through ages dumb, + Shall wake, and holy forms shall shine + On mountain peaks in light divine, +When mortals bid God's kingdom come + +So turns the wheel of thy [keen] soul; + From birth to birth her ruling stars, + Swift Mercury and fiery Mars, +In ever changing orbits roll! + +--Paris, May, 1880 + + + + + +Fragment + + +A jarring note, a chord amiss-- + The music's sweeter after, +Like wrangling ended with a kiss, + Or tears, with silver laughter. + +The high gods have no joys like these, + So sweet in human story; +No tempest rends their tranquil seas + Beyond the sunset glory. + +The whirling wheels of Time and Fate + + + + + +Fragment* + + +I thank Thee, Lord, who hast through devious ways + Led me to know Thy Praise, + And to this Wildernesse +Hast brought me out, Thine Israel to blesse. + +If I should faint with Thirst, or weary, sink, + To these my Soule is Drink, + To these the Majick Rod +Is Life, and mine is hid with Christ in God. + +---------- +* These are not properly dream-verses, having been suddenly presented +to the waking vision one day in Paris while gazing at the bright +sky. (Ed.) + + + + + +Signs of the Times + +Eyes of the dawning in heaven? +Sparks from the opening of hell? +Gleams from the altar-lamps seven? + Can you tell? + +Is it the glare of a fire? +Is it the breaking of day? +Birth lights, or funeral pyre? + Who shall say? + +--April 19, 1886. + + + + + +With the Gods + + +Sweet lengths of shore with sea between, +Sweet gleams of tender blue and green, +Sweet wind caressive and unseen, + Soft breathing from the deep; + +What joy have I in all sweet things; +How clear and bright my spirit sings; +Rising aloft on mystic wings; + While sense and body sleep. + +In some such dream of grace and light, +My soul shall pass into the sight +Of the dear Gods who in the height + Of inward being dwell; + +And joyful at Her perfect feet +Whom most of all I long to greet, +My soul shall lie in meadow sweet + All white with asphodel. + +--August 31, 1887. + + + + + +Part II. Dream-Stories + + + + +I. A Village of Seers-- + A Christmas Story + + + + +A day or two before Christmas, a few years since, I found myself +compelled by business to leave England for the Continent. + +I am an American, junior partner in a London mercantile house having +a large Swiss connection; and a transaction--needless to specify +her--required immediate and personal supervision abroad, at a season +of the year when I would gladly have kept festival in London with +my friends. But my journey was destined to bring me an adventure +of a very remarkable character, which made me full amends for the +loss of Christmas cheer at home. + +I crossed the Channel at night from Dover to Calais. The passage +was bleak and snowy, and the passengers were very few. On board +the steamboat I remarked one traveler whose appearance and manner +struck me as altogether unusual and interesting, and I deemed it +by no means a disagreeable circumstance that, on arriving at Calais, +this man entered the compartment of the railway carriage in which +I had already seated myself. + +So far as the dim light permitted me a glimpse of the stranger's +face, I judged him to be about fifty years of age. The features +were delicate and refined in type, the eyes dark and deep-sunken, +but full of intelligence and thought, and the whole aspect of the +man denoted good birth, a nature given to study and meditation, +and a life of much sorrowful experience. + +Two other travelers occupied our carriage until Amiens was reached. +They then left us, and the interesting stranger and I remained +alone together. + +"A bitter night," I said to him, as I drew up the window, "and the +worst of it is yet to come! The early hours of dawn are always +the coldest." + +"I suppose so," he answered in a grave voice. + +The voice impressed me as strongly as the face; it was subdued +and restrained, the voice of a man undergoing great mental suffering. + +"You will find Paris bleak at this season of the year," I continued, +longing to make him talk. "It was colder there last winter than +in London." + +"I do not stay in Paris," he replied, "save to breakfast." + +"Indeed; that is my case. I am going on to Bale." + +"And I also," he said, "and further yet." + +Then he turned his face to the window, and would say no more. My +speculations regarding him multiplied with his taciturnity. I felt +convinced that he was a man with a romance, and a desire to know +its nature became strong in me. We breakfasted apart at Paris, +but I watched him into his compartment for Bale, and sprang in after +him. During the first part of our journey we slept; but, as we +neared the Swiss frontier, a spirit of wakefulness took hold of us, +and fitful sentences were exchanged. My companion, it appeared, +intended to rest but a single day at Bale. He was bound for far-away +Alpine regions, ordinarily visited by tourists during the summer +months only, and, one would think, impassable at this season of the year. + +"And you go alone?" I asked him. "You will have no companions to +join you?" + +"I shall have guides," he answered, and relapsed into meditative silence. + +Presently I ventured another question: "You go on business, perhaps-- +not on pleasure?" + +He turned his melancholy eyes on mine. "Do I look as if I were +traveling for pleasure's sake?" he asked gently. + +I felt rebuked, and hastened to apologise. "Pardon me; I ought +not to have said that. But you interest me greatly, and I wish, +if possible, to be of service to you. If you are going into Alpine +districts on business and alone, at this time of the year--" + +There I hesitated and paused. How could I tell him that he interested +me so much as to make me long to know the romance which, I felt +convinced, attached to his expedition? Perhaps he perceived what +was in my mind, for he questioned me in his turn. "And you--have +you business in Bale?" + +"Yes, and in other places. My accent may have told you my nationality. +I travel in the interests of the American firm, Fletcher Bros., +Roy, & Co., whose London house, no doubt, you know. But I need +remain only twenty-four hours in Bale. Afterwards I go to Berne, +then to Geneva. I must, however, wait for letters from England +after doing my business at Bale, and I shall have some days free." + +"How many?" + +"From the 21st to the 26th." + +He was silent for a minute, meditating. Then he took from his +traveling-bag a porte-feuille, and from the porte-feuille a visiting- +card, which he handed to me. + +"That is my name," he said briefly. + +I took the hint, and returned the compliment in kind. On his +card I read: + + MR CHARLES DENIS ST AUBYN, + Grosvenor Square, London. St Aubyn's Court, Shrewsbury. + +And mine bore the legend: + + MR FRANK ROY, + Merchants' Club, W. C. + +"Now that we are no longer unknown to each other," said I, "may I +ask, without committing an indiscretion, if I can use the free time +at my disposal in your interests?" + +"You are very good, Mr Roy. It is the characteristic of your nation +to be kind-hearted and readily interested in strangers." Was this +sarcastic? I wondered. Perhaps; but he said it quite courteously. +"I am a solitary and unfortunate man. Before I accept your kindness, +will you permit me to tell you the nature of the journey I am making? +It is a strange one." + +He spoke huskily, and with evident effort. I assented eagerly. + +The following, recounted in broken sentences, and with many abrupt +pauses, is the story to which I listened: + +Mr St Aubyn was a widower. His only child, a boy twelve years of age, +had been for a year past afflicted with loss of speech and hearing, +the result of a severe typhoid fever, from which he barely escaped +with life. Last summer, his father, following medical advice, brought +him to Switzerland, in the hope that Alpine air, change of scene, +exercise, and the pleasure of the trip, would restore him to his +normal condition. One day father and son, led by a guide, were +ascending a mountain pathway, not ordinarily regarded as dangerous, +when the boy, stepping aside to view the snowy ranges above and +around, slipped on a treacherous fragment of half-detached rock, +and went sliding into the ravine beneath. The height of the fall +was by no means great, and the level ground on which the boy would +necessarily alight was overgrown with soft herbage and long grass, +so that neither the father nor the guide at first conceived any +serious apprehensions for the safety of the boy's life or limbs. +He might be bruised, perhaps even a few cuts or a sprained wrist +might disable him for a few days, but they feared nothing worse +than these. As quickly as the slippery ground would permit, they +descended the winding path leading to the meadow, but when they +reached it, the boy was nowhere to be seen. Hours passed in vain +and anxious quest; no track, no sound, no clue assisted the seekers, +and the shouts of the guide, if they reached, as doubtless they did, +the spot where the lost boy lay, fell on ears as dull and deadened +as those of a corpse. Nor could the boy, if crippled by his fall, +and unable to show himself, give evidence of his whereabouts by +so much as a single cry. Both tongue and ears were sealed by +infirmity, and any low sound such as that he might have been able +to utter would have been rendered inaudible by the torrent rushing +through the ravine hard by. At nightfall the search was suspended, +to be renewed before daybreak with fresh assistance from the nearest +village. Some of the new-comers spoke of a cave on the slope of +the meadow, into which the boy might have crept. This was easily +reached. It was apparently of but small extent; a few goats +reposed in it, but no trace of the child was discoverable. After +some days spent in futile endeavour, all hope was abandoned. The +father returned to England to mourn his lost boy, and another disaster +was added to the annual list of casualties in the Alps. + +So far the story was sad enough, but hardly romantic. I clasped +the hand of the narrator, and assured him warmly of my sympathy, +adding, with as little appearance of curiosity as I could command:-- + +"And your object in coming back is only, then, to--to--be near the +scene of your great trouble?" + +"No, Mr Roy; that is not the motive of my journey. I do not believe +either that my boy's corpse lies concealed among the grasses of the +plateau, or that it was swept away, as has been suggested, by the +mountain cataract. Neither hypothesis seems to me tenable. The +bed of the stream was followed and searched for miles; and though, +when he fell, he was carrying over his shoulder a flask and a thick +fur-lined cloak,--for we expected cold on the heights, and went +provided against it,---not a fragment of anything belonging to him +was found. Had he fallen into the torrent, it is impossible his +clothing should not have become detached from the body and caught +by the innumerable rocks in the shallow parts of the stream. But +that is not all. I have another reason for the belief I cherish." +He leaned forward, and added in firmer and slower tones: "I am +convinced that my boy still lives, for--I have seen him." + +"You have seen him!" I cried. + +"Yes; again and again--in dreams. And always in the same way, +and with the same look. He stands before me, beckoning to me, and +making signs that I should come and help him. Not once or twice +only, but many times, night after night I have seen the same thing!" + +Poor father! Poor desolate man! Not the first driven distraught +by grief; not the first deluded by the shadows of love and longing! + +"You think I am deceived by hallucinations," he said, +watching my face." It is you who are misled by the scientific idiots +of the day, the wiseacres who teach us to believe, whenever soul +speaks to soul, that the highest and holiest communion attainable +by man is the product of physical disease! Forgive me the energy +of my words; but had you loved and lost your beloved---wife and +child--as I have done, you would comprehend the contempt and anger +with which I regard those modern teachers whose cold and ghastly +doctrines give the lie, not only to all human hopes and aspirations +towards the higher life, but also to the possibility of that very +progress from lower to nobler forms which is the basis of their +own philosophy, and to the conception of which the idea of the soul +and of love are essential! Evolution presupposes possible perfecting, +and the conscious adaptation of means to ends in order to attain it. +And both the ideal itself and the endeavour to reach it are +incomprehensible without desire, which is love, and whose seat is +in the interior self, the living soul--the maker of the outward form!" + +He was roused from his melancholy now, and spoke +connectedly and with enthusiasm. I was about to reassure him in +regard to my own philosophical convictions, the soundness of which he +seemed to question, when his voice sank again, and he added earnestly:-- + +"I tell you I have seen my boy, and that I know he lives,--not in +any far-off sphere beyond the grave, but here on earth, among living +men! Twice since his loss I have returned from England to seek +him, in obedience to the vision, but in vain, and I have gone back +home to dream the same dream. But--only last week--I heard a +wonderful story. It was told me by a friend who is a great traveler, +and who has but just returned from a lengthened tour in the south. +I met him at my club, `by accident,' as unthinking persons say. +He told me that there exists, buried away out of common sight and +knowledge, in the bosom of the Swiss Alps, a little village whose +inhabitants possess, in varying degrees, a marvellous and priceless +faculty. Almost all the dwellers in this village are mutually +related, either bearing the same ancestral name, or being branches +from one original stock. The founder of this community was a blind +man, who, by some unexplained good fortune, acquired or became +endowed with the psychic faculty called 'second sight,' or clairvoyance. +This faculty, it appears, is now the hereditary property of the +whole village, more developed in the blind man's immediate heirs +than in his remoter relatives; but, strange to say, it is a faculty +which, for a reason connected with the history of its acquirement, +they enjoy only once a year, and that is on Christmas Eve. I know +well," continued Mr. St. Aubyn, "all you have it in your mind to +say. Doubtless, you would hint to me that the narrator of the tale +was amusing himself with my credulity; or that these Alpine villagers, +if they exist, are not clairvoyants, but charlatans trading on the +folly of the curious, or even that the whole story is a chimera +of my own dreaming brain. I am willing that, if it please you, +you should accept any of these hypotheses. As for me, in my sorrow +and despair, I am resolved to leave no means untried to recover +my boy; and it happens that the village in question is not far +from the scene of the disaster which deprived me of him. A strange +hope--a confidence even--grows in my heart as I approach the end +of my journey. I believe I am about to verify the truth of my +friend's story, and that, through the wonderful faculty possessed +by these Alpine peasants, the promise of my visions will be realised." + +His voice broke again, he ceased speaking, and turned his face away +from me. I was greatly moved, and anxious to impress him with a +belief in the sincerity of my sympathy, and in my readiness to accept +the truth of the tale he had repeated. + +"Do not think," I said with some warmth, "that I am disposed to +make light of what you tell me, strange though it sounds. Out in +the West, where I come from, I heard, when a boy, many a story at +least as curious as yours. In our wild country, odd things chance +at times, and queer circumstances, they say, happen in out of the way +tracks in forest and prairie; aye, and there are strange creatures +that haunt the bush, some tell, in places where no human foot is +wont to tread. So that nothing of this sort comes upon me with +an air of newness, at least! I mayn't quite trust it, as you do, +but I am no scoffer. Look, now, Mr. St. Aubyn, I have a proposal +to make. You are alone, and purpose undertaking a bitter and, it +may be, a perilous journey in mountain ground at this season. What +say you to taking me along with you? May be, I shall prove of some use; +and at any rate, your adventure and your story interest me greatly!" + +I was quite tremulous with apprehension lest he should refuse my +request, but he did not. He looked earnestly and even fixedly at +me for a minute, then silently held out his hand and grasped mine +with energy. It was a sealed compact. After that we considered +ourselves comrades, and continued our journey together. + +Our day's rest at Bale being over, and the business which concerned +me there transacted, we followed the route indicated by Mr. St. +Aubyn, and on the evening of the 22nd of December arrived at a little +hill station, where we found a guide who promised to conduct us the +next morning to the village we sought. Sunrise found us on our way, +and a tramp of several weary hours, with occasional breaks for rest +and refreshment, brought us at last to the desired spot. + +It was a quaint, picturesque little hamlet, embosomed in a mountain +recess, a sheltered oasis in the midst of a wind-swept, snow-covered +region. The usual Swiss trade of wood-carving appeared to be the +principal occupation of the community. The single narrow street +was thronged with goats, whose jingling many-toned bells made an +incessant and agreeable symphony. Under the projecting roofs of +the log-built chalets bundles of dried herbs swung in the frosty air; +stacks of fir-wood, handy for use, were piled about the doorways, +and here and there we noticed a huge dog of the St Bernard breed, +with solemn face, and massive paws that left tracks like a lion's +in the fresh-fallen snow. A rosy afternoon-radiance glorified the +surrounding mountains and warmed the aspect of the little village +as we entered it. It was not more than three o'clock, yet already +the sun drew near the hilltops, and in a short space he would sink +behind them and leave the valleys immersed in twilight. Inn or +hostelry proper there was none in this out of the world recess, +but the peasants were right willing to entertain us, and the owner +of the largest chalet in the place speedily made ready the necessary +board and lodging. Supper--of goat's milk cheese, coarse bread, +honey, and drink purporting to be coffee--being concluded, the +villagers began to drop in by twos and threes to have a look at us; +and presently, at the invitation of our host, we all drew our stools +around the pinewood fire, and partook of a strange beverage served +hot with sugar and toast, tasting not unlike elderberry wine. +Meanwhile my English friend, more conversant than myself with the +curiously mingled French and German patois of the district, plunged +into the narration of his trouble, and ended with a frank and +pathetic appeal to those present, that if there were any truth in +the tale he had heard regarding the annual clairvoyance of the +villagers, they would consent to use their powers in his service. + +Probably they had never been so appealed to before. When my friend +had finished speaking, silence, broken only by a few half-audible +whispers, fell on the group. I began to fear that, after all, he +had been either misinformed or misunderstood, and was preparing +to help him out with an explanation to the best of my ability, when +a man sitting in the chimney-corner rose and said that, if we pleased, +he would fetch the grandsons of the original seer, who would give +us the fullest information possible on the subject of our inquiry. +This announcement was encouraging, and we assented with joy. He +left the chalet, and shortly afterwards returned with two stalwart +and intelligent-looking men of about thirty and thirty-five respectively, +accompanied by a couple of St Bernards, the most magnificent dogs I +had ever seen. I was reassured instantly, for the faces of these +two peasants were certainly not those of rogues or fools. They +advanced to the centre of the assembly, now numbering some twenty +persons, men and women, and were duly introduced to us by our host +as Theodor and Augustin Raoul. A wooden bench by the hearth was +accorded them, the great dogs couched at their feet, pipes were +lit here and there among the circle; and the scene, embellished +by the ruddy glow of the flaming pine-logs, the unfamiliar costume +of the peasantry, the quaint furniture of the chalet-kitchen in +which we sat, and enhanced by the strange circumstances of our +journey and the yet stranger story now recounted by the two Raouls, +became to my mind every moment more romantic and unworld-like. +But the intent and strained expression of St. Aubyn's features as +he bent eagerly forward, hanging as if for life or death on the +words which the brothers poured forth, reminded me that, in one +respect at least, the spectacle before me presented a painful reality, +and that for this desolate and lonely man every word of the Christmas +tale told that evening was pregnant with import of the deepest and +most serious kind. Here, in English guise, is the legend of the +Alpine seer, recounted with much gesticulation and rugged dramatic +force by his grandsons, the younger occasionally interpolating +details which the elder forgot, confirming the data, and echoing +with a sonorous interjection the exclamations of the listeners. + +Augustin Franz Raoul, the grandfather of the men who addressed us, +originally differed in no respect, save that of blindness, from +ordinary people. One Christmas Eve, as the day drew towards twilight, +and a driving storm of frozen snow raged over the mountains, he, +his dog Hans, and his mule were fighting their way home up the pass +in the teeth of the tempest. At a turn of the road they came on +a priest carrying the Viaticum to a dying man who inhabited a solitary +but in the valley below. The priest was on foot, almost spent with +fatigue, and bewildered by the blinding snow which obscured the +pathway and grew every moment more impenetrable and harder to face. +The whirling flakes circled and danced before his sight, the winding +path was well-nigh obliterated, his brain grew dizzy and his feet +unsteady, and he felt that without assistance he should never reach +his destination in safety. Blind Raoul, though himself tired, and +longing for shelter, listened with sympathy to the priest's complaint, +and answered, "Father, you know well I am hardly a pious son of +the Church; but if the penitent dying down yonder needs spiritual +consolation from her, Heaven forbid that I should not do my utmost +to help you to him! Sightless though I am, I know my way over these +crags as no other man knows it, and the snowstorm which bewilders +your eyes so much cannot daze mine. Come, mount my mule, Hans will +go with us, and we three will take you to your journey's end safe +and sound." + +"Son," answered the priest, "God will reward you for this act of +charity. The penitent to whom I go bears an evil reputation as a +sorcerer, and we all know his name well enough in these parts. +He may have some crime on his conscience which he desires to confess +before death. But for your timely help I should not be able to +fight my way through this tempest to his door, and he would certainly +perish unshriven." + +The fury of the storm increased as darkness came on. Dense clouds +of snow obscured the whole landscape, and rendered sky and mountain +alike indistinguishable. Terror seized the priest; but for the +blind man, to whose sight day and night were indifferent, these +horrors had no great danger. He and his dumb friends plodded quietly +and slowly on in the accustomed path, and at length, close upon +midnight, the valley was safely reached, and the priest ushered +into the presence of his penitent. What the dying sorcerer's +confession was the blind man never knew; but after it was over, +and the Sacred Host had passed his lips, Raoul was summoned to his +bedside, where a strange and solemn voice greeted him by name and +thanked him for the service he had rendered. + +"Friend," said the dying man, "you will never know how great a debt +I owe you. But before I pass out of the world, I would fain do +somewhat towards repayment. Sorcerer though I am by repute, I +cannot give you that which, were it possible, I would give with +all my heart,--the blessing of physical sight. But may God hear +the last earthly prayer of a dying penitent, and grant you a better +gift and a rarer one than even that of the sight of your outward +eyes, by opening those of your spirit! And may the faculty of that +interior vision be continued to you and yours so long as ye use +it in deeds of mercy and human kindness such as this!" + +The speaker laid his hand a, moment on the blind man's forehead, +and his lips moved silently awhile, though Raoul saw it not. The +priest and he remained to the last with the penitent; and when +the grey Christmas morning broke over the whitened plain they left +the little but in which the corpse lay, to apprise the dwellers +in the valley hamlet of the death of the wizard, and to arrange +for his burial. And ever, since that Christmas Eve, said the two +Raouls, their grandfather found himself when the sacred time came +round again, year after year, possessed of a new and extraordinary +power, that of seeing with the inward senses of the spirit whatever +he desired to see, and this as plainly and distinctly, miles distant, +as at his own threshold. The power of interior vision came upon +him in sleep or in trance, precisely as with the prophets and sybils +of old, and in this condition, sometimes momentary only, whole scenes +were flashed before him, the faces of friends leagues away became +visible, and he seemed to touch their hands. At these times nothing +was hidden from him; it was necessary only that he should desire +fervently to see any particular person or place, and that the intent +of the wish should be innocent, and he became straightway clairvoyant. +To the blind man, deprived in early childhood of physical sight, +this miraculous power was an inestimable consolation, and Christmas +Eve became to him a festival of illumination whose annual reminiscences +and anticipations brightened the whole round of the year. And when +at length he died, the faculty remained a family heritage, of which +all his descendants partook in some degree, his two grandsons, as +his nearest kin, possessing the gift in its completest development. +And--most strange of all--the two hounds which lay couched before +us by the hearth, appeared to enjoy a share of the sorcerer's benison! +These dogs, Fritz and Bruno, directly descended from Hans, had often +displayed strong evidence of lucidity, and under its influence they +had been known to act with acumen and sagacity wholly beyond the +reach of ordinary dogs. Their immediate sire, Gluck, was the property +of a community of monks living fourteen miles distant in the Arblen +valley; and though the Raouls were not aware that he had yet +distinguished himself by any remarkable exploit of a clairvoyant +character, he was commonly credited with a goodly share of the +family gift. + +"And the mule?" I asked thoughtlessly. + +"The mule, monsieur," replied the younger Raoul, with a smile, " +has been dead many long years. Naturally he left no posterity." + +Thus ended the tale, and for a brief space all remained silent, +while many glances stole furtively towards St. Aubyn. He sat +motionless, with bowed head and folded arms, absorbed in thought. + +One by one the members of the group around us rose, knocked the +ashes from their pipes, and with a few brief words quitted the chalet. +In a few minutes there remained only our host, the two Raouls, with +their dogs, my friend, and myself. Then St. Aubyn found his voice. +He too rose, and in slow tremulous tones, addressing Theodor, asked,-- + +"You will have everything prepared for an expedition tomorrow, in +case--you should have anything to tell us?" + +"All shall be in readiness, monsieur. Pierre (the host) will wake +you by sunrise, for with the dawn of Christmas Eve our lucid faculty +returns to us, and if we should have good news to give, the start +ought to be made early. We may have far to go, and the days are short." + +He whistled to the great hounds, wished us goodnight, and the two +brothers left the house together, followed by Fritz and Bruno. + +Pierre lighted a lantern, and mounting a ladder in the corner of +the room, invited us to accompany him. We clambered up this +primitive staircase with some difficulty, and presently found +ourselves in a bed-chamber not less quaint and picturesque than +the kitchen below. Our beds were both prepared in this room, +round the walls of which were piled goat's-milk cheeses, dried +herbs, sacks of meal, and other winter provender. + +Outside it was a starlit night, clear, calm, and frosty, with +brilliant promise for the coming day. Long after I was in the land +of dreams, I fancy St. Aubyn lay awake, following with restless +eyes the stars in their courses, and wondering whether from some +far-off, unknown spot his lost boy might not be watching them also. + +Dawn, grey and misty, enwrapped the little village when I was startled +from my sleep by a noisy chorus of voices and a busy hurrying of +footsteps. A moment later some one, heavily booted, ascended the +ladder leading to our bedroom, and a ponderous knock resounded on +our door. St. Aubyn sprang from his bed, lifted the latch, and +admitted the younger Raoul, whose beaming eyes and excited manner +betrayed, before he spoke, the good tidings in store. + +"We have seen him!" he cried, throwing up his hands triumphantly +above his head. "Both of us have seen your son, monsieur! Not +half an hour ago, just as the dawn broke, we saw him in a vision, +alive and well in a mountain cave, separated from the valley by a +broad torrent. An Angel of the good Lord has ministered to him: +it is a miracle! Courage, he will be restored to you. Dress quickly, +and come down to breakfast. Everything is ready for the expedition, +and there is no time to lose!" + +These broken ejaculations were interrupted by the voice of the elder +brother, calling from the foot of the ladder: + +"Make haste, messieurs, if you please. The valley we have seen +in our dream is fully twelve miles away, and to reach it we shall +have to cut our way through the snow. It is bad at this time of +the year, and the passes may be blocked! Come, Augustin!" + +Everything was now hurry and commotion. All the village was astir; +the excitement became intense. From the window we saw men running +eagerly towards our chalet with pickaxes, ropes, hatchets, and other +necessary adjuncts of Alpine adventure. The two great hounds, with +others of their breed, were bounding joyfully about in the snow, +and showing, I thought, by their intelligent glances and impatient +behavior, that they already understood the nature of the intended +day's work. + +At sunrise we sat down to a hearty meal, and amid the clamor of +voices and rattling of platters, the elder Raoul unfolded to us +his plans for reaching the valley, which both he and his brother +had recognized as the higher level of the Arblen, several thousand +feet above our present altitude, and in mid-winter a perilous place +to visit. + +"The spot is completely shut off from the valley by the cataract," +said he, "and last year a landslip blocked up the only route to +it from the mountains. How the child got there is a mystery!" + +"We must cut our way over the Thurgau Pass," cried Augustin. + +"That is just my idea. Quick now, if you have finished eating, +call Georges and Albert, and take the ropes with you!" + +Our little party was speedily equipped, and amid the lusty cheers +of the men and the sympathetic murmurs of the women, we passed +swiftly through the little snow-carpeted street and struck into +the mountain path. We were six in number, St. Aubyn and myself, +the two Raouls, and a couple of villagers carrying the requisite +implements of mountaineering, while the two dogs, Fritz and Bruno, +trotted on before us. + +At the outset there was some rough ground to traverse, and +considerable work to be done with ropes and tools, for the +slippery edges of the highland path afforded scarce any foothold, +and in some parts the difficulties appeared well-nigh insurmountable. +But every fresh obstacle overcome added a new zest to our resolution, +and, cheered by the reiterated cry of the two seers, "Courage, +messieurs! Avanfons! The worst will soon be passed!" We pushed +forward with right good will, and at length found ourselves on a +broad rocky plateau. + +All this time the two hounds had taken the lead, pioneering us with +amazing skill round precipitous corners, and springing from crag +to crag over the icy ravines with a daring and precision which +curdled my blood to witness. It was a relief to see them finally +descend the narrow pass in safety, and halt beside us panting and +exultant. All around lay glittering reaches of untrodden snow, +blinding to look at, scintillant as diamond dust. We sat down to +rest on some scattered boulders, and gazed with wonder at the +magnificent vistas of glowing peaks towering above us, and the +luminous expanse of purple gorge and valley, with the white, roaring +torrents below, over which wreaths of foam-like filmy mist hovered +and floated continually. + +As I sat, lost in admiration, St. Aubyn touched my arm, and silently +pointed to Theodor Raoul. He had risen, and now stood at the edge +of the plateau over-hanging the lowland landscape, his head raised, +his eyes wide-opened, his whole appearance indicative of magnetic +trance. While we looked he turned slowly towards us, moved his +hands to and fro with a gesture of uncertainty, as though feeling +his way in the dark; and spoke with a slow dreamy utterance: + +"I see the lad sitting in the entrance of the cavern, looking out +across the valley, as though expecting some one. He is pallid and +thin, and wears a dark-colored mantle--a large mantle--lined with +sable fur." + +St. Aubyn sprang from his seat. "True!" he exclaimed. "It is the +mantle he was carrying on his arm when he slipped over the pass! +O, thank God for that; it may have saved his life!" + +"The place in which I see your boy," continued the mountaineer, +"is fully three miles distant from the plateau on which we now stand. +But I do not know how to reach it. I cannot discern the track. +I am at fault!" He moved his hands impatiently to and fro, and +cried in tones which manifested the disappointment he felt: "I +can see no more! the vision passes from me. I can discover nothing +but confused shapes merged in ever-increasing darkness!" + +We gathered round him in some dismay, and St. Aubyn urged the younger +Raoul to attempt an elucidation of the difficulty. But he too failed. +The scene in the cave appeared to him with perfect distinctness; +but when he strove to trace the path which should conduct us to it, +profound darkness obliterated the vision. + +"It must be underground," he said, using the groping action we had +already observed on Theodor's part. "It is impossible to distinguish +anything, save a few vague outlines of rock. Now there is not a +glimmer of light; all is profound gloom!" + +Suddenly, as we stood discussing the situation, one advising this, +another that, a sharp bark from one of the hounds startled us all, +and immediately arrested our consultation. It was Fritz who had +thus interrupted the debate. He was running excitedly to and fro, +sniffing about the edge of the plateau, and every now and then +turning himself with an abrupt jerk, as if seeking something which +eluded him. Presently Bruno joined in this mysterious quest, and the +next moment, to our admiration and amazement, both dogs simultaneously +lifted their heads, their eyes illumined with intelligence and delight, +and uttered a prolonged and joyous cry that reverberated chorus-like +from the mountain wall behind us. + +"They know! They see! They have the clue!" cried the peasants, +as the two hounds leapt from the plateau down the steep declivity +leading to the valley, scattering the snowdrifts of the crevices +pell-mell in their headlong career. In frantic haste we resumed +our loads, and hurried after our flying guides with what speed we +could. When the dogs had reached the next level, they paused and +waited, standing with uplifted heads and dripping tongues while +we clambered down the gorge to join them. Again they took the lead; +but this time the way was more intricate, and their progress slower. +Single-file we followed them along a narrow winding track of broken +ground, over which every moment a tiny torrent foamed and tumbled; +and as we descended the air became less keen, the snow rarer, and +a few patches of gentian and hardy plants appeared on the craggy +sides of the mountain. + +Suddenly a great agitation seized St. Aubyn. "Look look!" he cried, +clutching me by the arm; "here, where we stand, is the very spot +from which my boy fell! And below yonder is the valley!" + +Even as he uttered the words, the dogs halted and came towards us, +looking wistfully into St. Aubyn's face, as though they fain would +speak to him. We stood still, and looked down into the green valley, +green even in mid-winter, where a score of goats were browsing in +the sunshine. Here my friend would have descended, but the Raouls +bade him trust the leadership of the dogs. + +"Follow them, monsieur," said Theodor, impressively; "they can +see, and you cannot. It is the good God that conducts them. +Doubtless they have brought us to this spot to show you they know +it, and to inspire you with confidence in their skill and guidance. +See! they are advancing! On! do not let us remain behind!" + +Thus urged, we hastened after our canine guides, who, impelled by +the mysterious influence of their strange faculty, were again pressing +forward. This time the track ascended. Soon we lost sight of the +valley, and an hour's upward scrambling over loose rocks and sharp +crags brought us to a chasm, the two edges of which were separated +by a precipitous gulf some twenty feet across. This chasm was +probably about eight or nine hundred feet deep, and its sides were +straight and sheer as those of a well. Our ladders were in requisition +now, and with the aid of these and the ropes, all the members of +our party, human and canine, were safely landed on the opposite +brink of the abyss. + +We had covered about two miles of difficult ground beyond the chasm, +when once more, on the brow of a projecting eminence, the hounds +halted for the last time, and drew near St. Aubyn, gazing up at +him with eloquent exulting eyes, as though they would have said, +"He whom you seek is here!" + +It was a wild and desolate spot, strewn with tempest-torn branches, +a spot hidden from the sun by dense masses of pine foliage, and +backed by sharp peaks of granite. St. Aubyn looked around him, +trembling with emotion. + +"Shout," cried one of the peasants; "shout, the boy may hear you!" + +"Alas," answered the father, " he cannot hear; you forget that +my child is deaf and dumb!" + +At that instant, Theodor, who for a brief while had stood apart, +abstracted and silent, approached St. Aubyn and grasped his hand. + +"Shout!" repeated he, with the earnestness of a command; "call +your boy by his name!" + +St Aubyn looked at him with astonishment; then in a +clear piercing voice obeyed. + +"Charlie!" he cried; "Charlie, my boy! where are you?" + +We stood around him in dread silence and expectancy, a group for +a picture. St. Aubyn in the midst, with white quivering face and +clasped hands, the two Raouls on either side, listening intently, +the dogs motionless and eager, their ears erect, their hair bristling +round their stretched throats. You might have heard a pin drop +on the rock at our feet, as we stood and waited after that cry. +A minute passed thus, and then there was heard from below, at a +great depth, a faint uncertain sound. One word only--uttered in +the voice of a child,--tremulous, and intensely earnest: "Father!" + +St Aubyn fell on his knees. "My God! my God!" he cried, sobbing; +"it is my boy! He is alive, and can hear and speak!" + +With feverish haste we descended the crag, and speedily found +ourselves on a green sward, sheltered on three sides by high walls +of cliff, and bounded on the fourth, southward, by a rushing stream +some thirty feet from shore to shore. Beyond the stream was a wide +expanse of pasture stretching down into the Arblen valley. + +Again St. Aubyn shouted, and again the childlike cry replied, guiding +us to a narrow gorge or fissure in the cliff almost hidden under +exuberant foliage. This passage brought us to a turfy knoll, upon +which opened a deep recess in the mountain rock; a picturesque cavern, +carpeted with moss, and showing, from some ancient, half obliterated +carvings which here and there adorned its walls, that it had once +served as a crypt or chapel, possibly in some time of ecclesiastical +persecution. At the mouth of this cave, with startled eyes and +pallid parted lips, stood a fair-haired lad, wrapped in the mantle +described by the elder Raoul. One instant only he stood there; +the next he darted forward, and fell with weeping and inarticulate +cries into his father's embrace. + +We paused, and waited aloof in silence, respecting the supreme joy +and emotion of a greeting so sacred as this. The dogs only, bursting +into the cave, leapt and gambolled about, venting their satisfaction +in sonorous barks and turbulent demonstrations of delight. But +for them, as they seemed well to know, this marvellous discovery +would have never been achieved, and the drama which now ended with +so great happiness, might have terminated in a lifelong tragedy. + +Therefore we were not surprised to see St. Aubyn, after the first +transport of the meeting, turn to the dogs, and clasping each huge +rough head in turn, kiss it fervently and with grateful tears. + +It was their only guerdon for that day's priceless service: the +dumb beasts that love us do not work for gold! + +And now came the history of the three long months which had elapsed +since the occurrence of the disaster which separated my friend from +his little son. + +Seated on the soft moss of the cavern floor, St. Aubyn in the midst +and the boy beside him, we listened to the sequel of the strange +tale recounted the preceding evening by Theodor and Augustin Raoul. +And first we learnt that until the moment when his father's shout +broke upon his ear that day, Charlie St. Aubyn had remained as +insensible to sound and as mute of voice as he was when his accident +befell him. Even now that the powers of hearing and of speech were +restored, he articulated uncertainly and with great difficulty, +leaving many words unfinished, and helping out his phrases with +gesticulations and signs, his father suggesting and assisting as +the narrative proceeded. Was it the strong love in St. Aubyn's +cry that broke through the spell of disease and thrilled his child's +dulled nerves into life? Was it the shock of an emotion coming +unexpected and intense after all those dreary weeks of futile +watchfulness? or was the miracle an effect of the same Divine grace +which, by means of a mysterious gift, had enabled us to track and +to find this obscure and unknown spot? + +It matters little; the spirit of man is master of all things, +and the miracles of love are myriad-fold. For, where love abounds +and is pure, the spirit of man is as the Spirit of God. + +Little St. Aubyn had been saved from death, and sustained during +the past three months by a creature dumb like himself,--a large +dog exactly resembling Fritz and Bruno. This dog, he gave us to +understand, came from "over the torrent," indicating with a gesture +the Arblen Valley; and, from the beginning of his troubles, had +been to him like a human friend. The fall from the hillside had +not seriously injured, but only bruised and temporarily lamed the +lad, and after lying for a minute or two a little stunned and giddy, +he rose and with some difficulty made his way across the meadow +slope on which he found himself, expecting to meet his father +descending the path. But he miscalculated its direction, and +speedily discovered he had lost his way. After waiting a long +time in great suspense, and seeing no one but a few goatherds at +a distance, whose attention he failed to attract, the pain of a +twisted ankle, increased by continual movement, compelled him to +seek a night's shelter in the cave subsequently visited by his +father at the suggestion of the peasants who assisted in the search. +These peasants were not aware that the cave was but the mouth of +a vast and wandering labyrinth tunneled, partly by nature and partly +by art, through the rocky heart of the mountain. A little before +sunrise, on the morning after his accident, the boy, examining with +minute curiosity the picturesque grotto in which he had passed the +night, discovered in its darkest corner a moss-covered stone behind +which had accumulated a great quantity of weeds, ivy, and loose +rubbish. Boylike, he fell to clearing away these impedimenta and +excavating the stone, until, after some industrious labour thus +expended, he dismantled behind and a little above it a narrow passage, +into which he crept, partly to satisfy his love of "exploring," +partly in the hope that it might afford him an egress in the direction +of the village. The aperture thus exposed had not, in fact, escaped +the eye of St. Aubyn, when about an hour afterwards the search for +the lost boy was renewed. But one of his guides, after a brief +inspection, declared the recess into which it opened empty, and +the party, satisfied with his report, left the spot, little thinking +that all their labor had been lost by a too hasty examination. +For, in fact, this narrow and apparently limited passage gradually +widened in its darkest part, and, as little St Aubyn found, became +by degrees a tolerably roomy corridor, in which he could just manage +to walk upright, and into which light from the outer world penetrated +dimly through artificial fissures hollowed out at intervals in the +rocky wall. Delighted at this discovery, but chilled by the vaultlike +coldness of the place, the lad hastened back to fetch the fur mantle +he had left in the cave, threw it over his shoulders, and returned +to continue his exploration. The cavern gallery beguiled him with +ever-new wonders at every step. Here rose a subterranean spring, +there a rudely carved gargoyle grinned from the granite roof; +curious and intricate windings enticed his eager steps, while all +the time the deathlike and horrible silence which might have deterred +an ordinary child from further advance, failed of its effect upon +ears unable to distinguish between the living sounds of the outer +world and the stillness of a sepulchre. + +Thus he groped and wandered, until he became aware that the gloom +of the corridor had gradually deepened, and that the tiny opening +in the rock were now far less frequent than at the outset. Even +to his eyes, by this time accustomed to obscurity, the darkness +grew portentous, and at every step he stumbled against some unseen +projection, or bruised his hands in vain efforts to discover a +returning path. Too late he began to apprehend that he was nearly +lost in the heart of the mountain. Either the windings of the +labyrinth were hopelessly confusing, or some debris, dislodged by +the unaccustomed concussion of footsteps, had fallen from the roof +and choked the passage behind him. The account which the boy gave +of his adventure, and of his vain and long-continued efforts to +retrace his way, made the latter hypothesis appear to us the more +acceptable, the noise occasioned by such a fall having of course +passed unheeded by him. In the end, thoroughly baffled and exhausted, +the lad determined to work on through the Cimmerian darkness in +the hope of discovering a second terminus on the further side of +the mountain. This at length he did. A faint starlike outlet +finally presented itself to his delighted eyes; he groped painfully +towards it; gradually it widened and brightened, till at length +he emerged from the subterranean gulf which had so long imprisoned +him into the mountain cave wherein he bad ever since remained. +How long it had taken him to accomplish this passage he could not +guess, but from the sun's position it seemed to be about noon when +he again beheld day. He sat down, dazzled and fatigued, on the +mossy floor of the grotto, and watched the mountain torrent eddying +and sweeping furiously past in the gorge beneath his retreat. +After a while he slept, and awoke towards evening faint with hunger +and bitterly regretting the affliction which prevented him from +attracting help. + +Suddenly, to his great amaze, a huge tawny head appeared above the +rocky edge of the plateau, and in another moment a St. Bernard hound +clambered up the steep bank and ran towards the cave. He was dripping +wet, and carried, strapped across his broad back, a double pannier, +the contents of which proved on inspection to consist of three +flasks of goat's milk, and some half dozen rye loaves packed in a +tin box. + +The friendly expression and intelligent demeanour of his visitor +invited little St. Aubyn's confidence and reanimated his sinking +heart. Delighted at such evidence of human proximity, and eager +for food, he drank of the goat's milk and ate part of the bread, +afterwards emptying his pockets of the few sous he possessed and +enclosing them with the remaining loaves in the tin case, hoping +that the sight of the coins would inform the dog's owners of the +incident. The creature went as he came, plunging into the deepest +and least boisterous part of the torrent, which he crossed by swimming, +regained the opposite shore, and soon disappeared from view. + +But next day, at about the same hour, the dog reappeared alone, +again bringing milk and bread, of which again the lad partook, this +time, however, having no sous to deposit in the basket. And when, +as on the previous day, his new friend rose to depart, Charlie +St. Aubyn left the cave with him, clambered down the bank with +difficulty, and essayed to cross the torrent ford. But the depth +and rapidity of the current dismayed him, and with sinking heart +the child returned to his abode. Every day the same thing happened, +and at length the strange life became familiar to him, the trees, +the birds, and the flowers became his friends, and the great hound +a mysterious protector whom he regarded with reverent affection +and trusted with entire confidence. At night he dreamed of home, +and constantly visited his father in visions, saying always the +same words, "Father, I am alive and well." + +"And now," whispered the child, nestling closer in St. Aubyn's +embrace, "the wonderful thing is that today, for the first and +only time since I have been in this cave, my dog has not come to me! +It looks, does it not, as if in some strange and fairylike way he +really knew what was happening, and had known it all along from +the very beginning! O father! can he be--do you think--can he be +an Angel in disguise? And, to be sure, I patted him, and thought +he was only a dog!" + +As the boy, an awed expression in his lifted blue eyes, gave utterance +to this naive idea, I glanced at St. Aubyn's face, and saw that, +though his lips smiled, his eyes were grave and full of grateful wonder. + +He turned towards the peasants grouped around us, and in their own +language recited to them the child's story. They listened intently, +from time to time exchanging among themselves intelligent glances +and muttering interjections expressive of astonishment. When the +last word of the tale was spoken, the elder Raoul, who stood at +the entrance of the cave, gazing out over the sunlit valley of the +Arblen, removed his hat with a reverent gesture and crossed himself. + +"God forgive us miserable sinners," he said humbly, "and pardon +us our human pride! The Angel of the Lord whom Augustin and I +beheld in our vision, ministering to the lad, is no other than the +dog Gluck who lives at the monastery out yonder! And while we men +are lucid only once a year, he has the seeing gift all the year +round, and the good God showed him the lad in this cave, when we, +forsooth, should have looked for him in vain. I know that every +day Gluck is sent from the monastery laden with food and drink to +a poor widow living up yonder over the ravine. She is infirm and +bedridden, and her little grand-daughter takes care of her. +Doubtless the poor soul took the sous in the basket to be the gift +of the brothers, and, as her portion is not always the same from +day to day, but depends on what they can spare from the store set +apart for almsgiving, she would not notice the diminished cakes +and milk, save perhaps to grumble a little at the increase of the +beggars who trespassed thus on her pension." + +There was silence among us for a moment, then St Aubyn's boy spoke. + +"Father," he asked, tremulously, "shall I not see that good Gluck +again and tell the monks how he saved me, and how Fritz and Bruno +brought you here?" + +"Yes, my child," answered St Aubyn, rising, and drawing the boy's +hand into his own, "we will go and find Gluck, who knows, no doubt, +all that has passed today, and is waiting for us at the monastery." + +"We must ford the torrent," said Augustin; "the bridge was carried +off by last year's avalanche, but with six of us and the dogs it +will be easy work." + +Twilight was falling; and already the stars of Christmas Eve +climbed the frosty heavens and appeared above the snowy far-off peaks. + +Filled with gratitude and wonder at all the strange events of the +day we betook ourselves to the ford, and by the help of ropes and +stocks our whole party landed safely on the valley side. Another +half-hour brought us into the warm glow of the monk's refectory +fire, where, while supper was prepared, the worthy brothers listened +to a tale at least as marvellous as any legend in their ecclesiastical +repertory. I fancy they must have felt a pang of regret that holy +Mother Church would find it impossible to bestow upon Gluck and +his two noble sons the dignity of canonisation. + + + + + +II. Steepside + A Ghost Story + + + + +The strange things I am going to tell you, dear reader, did not +occur, as such things generally do, to my great-uncle, or to my +second cousin, or even to my grandfather, but to myself. It happened +that a few years ago I received an invitation from an old +schoolfellow to spend Christmas week with him in his country house +on the borders of North Wales, and, as I was then a happy bachelor, +and had not seen my friend for a considerable time, I accepted the +invitation, and turned my back upon London on the appointed day +with a light heart and anticipations of the pleasantest description. + +Leaving my City haunts by a morning train, I was landed early in +the afternoon at the nearest station to my friend's house, although +in this case "nearest" was indeed, as it proved, by no means near. +When I reached the inn where I had fondly expected to find "flys, +omnibuses, and other vehicles obtainable on the shortest notice," +I was met by the landlady of the establishment, who, with an +apologetic curtsey and a deprecating smile, informed me that she +was extremely sorry to say her last conveyance had just started +with a party, and would not return until late at night. I looked +at my watch; it was nearing four. Seven miles, and I had a large +traveling-bag to carry. + +"Is it a good road from here to--?" I asked the landlady. + +"Oh yes, sir; very fair." + +"Well," I said, "I think I'll walk it. The railway journey has +rather numbed my feet, and a sharp walk will certainly improve +their temperature." + +So I courageously lifted my bag and set out on the journey to my +friend's house. Ah, how little I guessed what was destined to +befall me before I reached that desired haven! I had gone, I +suppose, about two miles when I descried behind me a vast mass of +dark, surging cloud driving up rapidly with the wind. I was in +open country, and there was evidently going to be a very heavy +snowstorm. Presently it began. At first I made up my mind not +to heed it; but in about twenty minutes after the commencement +of the fall the snow became so thick and so blinding, that it was +absolutely impossible for me to find my way along a road which was +utterly new to me. Moreover, with the cloud came the twilight, +and a most disagreeably keen wind. The traveling-bag became unbearably +heavy. I shifted it from one hand to the other; I hung it over +my shoulder; I put it under my arm; I carried it in all sorts +of ways, but none afforded me any permanent relief. To add to my +misfortune, I strongly suspected that I had mistaken my way, for +by this time the snow was so deep that the footpath was altogether +obliterated. In this predicament I looked out wistfully across +the whitened landscape for signs of an inn or habitation of some +description where I might "put up" for the night, and by good fortune +(or was it bad?) I at last espied through the gathering gloom a +solitary and not very distant light twinkling from a lodge at the +entrance of a private road. I fought my way through the snow as +quickly as possible, and, presenting myself at the gate of the little +cottage, rang the bell complacently, and flattered myself that I +had at length discovered a resting-place. An old man with grey +hair answered my summons. Him I acquainted with my misfortune, +and to him I preferred my request that I might be allowed a night's +shelter in the lodge, or at least the temporary privilege of drying +myself and my habiliments at his fireside. The old fellow admitted +me cheerfully enough; but he seemed more than doubtful as to the +possibility of my passing the night beneath his roof. + +"Ye see, sir," he said, "we've only one small room--me and the missis; +and I don't well see how we're to manage about you. All the same, +sir, I wouldn't advise ye to go on tonight, for if ye're bound for +Mr ---'s, ye've come a deal out of your way, and the storm's getting +worse and worse every minute. We shall have a nasty night of it, +sir, and it'll be a deal too stiff for travelling on foot." + +Here the wife, a hospitable-looking old woman, interposed. + +"Willum, don't ye think as the gentleman might be put to sleep in +the room up at the House, where George slept last time he was here +to see us? His bed's there still, ye know. It's a very good room, +sir," she argued, addressing me; "and I can give ye a pair of +blankets in no time." + +"But," said I, "the master of the house doesn't know me. I am a +stranger here altogether." + +"Lor' bless ye, sir!" answered my host, "there ain't nobody in the +place. The house has been to let these ten years at least to my +knowledge; for I've been here eight, and the house and the lodge +had both been empty no one knows how long when I come. I rents +this cottage of Mr Houghton, out yonder." + +"Oh well," I rejoined, "if that is the case, and there is nobody's +leave save yours to ask, I'm willing enough to sleep at the house, +and thank you too for your kindness." + +So it was arranged that I should pass the coming night within the +walls of the empty mansion; and, until it was time to retire thither, +I amused and edified myself by a friendly chat with the old man +and his spouse, both of whom were vastly communicative. At ten +o'clock I and my host adjourned to the house, which stood at a very +short distance from the lodge. I carried my bag, and my companion +bore the blankets already referred to, a candle, and some firewood +and matches. The chamber to which he conducted me was comfortable +enough, but by no means profusely furnished. It contained a small +truckle bedstead, two chairs, and a washstand, but no attempt at +pictures or ornaments of any description. Evidently it was an +impromptu bedroom. + +My entertainer in a few minutes kindled a cheerful fire upon the +old-fashioned stone hearth. Then, after arranging my bed and +placing my candle on the mantelpiece, he wished me a respectful +goodnight and withdrew. When he was gone I dragged one of the +chairs towards the fireplace, and sat down to enjoy the pleasant +flicker of the blaze. I ruminated upon the occurrences of the day, +and the possible history of the old house, whose sole occupant I +had thus strangely become. Now, I am of an inquisitive turn of mind, +and perhaps less apt than most men to be troubled with that +uncomfortable sensation which those people who are its victims +describe as nervousness, and those who are not, as cowardice. +Another in my place might have shrunk from doing what I presently +resolved to do, and that was to explore, before going to rest, at +least some part of this empty old house. Accordingly, I took up +my candle and walked out into the passage, leaving the door of my +room widely open, so that the firelight streamed full into the +entrance of the dark gallery, and served to guide me on my way +along it. When I had thus progressed for some twenty yards, I was +brought to a standstill by encountering a large red baize door, +which evidently shut off the wing in which my room was situated +from the rest of the mansion, and completely closed all egress from +the corridor where I then stood. I paused a moment or two in +uncertainty, for the door was locked; but presently my glance +fell on an old rusty key hanging from a nail, likewise rusty, in +a niche of the wall. I abstracted this key from its resting-place, +destroying as I did so the residences of a dozen spiders, which, +to judge from appearances, seemed to have thrived excellently in +the atmosphere of desolation which surrounded them. It was some +time before I could get the clumsy old lock to act properly, or +summon sufficient strength to turn the key; but at length +perseverance met with its proverbial reward, and the door moved +slowly and noisily on its hinges. Still bearing my candle, I went +on my way into a second corridor, which was literally carpeted +with dust, the accumulation probably of the ten years to which my +host had referred. + +All round was gloomy and silent as a sepulchre, save that every +now and then the loosened boards creaked beneath my tread, or some +little misanthropical animal, startled from his hermitage by the +unwonted sound of my steps, hurried across the passage, making as +he went a tiny trail in the thick furry dust. Several galleries +branched off from the mainway like tributary streams, but I preferred +to steer my course down the central corridor, which finally conducted +me to a large antique-looking apartment with carved wainscot and +curious old paintings on the panelled walls. I put the candle upon +a table which stood in the centre of the room, and standing beside +it, took a general survey. There was an old mouldy-looking bookcase +in one corner of the chamber, with some old mouldy books packed +closely together on a few of its shelves. This piece of furniture +was hollowed out, crescent-wise, at the base, and partially concealed +a carved oaken door, which had evidently in former times been the +means of communication with an adjoining apartment. Prompted by +curiosity, I took down and opened a few of the nearest books on +the shelves before me. They proved to be some of the very earliest +volumes of the "Spectator,"--books of considerable interest to me,-- +and in ten minutes I was quite absorbed in an article by one of +our most noted masters of literature. I drew one of the queer +high-backed chairs scattered about the room, towards the table, +and sat down to enjoy a "feast of reason and a flow of soul." As +I turned the mildewed page, something suddenly fell with a dull +"flop" upon the paper. It was a drop of blood! I stared at it +with a strange sensation of mingled horror and astonishment. Could +it have been upon the page before I turned it? No; it was wet +and bright, and presented the uneven, broken disc which drops of +liquid always possess when they fall from a considerable height. +Besides I had heard and seen it fall. I put the book down on the +table and looked upward at the ceiling. There was nothing visible +there save the grey dirt of years. I looked closely at the hideous +blotch, and saw it rapidly soaking and widening its way into the +paper, already softened with age. As, of course, after this incident +I was not inclined to continue my studies of Addison and Steele, +I shut the volume and replaced it on the shelves. Turning back +towards the table to take up my candle, my eyes rested upon a full- +length portrait immediately facing the bookcase. It was that of +a young and handsome woman with glossy black hair coiled round her +head, but, I thought, with something repulsive in the proud, stony +face and shadowed eyes. I raised the light above my head to get +a better view of the painting. As I did this, it seemed to me that +the countenance of the figure changed, or rather that a Thing came +between me and it. It was a momentary distortion, as though a gust +of wind had passed across the portrait and disturbed the outline +of the features; the how and the why I know not, but the face changed; +nor shall I ever forget the sudden horror of the look it assumed. +It was like that face of phantom ghastliness that we see sometimes +in the delirium of fever,--the face that meets us and turns upon +us in the mazes of nightmare, with a look that wakes us in the +darkness, and drives the cold sweat out upon our forehead while +we lie still and hold our breath for fear. Man as I was, I shuddered +convulsively from head to foot, and fixed my eyes earnestly on the +terrible portrait. In a minute it was a mere picture again--an +inanimate colored canvas--wearing no expression upon its painted +features save that which the artist had given to it nearly a century +ago. I thought then that the strange appearance I had witnessed +was probably the effect of the fitful candlelight, or an illusion +of my own vision; but now I believe otherwise. Seeing nothing +further unusual in the picture, I turned my back upon it, and made +a few steps towards the door, intending to quit this mysterious +chamber of horrors, when a third and more hideous phenomenon riveted +me to the spot where I stood; for, as I looked towards the oaken +door in the corner, I became aware of something slowly filtering +from beneath it, and creeping towards me. O heaven! I had not +long to look to know what that something was:--it was blood-red, +thick, stealthy! On it came, winding its way in a frightful stream +into the room, soddening the rich carpet, and lying presently in +a black pool at my feet. It had trickled in from the adjoining +chamber, that chamber the entrance to which was closed by the bookcase. +There were some great volumes on the ground before the door,--volumes +which I had noticed when I entered the room, on account of the +thick dust with which they were surrounded. They were lying now +in a pool of stagnant blood. It would be utterly impossible for +me to attempt to describe my sensations at that minute. I was not +capable of feeling any distinct emotion. My brain seemed oppressed, +I could scarcely breathe--scarcely move. I watched the dreadful +stream oozing drowsily through the crevices of the mouldy, rotting +woodwork--bulging out in great beads like raindrops on the sides +of the door--trickling noiselessly down the knots of the carved oak. +Still I stood and watched it, and it crept on slowly, slowly, like +a living thing, and growing as it came, to my very feet. I cannot +say how long I might have stood there, fascinated by it, had not +something suddenly occurred to startle me into my senses again; +for full upon the back of my right hand fell, with a sullen, heavy +sound, a second drop of blood. It stung and burnt my flesh like +molten lead, and the sharp, sudden pain it gave me shot up my arm +and shoulder, and seemed in an instant to mount into my brain and +pervade my whole being. I turned and fled from the terrible place +with a shrill cry that rang through the empty corridors and ghostly +rooms like nothing human. I did not recognise it for my own voice, +so strange it was,--so totally unlike its accustomed sound; and +now, when I recall it, I am disposed to think it was surely not +the cry of living mortal, but of that unknown Thing that passed +before the portrait, and that stood beside me even then in the +lonely room. Certain I am that the echoes of that cry had in them +something inexpressibly fiendish, and through the deathly gloom +of the mansion they came back, reverberated and repeated from a +hundred invisible corners and galleries. Now, I had to pass, on +my return, a long, broad window that lighted the principal staircase. +This window had neither shutters nor blind, and was composed of +those small square panes that were in vogue a century ago. As I +went by it, I threw a hasty, appalled glance behind me, and +distinctly saw, even through the blurred and dirty glass, the +figures of two women, one pursuing the other over the thick white +snow outside. In the rapid view I had of them, I observed only +that the first carried something in her hand that looked like a +pistol, and her long black hair streamed behind her, showing darkly +against the dead whiteness of the landscape. The arms of her +pursuer were outstretched, as though she were calling to her +companion to stop; but perfect as was the silence of the night, +and close as the figures seemed to be, I heard no sound of a voice. +Next I came to a second and smaller window which had been once +boarded up, but with lapse of time the plank had loosened and partly +fallen, and here I paused a moment to look out. It still snowed +slightly, but there was a clear moon, sufficient to throw a ghastly +light upon the outside objects nearest to me. With the sleeve of +my coat I rubbed away the dust and cobwebs which overhung the glass, +and peered out. The two women were still hurrying onward, but the +distance between them was considerably lessened. And now for the +first time a peculiarity about them struck me. It was this, that +the figures were not substantial; they flickered and waved precisely +like flames, as they ran. As I gazed at them the foremost turned +her head to look at the woman behind her, and as she did so, stumbled, +fell, and disappeared. She seemed to have suddenly dropped down +a precipice, so quickly and so completely she vanished. The other +figure stopped, wrung its hands wildly, and presently turned and +fled in the direction of the park-gates, and was soon lost in the +obscurity of the distance. The sights I had just witnessed in the +panelled chamber had not been of a nature to inspire courage in +any one, and I must candidly confess that my knees actually shook +and my teeth rattled as I left the window and darted up the solitary +passage to the baize door at the top of it. Would I had never +unlocked that door! Would that the key had been lost, or that I +had never set foot in this abominable house! Hastily I refastened +the door, hung up the rusty key in its niche, and rushed into my +own room, where I dropped into a chair with a deadly faintness +creeping over me. I looked at my hand, where the clot of blood +had fallen. It seemed to have burnt its way into my flesh, for it +no longer appeared on the surface, but, where it had been was a round, +purple mark, with an outer ring, like the scar of a burn. That +scar is on my hand now, and I suppose will be there all my life. +I looked at my watch, which I had left behind on the mantelpiece. +It was five minutes past twelve. Should I go to bed? I stirred +the sinking fire into a blaze, and looked anxiously at my candle. +Neither fire nor candles, I perceived, would last much longer. +Before long both would be expended, and I should be in darkness. +In darkness, and alone in that house. The bare idea of a night +passed in such solitude was terrible to me. I tried to laugh at +my fears. And reproached myself with weakness and cowardice. I +reverted to the stereotyped method of consolation under circumstances +of this description, and strove to persuade myself that, being +guiltless, I had no cause to fear the powers of evil. But in vain. +Trembling from head to foot, I raked together the smouldering embers +in the stove for the last time, wrapped my railway rug around me-- +for I dared not undress--and threw myself on the bed, where I lay +sleepless until the dawn. But oh, what I endured all those weary +hours no human creature can imagine. I watched the last sparks of +the fire die out, one by one, and heard the ashes slide and drop +slowly upon the hearth. I watched the flame of the candle flare +up and sink again a dozen times, and then at last expire, leaving +me in utter darkness and silence. I fancied, ever and anon, that +I could distinguish the sound of phantom feet coming down the +corridor towards my room, and that the mysterious Presence I had +encountered in the panelled chamber stood at my bedside looking at +me, or that a stealthy hand touched mine. I felt the sweat upon +my forehead, but I dared not move to wipe it away. I thought of +people whose hair had turned white through terror in a few brief +hours, and wondered what color mine would be in the morning. And +when at last--at last--the first grey glimmer of that morning peered +through the window-blind, I hailed its appearance with much the +same emotions as, no doubt, a traveler fainting with thirst in a +desert would experience upon descrying a watery oasis in the midst +of the burning sands. Long before the sun arose, I leapt from my +couch, and having made a hasty toilette, I sallied out into the bleak, +frosty air. It revived me at once, and brought new courage into my +heart. Looking at the whitened expanse of lawn where last night +I had seen the two women running, I could detect no sign of footmarks +in the snow. The whole lawn presented an unbroken surface of +sparkling crystals. I walked down the drive to the lodge. The +old man, evidently an early bird, was in the act of unbarring his +door as I appeared. + +Halloa, sir, you're up betimes!" he exclaimed. "Will ye just step +in now and take somethin'? My ole woman's agoin' to get out the +breakfast. Slept well last night, sir?" he continued, as I entered +the little parlour; "the bed is rayther hard, I know; but, ye +see, it does well enow for my son George when he's up here, which +isna often. Ye look tired like, this morning; didna get much rest +p'raps? Ah! now then, Bess, gi' us another plate here, ole gal." + +I ate my breakfast in comparative silence, wondering to myself +whether it would be well to say anything to my host of my recent +experiences, since he had clearly no suspicions on the subject; +and, anon, wishing I had comported myself in that terrible house +with as little curiosity as the "son George," who no doubt was +content to stay where he was put at night, and was not given to +nocturnal excursions in empty mansions. + +"Have you any idea," said I, at last, "whether there's any story +connected with that place where I slept last night? I only ask," +added I, with a feeble grin, like the ghost of a smile that had +been able-bodied once, "because I'm fond of hearing stories, and +because, as you know, there generally is a legend, or something +of that sort, related about old family mansions." + +"Well, sir," answered the old man slowly, "I never heard nothin'; +but then, you see, I never asked no questions. We came here eight +years agone, and then no one round remembered a tenant at the big +house. It's been empty somewhere nigh twenty years, I should say,-- +to my own knowledge more than ten,--and what's more, nobody knows +exactly who it belongs to: and there's been lawsuits about it and +all manner o' things, but nothin' ever came of them." + +"Did no one ever tell you anything about its history," I asked, +"or were you never asked any questions about it until now?" + +"Not particularly as I remember," replied he musingly. + +Then, after a moment's pause, he added more briskly, "Ay, ay, though, +now I come to think of it, there was a man up here more'n five months +back, a Frenchman, who came on purpose to see it and ask me one +or two questions, but I on'y jest told him nothin' as I've told you. +He was a popish priest, and seemed to take a sight of interest in +the place somehow. I think if you want to know about it, sir, you'd +better go and see him; he's staying down here in the village, about +a mile and a half off, at the Crown Inn." + +"And a queer old fellow he is," broke in my host's wife, who was +clearing away the breakfast; "no one knows where he comes from, +'cept as he's a Frenchman. I see him about often, prowlin' along +with his stick and his snuff-box, always alone, and sometimes he +nods at me and says `good-morning' as I go by." + +In consequence of this information I resolved to make my way +immediately to the old priest's dwelling, and having acquainted +myself with the direction in which the house lay, I took leave of +my host, shouldered my bag once more, and set out en route. The +air was clear and sharp, and the crisp snow crackled pleasantly +under my Hessian boots as I strode along the country lanes. All +traces of cloud had totally disappeared from the sky, the sun looked +cheerfully down on me, and my morning's walk thoroughly refreshed +and invigorated me. In due time I arrived at the inn which had +been named to me as the abode of the Rev. M. Pierre,--a pretty +homely little nest, with an antique gable and portico. Addressing +myself to the elderly woman who answered my summons at the housedoor, +I inquired if I could see M. Pierre, and, in reply, received a +civil invitation to "step inside and wait." My suspense did not +last long, for M. Pierre made his appearance very promptly. He +was a tall, thin individual with a fried-looking complexion, keen +sunken eyes, and sparse hair streaked with grey. He entered the +room with a courteous bow and inquiring look. Rising from the +chair in which I had rested myself by the fire, I advanced towards +him and addressed him by name in my suavest tones. He inclined +his head and looked at me more inquiringly than before." I have +taken the liberty to request an interview with you this morning," +continued I, "because I have been told that you may probably be +able to give me some information of which I am in search, with +regard to an old mansion in this part of the county, called +`Steepside,' and in which I spent last night." + +Scarcely had I uttered these last words when the expression of the +old priest's face changed from one of courteous indifference to +earnest interest: + +"Do I understand you rightly, monsieur?" he said. "You say you +slept last night in Steepside mansion?" + +"I did not say I slept there," I rejoined, with an emphasis; "I +said I passed the night there." + +"Bien," said he dryly, "I comprehend. And you were not pleased +with your night's lodging. That is so, is it not, monsieur,--is +it not?" he repeated, eying my face curiously, as though he were +seeking to read the expression of my thoughts there. + +"You may be sure," said I, "that if something very peculiar had +not occurred to me in that house, I should not thus have troubled +a gentleman to whom I am, unhappily, a stranger." + +He bowed slightly and then stood silent, contemplating me, and, +as I think, considering whether or not he should afford me the +information I desired. Presently, his scrutiny having apparently +proved satisfactory, he withdrew his eyes from my face, and seated +himself beside me. + +"Monsieur," said he, "before I begin to answer your inquiry, I will +ask you to tell me what you saw last night at Steepside." + +He drew from his pocket a small, old-fashioned snuff-box and refreshed +his little yellow nose with a pinch of rappee, after which ceremonial +he leaned back at his ease, resting his chin in his hand and regarding +me fixedly during the whole of my strange recital. When I had finished +speaking he sat silent a few minutes, and then resumed, in his queer +broken manner: + +"What I am going to tell you I would not tell to any man who had +not done what you have done, and seen what you saw last night. +Mon Dieu! it is strange you should have been at that house last +night of all nights in the year,--the 22nd of December!" + +He seemed to make this reflection rather to himself than to me, +and presently continued, taking a small key from a pocket in his +vest as he spoke: + +"Do you understand French well, monsieur?" + +"Excellently well," returned I with alacrity; "a great part of +my business correspondence is conducted in French, and I speak and +hear it every day of my life." + +He smiled pleasantly in reply, rose from his seat, and, unlocking +with the key he held a small drawer in a chest that stood beside +the chimney-piece, took out of it a roll of manuscript and a cigar. + +"Monsieur," said he, offering me the latter, "let me recommend this, +if you care to smoke so early in the day. I always prefer rappee, +but you, doubtless, have younger tastes." + +Having thus provided for my comfort, the old priest reseated himself, +unfolded the manuscript, and, without further apology, read the +following story in the French language: + +Towards the latter part of the last century Steepside became the +property of a certain Sir Julian Lorrington. His family consisted +only of his wife, Lady Sarah, and their daughter Julia, a girl +remarkable alike for her beauty and her expectations. + +For a long time Sir Julian had retained in his establishment an +old French maitre d'hotel and his wife, who both died in the baronet's +service, leaving one child, Virginie, whom Lady Sarah, out of regard +for the fidelity of her parents, engaged to educate and protect. + +In due time this orphan, brought up in the household of Sir Julian, +became the chosen companion of his heiress; and when the family +took up their residence at Steepside, Virginie Giraud, who had been +associated in Julia's studies and recreations from early childhood, +was installed there as maid and confidant to the hope of the house. + +Not long after the settlement at Steepside, Sir Julian, in the +summary fashion of those days with regard to matrimonial affairs, +announced his intention of bestowing his daughter upon a certain +Welsh squire of old ancestry and broad acres. Sir Julian was a +practical man, thoroughly incapable of regarding wedlock in any +other light than as a mere union of wealth and property, the owners +of which joined hands and lived together. This was the way in +which he had married, and it was the way in which he intended his +daughter to marry; love and passion were meaningless, if not vulgar +words in his ears, and he conceived it impossible they should be +otherwise to his only child. As for Lady Sarah, she was an +unsympathetic creature, whose thoughts ran only on the ambition +of seeing Julia married to some gentleman of high position, and +heading a fine establishment with social success and distinction. + +So it was not until all things relative to the contract had been +duly arranged between these amiable parents and their intended son- +in-law, that the bride elect was informed of the fortune in store +for her. + +But all the time that the lawyers had been preparing the marriage +settlements, a young penniless gentleman named Philip Brian had +been finding out for himself the way to Julia's heart, and these +two had pledged their faith to each other only a few days before +Sir Julian and Lady Lorrington formally announced their plans to +their daughter. In consequence of her engagement with Philip, +Julia received their intelligence with indignation, and protested +that no power on earth should force her to act falsely to the young +man whose promised wife she had become. The expression of this +determination was received by both parents with high displeasure. +Sir Julian indulged in a few angry oaths, and Lady Sarah in a little +select satire; Philip Brian was, of course, forbidden the house, +all letters and messages between the lovers were interdicted, and Julia +was commanded to comport herself like a dutiful and obedient heiress. + +Now Virginie Giraud was the friend as well as the attendant of Sir +Julian's daughter, and it was Virginie therefore who, after the +occurrence of this outbreak, was despatched to Philip with a note +of warning from his mistress. Naturally the lover returned an +answer by the same means, and from that hour Virginie continued +to act as agent between the two, carrying letters to and fro, giving +counsel and arranging meetings. Meanwhile the bridal day was fixed +by the parent Lorringtons, and elaborate preparations were made +for a wedding festival which should be the wonderment and admiration +of the county. The breakfast room was decorated with lavish splendour, +the richest apparel bespoken for the bride, and all the wealthy +and titled relatives of both contracting families were invited to +the pageant. Nor were Philip and Julia idle. It was arranged +between them that, at eleven o'clock on the night of the day preceding +the intended wedding, the young man should present himself beneath +Julia's window, Virginie being on the watch and in readiness to +accompany the flight of the lovers. All three, under cover of the +darkness, should then steal down the avenue of the coach-drive and +make their exit by the shrubbery gate, the key of which Virginie +already had in keeping. The appointed evening came,--the 22nd of +December. Snow lay deep upon the ground, and more threatened to +fall before dawn, but Philip had engaged to provide horses equal +to any emergency of weather, and the darkness of the night lent +favor to the enterprise. Virginie's behavior all that day had +somehow seemed unaccountable to her mistress. The maid's face was +pallid and wore a strange expression of anxiety and apprehension. +She winced and trembled when Julia's glance rested upon her, and +her hands quivered violently while she helped the latter to adjust +her hood and mantle as the hour of assignation approached. +Endeavouring, however, to persuade herself that this strange +conduct arose from a feeling of excitement or nervousness natural +under the circumstances, Julia used a hundred kind words and tender +gestures to reassure and support her companion. But the mote she +consoled or admonished, the more agitated Virginie became, and +matters stood in this condition when eleven o'clock arrived. + +Julia waited at her chamber window, which was not above three feet +from the ground without, her hood and mantle donned, listening +eagerly for the sound of her lover's voice; and the French girl +leant behind her against the closed door, nervously tearing to +fragments a piece of paper she had taken from her pocket a minute ago. +These torn atoms she flung upon the hearth, where a bright fire was +blazing, not observing that, meanwhile, Julia had opened the window- +casement. A gust of wind darting into the room from outside caught +up a fragment of the yet unconsumed paper and whirled it back from +the flames to Julia's feet. She glanced at it indifferently, but +the sight of some characters on it suddenly attracting her, she +stooped and picked it up. + +It bore her name written over and over several times, first in rather +labored imitation of her own handwriting, then more successfully, +and, lastly, in so perfect a manner that even Julia herself was +almost deceived into believing it her genuine signature. Then +followed several L's and J's, as though the copyist had not considered +those initials satisfactory counterparts of the original. + +Julia wondered, but did not doubt; and as she tossed the fragment +from her hand, Virginie turned and perceived the action. Instantly +a deep flush of crimson overspread the maid's face; she darted +suddenly forward, and uttered an exclamation of alarm. Her cry +was immediately succeeded by the sharp noise of a pistol report +beneath the window, and a heavy, muffled sound, as of the fall of +a body upon the snow-covered earth. Julia looked out in fear and +surprise. The leaping firelight from within the room streamed +through the window, and, in the heart of its vivid brightness, +revealed the figure of a man lying motionless upon the whitened +ground, his face buried in the scattered snow, and his outstretched +hand grasping a pistol. Julia leaped through the open casement +with a wild shriek, and flung herself on her knees beside him. + +"Phil! Phil!" she said, "what have you done? what has happened? +Speak to me!" + +But the only response was a faint, low moan. + +Philip Brian had shot himself! + +In an agony of grief and horror Julia lifted his head upon her arm, +and pressed her hand to his heart. The movement recalled him to +life for a few moments; he opened his eyes, looked at her, and +uttered a few broken words. She stooped and listened eagerly. + +"The letter!" he gasped; "the letter you sent me! O Julia, you +have broken my heart! How could you be false to me, and I loving +you--trusting you--so wholly! But at least I shall not live to +see you wed the man you have chosen; I came here tonight to die, +since without you life would be intolerable. See what you have done!" + +Desperate and silent, she wound her arms around him, and pressed +her lips to his. A convulsive shudder seized him; his eyes rolled +back, and with a sigh he resigned himself to the death he had courted +so madly. Death in the passion of a last kiss! + +Julia sat still, the corpse of her lover supported on her arm, and +her hand clasped in his, tearless and frigid as though she had been +turned into stone by some fearful spell. Half hidden in the bosom +of his vest was a letter, the broken seal of which bore her own +monogram. She plucked it out of its resting place, and read it +hastily by the flicker of the firelight. It was in Lady Sarah's +handwriting, and ran thus: + + "My Dear Mr Brian,--Although, when last we parted, it was + with the usual understanding that tonight we should meet + again; yet subsequent reflection, and the positive injunctions + of my parents, have obliged me to decide otherwise. You + are to know, therefore, that, in obedience to the wishes + of my father and mother, I have promised to become the wife + of the gentleman they have chosen for me. All correspondence + between us must therefore wholly cease, nor must you longer + suffer yourself to entertain a thought of me. It is hardly + necessary to add that I shall not expect to see you this + evening; your own sense of honor will, I am persuaded, be + sufficient to restrain you from keeping an appointment + against my wishes. In concluding, I beg you will not attempt + to obtain any further explanation of my conduct; but rest + assured that it is the unalterable resolve of cool and + earnest deliberation. "For the last time I subscribe myself + "JULIA LORRINGTON. + + "Postscript.--In order to save you any doubt of my entire + concurrence in my mother's wishes, I sign and address this + with my own hand, and Virginie, who undertakes to deliver it, + will add her personal testimony to the truth of these statements, + since she has witnessed the writing of the letter, and knows + how fully my consent has been given to all its expressions." + +"With my own hand!" Yes, surely; both signature and address were +perfect facsimiles of Julia's writing! What wonder that Philip +had been deceived into believing her false? Twice she read the +letter from beginning to end; then she laid her lover's corpse +gently down on the snow, and stood up erect and silent, her face +more ghastly and deathlike than the face of the dead beside her. + +In a moment the whole shameful scheme had flashed upon her mind; +Virginie's treachery and clever fraud; its connection with the +torn fragment of paper which Julia had seen only a few minutes before; +the deliberate falsehood of which Lady Sarah had been guilty; the +bribery, by means of which she had probably corrupted Virginie's +fidelity; the cruel disappointment and suffering of her lover; +all these things pressed themselves upon her reeling brain, and +gave birth to the suggestions of madness. + +Stooping down, she put her lithe hand upon the belt of the dead man. +There was, as she expected, a second pistol in it, the fellow of +that with which he had shot himself. It was loaded. Julia drew +it out, wrapped her mantle round it, and climbed noiselessly into +her chamber through the still open window. Crossing the room, she +passed out into the corridor beyond, and went like a shadow, swift +and silent of foot, to the door of her father's study,--an apartment +communicating, by means of an oaken door, with the panelled chamber. + +Virginie, from a dark recess in the wall of the house, had heard +and noted all that passed in the garden. She saw Julia open and +read the letter; she caught the expression of her face as she +stooped for the pistol, and apprehending something of what might +follow, she crept through the window after her mistress and pursued +her up the dark passages. Here, crouching again into a recess in +the gallery outside the panelled room, she waited in terror for +the next scene of the tragedy. Julia flung open the door of the +study where her father sat writing at his table, and, standing on +the threshold in the full glare of the lamplight which illumined +the apartment, raised the pistol, cocked and aimed it. Sir Julian +had barely time to leap from his chair with a cry when she fired, +and the next instant he fell, struck by the bullet on the left temple, +and expired at his daughter's feet. At the report of the pistol +and the sound of his fall, Lady Sarah quitted her dressingroom and +ran in disordered attire into the study, where she beheld her +husband lying dead and bloody upon the floor, and Julia standing +at the entrance of the panelled chamber, with the light of madness +and murder in her eyes. Not long she stood there, however, for, +seeing Lady Sarah enter, the distracted girl threw down the empty +weapon, and flinging herself upon her mother, grasped her throat +with all the might of her frenzied being. Up and down the room +they wrestled together, two desperate women, one bent upon murder, +the other battling for her life, and neither uttered cry or groan, +so terribly earnest was the struggle. At length Lady Sarah's +strength gave way; she fell under her assailant's weight, her +face black with suffocation, and her eyes protruding from their +swelling sockets. Julia redoubled her grip. She knelt upon Lady +Sarah's breast, and held her down with the force and resolution +of a fiend, though the blood burst from the ears of her victim and +filmed her staring eyes; nor did the pitiless fingers relax until +the murderess knew her vengeance was complete. Then, she leapt +to her feet, seized Philip's pistol from the floor, and, with a +wild, pealing shriek, fled forth along the gallery, down the staircase, +and out into the park,--out into the wind, and the driving snow, +and the cold, her uncoiled hair streaming in dishevelled masses +down her shoulders, and her dress of trailing satin daubed with +stains of blood. Behind her ran Virginie, well-nigh maddened herself +with horror, vainly endeavouring to catch or to stop the unhappy +fugitive. But just as the latter reached the brink of a high precipice +at the boundary of the terraced lawn, from which the mansion took +its name of "Steepside," she turned to look at her pursuer, missed +her footing, and fell headlong over the low stone coping that bordered +the slope into the snowdrift at the bottom of the chasm. + +Virginie ran to the spot and looked over. The "steep" was exceedingly +high and sudden; not a trace of Julia could be seen in the darkness +below. Doubtless the miserable heiress of the Lorringtons had found +a grave in the bed of soft, deep snow which surrounded its base. + +Then, stricken through heart and brain with the curse of madness +which had already sent her mistress red-handed to death, Virginie +Giraud fled across the lawn--through the parkgates--out upon the +bleak common beyond, and was gone. The old priest laid aside the +manuscript and took a fresh pinch of rappee from the silver snuff box. + +"Monsieur," said he, with a polite inclination of his grey head, +"I have had the honor to read you the history you wished to hear." + +"And I thank you most heartily for your kindness," returned I. +"But may I, without danger of seeming too inquisitive, ask you one +question more?" + +Seeing assent in his face, and a smile that anticipated my inquiry +wrinkling the corners of his mouth, I continued boldly, "Will you +tell me, then, M. Pierre, by what means you became possessed of +this manuscript, and who wrote it?" + +"It is a natural question, monsieur," he answered after a short pause, +"and I have no good reason for withholding the reply, since every +one who was personally concerned in the tragedy has long been dead. +You must know, then, that in my younger days I was cure to a little +parish of about two hundred souls in the province of Berry. Many +years ago there came to this village a strange old woman of whom +nobody in the place had the least knowledge. She took and rented +a small hovel on the borders of a wood about two miles from our +church, and, except on market days, when she came to the village +for her weekly provisions, none of my parishioners ever held any +intercourse with her. She was evidently insane, and although she +did harm to nobody, yet she often caused considerable alarm and +wonderment by her eccentric behavior. It is, as you must know, +often the case in intermittent mania that its victims are insane +upon some particular subject, some point upon which their frenzy +always betrays itself,--even when, with regard to other matters, +they conduct themselves like ordinary people. Now this old woman's +weakness manifested itself in a wild and continual desire to copy +every written document she saw. If, on her market-day visits to +the village, any written notice upon the churchdoors chanced to +catch her eye as she passed, she would immediately pause, draw out +pencil and paper from her pocket, and stand muttering to herself +until she had closely transcribed the whole of the placard, when +she would quietly return the copy to her pocket and go on her way. + +"Thinking it my duty, as pastor of the village, to make myself +acquainted with this poor creature, who had thus become one of my +flock, I went occasionally to visit her, in the hope that I might +possibly discover the cause of her strange disorder (which I suspected +had its origin in some calamity of her earlier days), and so qualify +myself to afford her the advice and comfort she might need. During +the first two or three visits I paid her I could elicit nothing. +She sat still as a statue, and watched me sullenly while I spoke +to her of the mysteries and consolations of our faith, exhorting +her vainly to make confession and obtain that peace of heart and +mind which the sacrament of penance could alone bestow. Well, it +chanced that on the occasion of one of these visits I took with me, +besides my prayerbook, a small sheet of paper, on which I had written +a few passages of Scripture, such as I conjectured to be most suited +to her soul's necessity. I found her, as usual, moody and reserved, +until I drew from my missal the sheet of transcribed texts and put +it into her hand. In an instant her manner changed. The madness +gleamed in her eyes, and she began searching nervously for a pencil. +`I can do it!' she cried. `My writing was always like hers, for +we learnt together when we were children. He will never know I +wrote it; we shall dupe him easily. Already I have practised her +signature many times--soon I shall be able to make it exactly like +her own hand. And I shall tell her, my lady, that he would have +deceived her, that I overheard him love-making to another girl-- +that I discovered his falsehood--his baseness--and that he fled +in his shame from the county. Yes, yes, we will dupe them both.' + +"In this fashion she chattered and muttered feverishly for some +minutes, till I grew alarmed, and taking her by the shoulders, +tried to shake back the senses into her distracted brain. `What +ails you, foolish old woman? cried I `I am not "miladi;" I am +your parish pastor. Say your Pater Noster, or your Ave, and drive +Satan away.' + +"I am not sure whether my words or the removal of the unlucky +manuscript recalled her wandering wits. At any rate, she speedily +recovered, and, after doing my best to soothe and calm her by leading +her to speak on other topics, I quitted the cottage reassured. + +"Not long after this episode a neighbor called at my house one morning, +and told me that, having missed the old woman from the weekly market, +and knowing how regular she had always been in her attendance, he +had gone to her dwelling and found her lying sick and desiring to +see me. Of course I immediately prepared to comply with her request, +providing myself in case I should find her anxious for absolution +and the viaticum. Directly I entered her hut, she beckoned me to +the bedside, and said in a low, hurried voice:-- + +"Father, I wish to confess to you at once, for I know I am going +to die.' + +"Perceiving that, for the present at least, she was perfectly sane, +I willingly complied with her request, and heard her slowly and +painfully unburden her miserable soul. + +"Monsieur, if the story with which Virginie Giraud intrusted me +had been told only in her sacramental confession, I should not have +been able to repeat it to you. But, when the final words of peace +had been spoken, she took a packet of papers from beneath her pillow +and placed it in my hands. `Here, father,' she said, `is the +substance of my history. When I am dead, you are free to make +what use of it you please. It may warn some, perhaps, from yielding +to the great temptation which overcame me.' + +"'The temptation of a bribe?" said I, inquiringly. She turned her +failing sight towards my face and shook her head feebly. + +"`No bribe, father," she answered. `Do you believe I would have +done what I did for mere coin?" + +"I gave no reply, for her words were enigmatical to me, and I was +loath to harass with my curiosity a soul so near its departure as +hers. So I leaned back in my chair and sat silent, in the hope +that, being wearied with her religious exercises, she might be able +to sleep a little. But, no doubt, my last question, working in +her disordered mind, awoke again the madness that had only slumbered +for a time. Suddenly she raised herself on her pillow, pressed +her withered hands to her head, and cried out wildly:-- + +"`Money!--money to me, who would have sold my own soul for one day +of his love! Ah! I could have flung it back in their faces!--foo's +that they were to believe I cared for gold! Philip! Philip! you +were mad to think of the heiress as a wife; it had been better +for you had you cared to look on me--on me who loved you so! Then +I should never have ruined you--never betrayed you to Lady Sarah! +But I could not forgive the hard words you gave me; I could not +forgive your love for Julia! Shall I ever go to paradise--to +paradise where the saints are? Will they let me in there?--will +they suffer my soul among them? Or shall I never leave purgatory, +but burn, and burn, and burn there always uncleansed? For, oh! +if all the past should come back to me a thousand years hence, I +should do the same thing again, Phil Brian, for love of you!' + +"She started from the bed in her delirium; there came a rattling +sound in her throat--a sudden choking cry--and in a moment her breast +and pillow and quilt were deluged with a crimson stream! In her +paroxysm she had burst a blood-vessel. I sprang forward to catch +her as she fell prone upon the brick floor; raised her in my arms, +and gazed at her distorted features. There was no breath from the +reddened lips. Virginie Giraud was a corpse. + +"Thus in her madness was told the secret of her life and her crime; +a secret she would not confess even to me in her sane moments. It +was no greed of gold, but despised and vindictive love that lay +behind all the horrors she had related. From my soul I pitied the +poor dead wretch, for I dimly comprehended what a hell her existence +on earth had been. + +"The written account of the Steepside tragedy with which she had +intrusted me furnished, in somewhat briefer language, the story I +have just read to you, and many of its more important details have +subsequently been verified by me on application to other sources, +so that in that paper you have the testimony of an eyewitness to +the facts, as well as the support of legal evidence. + +"Some forty years after Virginie's death, monsieur, family reasons +obliged me to seek temporary release from duty and come to England; +and, finding that circumstances would keep me in the country for +some time, I came here and went to see that house. But the tenant +at the lodge could only tell me that Steepside was empty then, and +had been empty for years past; and I have discovered that, since +that horrible 22nd of December, it never had an occupant. Sir +Julian, to whom it belonged by purchase, left no immediate heirs, +and his relatives squabbled between themselves over the property, +till one by one the disputing parties died off, and now there is +no one enterprising enough to resuscitate the lawsuit." + +Rising to take my leave of the genial old man, it occurred to me +as extremely probable that he might have been led to form some +opinion worth hearing with regard to the nature of the strange +appearances at Steepside, and I ventured accordingly to make +the inquiry. + +"If my views on the subject have any value or interest for you," +said he, "you are very welcome to know them. As a priest of the +Catholic Church, I cannot accept the popular notions about ghostly +visitations. Such experiences as yours in that ill-fated mansion +are explicable to me only on the following hypothesis. There is +a Power greater than the powers of evil; a Will to which even demons +must submit. It is not inconsistent with Christian doctrine to +suppose that, in cases of such terrible crimes as that we have been +discussing, the evil spirits who prompted these crimes may, for a +period more or less lengthy, be forced to haunt the scene of their +machinations, and re-enact there, in phantom show, the horrors they +once caused in reality. Naturally--or perhaps," said he, breaking +off with a little smile, "I ought rather to say super-naturally-- +these demons, in order to manifest themselves, would be forced to +resume some shape that would identify them with the crime they had +suggested; and, in such a case, what more likely than that they +should adopt the spectral forms of their human victims--murdered +and murderer, or otherwise--according to the nature of the wickedness +perpetrated? This is but an amateur opinion, monsieur; I offer +it as an individual, not as a priest speaking on the part of the +Church. But it may serve to account for a real difficulty, and +may be held without impiety. Of one thing at least we may rest +assured as Christian men; that the souls of the dead, whether of +saints or sinners, are in God's safe keeping, and walk the earth +no more." + +Then I shook hands with M. Pierre, and we parted. And after that, +reader, I went to my friend's house, and spent my Christmas week +right merrily. + + + + + +III. Beyond the Sunset + A Fairy Tale for the Times + + + + +I. + +Once upon a time there was a Princess. Now, this Princess dwelt +in a far-off and beautiful world beyond the sunset, and she had +immortal youth and an ancestry of glorious name. Very rich, too, +she was, and the palace in which she lived was made all of marble +and alabaster and things precious and wonderful. But that which +was most wonderful about her was her exceeding beauty,--a beauty +not like that one sees in the world this side of the sunset. For +the beauty of the Princess was the bright-shining of a lovely spirit; +her body was but the veil of her soul that shone through all her +perfect form as the radiance of the sun shines through clear water. +I cannot tell you how beautiful this Princess was, nor can I describe +the color of her hair and her eyes, or the aspect of her face. +Many men have seen her and tried to give an account of her; but +though I have read several of these accounts, they differ so greatly +from one another that I should find it hard indeed to reproduce +her picture from the records of it which her lovers have left. + +For all these men who have written about the Princess loved her; +none, indeed, could help it who ever looked on her face. And to +some she has seemed fair as the dawn, and to others dark as night; +some have found her gay and joyous as Allegro, and others sad and +silent and sweet as Penseroso. But to every lover she has seemed +the essence and core of all beauty; the purest, noblest, highest, +and most regal being that he has found it possible to conceive. +I am not going to tell you about all the lovers of the Princess, +for that would take many volumes to rehearse, but only about three +of them, because these three were typical personages, and had very +remarkable histories. + +Like all the lovers of the Princess, these three men were travelers, +coming from a distant country to the land beyond the sunset on +purpose to see the beautiful lady of whom their fathers and +grandfathers had told them; the lady who never could outlive +youth because she belonged to the race of the everlasting Gods who +ruled the earth in the old far-off Hellenic times. + +I do not know how long these three men stayed in the country of +the Princess; but they stayed quite long enough to be very, very +much in love with her, and when at last they had to come away--for +no man who is not "dead" can remain long beyond the sunset--she +gave to each of them a beautiful little bird, a tiny living bird +with a voice of sweetest music, that had been trained and tuned +to song by Phoebus Apollo himself. And I could no more describe +to you the sweetness of that song than I could describe the beauty +of the Princess. + +Then she told the travelers to be of brave heart and of valiant +hope, because there lay before them an ordeal demanding all their +prowess, and after that the prospect of a great reward. "Now," +she said, "that you have learned to love me, and to desire to have +your dwelling here with me, you must go forth to prove your knighthood. +I am not inaccessible, but no man must think to win me for his lady +unless he first justify his fealty by noble service. The world to +which you now go is a world of mirage and of phantasms, which appear +real only to those who have never reached and seen this realm of +mine on the heavenward side of the sun. You will have to pass +through ways beset by monstrous spectres, over wastes where rage +ferocious hydras, chimeras, and strange dragons breathing flame. +You must journey past beautiful shadowy islets of the summer sea, +in whose fertile bays the cunning sirens sing; you must brave the +mountain robber, the goblins of the wilderness, and the ogre whose +joy is to devour living men. But fear nothing, for all these are +but phantoms; nor do you need any sword or spear to slay them, +but only a loyal mind and an unswerving purpose. Let not your +vision be deceived, nor your heart beguiled; return to me unscathed +through all these many snares, and doubt not the worth and greatness +of the guerdon I shall give. Nor think you go unaided. With each +of you I send a guide and monitor; heed well his voice and follow +where he leads." + + + + + +II. + + + + +Now, when the three travelers had received their presents, and had +looked their last upon the shining face of the donor, they went +out of the palace and through the golden gate of the wonderful city +in which she dwelt, and so, once again, they came into the land +which lies this side of the sun. + +Then their ordeal began; but, indeed, they saw no sirens or dragons +or gorgons, but only people like themselves going and coming along +the highways. Some of these people sauntered, some ran, some walked +alone and pensively, others congregated in groups together and talked +or laughed or shouted noisy songs. Under the pleasant trees on +the greensward were pavilions, beautifully adorned; the sound of +music issued from many of them, fair women danced there under the +new-blossoming trees, tossing flowers into the air, and feasts were +spread, wine flowed, and jewels glittered. And the music and the +dancing women pleased the ear and eye of one of the three travelers, +so that he turned aside from his companions to listen and to look. +Then presently a group of youths and girls drew near and spoke to him. +"It is our festival," they said; "we are worshippers of Queen Beauty; +come and feast with us. The moon of May is rising; we shall dance +all night in her beautiful soft beams." But he said, "I have just +returned from a country the beauty of which far surpasses that of +anything one can see here, and where there is a Princess so lovely +and so stately that the greatest Queen of all your world is not +fit to be her tiring maid." Then they said, "Where is that country +of which you speak, and who is this wonderful Princess?" "It is +the land beyond the sunset," he answered, "but the name of the +Princess no man knows until she herself tells it him. And she will +tell it only to the man whom she loves." + +At that they laughed and made mirth among themselves. "Your land +is the land of dreams," they said; "we have heard all about it. +Nothing there is real, and as for your Princess she is a mere shadow, +a vision of your own creation, and no substantial being at all. +The only real and true beauty is the beauty we see and touch and +hear; the beauty which sense reveals to us, and which is present +with us today." Then he answered, "I do not blame you at all, for +you have never seen my Princess. But I have seen her, and heard +her speak, and some day I hope to return to her. And when I came +away she warned me that in this country I should be beset by all +manner of strange and monstrous spectres, harpies, and sirens, eaters +of men, whom I must bravely meet and overcome. I pray you tell +me in what part of your land these dangers lie, that I may be on +my guard against them." + +Thereat they laughed the more, and answered him, "Oh, foolish traveler, +your head is certainly full of dreams! There are no such things as +sirens; all that is an old Greek fable, a fairy tale with no meaning +except for old Greeks and modern babies! You will never meet with +any sirens or harpies, nor will you ever see again the Princess +of whom you talk, unless, indeed, in your dreams. It is this country +that is the only real one, there is nothing at all beyond the sunset." + +Now, all this time the little bird which the Princess had given +to him was singing quite loudly under the folds of the traveler's +cloak. And he took it out and showed it to the youths who spoke +with him, and said, "This bird was given me by the Princess whom +you declare to be a myth. How could a myth give me this living +bird?" They answered, "You are surely a madman as well as a dreamer. +Doubtless the bird flew into your chamber while you slept, and +your dreaming fancy took advantage of the incident to frame this +tale about the Princess and her gift. It is often so in dreams. +The consciousness perceives things as it were through a cloud, and +weaves fictions out of realities." + +Then he began to doubt, but still he held his ground, and said, +"Yet hear how sweetly it sings! No wild, untaught bird of earth +could sing like that." Whereat they were vastly merry, and one cried, +Why, it is quite a common 'tweet-tweet!' It is no more than the +chirp of a vulgar, everyday thrush or linnet!" And another, "Were +I you, I would wring the bird's neck; it must be a terrible nuisance +if it always makes such a noise!" And a third, "Let it fly, we +cannot hear ourselves speaking for its screaming!" Then the traveler +began to feel ashamed of his bird. "All that I say," he thought, +"appears to them foolish, even the Princess's gift is, in their +eyes, a common chirping chaffinch. What if indeed I have been dreaming; +what if this, after all, should be the real world, and the other a +mere fantasy?" + +The bird sang, "Away! away! or you will never see the Princess more! +The real world lies beyond the gates of the sunset!" + +But when the traveler asked the youths what the bird sang, they +answered that they had only heard "Tweet-tweet," and "Chirp-chirp." +Then he was really angry, but not with them, as you would perhaps +have thought. No, he was angry with the bird, and ashamed of it +and of himself. And he threw it from him into the air, and clapped +his hands to drive it away; and all the youths and girls that stood +around him clapped theirs too. "Sh-shsh," they cried, "be off, +you are a good-for-nothing hedge-finch, and may be thankful your +neck has not been wrung to punish you for making such a noise!" + +So the bird flew away, away beyond the sunset, and I think it went +back to the Princess and told her all that had happened. And the +traveler went, and danced and sang and feasted to his heart's +content with the worshippers of Queen Beauty, not knowing that he +really had fallen among the sirens after all! + + + + + +III. + + + + +Meanwhile the two other travelers had gone on their way, for neither +of them cared about pleasure; one was a grave-looking man who walked +with his eyes on the ground, looking curiously at every rock and +shrub he passed by the wayside, and often pausing to examine more +closely a strange herb, or to pick to pieces a flower; the other +had a calm, sweet face, and he walked erect, his eyes lifted towards +the great mountains that lay far away before them. + +By-and-by there came along the road towards the two travelers a +company of men carrying banners, on which were inscribed as mottoes-- +"Knowledge is Freedom!" " Science knows no law but the law of Progress!" +"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!" "Utility is Virtue," and a great +many other fine phrases. Most of the persons who marched first in +this procession wore spectacles, and some were clad in academical +costumes. The greater number had gone past, when the grave-looking +traveler--he who had interested himself so much in the stones and +foliage by the wayside--courteously stopped one of the company and +asked him what the procession meant. "We are worshippers of Science," +answered the man whom he addressed; "today we hold solemn rites +in honor of our deity. Many orations will be made by her high priests, +and a great number of victims slain,--lambs, and horses, and doves, +and hinds, and all manner of animals. They will be put to death +with unspeakable torments, racked, and maimed, and burned, and hewn +asunder, all for the glory and gain of Science. And we shall shout +with enthusiasm as the blood flows over her altars, and the smoke +ascends in her praise." + +"But all this is horrible," said the grave man, with a gesture of +avoidance; "it sounds to me like a description of the orgies of +savages, or of the pastimes of madmen; it is unworthy of intelligent +and sane men." "On the contrary," returned his informant, "it is +just because we are intelligent and sane that we take delight in it. +For it is by means of these sacrifices that our deity vouchsafes +her oracles. In the mangled corpses and entrails of these victims +our augurs find the knowledges we seek," "And what knowledges are +they?" asked the traveler. "The knowledge of Nature's secrets," +cried the votary of Science with kindling eye, "the knowledge of +life and death; the magic of the art of healing disease; the +solution of the riddle of the universe! All this we learn, all +this we perceive, in the dying throes of our victims. Does not +this suffice?--is not the end great enough to justify the means?" + +Then, when the second of the travelers heard these words--he whose +face had been lifted as he walked--he drew nearer and answered:-- + +"No; it is greater to be just than to be learned. No man should +wish to be healed at the cost of another's torment." At which the +stranger frowned, and retorted impatiently, "You forget, methinks, +that they whom we seek to heal are men, and they who are tormented +merely beasts. By these means we enrich and endow humanity." +"Nay, I forget not," he answered gently, "but he who would be so +healed is man no longer. By that wish and act he becomes lower +than any beast. Nor can humanity be enriched by that which beggars +it of all its wealth." "Fine speeches, forsooth!" cried the +worshipper of Science; "you are a moralist, I find, and doubtless +a very ignorant person! All this old-fashioned talk of yours +belongs to a past age. We have cast aside superstition, we have +swept away the old faiths. Our only guide is Reason, our only +goal is Knowledge!" "Alas!" returned the other, "it is not the +higher but the lower Reason which leads you, and the Knowledge +you covet is not that of realities, but of mere seemings. You +do not know the real world. You are the dupes of a Phantasm +which you take for Substance." With that he passed on, and the +man of Science was left in the company of the traveler who had first +accosted him. "What person is that?" asked the former, looking +after the retreating figure of him who had just spoken. "He is a +poet," returned the grave-faced traveler; "we have both of us been +beyond the sunset to see the lovely Princess who rules that wonderful +country, and we left it together on a journey to this world of yours." +"Beyond the sunset!" repeated the other, incredulously. "That is +the land of shadows; when the world was younger they used to say +the old Gods lived there." "Maybe they live there still,' said the +traveler, "for the Princess is of their kith and lineage." "A pretty +fable, indeed," responded the scientific votary. "But we know now +that all that kind of thing is sheer nonsense, and worse, for it +is the basis of the effete old-world sentiment which forms the most +formidable obstacle to Progress, and which Science even yet finds +it hard to overthrow. But what is that strange singing I hear +beneath your cloak?" + +It was the bird which the traveler had received from the Princess. +He drew it forth, but did not say whose gift it was nor whence it +came, because of the contempt with which his companion had spoken +of the mystic country and its Rulers. Already he began to waver +in his loyalty towards the Princess, and to desire greatly the +knowledges of which the stranger told him. For this traveler, +though he cared nothing for pleasure, or for the beauty of sensuous +things, was greatly taken by the wish to be wise; only he did not +rightly know in what wisdom consists. He thought it lay in the +acquirement of facts, whereas really it is the power by which facts +are transcended. + +"That is a foreign bird," observed the scientific man, examining +it carefully through his spectacles, "and quite a curiosity. I do +not remember having ever seen one like it. The note, too, is peculiar. +In some of its tones it reminds me of the nightingale. No doubt it +is the descendant of a developed species of a nightingale, carefully +selected and artificially bred from one generation to another. +Wonderful modifications of species may be obtained in this manner, +as experiments with fancy breeds of pigeons has amply proved. Permit +me to examine the bill more closely. Yes, yes--a nightingale +certainly--and yet--indeed, I ought not to decide in haste. I +should greatly like to have the opinion of Professor Effaress on +the subject. But what noise is that yonder?" + +For just then a terrible hubbub arose among a crowd of people +congregated under the portico of a large and magnificent building +a little way from the place where the scientific man and the +intellectual traveler stood conversing. This building, the facade +of which was adorned all over with bas-reliefs of Liberty and +Progress, and modern elderly gentlemen in doctors' gowns and laurel +wreaths, with rolls of paper and microscopes, was, in fact, a great +Scientific Institution, and into it the procession of learned +personages whom the travelers had met on their way had entered, +followed by a great multitude of admirers and enthusiasts. In this +edifice the solemn rites which the votary of Science had described +were to be held, and a vast congregation filled its halls. All +at once, just as the sacrifices were about to begin, a solitary +man arose in the midst of the hushed assembly, and protested, as +once of old, by the banks of the far-away Ganges, Siddartha Buddha +had protested against the bloody offerings of the priests of Indra. +And much after the same manner as Buddha had spoken this man spoke, +of the high duty of manhood, of the splendour of justice, of the +certainty of retribution, and of the true meaning of Progress and +Freedom, the noblest reaches of which are spiritual, transcending +all the baser and meaner utilities of the physical nature. And +when the high priests of Science, not like the priests of Indra +in older tines, answered the prophet disdainfully and without shame, +that they knew nothing of any spiritual utilities, because they +believed in evolution and held man to be only a developed ape, with +no more soul than his ancestor, the stranger responded that he too +was an Evolutionist, but that he understood the doctrine quite +differently from them, and more after the fashion of the old +teachers,--Pythagoras, Plato, Hermes, and Buddha. And that the +living and incorruptible Spirit of God was in all things, whether +ape or man, whether beast or human; ay, and in the very flowers +and grass of the field, and in every element of all that is ignorantly +thought to be dead and inert matter. So that the soul of man, he +said, is one with the soul that is in all Nature, +only that when man is truly human, in him alone the soul becomes +self-knowing and self-concentrated; the mirror of Heaven, and the +focus of the Divine Light. And he declared, moreover, that the +spiritual evolution of which he spoke was not so much promoted by +intellectual knowledge as by moral goodness; that it was possible +to be a very learned ape indeed, but in no wise to deserve the name +of man; and that inasmuch as any person was disposed to sacrifice +the higher to the lower reason, and to rank intellectual above +spiritual attainment, insomuch that person was still an ape and +had not developed humanity. + +Now, the stranger who was brave enough to say all this was no other +than the traveler poet, and all the time he was speaking, the bird +which the Princess had given him lay hid in his bosom and sang to +him, clear and sweet, "Courage! courage! these are the ogres and +the dragons; fight the good fight; be of a bold heart!" Nor was +he astonished or dismayed when the assembly arose with tumult and +hooting, and violently thrust him out of the Scientific Institution +into the street. And that was the noise which the other traveler +and his companion had heard. + +But when the greater part of the mob had returned into the building +there was left with the poet a little group of men and women whose +hearts had been stirred by his protest. And they said to him, "You +have spoken well, sir, and have done a noble thing. We are citizens +of this place, and we will devote ourselves to giving effect to +your words. Doubt not that we shall succeed, though it may be long +first, for indeed we will work with a will." Then the poet was +glad, because he had not spoken in vain, and he bade them good speed, +and went on his way. But the scientific man, who was with the other +traveler, heard these last words, and became very angry. "Certainly," +he said, "this foolish and ignorant person who has just been turned +out of the assembly must have insulted our great leaders! What +presumption! what insolence! No one knows what mischief he may +not have done by his silly talk! It is deplorable! But see, here +comes Professor Effaress, the very man I most wished to see. +Professor, let me present this gentleman. He is the owner of a +rare and remarkable bird, on which we want your opinion." + +The Professor was a very great personage, and his coat was covered +all over with decorations and bits of colored ribbon, like those +on a kite's tail. Perhaps, like a kite's tail, they weighted and +steadied him, and kept him from mounting too high into the clouds. +The Professor looked at the bird through his spectacles, and nodded +his head sagaciously. "I have seen this species before," he said, +"though not often. It belongs to a very ancient family indeed, +and I scarcely thought that any specimen of it remained in the +present day. Quite a museum bird; and in excellent plumage, too. +Sir, I congratulate you." + +"You do not, then, consider, Professor," said the traveler, "that +this bird has about it anything transcendental--that it is--in fact-- +not altogether--pardon me the expression--a terrestrial bird?" +For he was afraid to say the truth, that the bird really came from +beyond the sunset. + +The decorated personage was much amused. He laughed pleasantly, +and answered in bland tones, "Oh dear, no; I recognise quite well +the species to which it belongs. An ancient species, as I have +said, and one indeed that Science has done her utmost to extirpate, +purposely in part, because it is proved to be a great devastator +of the crops, and thus directly injurious to the interests of mankind, +and partly by accident, for it has a most remarkable song-note, +and scientific men have destroyed all the specimens they have been +able to procure, in the hope of discovering the mechanism by which +the vocal tones are produced. But, pardon me, are you a stranger +in this city, sir?" + +"I am," responded the traveler, "and permit me to assure you that +I take a lively interest in the scientific and intellectual pursuits +with which in this place, I perceive, you are largely occupied." + +"We have a Brotherhood of Learning here, sir," returned the Professor; +"we are all Progressionists. I trust you will remain with us and +take part in our assemblies." But, as he said that, the fairy bird +suddenly lifted up his song and warned the traveler, crying in the +language of the country beyond the sunset, "Beware! beware! This +is an ogre, he will kill you, and mix your bones with his bread! +Be warned in time, and fly; fly, if you cannot fight!" + +"Dear me," said the Professor, "what a very remarkable note! I am +convinced that the structure and disposition of this bird's vocal +organs must be unique. Speaking for my scientific brethren, as +well as for myself, I may say that we should hold ourselves singularly +indebted to you if you would permit us the opportunity of adding +so rare a specimen to our national collection. It would be an +acquisition, sir, I assure you, for which we would show ourselves +profoundly grateful. Indeed, I am sure that the Society to which +I have the honor to belong would readily admit to its Fellowship +the donor of a treasure so inestimable." As he spoke, he fixed his +eyes on the traveler, and bowed with much ceremony and condescension. +And the traveler thought what a fine thing it would be to become +a Professor, and to be able to wear a great many bits of colored +ribbon, and to be immensely learned, and know all the facts of the +universe. And, after all, what was a little singing bird, and a +fairy Princess, in whose very existence the scientific gentlemen +did not in the least believe, and who was, perhaps, really the +shadow of a dream? So he bowed in return, and said he was greatly +honored; and Professor Effaress took the bird and twisted its neck +gravely, and put the little corpse into his pocket. And so the +divine and beautiful song of the fairy minstrel was quenched, and +instead of it I suppose the traveler got a great deal of learning +and many fine decorations on his coat. + +But the spirit of the slain bird fled away from that inhospitable +city, and went back to the Princess and told her what had befallen. + + + + + +IV. + + + + +As for the poet, he went on his way alone into the open country, +and saw the peasants in the fields, reaping and gleaning and gathering +fruit and corn, for it was harvest time. And he passed through +many hamlets and villages, and sometimes he rested a night or two +at an inn; and on Sundays he heard the parish parson say prayers +and preach in some quaint little Norman or Saxon church. + +And at last he came to a brand-new town, where all the houses were +Early English, and all the people dressed like ancient Greeks, and +all the manners Renaissance, or, perhaps, Gothic. The poet thought +they were Gothic, and probably he was right. + +In this town the talk was mostly about Art, and many fine things +were said in regard to "sweetness and light." Everybody claimed +to be an artist of some kind, whether painter, musician, novelist, +dramatist, verse-maker, reciter, singer, or what not. But although +they seemed so greatly devoted to the Graces and the Muses, it was +but the images of the Parnassian Gods that they worshipped. For +in the purlieus of this fine town, horrible cruelties and abuses +were committed, yet none of the so-called poets lifted a cry of +reform. Every morning, early, before daybreak, there came through +the streets long and sad processions of meek-eyed oxen and bleating +lambs, harried by brutal drovers, with shouts and blows,--terrible +processions of innocent creatures going to die under the poleaxe +and the knife in order to provide the "pleasures of the table" for +dainty votaries of "sweetness and light." Before the fair faint +dawn made rosy the eastern sky over the houses, you might have heard +on every side the heavy thud of the poleaxe striking down the patient +heifer on her knees,--the heifer whose eyes are like the eyes of +Here, say the old Greek song-books, that were read and quoted all +day in this town of Culture and of Art. + +And a little later, going down the byways of the town, you might +have seen the gutters running with hot fresh blood, and have met +carts laden with gory hides, and buckets filled with brains and +blood, going to the factories and tanyards. Young lads spent all +their days in the slaughter-houses, dealing violent deaths, witnessing +tragedies of carnage, hearing incessant plaintive cries, walking +about on clogs among pools of clotting or steamy blood, and breathing +the fumes of it. And scarce a mile away from the scene of all these +loathsome and degrading sights, sounds, and odors, you might have +found fastidious and courtly gentlemen, and ladies all belaced and +bejewelled, sentimentalising over their "aspic de foie gras," or +their "cotelettes a la jardiniere," or some other euphemism for +the dead flesh which could not, without pardonable breach of good +breeding, be called by its plain true name in their presence. + +And when the poet reminded them of this truth, and spoke to them +of the demoralisation to which, by their habits, they daily subjected +many of their fellowmen; when he drew for them graphic pictures +of the slaughteryard, and of all the scenes of suffering and tyranny +that led up to it and ensued from it, they clapped their hands to +their ears, and cried out that he was a shockingly coarse person, +and quite too horribly indelicate for refined society. Because, +indeed, they cared only about a surface and outside refinement, +and not a whit for that which is inward and profound. For beauty +of being--they had neither desire nor power of reverence; all +their enthusiasm was spent over forms and words and appearances +of beauty. In them the senses were quickened, but not the heart, +nor the reason. Therefore the spirit of the Reformer was not in +them, but the spirit of the Dilettante only. + +And the poet was grieved and angry with them, because every true +poet is a Reformer; and he went forth and spoke aloud in their +public places and rebuked the dwellers in that town. But except +a few curiosity hunters and some idle folks who wanted higher wages +and less work, and thought he might help them to get what they wished +for, nobody listened to him. But they went in crowds to see a conjurer, +and to hear a man who lectured on blue china, and another who made +them a long oration about intricate and obscure texts in a certain +old dramatic book. And I think that in those days, if it had not +been for the sweet and gracious song of the fairy bird which he +carried about always in his bosom, the poet would have become very +heartsick and desponding indeed. I do not quite know what it was +that the bird sang, but it was something about the certainty of +the advent of wisdom, and of the coming of the perfect day; and +the burden of the song was hope for all the nations of the earth. +Because every beautiful and wise thought that any man conceives +is the heritage of the whole race of men, and an earnest and +foregleam of what all men will some day inviolably hold for true. +And forasmuch as poets are the advanced guard of the marching army +of humanity, therefore they are necessarily the first discoverers +and proclaimers of the new landscapes and ranges of Duties and Rights +that rise out of the horizon, point after point, and vista after +vista, along the line of progress. For the sonnet of the poet today +is to furnish the keynote of the morrow's speech in Parliament, +as that which yesterday was song is today the current prose of the +hustings, the pulpit, and the market. Wherefore, O poet, take heart +for the world; thou, in whose utterance speaks the inevitable Future; +who art thyself God's prophecy and covenant of what the race at +large shall one day be! Sing thy songs, utter thine whole intent, +recount thy vision; though today no one heed thee, thou hast +nevertheless spoken, and the spoken word is not lost. Every true +thought lives, because the Spirit of God is in it, and when time +is ripe it will incarnate itself in action. Thou, thou art the +creator, the man of thought; thou art the pioneer of the ages! + +Somewhat on this wise sang the fairy bird, and thereby the poet +was comforted, and took courage, and lifted up his voice and his +apocalypse. And though few people cared to hear, and many jeered, +and some rebuked, he minded only that all he should say might be +well said, and be as perfect and wise and worthy as he could make it. +And when he had finished his testimony, he went forth from the gates +of the town, and began once more to traverse the solitudes of moor +and forest. + +But now the winter had set in over the land, and the wastes were +bleak, and the trees stood like pallid ghosts, sheeted and shrouded +in snow. And the north wind moaned across the open country, and +the traveler grew cold and weary. Then he spoke to the bird and +said, "Bird, when I and my companions set out on our journey from +the land beyond the sunset, the Princess promised us each a guide, +who should bring us back in safety if only we would faithfully heed +his monitions. Where then is this guide? for hitherto I have walked +alone, and have seen no leader. + +And the bird answered, "O poet, I, whom thou bearest about in thy +bosom, am that guide and monitor! I am thy director, thine angel, +and thine inward light. And to each of thy companions a like guide +was vouchsafed, but the man of appetite drove away his monitor, +and the man of intellect did even worse, for he gave over to death +his friend and his better self. Gold against dross, the wisdom +of the Gods against the knowledges of men! But thou, poet, art +the child of the Gods, and thou alone shalt again behold with joy +the land beyond the sunset, and the face of Her whose true servitor +and knight thou art!" + +Then the traveler was right glad, and his heart was lifted up, +and as he went he sang. But, for all that, the way grew steeper +to his feet, and the icy air colder to his face; and on every hand +there were no longer meadows and orchards full of laboring folk, +but glittering snow-wreaths, and diamond-bright glaciers, shining +hard and keen against the deeps of darkening space; and at times +the roar of a distant avalanche shook the atmosphere about him, +and then died away into the silence out of which the sound had come. +Peak above peak of crystal-white mountain ranges rose upon his sight, +massive, and still, and awful, terrible affirmations of the verity +of the Ideal. For this world of colossal heights and fathomless +gulfs, of blinding snows, of primeval silence, of infinite revelation, +of splendid lights upon manifold summits of opal, topaz, and sardony, +all seemed to him the witness and visible manifestation of his most +secret and dreadful thoughts. He had seen these things in his +visions, he had shaped them in his hidden reveries, he had dared +to believe that such a region as this might be--nay, ought to be-- +if the universe were of Divine making. And now it burst upon him, +an apocalypse of giant glories, an empire of absolute being, +independent and careless of human presence, affirming itself +eternally to its own immeasurable solitudes. + +"I have reached the top and pinnacle of life," cried the poet; "this +is the world wherein all things are made!" + +And now, indeed, save for the fairy bird, he trod his path alone. +Now and then great clouds of mist swept down from the heights, or +rose from the icy gorges, and wrapped him in their soft gray folds, +hiding from his sight the glittering expanse around him, and making +him afraid. Or, at times, he beheld his own shadow, a vast and +portentous Self, projected on the nebulous air, and looming in his +pathway, a solitary monster threatening him with doom. Or yet +again, there arose before him, multiplied in bewildering eddies +of fog-wreath, a hundred spectral selves, each above and behind +the other, like images repeated in reverberating mirrors--his own +form, his own mien, his own garb and aspect--appalling in their +omnipresence, maddening in their grotesque immensity as the goblins +of a fever dream. But when first the traveler beheld this sight, +and shrank at it, feeling for his sword, the fairy bird at his +breast sang to him, "Fear not, this is the Chimaera of whom the +Princess spoke. You have passed unhurt the sirens, the ogres, +and the hydra-headed brood of plain and lowland; now meet with +courage this phantom of the heights. Even now thou standest on +the confines of the land beyond the sunset; these are the dwellers +on the border, the spectres who haunt the threshold of the farther +world. They are but shadows of thyself, reflections cast upon the +mists of the abyss, phantoms painted on the veil of the sanctuary. +Out of the void they arise, the offspring of Unreason and of the +Hadean Night." + +Then a strong wind came down from the peaks of the mountains like +the breathing of a God; and it rent the clouds asunder, and scattered +the fog wreaths, and blew the phantoms hither and thither like smoke; +and like smoke they were extinguished and spent against the crags +of the pass. And after that the poet cared no more for them, but +went on his way with a bold heart, until he had left behind and +below him the clouds and mists of the ravines among the hills, and +stood on the topmost expanse of dazzling snow, and beheld once more +the golden gate of the Land that lies beyond the Sun. + +But of his meeting with the Princess, and of the gladness and splendour +of their espousals, and of all the joy that he had, is not for me to +tell, for these things, which belong to the chronicles of that fairy +country, no mortal hand in words of human speech is in any wise +able to relate. All that I certainly know and can speak of with +plainness is this, that he obtained the fulness of his heart's desire, +and beyond all hope, or knowledge, or understanding of earth, was +blessed for evermore. + +And now I have finished the story of a man who saw and followed +his Ideal, who loved and prized it, and clave to it above and through +all lesser mundane things. Of a man whom the senses could not allure, +nor the craving for knowledge, nor the lust of power, nor the blast +of spiritual vanity, shake from his perfect rectitude and service. +Of a man who, seeing the good and the beautiful way, turned not +aside from it, nor yielded a step to the enemy; in whose soul the +voice of the inward Divinity no rebuke, nor derision, nor neglect +could quench; who chose his part and abode by it, seeking no +reconciliation with the world, not weakly repining because his +faith in the justice of God distanced the sympathies of common men." +Every poet has it in him to imagine, to comprehend, and desire +such a life as this; he who lives it canonises his genius, and, +to the topmost manhood of the Seer, adds the Divinity of Heroism. + + + + + +IV. A Turn of Luck + + + + +"Messieurs, faites votre jeu! . . . Le jeu est fait! . . . Rien +ne va plus! . . . Rouge gagne et la couleur! . . . Rouge gagne, la +couleur perd! . . . Rouge perd et la couleur! . . . " + +Such were the monotonous continually recurring sentences, always +spoken in the same impassive tones, to which I listened as I stood +by the tables in the gaming-rooms of Monte Carlo. Such are the +sentences to which devotees of the fickle goddess, Chance, listen +hour after hour as the day wears itself out from early morning to +late evening in that beautiful, cruel, enchanting earthly paradise, +whose shores are washed by the bluest sea in the world, whose gardens +are dotted with globes of golden fruit, and plumed with feathery +palms, and where, as you wander in and out among the delicious +shadowy foliage, you hear, incessantly, the sound of guns, and may, +now and then, catch sight of some doomed creature with delicate +white breast and broken wing, dropping, helpless and bleeding, into +the still dark waters below the cliff. A wicked place! A cruel +place! Heartless, bitter, pitiless, inhuman! And yet, so beautiful! + +I stood, on this particular afternoon, just opposite a young man +seated at one of the rouge et noir tables. As my glance wandered +from face to face among the players, it was arrested by his,--a +singularly pallid, thin, eager face; remarkably eager, even in +such a place and in such company as this. He seemed about twenty- +five, but he had the bowed and shrunken look of an invalid, and +from time to time he coughed terribly, the ominous cough of a person +with lungs half consumed by tubercle. He had not the air of a man +who gambles for pleasure; nor, I thought, that of a spendthrift +or a "ne'er-do-weel;" disease, not dissipation, had hollowed his +cheeks and set his hands trembling, and the unnatural light in his +eyes was born of fever rather than of greed. He played anxiously +but not excitedly, seldom venturing on a heavy stake, and watching +the game with an intentness which no incident diverted. Suddenly +I saw a young girl make her way through the throng towards him. +She was plainly dressed, and had a sweet, sad face and eyes full +of tenderness. She touched him on the shoulder, stooped over him, +and kissed him in the frankest, simplest manner possible on the +forehead. "Viens," she whispered, "je m'etouffe ici, il fait si +frais dehors; sortons." He did not answer; his eyes were on the +cards. "Rouge perd, et la couleur," said the hard official voice. + +With a sigh, he rose, coughed, passed his hand over his eyes, and +took his wife's arm.--(I felt sure she was his wife.) They passed +slowly through the rooms together, and I lost sight of them. But +not of his face--nor of hers. Sitting by the fountain outside the +gaming saloons half an hour afterwards, I fell to musing about this +strange couple. So young,--she scarcely more than a child, and +he so ill and wasted! He had played with the manner of an old +habitue, and she seemed used to finding him at the tables and +leading him away. I made up my mind that I had stumbled on a +romance, and resolved to hunt it down. At the table d'hote dinner +in my hotel that evening I met a friend from Nice to whom I confided +my curiosity. "I know," said he, "the young people of whom you +speak; they are patients of Dr S. of Monaco, one of my most +intimate acquaintances. He told me their story." "They," I +interpolated,--" is the wife, then, also ill?" My friend smiled +a little. "Not ill exactly, perhaps," he answered. "But you must +have seen,--she will very shortly be a mother. And she is very +young and delicate." "Tell me their story," I said, "since you +know it. It is romantic, I am certain." "It is sad," he said, +"and sadness suffices, I suppose, to constitute romance. The young +man's name is Georges Saint-Cyr, and his family were `poor relations' +of an aristocratic house. I say `were,' because they are all dead,-- +his father, mother, and three sisters. The father died of tubercle, +so did his daughters; the son, you see, inherits the same disease +and will also die of it at no very distant time. Georges Saint-Cyr +never found anybody to take him up in life. He was quite a lad +when he lost his widowed mother, and his health was, even then, +so bad and fitful that be could never work. He tried his best; +but what chef can afford to employ a youth who is always sending +in doctor's certificates to excuse his absence from his desk, and +breaking down with headache or swooning on the floor in office-hours? +He was totally unfit to earn his living, and the little money he +had would not suffice to keep him decently. Moreover, in his +delicate condition he positively needed comforts which to other +lads would have been superfluous. Still he managed to struggle +on for some five years, getting copying-work and what-not to do +in his own rooms, till he had contrived, by the time he was twenty-two, +to save a little money. His idea was to enter the medical profession +and earn a livelihood by writing for scientific journals, for he +had wits and was not without literary talent. He was lodging then +in a cheap quarter of Paris not far from the Ecole de Medecine. +Well, the poor boy passed his baccalaureat and entered on his first +year. He got through that pretty well, but then came the hospital +work; and then, once more he broke down. The rising at six o'clock +on bitter cold winter mornings, the going out into the bleak early +air sometimes thick with snow or sleet, the long attendance day +after day in unwholesome wards and foetid post-mortem rooms; the +afternoons spent over dissecting,--all these things contributed +to bring about a catastrophe. He fell sick and took to his bed, +and as he was quite alone in the world, his tutor, who was a kind- +hearted man, undertook to see him through his illness, both as +physician and as friend. And when, after a few weeks, Georges was +able to get about again, the professor, seeing how lonely the young +man was, asked him to spend his Sundays and spare evenings with +himself and his family in their little apartment au ca'nquieme of +the rue Cluny. For the professor was, of course, poor, working +for five francs a lesson to private pupils; and a much more modest +sum for class lectures such as those which Georges attended. But +all this mattered nothing to Georges. He went gladly the very +next Sunday to Dr. Le Noir's, and there he met the professor's +daughter--whom you have seen. She was only just seventeen, and +prettier then than she is now I doubt not, for her face is anxious +and sorrowful now, and anxiety and sorrow are not becoming. You +don't wonder that the young student fell in love with her. The +father, engrossed in his work, did not see what was going on, and +so Pauline's heart was won before the mischief could be stopped. +The young people themselves went to him hand in hand one evening +and told him all about it. Madame Le Noir had long been dead, and +the professor had two sons studying medicine. His daughter was, +perhaps, rather in his way; he loved her much, but she was growing +fast into womanhood, and he did not quite know what to do with her. +Saint-Cyr was well-born and he was clever. If only his health were +to take a turn for the better, all might go well. But then, if not? +He looked at the young man's pale face and remembered what his +stethoscope had revealed. Still, in such an early stage these +physical warnings often came to nothing. Rest, and fresh air, and +happiness, might set him up and make a healthy man of him yet. +So he gave a preliminary assent to the engagement, but forbade the +young people to consider the affair settled--for the present. He +wanted to see how Georges got on. It was early spring then. Hope +and love and the April sunshine agreed with the young man. He was +much stronger by June, and did well at the hospital and at his work. +He had reached the end of his fin d'aunee examinations; a year's +respite was before him now before beginning to pass for his doctorate. +Le Noir thought that if he could pass the next winter in the south +of France he would be quite set up, and lost no time in imparting +this idea to Georges. But Georges was not just then in funds; +his time had been lately wholly taken up with his studies, and he +had been unable to do any literary hacking. When he told the +professor that he could not afford to spend a winter on the Riviera, +Le Noir looked at him fixedly a minute or two and then said:-- +'Pauline's dot will be 10,000 francs. It comes to her from her +mother. With care that ought to keep you both till you have taken +your doctorate and can earn money for yourself. Will you marry +Pauline this autumn and take her with you to the south?' Well, +you can fancy whether this proposal pleased Georges or not. At +first he refused, of course; he would not take Pauline's money; +it was her's; he would wait till he could earn money of his own. +But the professor was persuasive, and when he told his daughter +of the discussion, she went privately into her father's study where +Georges sat, pretending to read chemistry, and settled the matter. +So the upshot of it was that late in October, Pauline became Madame +Saint-Cyr, and started with her husband for the Riviera. + +"The winter turned out a bitter one. Bitter and wild and treacherous +over the whole of Europe. Snow where snow had not been seen time +out of mind; biting murderous winds that nothing could escape. +My friend Dr S. says the Riviera is not always kind to consumptives, +even when at its best; and this particular season saw it at its +worst. Georges Saint-Cyr caught a violent chill one evening at St +Raphael, whither he and his wife had gone for the sake of the +cheapness rather than to any of the larger towns on the littoral; +and in a very short time his old malady was on him again,--the fever, +the cough, the weakness,--in short, a fresh poussee, as the doctors +say. Pauline nursed him carefully till March set in; then he +recovered a little, but he was fair from convalescent. She wrote +hopefully to her father; so did Georges; indeed both the young +man and his wife, ignorant of the hold which the disease had really +got upon him, thought things to be a great deal better than they +actually were. But as days went on and the cough continued, they +made up their minds that St Raphael did not suit Georges, and +resolved to go on to Nice. March was already far advanced; Nice +would not be expensive now. So they went, but still Georges got +no better. He even began to get weaker; the cough `tore' him, +he said, and he leaned wearily on his wife's arm when they walked +out together. Clearly he would not be able to return to Paris and +to work that spring. Pauline, too, was not well, the long nursing +had told on her, and she had, besides, her own ailments, for already +the prospect of motherhood had defined itself. She wrote to her +father that Georges was still poorly and that they should not return +home till May. But before the first ten days of April had passed, +something of the true state of the case began to dawn on Saint-Cyr. +`I shall never again be strong enough to work hard,' he said to +himself, `and I must work hard if I am to pass my doctorate +examinations. Meantime, all Pauline's dot will be spent. I may +have to wait months before I can do any consecutive work; perhaps, +even, I shall be unable to make a living by writing. I am unfit +for any study. How can I get money--and get it quickly--for her +sake and for the child's?' + +"Then the thought of the tables at Monte Carlo flashed into his mind. +Eight thousand francs of Pauline's dot remained; too small a sum +in itself to be of any permanent use, but enough to serve as capital +for speculation in rouge et noir. With good luck such a sum might +produce a fortune. The idea caught him and fascinated his thoughts +sleeping and waking. In his dreams he beheld piles of gold shining +beside him on the green cloth, and by day as he wandered feebly +along the Promenade des Anglais with Pauline he grew silent, feeding +his sick heart with this new fancy. One day he said to his wife:-- +'Let us run over to Monte Carlo and see the playing; it will amuse us; +and the gardens are lovely. You will be delighted with the place. +Everybody says it is the most beautiful spot on the Riviera.' So +they went, and were charmed, but Georges did not play that day. He +stood by the tables and watched, while Pauline, too timid to venture +into the saloons, and a little afraid of 'le jeu,' sat by the great +fountain in the garden outside the casino. Georges declared that +evening as they sat over their tea at Nice that he had taken a fancy +for beautiful Monaco, and that he would rather finish the month of +April there than at Nice. Pauline assented at once, and the next +day they removed to the most modest lodgings they could find within +easy access of the gardens. Then; very warily and gently, Saint-Cyr +unfolded to Pauline his new-born hopes. She was terribly alarmed +at first and sobbed piteously. 'It is so wicked to gamble, Georges,' +she said;--' no blessing can follow such a plan as yours. And I +dare not tell papa about it.' 'It would be wicked, no doubt,' said +Georges, 'to play against one's friend or one's neighbor, as they +do in clubs and private circles, because in such cases if one is +lucky, someone else is beggared, and the money one puts in one's +pocket leaves the other players so much the poorer. But here it is +quite another thing. We play against a great firm, an administration, +whom our individual successes do not affect, and which makes a trade of +the whole concern. Scruples are out of place under such circumstances. +Playing at Monte Carlo hurts nobody but oneself, and is not nearly so +reprehensible as the legitimate "business" that goes on daily at +the Bourse.' 'Still,' faltered Pauline, `such horrid persons do play, +--such men,--such women! It is not respectable.' `It is not +respectable for most people certainly,' he said, `because other +ways of earning are open to them. The idle come here, the dissolute, +the good-for-nothings. I know all that. But we are quite differently +placed; and have no other means of getting money to live with. +At those tables, Pauline, I shall be working for you as sincerely +and honestly as though I were buying up shares or investing in +foreign railroads. It is the name and tradition of the thing that +frightens you. Look it in the face and you will own that it is +simply . . . speculation.' `Georges,' said Pauline, you know best. +Do as you like, dear; I understand nothing, and you were always clever.' + +"So Saint-Cyr had his way, and went to work accordingly, without +loss of time, a little shyly at first, not daring to venture on +any considerable stake. So he remained for a week at the roulette +tables; because at the rouge et noir one can only play with gold. +The week came to an end and found him neither richer nor poorer. +Then he grew bolder and ventured into the deeper water. He played +on rouge et noir, with luck the first day or two, but after that +fortune turned dead against him. He said nothing of it to Pauline, +who came every day into the rooms at intervals to seek him and say +a few words, sometimes leading him out for air when he looked weary, +or beguiling him away on pretence of her own need for companionship +or for a walk. No doubt the poor girl suffered much; anxiety, +loneliness, and a lingering shame which she could not suppress, +paled her cheeks, and made her thin and careworn. She dared not ask +how things were going, but her husband's silence and the increased +sickliness of his aspect set her heart beating heavily with dread. +Alone in her room she must have wept much during all this sad time, +for my friend Dr S. says that when she made her first call upon his +services he noted the signs of tears upon her face, and taxed her +with the fact, getting from her the reply that she 'often cried.' + +"Little by little, being a kind and sympathetic man, he drew from +her the story I have told you. Georges became his patient also, +but was always reticent in regard to `le jeu.' Dr S. tried to +dissuade him from visiting the tables, on the ground that the +atmosphere in the saloons would prove poisonous to him and perhaps +even fatal. But although, in deference to this counsel, the young +man shortened somewhat the duration of his `sittings,' and spent +more time under the trees with Pauline, he did not by any means +abandon, his `speculation,' hoping always, no doubt, as all losers +hope, to see the luck turn and to take revenge on Fortune." + +"And the luck has not turned yet in Saint-Cyr's case, I suppose?" +said I. + +"No," answered my friend. "I fear things are going very ill with +him and poor Pauline's dot." + +As he spoke he rose from the dinner-table, and we strolled out +together upon the moonlight terrace of the hotel. "In ten minutes," +said I, "my train starts. I am going back to Nice tonight. Despite +all its loveliness, Monte Carlo is hateful to me, and I do not care +to sleep under its shadow. But before I go, I have a favour to +ask of you. Let me know the sequel of the story you have told me +tonight. I want to know how it ends--in triumph or in tragedy. +Dr S. will always be able to keep you informed whether you remain +here or not. Write to me as soon as there is anything to tell, +and you will do me a signal kindness. You see you are such an +admirable raconteur that you have interested me irresistibly in +your subject and must pay the penalty of talent!" + +He laughed, broke off the laugh in a sigh, then shook hands with me, +and we parted. + + +About two months later, after my return to England, I had from my +friend the following letter:-- + +"You have, I do not doubt, retained your interest in the fortunes +of the two young people who so much attracted you at the tables +last April. Well, I have just seen my friend Dr S. in Lyons, and +he has related to me the saddest tale you can imagine concerning +Georges and Pauline. Here it is, just as he gave it, and while +it is fresh in my memory. It seems that all through the month of +April and well into May, Saint-Cyr's ill luck stuck to him. He +lost daily, and at last only a very slender remnant of his wife's +money was left to play with. Week by week, too, he grew more wasted +and feeble, fading with his fading fortune. As for Pauline, although +she did not complain about herself, Dr S. saw reason to feel much +anxiety on her account. Grief and sickened hope and the wear of +the terrible life she and Georges were leading combined to break +down her strength. Phthisis, too, although not a contagious malady +in the common sense of the term, is apt to exercise on debilitated +persons constantly exposed to the companionship of its victims an +extremely baleful effect, and to this danger Pauline was daily and +nightly subjected. She became feverish, a sensation of unwonted +languor took possession of her, and sleep, nevertheless, became +almost impossible. Georges, engrossed in his play, observed but +little the deterioration of his wife's health; or, perhaps, +attributed it to her condition and to nervousness in regard to her +approaching trial. Things were in this state, when, one day towards +the close of May Georges took his customary seat at the rouge et +noir table. The weather had suddenly become extremely hot, and +the crowd in the `salles de jeu' had considerably diminished. +Only serious and veteran habitues were left, staking their gold, +for the most part, with the coolness and resolution of long experience. +Pauline remained in her room, she felt too ill to rise, and attributed +her indisposition to the heat. Very sick at heart, George entered +the gaming-rooms alone, and laid out on the green cloth the last +of his capital. Then occurred one of those strange and compete +reversions of luck that come to very few men. Georges won continuously, +without a break, throughout the entire day. After an hour or two +of steady success, he grew elated, and began to stake large sums,-- +with a recklessness that might have appalled others than the old +stagers who sat beside him. But his temerity brought golden returns, +every stake reaped a fruitful harvest, and louis d'or accumulated +in tall piles at his elbow. Before the rooms closed he had become +a rich man, and had won back Pauline's dowry forty times over. +Men turned to look at him as he left the tables, his face white +with fatigue, his eyes burning like live coals, and his gait unsteady +as a drunkard's. Outside in the open air, everything appeared to +him like a dream. He could not collect his thoughts; his brain +whirled; he had eaten nothing all day, fearing to quit his place +lest he should change his luck or lose some good coup, and now +extreme faintness overcame him. Stooping over the great basin of +the fountain in front of the Casino he bathed his face with his hands, +and eagerly drew in the cool evening breeze of the Mediterranean, +just sweeping up sweet and full of refreshment over the parched rock +of Monte Carlo. Then he made his way home, climbed with toil the +high narrow staircase, and entered the little apartment he shared +with Pauline. In the sitting room he paused a minute, poured out +a glass of wine and drank it at a draught, to give himself courage +to tell her his good news like a man. His hand turned the key of +his bedroom; his heart beat so wildly that its throbbing deafened +him; he could not hear his own voice as he cried: `Pauline--darling! +--we are rich! my luck has turned!' . . . But then he stopped, +stricken by a blow worse than the stroke of death. Before him stood +Dr S., and a woman whom he did not recognise, bending over the bed +upon which Pauline lay, pallid and still, with hands folded upon +her breast. Georges flung his porte-monnaie, stuffed with notes, +upon the foot of the bed, and sank down on his knees beside it, +his eyes fixed upon his young wife's face. Dr S. touched him upon +the shoulder. + +Du courage, Saint-Cyr,' he whispered. `She has gone . . . first.' +The kindly words meant that the separation would not be for long. +The woman in charge by the couch of the dead girl wept aloud, but +there were no tears yet in the eyes of Georges. `And the child?' +he asked at length, vaguely comprehending what had happened. They +lifted the sheet gently, and showed him a little white corpse lying +beside its mother. 'I am glad the child is dead, too,' said +Georges Saint-Cyr. + +"He would not have her buried by the Mediterranean;--no--nor would +he let the corpse be taken home for burial. The desire for flight +was upon him, and he said he must carry his dead with him till be +himself should die. That night he left Monte Carlo for Rome, +bearing with him those dear remains of wife and child; and the +good doctor seeing his desperation and full of pity for so vast a +woe, went with him. 'Perhaps,' he told me, `had I not gone, Georges +would not himself have reached Rome alive.' They traveled night +and day, for the young man would not rest an instant. His design +was to have the body of his wife burned in the crematorium of the +Eternal City, and Dr S. was, fortunately, able to obtain for him +the fulfilment of his desire. Then Saint-Cyr enclosed the ashes +of his beloved in a little silver box, slung it about his neck and +bade his friend farewell. I asked the doctor where he went. +`Northward,' he answered, `but I did not ask his plans. He gave +me no address; he had money in plenty, and it matters little where +he went, for death was in his face as he wrung my hand at parting, +and he cannot live to see the summer out." + +That was the end of the letter. And for my part, with the sole +exception of Georges Saint-Cyr, I never heard of any man who became +rich over the tables of Monte Carlo. + + + + + +V. Noemi; or, the Silver Ribbon + + + + +I. + +I have often heard practising physicians and students of pathology +assert that no one ever died of "a broken heart,"--that is, of +course, in the popular sense of the phrase. Rupture of the heart, +such as that which killed the passionate tyrant John of Muscovy, +is a rare accident, and has no connection with the mental trouble +and strain implied in the common expression "heart-breaking." I +have, however, my own theory upon this question,--a theory founded on +some tolerably strong evidence which might serve more scientifically- +minded persons than myself as a text for a medical thesis; but, as +for me, I am no writer of theses, and had much ado to get honestly +through the only production of the sort which ever issued from my pen, +my These de Doctorat. For I studied the divine art of AEsculapius +at the Ecole de Medicine of Paris, and it was there, just before +taking my degree, that I became involved in a singular little history, +the circumstances of which first led me to adopt my present views +on the subject alluded to in the opening words of this story. + +It is now many years since I inhabited the "students' quarter" in +the gay city, and rented a couple of little rooms in an hotel meuble +not far from the gardens of the Luxembourg. Medical students are +never rich, and I was no exception to the rule, though, compared +with many of my associates, my pecuniary position was one of enviable +affluence. I had a library of my own, I drank wine at a franc the +litre, and occasionally smoked cigars. My little apartment overlooked +a wide street busy with incessant traffic, and on warm evenings, +after returning from dinner at the restaurant round the corner, it +was my habit to throw open my window-casement and lean out to inhale +the fresh cool air of the coming night, and to watch the crowds +of foot-passengers and vehicles going and coming like swarms of +ants along the paved street below. + +On a certain lovely July evening towards the close of my student +career, I took up my favourite position as usual, luxuriating in +the fumes of my cigarette and in that sweetest of mental enjoyments, +absolute idleness, carried at the cost of hard and long-continued +toil. The sun had but just gone down, the sky was brilliant with +pink lights and mellow tints of golden green blending with the blue +of the deep vault overhead, scores of swift-darting birds were +wheeling about in the still air, uttering sharp clear cries, as +though calling one another to rest below, women stood at their +house-doors gossiping with their neighbours; peals of laughter +and the incessant chatter of feminine voices mingled with the din +of horses' hoofs on the hard road and with the never-ending jingle +of the harness-bells. + +Gazing lazily down into the street, my attention was suddenly +arrested by the singular appearance and behavior of an odd-looking +brown dog, which seemed to be seeking someone among the hurrying +crowds and rattling carts. Half-a-dozen times he ran up the street +and disappeared from view, only to retrace his steps, each time +with increasing agitation and eagerness of manner. I saw him cross +the street again and again, scan the faces of the passersby, dash +up the various turnings and come panting back, his tongue, his tail +drooping; one could even fancy there were tears in his eyes. At +length, exhausted or despairing, he crossed the street for the last +time and sat down on the doorstep of the house I inhabited, the +picture of grief and dismay. He was lost! Now I had not served my +five years' apprenticeship to medical science in Paris without becoming +intimate with the horrible secrets of physiological laboratories. +I knew that a lost dog in Paris, if not handsome, and valuable to sell +as a pet, runs a terrible chance of falling directly or indirectly +into the hands of vivisecting professors, and dying a death of torture. +He may be picked up by an employee engaged in the search for fitting +victims, and so handed over to immediate martyrdom, or he may be +hurried off to languish for weeks in that horrible fourriere for lost +dogs whose managers hang their wretched captives by fifties every +Tuesday, and liberally supply the demands of all the physiologists +who take the trouble to send to them for "subjects." Knowing these +things, and perceiving that my concierge was absorbed in discussing +scandal on the opposite side of the street, I took advantage of +her absence from her post to slip down to the rez-de-chaussee, +pounce on the unfortunate dog, whom I found seated hopelessly at +the entrance, and smuggle him upstairs into my rooms. There I +deposited him on the floor, patted him encouragingly, and gave him +water and a couple of sweet biscuits. But he was abjectly miserable, +and though he drank a little, would eat nothing. After taking two +or three turns round the apartment and sniffing suspiciously at +the legs of the chairs and wainscot of the walls, he returned to +me where I stood with my back to the window watching him, looked +up in my face, wagged his tail feebly, and whined. I stooped again +to caress him, and, so doing, observed that he had, tied round his +neck, and half-hidden in his rough brown hair, a ribbon of silver +tinsel, uncommon both in material and design. I felt assured that +the dog's owner must be a woman, and hastily removed the ribbon, +expecting to find embroidered upon it some such name as "Amelie" +or "Leontine." But my examination proved futile, the silver ribbon +afforded me no clue to the antecedents of my canine waif. And indeed, +as I stood contemplating him in some perplexity, the conviction +forced itself on my mind that he was not exactly the kind of animal +that Amelie or Leontine would be likely to select for a pet. He +was a poodle certainly, but of an ill-bred and uncouth description, +and instead of being shaved to his centre, and wearing frills round +his paws, his coat had been suffered to grow in its natural manner,-- +an indication either of neglect or of want of taste impossible in +a feminine proprietor. But his fact was the most puzzling and at +the same time the most fascinating thing about him. It bore a more +human expression than I had ever before seen upon a dog's countenance, +an expression of singular appeal and childishness, so comic withal +in its contrast with the rough hair, round eyes, and long nose of +the creature, that as I watched him an involuntary laugh escaped me. +"Certainly," I said to him, "you are a droll dog. One might do a +good deal with you in a traveling caravan!" As the evening wore +on he became more tranquil. Perhaps he began to have confidence +in me and to believe that I should restore him to his owner. At +any rate, before we retired to rest he prevailed on himself to eat +some supper which I prepared for him, pausing every now and then +in his meal to lift his infantile face to mine and wag his tail in +a half-hearted manner, as though he said, "You see I am doing my +best to trust you, though you are a medical student!" Poor innocent +beast! Well indeed for him that he had not chanced to stop at the +door of my neighbor and camarade, Paul Bouchard, who had a passion +for practical physiology, and with whom no amount of animal suffering +was of the smallest importance when weighed against the remote +chance of an insignificant discovery, which would be challenged +and contradicted as soon as announced by scores of his fellow- +experimentalists. If torture were indeed the true method of science, +then would the vaunted tree of knowledge be no other than the upas +tree of oriental legend, beneath whose fatal shadow lie hecatombs +of miserable victims slain by its poisonous exhalations, the odour +of which is fraught with agony and death! + +My poodle remained with me many days. No one appeared to claim him, +and no inquiries elicited the least information regarding him. A +douceur of five francs had soothed the natural indignation and +resentment displayed by my concierge at the first sight of my canine +protege; the restlessness and suspicion he had evinced on making +my acquaintance had subsided; and we were getting on in a very +comfortable and friendly manner together, when accident threw in +my way the clue I had laboriously but vainly sought. Returning +one day from a lecture, and being unusually pressed for time, I +took a shorter cut homeward than was my wont, and at the corner of +a narrow and ill-smelling street I came upon a little heterogeneous +shop, in the windows of which were set out a variety of faded and +bizarre articles of millinery. Hanging from a front shelf in a +conspicuous position among the collection was a strip of the identical +silver ribbon which had encircled Pepin's throat--I called the dog +Pepin--on the night I rescued him from the streets. Without hesitation +I entered the shop and questioned a slatternly woman who sat behind +the counter munching gruyere cheese and garlic. + +"Will you tell me, madame," said I with my most agreeable air, +"whether you recollect having sold any of that tinsel ribbon lately, +and to whom?" + +She was not likely to have much custom, I thought, and her clients +would be easily remembered. + +"What's that to you?" was her retort, as she paused in her meal +and stared at me; "do you want to buy the rest of it?" + +I took the hint immediately, and produced my purse. "With all the +pleasure in life," I said, "if you will do me the favour I ask." + +She darted a keen look at me, laughed, pushed her cheese aside, +and took the ribbon from its place in the shop window. + +"I sold half a metre of it about three weeks ago," said she slowly, +"to Noemi Bergeron; you know her, perhaps? She's not been this way +lately. There's a metre of it left; it's one franc twenty, monsieur." + +"And where does Noemi Bergeron live?" I asked, as she dropped the +money into her till. + +"Well, she used to lodge at number ten in this street, with Maman +Paquet. Maybe she's gone. I've not seen either her or her dog +this fortnight." + +"A poodle dog," cried I eagerly, "with his coat unclipped,--a rough +brown dog?" + +"Yes, exactly. Ah, you know Noemi,--bien sur!" And she leered +at me, and laughed again unpleasantly. + +"I never saw her in my life," said I hotly; "but her dog has come +astray to my lodgings, and he had a piece of this ribbon of yours +round his throat; nothing more than that." + +"Ah? Well, she lives at number ten. Tenez,--there's Maman Paquet +the other side of the street; you'd better go and speak to her." + +She pointed to a hideous old harridan standing on the opposite +pavement, her bare arms resting on her hips, and a greasy yellow +kerchief twisted turban-wise round her head. My heart sank. Noemi +must be very poor, or very unfortunate, to live under the same roof +with such an old sorciere! Nevertheless, I crossed the street, and +accosted the hag with a smile. + +"Good-day, Maman Paquet. Can you tell me anything of your lodger, +Noemi Bergeron?" + +"Hein?" She was deaf and surly. I repeated my question in a louder +key. "I know nothing of her," she answered, in a voice that sounded +like the croak of a frog. "She couldn't pay me her rent, and I +told her to be off. Maybe she's drowned by this." + +"You turned her out?" I cried. + +"Yes, turned her out," repeated the hag, with a savage oath. "It +was her own fault; she might have sold her beast of a poodle to +pay me, and she wouldn't. Why not, I should like to know,--she +sold everything else she had!" + +"And you can tell me nothing about her now,--you know no more +than that?" + +"Nothing. Go and find her!" She muttered a curse, glared at me +viciously, and hobbled off. I had turned to depart in another +direction, when a skinny hand suddenly clutched my arm, and looking +round, I found that Maman Paquet had followed and overtaken me. +"You know the girl," she squeaked, eyeing me greedily,--"will you +pay her rent? She owed me a month's lodging, seven francs." + +She looked so loathsome and horrible with her withered evil face +so close to mine that I gave a gesture of disgust and shook her +off as though she had been a toad. + +"No," said I, quickening my steps; "she is a stranger to me, and +my pockets are empty." + +Maman Paquet flung a curse after me, more foul and emphatic than +the last, and went her way blaspheming. + +I returned home to Pepin saddened and disquieted. "So, after all," +I said to him, "your owner belongs to the fair sex! But, heaven! +in what misery she and you must have lived! And yet you cried for +her, Pepin!" + +Not long after these incidents--three or four days at the latest-- +a party of my fellow-students came to smoke with me, and as the +shell always sounds of the sea, our conversation naturally savoured +of our professional pursuits. We discussed our hospital chefs, +their crotchets, their inventions, their medical successes, their +politics; we criticised new methods of operation, related anecdotes +of the theatre and consulting-room, and speculated on the chances +of men about to go up for examination. Then we touched on the +subject of obscure diseases, unusual mental conditions, prolonged +delirium, and kindred topics. It was at this point that one of us, +Eugene Grellois, a house-surgeon at a neighbouring hospital, remarked,-- + +"By the way, we have a curious case now in the women's ward of my +service, a pretty little Alsatian girl of eighteen or twenty. She +was knocked down by a cart about three weeks ago and was brought +in with a fracture of the neck of the left humerus, and two ribs +broken. Well, there was perforation of the pleura, traumatic +pleurisy and fever, and her temperature went up as high as 41-8. +She was delirious for three days, and talked incessantly; we had +to put her in a separate cabinet, so that the other patients might +not be disturbed. I sat by her bed for hours and listened. You +never heard such odd things as she said. She let me into the whole +of her history that way. I don't think I should have cared for +it though, if she were not so wonderfully pretty!" + +"Was it a love story, Eugene?" asked Auguste Villemin, laughing. + +"Not a bit of it; it was all about a dog who seemed to be her pet. +Such an extraordinary dog! From what she said I gathered that he +was a brown poodle, that he could stand on his head, and walk on +his hind paws, that he followed her about wherever she went, that +he carved in wood for illustrated books and journals, that he wore +a silver collar, that she was engaged to be married to him when he +had earned enough to keep house, and that his name was Antoine!" + +All his hearers laughed except myself. As for me, my heart bounded, +my face flushed, I was sensible of a keen sensation of pleasure in +hearing Eugene describe his patient as "wonderfully pretty." I +leapt from my chair, pointed to Pepin, who lay dozing in a corner +of the room, and exclaimed,-- + +"I will wager anything that the name of your Alsatian is Noemi +Bergeron, and that my dog there is Antoine himself!" And before +any questions could be put I proceeded to recount the circumstances +with which my reader is already acquainted. Of course Pepin was +immediately summoned into the midst of the circle we had formed +round the open window to have his reputed accomplishments tested +as a criterion of his identity with Antoine. Amid bursts of laughter +and a clamour of encouragement and approbation, it was discovered +that my canine protege possessed at least the first two of the +qualifications imputed to him, and could walk on his hind legs or +stand on his head for periods apparently unlimited. + +In fact, so obedient and willing we found him, that when for the +third time he had inverted himself, no persuasion short of picking +him up by his tail, a proceeding which I deemed necessary to avert +asphyxia, could induce him to resume his normal position. But that +which rendered the entertainment specially fascinating and ludicrous +was the inimitable and unbroken gravity of Pepin's expression. No +matter what his attitude, his eyes retained always the solemnity +one observes in the eyes of an infant to whom everything in the +world is serious and nothing grotesque. + +"But now for the engraving on wood!" cried Jules Leuret, when we +had exhausted ourselves with laughing. "What a pity you have no +implements of the art here, Gervais!" + +"That's Eugene's chaff!" I cried. "Noemi never said anything of +the sort, I warrant!" + +"On my honour she did," said he, emphatically. "Come and see her +tomorrow; she's quite sane now, no fever left at all. She'll be +delighted to hear that you have her dog, and will tell you all about +him, no doubt." + +"After the chefs visit, then, and we'll breakfast together at noon." + +"Agreed. Laughing makes one dry, mon ami; let me have some more +of your wine. We can't afford good wine like that, nous autres!" + + + + + +II. + + + + +When the following morning arrived, I rose sooner than my wont: +Eugene's service was an early one, and by half-past ten o'clock he +and I were alone in the wards of his hospital. He led me to a bed +in one of the little spaces partitioned off from the common salle +for the reception of special cases or refractory patients. There, +propped up on her pillows, her arm bandaged and supported by a +cushion, lay a young girl with fair braided hair and the sweetest +face I had ever seen out of a picture. Something in the childish +and wistful look of her deep eyes and serious mouth reminded me +strangely of Pepin; it was Pepin's plaintive expression refined +and intensified by spiritual influence, a look such as one might +imagine on the face of some young novice, brought up in a convent +and innocent of all evil,--an ingenue untainted by the world and +ignorant of its ways. Could such a creature as this come out of +the foul and sin-reeking quartier I had visited four days ago, with +its filthy houses, its fetid alleys, its coarse blaspheming women +and drunken men? My mind misgave me: surely, after all, this could +not be Noemi Bergeron! + +I put the question to her fearfully, for I dreaded to hear her deny it. +She was so beautiful; if she should say "no" I should be in despair. + +A voice as sweet as the face answered me, with jus' a faint inflexion +of surprise in it, and as she spoke a slight blush suffused her +cheeks and showed the delicate transparency of her skin. + +"Yes, that is my name. Does monsieur know me, then?" + +In my turn I blushed, but with delight. No wonder Pepin had repined +at separation from so lovely a mistress! + +"I went to your house to inquire for you the other day, mademoiselle," +stammered I, " for I think I have a dog which belongs to you. Have +you not lost a brown poodle with a ribbon like this round his throat?" + +As I spoke I produced the tinsel ornament from my pocket, but before +I finished my last sentence she started forward with a joyous cry, +and but for the timely intervention of Eugene, who stood beside +the bed, the injured arm might have suffered seriously from the +effects of her excitement. + +"Ah!" she cried, weeping with joy; "my Bambin, my dear Bambin! +He is found then,--he is safe, and I shall see him again!" + +"Bambin!" repeated I, dubiously. "Monsieur Grellois thought that +his name was Antoine!" + +The rosy color deepened under her delicate cheeks and crept to the +roots of her braided hair. + +"No," she replied in a lower tone, "monsieur is mistaken. My dog's +name is Bambin; we called him so because he is so like a baby. +Don't you think him like a baby, monsieur?" + +She looked wondrously like a baby herself, and I longed to tell her +so; I could not restrain my curiosity, her blushes were so enticing. + +"And Antoine?" persisted I. + +"He is a friend of mine, monsieur; an engraver on wood, an artist." + +Eugene and I exchanged glances. + +"And you and he are engaged to be married, is it not so?" +Unconsciously I questioned her as I might have questioned a child. +She hardly seemed old enough to have the right over her own secrets. + +"Yes, monsieur. But I do not know where he is; and I have looked +for him so long, ah, so long!" + +What, have you lost him too, then, as well as Bambin?" + +She shook her head, and looked troubled + +"Tell me," said I, coaxing her, "perhaps I may be able to find him also." + +"We are Alsatians," said Noemi, with her eyelids drooping, doubtless +to hide the tears gathering behind them; "and we lived in the same +village and were betrothed. Antoine was very clever, and could +cut pictures in wood beautifully,--oh so beautifully,--and they +sent him to Paris to be apprenticed to a great house of business, +and to learn engraving thoroughly. And I stayed at home with my +father, and Antoine used to write to me very often, and say how +well he was getting on, and how he had invented a new method of +wood-carving, and how rich he should be some day, and that we were +to be married very soon. And then my father died, quite suddenly, +and I was all alone in the house. And Antoine did not write; week +after week there was no letter, though I never ceased writing to him. +So I grew miserable and frightened, and I took Bambin--Antoine gave +me Bambin, and taught him all his tricks--and I came to Paris to +try and find him. I had a little money then, and besides, I can +make lace, and I thought it would not be long before Antoine and +I got married. But he had left the house of business for which he +had worked, and they knew nothing of him at his lodgings, and there +were ever so many of my letters on the table in the conciergerie +unopened.--So I could learn nothing, for no one knew where he had +gone, and little by little the money I had brought with me went +in food for me and Bambin. Then somebody told me that Maman Paquet +had a room to let that was cheap, and I went there and tried to +live on my lace-making, always hoping that Antoine would come to +find me. But the air of the pace was so horrible--oh, so horrible +after our village!--and I got the fever, and fell sick, and could +do no work at all. And by degrees I sold all the things I had--my +lace-pillow and all--and when they were gone the old woman wanted +me to sell Bambin, because he was clever, and she was sure I could +get a good price for him. But I would rather have sold the heart +out of my body, and so I told her. Then she was angry, and turned +us both out, Bambin and me, and we went wandering about all day +till at last I got very faint and tired, for I had been ill a long +time, monsieur, and we had nothing to eat, so that I lost my senses +and fell in the road all at once, and a cart went over me. Then +the people picked me up, and carried me here, but none of them knew +Bambin, and I had fainted and could tell them nothing. So they +must have driven him away, thinking he was a strange dog, and had +no right to follow me. And when my senses came back I was in the +hospital, and Bambin was gone, and I thought I never should see +him again." + +She sank down on her pillow and drew a great sigh of relief. It +had evidently comforted her to tell her story to sympathetic listeners. +Poor child! Scant sympathy could she have found in Maman Paquet's +unwomanly breast and evil associations. We were silent when she +had finished, and in the silence we heard through the open window +the joyous song of the birds, and the hum of the bees wandering +blithely from flower to flower, laden with their sweets,--sounds +that never cease through all the long summer days. Alas! how strange +and sad a contrast it is,--the eternal and exuberant gladness of +Nature's soulless children,--the universal inevitable misery of +human lives! + +Presently the religieuse who had the charge of the adjoining ward +opened the door softly and called Eugene. + +"Monsieur, will you come to No. 7 for a moment? Her wound is bleeding +again badly." + +He looked up, nodded, and rose from his seat. + +"I must go for the present, Gervais," said he. "If you stay with +our little friend, don't let her disarrange her arm. The ribs are +all right now, but the humerus is a longer affair. Au revoir!" + +But I found Noemi too much excited and fatigued for further +conversation; so, promising to take every possible care of Bambin +and to come again and see her very soon, I withdrew to the adjoining +ward and joined Eugene. + +No need to say that both these promises were faith-fully observed. + +Throughout the whole of July and of the ensuing month Noemi remained +an inmate of the hospital, and it was not until the first two weeks +of September were spent that the fractured arm was consolidated +and the mandate for dismissal issued. Two days before that fixed +for her departure I went to pay her the last of my customary visits, +and found her sitting at the open window busily engaged in weaving +lace upon a new pillow, which she exhibited to me with childish glee. + +"See, monsieur, what a beautiful present I have had!" she cried, +holding up the cushion for me to examine. "It is much better than the +old one I sold; only look how prettily the bobbins on it are painted!" + +I had never before beheld a lace pillow, and the curiosity which +I displayed fairly delighted Noemi. + +"And who is your generous benefactor?" I asked, replacing the cushion +in her lap. + +"Don't you know?" she asked in turn, opening her eyes wide with +surprise. "I thought he would have been sure to tell you. Why, +it was that good Monsieur Grellois, to be sure! He gave some money +to the sister to buy it for me." + +Kind Eugene! He had very little money to live upon, and must, I +know, have economised considerably in order to purchase this gift +for his little patient. Still I was not jealous of his bounty, +since for many days past I had been greatly occupied with Noemi's +future welfare, and had busied myself in secret with certain schemes +and arrangements the issue of which it remained only to announce. + +"So," said I, taking a chair beside her, "you are going to earn +your living again by making lace?" + +"To try," she answered with a sad emphasis. + +"Lace-making does not pay well, then?" + +"Oh no, monsieur! It cannot be done quickly, you see,--only a little +piece like this every day, working one's best,--and so much lace +is made by machines now!" + +"But it cannot cost you much to live, Noemi?" + +"The eating and drinking is not much, monsieur; it is the rent; +and all the cheap lodgings are so dirty! It is that which is the +most terrible. I can't bear to have ugly things about me and hideous +faces,--like Maman Paquet's!" + +She had the poet's instincts, this little Alsatian peasant. Most +girls in her case would have cared little for the unlovely surroundings, +so long as food and drink were plentiful. + +"But supposing you had a nice room of your own, clean and comfortable, +with an iron bedstead like this one here, and chairs and a table, +and two windows looking out over the Luxembourg gardens,--and nothing +to pay." + +"Ah, monsieur!" + +She dropped her pillow, and fixed her great brown eyes earnestly +on my face. + +"It is impossible," pursued I, reddening under her gaze, "for you +to return to the horrible quartier in which Maman Paquet lives. +It is not fit for a young girl; you would grow wicked and base +like the people who live there,--or else you would die,--and I think +you would die, Noemi." + +"But I have no money, monsieur." + +If you have no money, you have friends; a friend has given you +your new pillow, you know, and another friend, perhaps, may give +you a room to live in." + +Her eyelids drooped, her color came and went quickly, I detected +beneath her bodice the convulsive movement of her heart. The +agitation she betrayed communicated itself to me; I rose from my +chair and leaned against the window-sill, so that my face might +be no longer on a level with her eyes. + +"I understand you, monsieur!" she cried, and immediately burst +into tears. + +"Yes, Noemi," I said, "I see you understand me. There is really +a room for you such as I have described. In two days you will +leave the hospital, but you are not without a home. The woman of +the house in which you will live is kind and good, she knows all +about you and Bambin, and has promised me to take care of you. +Your furniture is bought, your rent is paid,--you have nothing to +do but to go and take possession of the room. I hope you and Bambin +will be happy there." + +She made me no reply in words, but bending forward over her pillow +she took my hand and timidly kissed it. + +It would be hard to say which of us was the happier on the day which +saw Noemi installed in her new abode,---she, or I, or Bambin. +Bambin's delight was certainly the most demonstrative; he careered +round and round the room uttering joyous barks, returning at intervals +in a panting and exhausted condition to his pretty mistress to give +and receive caresses which I own I felt greatly disposed to envy him. +I left my four-footed friend with some regret, for he and I had +been good companions during Noemi's sojourn at the hospital, and +I knew that my rooms would at first seem lonely without him. His +fair owner, as she bade me goodbye at the door of her new domicile, +begged me to return often and see them both, but hard as I found +it to refuse the tempting request, I summoned up resolution to tell +her that it would be best for us to meet very seldom indeed, perhaps +only once or twice more, but that her landlady had my name and +address and would be able to give me tidings of her pretty often. + +Her childlike nature and instincts were never more apparent than +on this occasion. + +"What have I done, monsieur?" she asked with a bewildered expression, +her brown eyes lifted pleadingly, and the corners of her mouth +depressed. "I thought you would like to come and see us. Bambin +is so fond of you, too,--we shall both be so sorry if you don't come." + +As gently and as tenderly as I could, I tried to explain to her +our mutual position and the evil construction which others would +be sure to place on any friendship between us. But she only shook +her head in a troubled way and sighed. + +"I don't understand," she said, "but of course you know best. I +used to hear something like that at Maman Paquet's, about other +girls, but I never understood it. Only say that you are not angry +with me, and let me hear about you as often as you can." + +I promised, smiling, and left her standing at the open door with +Bambin tucked under her arm, looking after me down the street and +nodding her pretty golden head. + +Many days went by. I concentrated my mind upon my books, and devoted +the whole of my time and of my thoughts to preparation for my last +two doctorate examinations, contenting myself with only a few passing +inquiries of Noemi's landlady concerning the welfare of her lodger, +and with the assurance that both she and her dog were well and happy. + +But one evening late in September, as I sat immersed in study, my +ear caught the sound of light girlish footsteps on the staircase +leading to my rooms; then came a momentary pause, a tap on the +door, and the next minute Noemi herself, closely followed by the +faithful Bambin, burst upon my solitude. + +"I have found him, monsieur!" she cried breathlessly. "I came at +once to tell you,--I knew you would be so glad!" + +"What,--Antoine?" I asked, rising and laying my book aside. + +"Yes; Antoine! I met him in the street. He was dressed like a +gentleman; no one would have known him except me! He had no idea +I was in Paris; he turned quite white with the surprise of seeing me. +And I told him what a search I had made for him, and how miserable +I had been, and how good you were to me, and where I was living. +And he is coming to see me this very evening! Oh, I am so happy!" + +"You should have sent me word of this, Noemi," said I gravely. +"You ought not to have come here. It is very foolish--" + +She interrupted me with an imploring gesture. + +"Oh, yes, I know; I am so sorry! But just at the moment I forgot. +I longed to tell you about Antoine, and everything else went out +of my head. Don't be cross with me!" + +Could any one be angry with her? She was thoroughly innocent, and +natural, as innocence always is. + +"My child, it is only of yourself I am thinking. Antoine will teach +you to be wiser by-and-by. Tell him to come and see me. I suppose +you will be married soon now, won't you?" + +"Oh, yes, monsieur, very soon! Antoine only wanted money, and he +has plenty now; he has a business of his own, and is a patron himself!" + +"Well, Noemi, I am very glad. You must let me come to your wedding. +I shall call at your house tomorrow, and ask all about it; for +no doubt Antoine will want you to settle the arrangements at once. +And now run home, for your own sake, my child." + +"Goodbye! monsieur." She paused at the door and added shyly, "You +will really come tomorrow morning?" + +"Yes, yes; before breakfast. Goodbye, Noemi." + + + + + +III. + + + + +At about ten on the ensuing day I repaired to Noemi's lodging, and +found Madame Jeannel, the landlady, on the look-out for me. + +"Noemi told me you were coming," she said; "I will go and fetch her. +Her fiance was here last night, and she has a great deal to tell you." + +In two minutes she returned with my pretty friend, radiant as the +sunlight with happiness and renewed hope. Antoine loved her more +than ever, she said, and he had brought her a beautiful present, +a silver cross, which she meant to wear on her wedding-day, tied +round her throat upon the bit of tinsel ribbon I had given her, +and which matched it exactly. And was the wedding-day fixed? I +asked. No, not the precise day; Antoine had said nothing about +it; but he had spoken much of his love; and of the happiness in +store for them both, and of the lovely things he should give her. +The day was nothing; that could be settled in a minute at any time. +Then she fetched me some lace she had made, and told me that Antoine +knew of a rich lady who would buy it,--a marquise, who doated on +lace of the sort, and who gave enormous sums for a few yards; and +the money would do for her dot, it would buy her wedding-dress, +perhaps. So she prattled on, blithe and ingenuous, the frank +simplicity of her guileless soul reflected in the clear depths of +her eyes, as the light of heaven is mirrored in pure waters. + +Days went by, and weeks, but Antoine never came to see me, and +whenever I called at Madame Jeannel's and asked for Noemi--which +I ventured to do several times, now that the good woman knew she +was engaged to be married, and understood so well our relations +with each other--I always heard the same story; and always received, +on Antoine's behalf, the same vague excuses for the postponement +of the visit I had invited him to pay me. At one time, he bade +Noemi tell me his work was too pressing, and he could find no time +to come; at another, that he feared to disturb me, knowing I was +very busy; and again, that he had been just about to start when +an important letter or an inopportune customer had arrived and +detained him. As for the wedding-day, he would never come to the +point about it, and Noemi, naturally shy of the subject, never +pressed him. She was quite happy and confident; Antoine loved +her with all his heart, and told her so every day. What more could +she want? He brought her lovely bunches of red and white roses, +little trinkets, sweetmeats, ribbons; indeed, he seemed never to +come empty-handed. She used to take walks with him when his day's +work was over, in the Luxembourg gardens, and once or twice they +went out as far as the Champs-Elysees. Oh, yes, Antoine loved her +dearly, and she was very happy; they should certainly be married +before long. We were already in November, the days were getting +bleak and chill, I had to light my lamp early and close my windows +against the damp evening air. One afternoon, just as it was +beginning to grow dark, Madame Jeannel came to see me, looking +very disturbed and anxious. + +"Monsieur," she said, "a strange thing has happened which makes me +so uneasy that I cannot help coming to tell you of it, and to ask +your opinion and advice. Antoine came about half-an-hour ago and +took Noemi out for a walk. Not ten minutes after they had left +the house, a lady whom I do not know came to my door and asked if +Mademoiselle Bergeron lived there. I said yes, but that she was out. +The strange lady stared hard at me and asked if she had gone out alone. +I told her no, she was with her fiance, but that if any message +could be left for her I would be careful to give it directly she +should return. Immediately the lady seized me by the arm so tightly +I almost screamed. She grew white, and then red, then she seemed +to find her voice, and asked me if she could wait upstairs in Noemi's +room till she came back. At first I said `No,' but she would not +take a refusal; she insisted upon waiting; and there she is, I +could not get her to leave the place." + +Madame Jeannel stood opposite to me; I lifted my eyes, and met +hers steadily. When I had satisfied myself of her suspicions, I +said in a low voice,-- + +"You have done rightly to fetch me. There is great trouble in store +for our poor child. I fear this woman may have a better right to +Antoine than Noemi has." + +"I am sure of it," responded Madame Jeannel. "If you could but +have seen how she looked! Thank the good God she has come in time +to save our Noemi from any real harm!" + +"It will blight the whole of her life," said I; "she is so innocent +of evil, and she loves him so much." + +I took up my hat as I spoke, and followed Madame Jeannel downstairs +and into the street. When we reached her house, I left her in her +own little parlour upon the entresol, and with a resolute step but +a heavy heart I went alone to confront the strange woman in Noemi's +room. Alas! the worst that could happen had already befallen. +Noemi had returned from her walk during the absence of her landlady, +and I opened the door upon a terrible scene. My poor child stood +before me, with a white scared face, and heaving breast, upon which +was pinned a bunch of autumn violets, Antoine's last gift to her. +Her slender figure, her fair hair, her pallid complexion looked +ghostlike in the uncertain twilight; she seemed like a troubled +spirit, beautiful and sorely distressed, but there was no shame in her +lovely face, nor any sense of guilt. Seeing me enter, she uttered a +cry of relief, and sprang forward as though to seek protection. + +"Speak to her, monsieur!" she exclaimed in a voice of piercing +entreaty; "oh, speak to her and ask her what it all means! She +says she is Antoine's wife!" + +The strange woman whose back had been turned towards the door when +I opened it, looked round at the words, and her face met mine. She +was a brunette, with sharp black eyes and an inflexible mouth, a face +which beside Noemi's seemed like a dark cloud beside clear sunlight. + +"Yes indeed!" she cried; and her voice was half choked with contending +anger and despair, "I am his wife; and what then is she? I tracked +him here. He is always away from me now. I found a letter of hers +signed with her name; she writes to him as if she loved him! See!" + +She flung upon the table a crumpled scrap of paper, and suddenly +burying her face in her hands, burst into a torrent of passionate +tears and sobs. Noemi stood silent and watched her, terrified and +wondering. I closed the door softly, and approaching the unfortunate +woman, laid my hand upon her shoulder. + +"It is your husband who is alone to blame," I whispered to her. +"Do not revile this innocent girl; she suffers quite as much as +you do,--perhaps even more, for she was betrothed to him years ago." + +My grief for Noemi, and my resentment against Antoine made me imprudent; +I spoke unjustly, but the provocation was great. + +"You take her part!" she cried, repelling me indignantly. "Innocent-- +she innocent? Bah! She must have known he was married, for why +else did he not marry her? Do you think me a child to be fooled +by such a tale?" + +"No," answered I sternly, looking away from her at Noemi. "You +are not a child, madame, but she is one! Had she been a woman like +yourself, your husband would never have deceived her. She trusted +him wholly." + +With a gesture that was almost fierce in its pride, Antoine's wife +turned her back upon Noemi, and moved towards the door. "I thank +my God," she said solemnly, choking down her sobs, and bending her +dark brows upon me, "that I was never such an innocent as she is! +I am not your dupe, monsieur; I know well enough what you are, +and what it is that constitutes your right to defend her. The +neighbors know her story; trust them for finding it out and repeating +it. This room belongs to you, monsieur; your money paid for +everything in it, and your `innocent' there no doubt is included +in the bargain. Keep her to yourself for the future; Antoine's +foot shall never again be set in this wicked house!" + +She opened the door with the last words, and vanished into the +darkness without. + +For a moment there was a deep silence, the voice which had just +ceased seemed to me to ring and echo around the dim, still room. +The sense of a great shame was upon me; I dared not lift my eyes +to Noemi's face. + +Suddenly a faint cry startled me. She stretched her arms towards +me and fell on her knees at my feet. + +"O monsieur! Antoine is lost! My heart is dead!" Then she struck +her breast wildly with her clenched hand, and swooned upon the floor. + + +None of us ever saw Antoine again after that terrible evening. +Whether he had been most weak or most wicked we could not tell; +but, for my part I always believed that he had really loved Noemi, +and that his marriage had been one of worldly convenience, contracted, +in an evil hour, for the sake of gain. His wife was rich, Noemi +was a beggar. As for her, poor child, she never uttered a word +of reproach against him; never a gesture of impatience, or an +expression of complaint betrayed her suffering. She had spent all +her innocent life upon her love, and with the love her life also +went from her. Day after day she lay on her bed like a flower +crushed and fading slowly. There were no signs of organic disease +in her, there was no appreciable malady; her heart was broken, +so said Madame Jeannel, and more than that the wisest could not say. +Bambin, dimly comprehending that some great sorrow had befallen +his dear mistress, lay always at her feet, watching her with eyes +full of tender and wistful affection, refusing to leave her by night +or by day. It must have comforted her somewhat to see in him, at +least, the evidence of one true and faithful love. + +So white and spirituelle she grew as she lay there, day by day, +so delicately lovely, her deep lustrous eyes shining as with some +inward light, and her hair of gold surrounding her head like the +aureole of a pictured saint, that at times I fancied she was becoming +dematerialised before our eyes; her spirit seemed as it were to +grow visible, as though in the intensity of its pure fire the mere +earthly body which had contained it were being re-absorbed and consumed. +Sometimes in the evenings her pulse quickened and her cheeks flushed +with the hectic touch of fever; it was the only symptom of physical +disorder I ever detected in her;--but even that was slight,--the +temperature of her system was hardly affected by it. + +So she lay, her body fading, day after day and hour after hour. + +Madame Jeannel was deeply concerned, for she was a good woman, and +could sympathise with others in sorrow, but nothing that she could +say or do seemed to reach the senses of Noemi. Indeed, at times +I fancied the poor child had no longer eyes or ears for the world +from which she was passing away so strangely; she looked as though +she were already beginning life in some other sphere and on some +other plane than ours, and could see and hear only sights and sounds +of which our material natures had no cognisance. + +"C'est le chagrin, monsieur," said Madame Jeannel; "c'est comme +ca que le chagrin tue,--toujours." + +Early in the third week of December I received my summons to pass +the final examination for the M.D. degree. The day was bitterly +cold, a keen wind swept the empty streets and drove the new-fallen +snow into drift-heaps at every corner. Along the boulevards booths +and baraques for the sale of New Year's gifts were already in course +of erection, the shops were gay with bright colored bonbonnieres. +Children, merry with anticipations of good things coming, pressed +round the various tempting displays and noisily disputed their +respective merits. All the streets were filled with mirth and +laughter and preparations for festivity, and close by, in her little +lonely room, Noemi lay dying of a broken heart! + +I underwent my ordeal with success; yet as I quitted the examination- +room and descended into the quadrangle of the Ecole, crowded with +sauntering groups of garrulous students, my spirit was heavy within me, +and the expression of my face could hardly have been that of a young +man who has safely passed the Rubicon of scientific apprenticeship, +and who sees the laurels and honors of the world within his reach. +The world? The very thought of its possible homage repelled me, +for I knew that its best successes and its loudest praise are accorded +to men whose hearts are of steel and whose lives are corrupt. I +knew that still, as of old, it slays the innocent and the ingenuous +and stones the pure of spirit. + +Escaping somewhat impatiently from the congratulations of the friends +and colleagues whom I chanced to encounter in the quadrangle, I +returned gloomily home and found upon my table a twisted note in +which was written this brief message:-- + + "Pray, come at once, monsieur, she cannot live long now. + I dare not leave her, and she begs to see you. --Marie Jeannel" + +With a shaking hand I thrust the paper into my vest and hastened +to obey its summons. Never had the distance between my house and +Noemi's been so long to traverse; never had the stairs which led +to her room seemed to me so many or so steep. At length I gained +the door; it stood ajar; I pushed it open and entered. Madame +Jeannel sat at the foot of the little white-draped bed; Bambin +lay beside his mistress; the only sound in the room was the crackling +of the burning logs on the hearth. As I entered, Madame Jeannel +turned her head and looked at me; her eyes were heavy with tears, +and she spoke in tones that were hushed and tremulous with the awe +which the presence of death inspires. + +"Monsieur, you come too late. She is dead." + +I sprang forward with a cry of horror. + +"Dead?" I repeated, "Noemi dead?" + +White and still she lay--a broken lily--beautiful and sweet even +in death; her eyes were closed lightly, and upon her lovely lips +was the first smile I had seen there since the day which had stricken +her innocent life into the dust. Her right hand rested on Bambin's +head, in her left she held the piece of silver ribbon I had given +her,--the ribbon she had hoped to wear at her wedding. + +"They are for you," said Madame Jeannel softly. "She said you were +fond of Bambin, and he of you, and that you must take care of him +and keep him with you always. And as for the ribbon,--she wished +you to take it for her sake, that it might be a remembrance of her +in time to come." + +I fell on my knees beside the bed and wept aloud. + +"Hush, hush!" whispered Madame Jeannel, bending over me; "it is +best as it is, she is gone to the angels of God." + +Science has ceased to believe in angels, but in the faith of good +women they live still. + +The chief work of the "wise" among us seems to me to consist in +the destruction of all the beautiful hopes and loves and beliefs +of the earth; of all that since the beginning of time till now +has consoled, or purified, or brought peace to the hearts of men. +Some day, perhaps, in the long-distant future, the voice of Nature +may speak to us more clearly through the lips of a nobler and purer +system of science than any we now know, and we may learn that Matter +is not all in all, nor human love and desire given in vain; but +that torn hearts may be healed and ruined lives perfected in a +higher spiritual existence, where, "beyond these voices, there is peace." + +Meanwhile Noemi's body rests in its quiet grave, and upon the +faithful bosom lies the silver cross which her lover gave her. + +She was one of those who could endure all things for love's sake, +but shame and falsehood broke her steadfast heart. And it was the +hand of her beloved which dealt the blow of which she died! + + + + + +VI. The Little Old Man's Story + + "O love, I have loved you! O my soul, + I have lost you!" + --Aurora Leigh + + + + +Chapter I. + +"It is getting very dark now, and I have been sitting at my open +bay window ever since sundown. How fresh and sweet the evening +air is, as it comes up from my little flower garden below, laden +with the fragrance of June roses and almond blossom! Ah, by the +way, I will send over some more of those same roses to my opposite +neighbor tomorrow morning,--and there is a beautiful spray of white +jasmin nodding in at the casement now, and only waiting to be +gathered for him. Poor old man! He must be very lonely and quiet, +lying there day after day in his dark little bed-chamber, with no +companions save his books and his old housekeeper. But then Dr. +Peyton is with him very often, and Dr. Peyton is such a dear kind +soul that he makes every one cheerful! I think they have drawn down +the blinds earlier than usual tonight at the little old gentleman's. +Dr. Peyton says he always likes to sit up in his armchair when the +day closes, and watch the twilight gathering over the blue range +of the Malvern hills in the distance, and talk dreamy bits of poetry +to himself the while, but this evening I noticed the blinds were +pulled down almost directly after sunset. And such a lovely sunset +as it was tonight! I never beheld anything more glorious! What +a wondrous glamour of molten mellow light it threw over all the +meadows and cottage gardens! It seemed to me as though the gates +of heaven itself were unfolded to receive the returning sun into +the golden land of the Hereafter! Dear, dear, I shall get quite +poetical in my old age! This is not the first time I have caught +myself stumbling unawares on the confines of romance! Miss Lizzie, +Miss Lizzie, you must not be fanciful! Do you forget that you are +an old maid! Yes, an old maid. Ah, well-a-day, 'tis a very happy, +contented, peaceful sound to me now; but twenty years ago,--Here +comes dear old Dr. Peyton himself up my garden path! He does not +seem to walk so blithely tonight as usual,--surely nothing is the +matter; I wish I could see his face, but it is much too dark for +that, so I'll go at once and let him in. Now I shall hear news +of my opposite neighbor! Ah, I hope he is no worse, poor little +old man!" + +Gentle reader, I shall not trouble you much in the story I am going +to tell, with any personal experiences of my own. But you may as +well understand before we proceed farther, that I--Miss Elizabeth +Fairleigh--am a spinster on the shady side of forty-five, that I +and my two serving-maids occupy a tiny, green-latticed, porticoed, +one-storeyed cottage just outside a certain little country town, +and that Dr. Peyton, tile one "medical man" of the parish, is a +white-haired old gentleman of wondrous kindliness and goodness of +heart, who was Pythias to my father's Damon at college long, long +ago, and who is now my best friend and my most welcome and frequent +visitor. And on the particular evening in question, I had a special +interest in his visit, for I wanted very much to know what only +he could tell me,--how matters fared with my neighbor and his patient, +the little old man who lay sick over the way. + +Now this little old man bore the name of Mr Stephen Gray, and he +was a bachelor, so Dr. Peyton said, a bachelor grown, from some +cause unknown to my friend, prematurely old, and wizened, and decrepit. +It was long since he had first come to reside in the small house +opposite mine, and from the very day of his arrival I had observed +him with singular interest, and conjectured variously in my idle +moments about his probable history and circumstances. For many +months after his establishment "over the way," this old gentleman +used morning and evening to perambulate the little country road +which divided our respective dwellings, supporting his feeble limbs +with a venerable-looking staff, silver-headed like himself; and +on one occasion, when my flower garden happened to look especially +gay and inviting, he paused by the gate and gazed so wistfully at +its beauties, that I ventured to invite him in, and presented him, +bashfully enough, with a posy of my choicest rarities. After this +unconventional introduction, many little courtesies passed between us, +other nosegays were culled from my small parterre to adorn the little +old gentleman's parlour, and more than once Miss Elizabeth Farleigh +received and accepted an invitation to tea with Mr Stephen Gray. + +But by-and-by these invitations ceased, and my neighbor's pedestrian +excursions up and down our road became less and less frequent. Yet +when I sent my maid, as I often did, to inquire after his health, +the answer returned alternated only between two inflections,--Mr +Gray was always either "pretty well," or "a little better today." +But presently I noticed that my friend Dr. Peyton began to pay +visits at my opposite neighbor's, and of him I inquired concerning +the little old man's condition, and learned to my surprise and +sorrow that his health and strength were rapidly failing, and his +life surely and irrecoverably ebbing away. It might be many long +months, Dr. Peyton said, before the end, it might be only a few weeks, +but he had seen many such cases, and knew that no human skill or +tenderness had power to do more than to prolong the patient's days +upon earth by some brief space, and to make the weary hours of +feebleness and prostration as pleasant and calm as possible. + +When Dr Peyton told me this, it was late autumn, and the little +old gentleman lived on in his weakness all through the snow-time +and the dim bleak winter days. But when the Spring came round once +more, he rallied, and I used often to see him sitting up in his +armchair at the open window, arrayed in his dressing-gown, and looking +so cheerful and placid, that I could not forbear to nod to him and +smile hopefully, as I stood by my garden gate in the soft warm sunshine, +thinking that after all my opposite neighbor would soon be able to +take his daily walks, and have tea with me again in his cosy little +parlour. But when I spoke of this to Dr. Peyton, he only shook his +head incredulously, and murmured something about the flame burning +brighter for a little while before going out altogether. So the +old gentleman lingered on until June, and still every time I sent +to ask after his health returned the same old reply,--his "kind +regards to Miss Fairleigh, and he was a little better today." And +thus matters remained on that identical evening of which I first +spoke, when I sat at the bay window in my tiny drawing-room, and +saw Dr. Peyton coming so soberly up the garden path. + +"Dr Peyton," said I, as I placed my most comfortable chair for him +in the prettiest corner of the bay, "you are the very person I have +been longing to see for the last half-hour! I want to know how +my neighbor Mr Gray is tonight. I see his blinds are down, and I +am afraid he may be worse. Have you been there this evening?" + +I paused abruptly, for my old friend looked very gravely at me, +and I thought as his eyes rested for a moment on my face, that +notwithstanding the twilight, I could discern traces of recent +tears in them. + +"Lizzie," said he, very slowly, and his voice certainly trembled +a little as he spoke, "I don't think Mr Gray was ever so well in +his life as he is tonight. I have been with him for several hours. +He is dead." + +"Dead!" I echoed faintly, for I almost doubted whether my ears heard +aright. "My little old gentleman dead? Oh, I am very, very grieved +indeed! I fancied he was getting so much stronger!" + +Dr. Peyton smiled, one of his peculiar, sweet, grave smiles, such +as I had often seen on his kindly face at certain times and seasons +when other men would not have smiled at all. + +"Lizzie," he answered, 'there are some deaths so beautiful and so +full of peace, that no one ought to grieve about them, for they +bring eternal rest after a life that has been only bitter disquiet +and heaviness. And such a death--aye, and such a life--were Mr Gray's." + +He spoke so certainly and so calmly, that I felt comforted for the +little old man's sake, and longed to know,--woman-like, I suppose,-- +what sad story of his this had been, to which Dr. Peyton's words +seemed to point. + +"Then he had a romance after all!" I cried, "and you knew of it! +Poor old gentleman! I often wondered how he came to be so lonely. +May you tell me, as we sit here together? I should so like to hear +about it." + +"Yes," said he, with that same peculiar smile, "I may tell you, +for it is no secret now. Indeed, I came here partly for that very +purpose, because I know well how much you were interested in your +opposite neighbor, and how you used to speculate about his antecedents +and associations. But I have not known this story long. He only +told it me this evening; just an hour or two before he died. Well, +we all have our little romances, as you are pleased to call them!" + +"Yes, yes, all of us. Even I, unpretentious, plain Elizabeth +Fairleigh,--but no matter." I mind me, reader, that I promised +not to talk of my own experiences. Ah, there are no such phenomena +in the world really, as "commonplace" lives, and "commonplace" persons! + +"Poor little old man!" I sighed again. "Did he tell you his story +then of his own accord, or"--And I paused in some embarrassment, +for I remembered that Dr. Peyton was a true gentleman, and possessed +of far too much delicacy of feeling to question anybody upon personal +matters or private concerns. But either he did not actually notice +my hesitation, or perhaps understood the cause of it well enough +to prevent him from appearing to notice it, for he resumed at once, +as though no interruption to his discourse had taken place. + +"When I went this afternoon to visit your neighbor, Lizzie, I +perceived immediately from the change in him that the end was not +far off, though I did not think it would come today. But he did. +He was in bed when I entered his room, and as soon as he saw me, +he looked up and welcomed me with a pleasant smile and said, `Ah, +Doctor, I am so glad you are come! I was just going to send round +for you! Not that I think you can do me any more good upon earth, +for I know that tonight I shall go to my long rest. To my long rest.' +He lingered so strangely and so contentedly over these words, that +I was singularly touched, and I sat down by his bedside and took +his thin white hand in mine. 'Doctor,' said he, presently, `you +have been very good and kind to me now for more than ten months, +and I have learned in that time to trust and esteem you as though +I had known you for many long years. There are no friends of mine +near me in the world now, for I am a lonely old man, and before I +came here I lived alone, and I have been lonely almost all my life. +But I cannot die tonight without telling you the story of my past, +and of the days when I used to be young,--very long ago now,--that +you may understand why I die here alone, a white-haired old bachelor; +and that I may be comforted in my death by the knowledge that I +leave at least one friend upon earth to sympathise in my sorrow +and to bless me in my solitary grave. 'It is a long story, Doctor,' +said the little old man, 'but I feel stronger this afternoon than +I have felt for weeks, and I am quite sure I can tell it all from +end to end. I have kept it many years in my heart, a secret from +every human soul; but now all is over with my sorrow and with me +for ever, and I care not who knows of it after I am gone.' Then +after a little pause he told me his story, while I sat beside him +holding his hand in mine, and I think I did not lose a word of all +he said, for he spoke very slowly and distinctly, and I listened +with all my heart. Shall I tell it to you, Lizzie? It is not one +of those stories that end happily; like the stories we read in +children's fairy books, nor is it exciting and sensational like +the modern popular novels. There are no dramatic situations in it, +and no passionate scenes of tragical love or remorse; 'tis a still, +neutral-colored, dreamy bit of pathos; the story of a lost life,-- +that it will make you sad perhaps to hear, and maybe, a little graver +than usual. Only that." + +"Please tell it, Dr Peyton," I answered. "You know I have a +special liking for such sad histories. 'Tis one of my old-maidish +eccentricities I suppose; but somehow I always think sorrow more +musical than mirth, and I love the quiet of shadowy places better +than the brilliant glow of the open landscape." + +"You are right, Lizzie," he returned. "That is the feeling of the +true poet in all ages, and the most poetical lives are always those +in which the melancholy element predominates. Yet it is contrast +that makes the beauty of things, and doubtless we should not fully +understand the sweetness of your grave harmonies, nor the loveliness +of your shadowy valleys, were all music grave and all places shadowy. +And inanimate nature is most assuredly the faithful type and mirror +of human life. But I must not waste our time any longer in such +idle prologues as these! You shall hear the little old man's story +at once, while it is still fresh in my memory, though for the matter +of that, I am not likely, I think, to forget it very easily." So +Dr Peyton told it me as we sat together there in the growing darkness +of the warm summer night, and this, reader mine, is the story he told. + + + + + +Chapter II. + + + + +Some forty years ago, there lived in one of the prettiest houses +in Kensington, a rich old wine-merchant, and his two only children. +These young men, Stephen and Maurice Grey, were twins, whose mother +had died at their birth, and all through their infancy and childhood +the old wine-merchant had been to them as father and mother in one, +and the brothers had grown up to manhood, loving him and each other +as dearly as heart could wish. Already Stephen, the firstborn of +the twins, had become partner in his father's flourishing business, +and Maurice was preparing at a military college for service in the +army, which he was shortly to join, when a certain event occurred +at Kensington, trifling enough in itself, but in the sequel pregnant +with bitter misfortune to at least two human souls. + +There came to reside in the house adjoining old Mr Gray's, an elderly +widow lady and her orphan niece,--Mrs. Lamertine and Miss Adelais +Cameron. They came there principally for the sake of the latter,-- +a pale consumptive girl of eighteen, whose delicate health and +constitution it was thought might be considerably benefited by the +mild soft air of that particular neighborhood. Soon after the +arrival of these ladies in their new abode, the old wine-merchant +in his courtesy and kindliness of heart saw fit to pay them a visit, +and in due time and form the visit was returned, and a friendly +come-and-go understanding established between the two houses. In +this manner it happened that Stephen, the elder son, by living +always in his father's house, from which he was absent only during +the office-hours of the day, saw a great deal of Adelais Cameron, +and learnt before long to love her with all the depth and yearning +that a young man feels in his first rapturous adoration of a +beautiful woman. + +For a beautiful woman Adelais certainly was. Very fair to look +upon was the pale, transparent face, and the plentiful braided hair, +golden and soft almost as undyed silk, that wreathed about the lovely +little head. Clear and sweet too were the eyes whence the soul +of Adelais looked forth, clear and brown and sweet; so that people +who beheld her fair countenance and heard her musical voice for +the first time, were fain to say in their hearts, "Such a face and +such a voice as these are not earthly things; Adelais Cameron is +already far on her road towards the land of the angels." + +But at least Mrs Lamertine and her friendly neighbors the Grays +could perceive that the pale girl grew none the paler nor sicklier for +her residence at Kensington, and as days and weeks flew pleasantly +by in the long autumn season, the old lady talked more and more +confidently of her niece's complete restoration to health and youthful +vigour. Then by-and-by Christmas drew round, and with it Maurice +Gray came home to his father's house for his last vacation-time; +Maurice, with his frank handsome face and curly hair, always so +cheerful, always so good-humoured, always so unconscious of his +own attractiveness, that wherever he went, everybody was sure to +trust and to idolise him. Ay, and to love him too sometimes, but +not as Adelais Cameron did, when her full womanly soul awoke first +to the living intensity of passion, and she found in him the one +god at whose feet to cast all her new wealth of tenderness and homage. +Never before had Maurice Gray been so beloved, never before had +his own love been so desired and coveted by human soul. And now +that the greatest blessing of earth lay so ready to his grasp, Maurice +neither perceived the value of the gift, nor understood that it +was offered to him. Such was the position when Christmas Day arrived, +and the widower begged that Mrs Lamertine and her niece would do +him the pleasure to dine in his house and spend the evening there, +that they might sing songs and play forfeits together and keep up +the ancient institutions of the time, as well as so tiny and staid +a party could manage to do; to which sociable invitation, the old +dame, nothing averse to pleasant fellowship at any season, readily +consented. But when Adelais Cameron entered Mr Gray's drawing-room +that Christmas evening with her soft white dress floating about +her like a hazy cloud, and a single bunch of snowdrops in the coils +of her golden hair, Stephen's heart leapt in his throat, and he +said to himself that never until now had he known how exceeding +perfect and sweet was the beautiful woman whom he loved with so +absorbing a tenderness. Alas, that life should be at times such +a terribly earnest game of cross purposes, such an intensely bitter +reality of mistakes and blunders! Alas, that men and women can +read so little of each other's heart, and yet can comprehend so +well the language of their own! + +All the evening, throughout the conversation and the forfeits and +the merry-making, Stephen Gray spoke and moved and thought only +for Adelais, and she for Stephen's twin brother. It was for Maurice +that she sang, while Stephen stood beside her at the piano, drinking +in the tender passionate notes as though they were sweet wine for +which all his soul were athirst; it was at Maurice that she smiled, +while Stephen's eyes were on her face, and to Maurice that she +prattled and sported and made mirthful jests, while Stephen alone +heeded all that she said and did; for the younger brother was +reflected in every purpose and thought of hers, even as her own +image lay mirrored continually in the heart and thoughts of the elder. + +But before the hour of parting came that night, Stephen drew Adelais +aside from the others as they sat laughing and talking over some +long-winded story of the old wine-merchant's experiences, and told +her what she, in the blindness of her own wild love, had never +guessed nor dreamed of,--all the deep adoration and worship of his +soul. And when it was told, she said nothing for a few minutes, +but only stood motionless and surprised, without a blush or tremor +or sigh, and he, looking earnestly into her fair uplifted face, +saw with unutterable pain that there was no response there to the +passionate yearning of his own. + +"Adelais," said he, presently, "you do not love me?" + +"Yes, yes, Stephen," she answered, softly; "as a brother, as a +dear brother." + +"No more?" he asked again. + +She put her hand into his, and fixing the clear light of her brown +eyes full upon him: "Why," she said, hurriedly, "do you ask me this? +I cannot give you more, I cannot love you as a husband. Let no +one know what has passed between us tonight; forget it yourself +as I shall forget also, and we will always be brother and sister +all our lives." + +Then she turned and glided away across the room into the warm bright +glow of the fireside, that lay brightest and warmest in the corner +where Maurice sat; but Stephen stood alone in the darkness and +hid his face in his hands and groaned. And after this there came +a changeover the fortunes of the two households. Day by day Adelais +faded and paled and saddened; none knew why. People said it was +the winter weather, and that when the springtime came the girl would +be herself again, and grow brisker and stronger than ever. But +when Maurice was gone back to his college, to fulfil his last term +there before leaving for India, the only brother of Adelais came +up from his home by the seaside, on a month's visit to his aunt +and his sister at Kensington. He was a man of middle age almost, +this same Philip Cameron, tall and handsome and fair-spoken, so +that the old wine-merchant, who dearly loved good looks and courteous +breeding, took to him mightily from the first, and made much of his +company on all occasions. But as he stayed on from week to week +at Mrs Lamertine's house, Philip saw that the pale lips and cheeks +of Adelais grew paler and thinner continually, that the brown eyes +greatened in the dark sockets, and that the fragile limbs weakened +and sharpened themselves more and more, as though some terrible +blight, like the curse of an old enchantment or of an evil eye, +hung over the sweet girl, withering and poisoning all the life and +the youth in her veins. + +She lay on a sofa one afternoon, leaning her golden head upon one +of her pale wan hands, and gazing dreamily through the open casement +into the depths of the broad April sky, over whose clear blue +firmament the drifting clouds came and went incessantly like white- +sailed ships at sea. And Adelais thought of the sea as she watched +them, and longed in her heart to be away and down by the southern +coast where her brother had made his home, with the free salt breeze +blowing in her face, and the free happy waves beating the shore +at her feet, and the sea-fowl dipping their great strong wings in +the leaping surge. Ah to be free,--to be away,--perhaps then she +might forget, forget and live down her old life, and bury it somewhere +out of sight in the sea-sand;--forget and grow blithe and happy +and strong once more, like the breeze and the waves and the wild +birds, who have no memory nor regret for the past, and no thought +for any joy, save the joy of their present being. + +"Phil," she said, as her brother came softly into the room and sat +beside her, "take me back with you to the sea-side. I am weary of +living always here in Kensington. It is only London after all." + +"My dearest," he answered, kindly, "if that is all you wish for, +it shall certainly be. But, Adelais, is there nothing more than +this that troubles you? There is a shadow in your eyes and on your +lips that used not to be there, and all day long you sit by yourself +and muse in silence; and you weep too at times, Adelais, when you +fancy none is by to see you. Tell me, sister mine, for the sake +of the love that is between us, and for the sake of our father and +mother who are dead, what cloud is this that overshadows you so?" + +Long time he pressed and besought her, pleading by turns his power +to help, and her need of tenderness; but yet Adelais was afraid +to speak, for the love that was breaking her heart was unreturned. +So the next day he found her alone again, and prayed her to tell +him her sorrow, that even if he could not help nor comfort her, +they might at least lament together. Then at last she bowed her +head upon his breast, and told him of Maurice, and of his near +departure for India, and of her own disregarded love; but not a +word she said of Stephen, because she had promised him to hold her +peace. And when she had told her brother all, she laid her arms +about his neck and cried, weeping, "Now you know everything that +is in my heart, Phil; speak to me no more about it, but only promise +to take me away with you when you go, that I may the sooner forget +this place and all the sorrow and the pain I have suffered here." + +And Philip Cameron kissed her very tenderly, and answered, "Be at +rest, sister, you shall have your will." + +But when the evening came, he went over to the house of the wine- +merchant, and questioned him about Maurice, whether he cared for +Adelais or no, and whether he had ever said a word to his father +or brother of the matter. + +"Ay, ay," quoth the old gentleman, musingly, when Philip had ceased, +"'Tis like enough if there be anything of the sort that the boys +should talk of it between them, for, God be thanked, they were always +very fond of each other; yet I never heard it spoken about. But +then youth has little in common with age, and when young men make +confidences of this kind, it is to young men that they make them, +and not to grey-beards like me. But tell me, Cameron, for you know +I must needs divine something from all this; your sister loves my +boy Maurice?" + +"If you think so, sir," answered Philip, "you must keep her secret." + +"Cameron, Cameron," cried the wine-merchant, "Adelais is failing +and sickening every day. Every day she grows whiter and sadder +and more silent. Don't tell me it's for love of Maurice! It's +not possible such a woman as she is can love anybody in vain! +She's an angel on earth, your sister Adelais!" + +Then because the old man was kindly and wise and white-headed, +Philip told him all that Adelais had said, and how he had promised +to take her home with him, and had come unknown to any one to ask +before they went whether or not there was any hope for her of the +love on which she had so set her heart. + +And when Philip was gone the old gentleman called his elder son, +Stephen, and asked him--but warily, lest he should betray Adelais-- +how Maurice bore himself in Stephen's presence when they were alone +together and chanced to speak of her, and if Stephen knew or guessed +anything of what was in his mind towards her. Then the young man +understood for the first time all the blindness of his eyes and +the dulness of his heart; and the pain and the desolation and the +hopelessness of his life that was to be, rose up before him, and +he knew that from thenceforth the glory and the light of it were +put out for ever. + +"Father," he said, "I know nothing whatever of all this. Is it +your wish then that these two should marry?" + +"It is my wish, Stephen, and the wish also of our friend Philip +himself. Maurice could not take with him to India a sweeter or a +worthier wife than Adelais Cameron." + +"And does she wish it too?" he asked again. "Tell me, father, for +I have guessed already." He lifted his eyes to the old man's face +as he spoke, and perceived at once the sudden confusion arid surprise +that his words had caused there, yet he said no more, but waited +still for a reply. + +"My dear boy," said the old gentleman at last, "if you have guessed +anything, that is enough; say no more about it, but let it rest +with yourself. I have never yet deceived either of my sons. But +when Maurice comes home again you can help us very much, for you +can question him on the matter more naturally than I could do, and +no doubt he will tell you his mind about it, as you say he always +does about everything, but with me he might be reserved and bewildered +perhaps. Ask him, my boy, but keep your guesses to yourself." + +"Father," cried Stephen, pressing his hands together in agony as +though his heart were between them, and he would fain crush it into +dust and destroy it for ever; "tell me, if I am to do this, does +Adelais love my brother?" + +"If I tell you at all, boy," said the wine-merchant, "I shall tell +you the truth; can you hold your peace like a man of discretion?" + +"I have kept other secrets, father," he answered, "I can keep this." + +Then his father told him. + +Early in May, Adelais Cameron went to the Devonshire sea-coast with +her brother and her aunt, and they stayed there together a long +while. But the accounts that came from week to week to Kensington +were none of the best, for Adelais had borne the long journey but +ill, and her strength did not return. +Then came the summer and the vacation-time, and Maurice Gray was +home again, full to the brim of schemes for his future life, and +busy all day with head and hands over his preparations for leaving +England in the autumn. But when Stephen talked to him of Adelais, +and told him she was gone to the sea-side, Maurice only laughed +and answered lightly, that she was a sweet lovable girl, and that +he grieved to hear of her illness; no doubt the southern breezes +would bring back the color to her cheeks, and he should hear before +he had been long gone that she was quite well and strong again. +At least he hoped so. + +"Then, Maurice, you don't care to see her once more before you sail? +You don't want to say goodbye?" + +"O well, if she's here, of course, but that's another thing; I +wouldn't for worlds have her come back to Kensington just to bid +me goodbye. And really you know, Steenie, I've too much to do just +now to be running about and saying farewells everywhere. The time +that's left me now to be at home with you and my father is none +too long. What is Adelais Cameron to me, when all my world is here?" + +"Maurice," said Stephen again, in a voice that sounded strained +and hard, like the voice of an old man trying to be young; "you're +a dear affectionate fellow, and as things are, perhaps this is all +very well. But supposing Adelais loved you, and my father and-- +and--everybody else you know, wished her to be your wife, how would +you feel towards her then? Supposing, Maurice--only for the sake +of supposing, of course." + +"What a strange fellow you are, Steenie! Why, supposing as you say, +such a very wild improbable circumstance were to occur, I should +be heartily sorry for poor Adelais! Only imagine me with such a +wife as she would make! Why I wouldn't have so transparent, white- +skinned a beauty about my house all day for a mine of gold! I +should be seized with lunacy before long, through mere contemplation +of her very unearthliness, and be goaded into fancying her a picture, +and hanging her up framed and glazed over my drawing-room mantelpiece! +No, no, I'll leave Miss Cameron for you, you're just her style, I +take it; but as for me, I never thought of marrying yet, Steenie, +for I never yet had the luck or ill-luck to fall in love, and certainly +you'll allow that nobody ought to think of marriage until he's really +in love. So I'll wish you all success, old boy, and mind you write +and tell me how the wooing gets on!" + +O Maurice! Maurice! + +Then, by-and-by, the young officer sailed, and Adelais heard of +his going, and her heart died within her for greatness of sorrow +and pain, yet still she held her peace, and lived her life in patience. + +And so for two whole years they kept her by the sea, hoping against +hope, and whispering those idle convictions that affection always +suggests, about the worst being over now, and the time of convalescence +being always tedious and unpromising. But in the third year, when +the autumn days grew darker, and the sun set redder in the sea, +and people began to talk again of Christmas, Adelais called her +brother one evening and said:-- + +"Philip, I have been here very long, and I know that nothing more +on earth can ever make me well again now. You will not refuse me +the last request I shall make you, Phil? Take me back to the old +house at Kensington, that I may see dear old Mr. Gray, and my friend +Stephen, once more; and you, Phil, stay with me and Auntie there +until I die, for it won't be very long now, and I want to see you +near me to the last." + +So they brought her back again to the old house, next door to the +wine merchant's, and they carried her over the threshold, because +she was too weak to walk now, and laid her on the old sofa in the +old place by the window, for she would have it, and Philip Cameron +did her bidding in everything. And that same evening, Stephen Gray +came in to see her, and they met as old friends meet who have been +long parted, and sat and talked together until past sunset. But +at length Adelais asked him for news of Maurice, what he was doing, +and how he was, and when they heard from him last, and what he +thought of India and of the new life there, and his companions, +and the climate, and the customs of the place; for she never guessed +that Stephen knew of her hopeless love. But Stephen turned away +his face and answered her briefly, that his brother was well and +prosperous, and wrote home constantly. How could he tell her that +Maurice had already found himself a rich handsome wife in India? + + + + + +Chapter III. + + + + +Soon after these things, old Mr Gray fell ill of a violent cold, +which attacked him suddenly one afternoon on his return from his +office. It was Christmas weather then, and the cold and the frost +of the season were unusually keen, so that the physician, whom +Stephen called in to see his father, looked very grave and dubious; +and before many days of his patient's illness were past, he asked +the young man whether there were any brothers or sisters of his, +whom the merchant might wish to see. Stephen's heart beat fast +when he heard the ominous question, for he understood what tidings +the grave tone and the strange inquiry were meant to break to him, +and knew well that the physician who spoke was one of the wisest +and most skillful in London. But he answered as calmly as he could, +and talked of Maurice, and of the boy's fondness for his father, +and added, that if there were really imminent danger, he should +like his brother to be called home, because he was sure Maurice +would wish it; but that otherwise the voyage was tedious and the +need unimportant. + +"Let him be sent for," said the physician. "There is just time." + +So Stephen wrote to his brother, and bade him leave his wife with +her parents in India, and come home quickly, if he would see his +father again, for the time was short, and in those days the only +way open to Maurice was the long circuitous sea-route. + +Maurice arrived only three days before the old man's death. He +had not left his wife behind him, as Stephen suggested, for she +loved her husband too dearly to be parted from him, and Maurice +brought her with him to his father's house. + +From her place on the sofa by the window, Adelais Cameron looked +wearily out, watching for the coming of the one she loved most upon +earth. And at last the coach drew up at the old gentleman's gate, +and she saw Maurice dismount from the box-seat by the driver and +open the coach door to hand out a handsome lady, with dark hair +and bright glowing eyes. + +"Who is that?" she asked of the maid, who was arranging the tea-table +beside her. + +"Don't you know, Miss?" said the girl, surprised at the inquiry. +"That's Mrs Maurice, the rich young lady he married in India a year +ago; I was told all about it by the cook at Mr. Gray's, ever-so- +long ago." + +But as the words were spoken, Stephen entered the room with a message +for Philip Cameron, and overheard both the question and the answer. +Adelais turned towards him and said, "Stephen, you never told me +that Maurice had a wife." + +The next week they buried the old wine merchant very quietly and +simply. Only three mourners attended the funeral,--Stephen and +Maurice and Philip Cameron; but Adelais, looking down on them from +her casement corner, as the coffin was carried forth from the house, +laid her golden head on her aunt's bosom and cried, "Auntie, auntie, +I never thought to live so long as this! Why must those always +die who are needed most, while such as I live on from year to year? +I fancied I had only a few weeks left me upon earth when we came +back to Kensington, and yet here I am still!" + +Then after a little while the brothers parted once more; Maurice +and his wife went back to India, and Stephen was left alone, sole +successor to his father's business, and master of the old house. +But Adelais Cameron still lived on, like the shadow of her former +self, fading in the sunset of her womanhood, the beauty sapped out +from her white death-like face, and the glitter of youth and the +sweetness of hope quenched for ever in the depths of her luminous eyes. + +Then when the days of mourning were over, Stephen came again to +Adelais, to renew the wooing of old times; for he said to himself, +"Now that Maurice is married, and my father dead, she may pity me, +seeing me so lone and desolate; and I may comfort her for the past, +and make her amends with my love, for the pain and the bitterness +that are gone by." + +But when he knelt alone by the couch whereon Adelais lay, and held +her white blue-veined hands in his and told his errand, she turned +her face from him and wept sore, as women weep over the dead. + +"Adelais, O Adelais," he cried in his despair, "Why will you refuse +me always? Don't you see my heart is breaking for love of you? +Come home with me and be my wife at last!" + +But she made answer very sadly and slowly:-- + +"Stephen, ought the living and the dead to wed with one another? +God forbid that you in your youth and manhood should take to wife +such a death-like thing as I! Four years I have lain like this +waiting for the messenger to fetch me away, and now that at last +he is near at hand, shall I array myself in a bridal veil for a +face-cloth, and trailing skirts of silk or satin for a shroud? +Dear Stephen, don't talk to me any more about this,--we are brother +and sister still,--let nothing on earth break the sweetness of the +bond between us." + +"Not so, Adelais," cried he, passionately; "you cannot, you must +not die yet! You do not know what love can do, you do not know +that love is stronger than death, and that where there is love like +mine death dare not come! There is nothing in all the world that +I will not do for your sake, nothing that I will leave undone to +save you, nothing that shall be too hard a condition for me to perform, +so that I may keep you with me still. Live, live my darling, my +beloved, and be my wife! Give me the right to take you with me, +my sweet; let us go together to Madeira, to Malta, to Sicily, where +the land is full of life, and the skies are warm, and the atmosphere +clear and pure. There is health there, Adelais, and youth, and +air to breathe such as one cannot find in this dull, misty, heavy +northern climate, and there you will grow well again, and we will +think no more about death and sickness. O my darling, my darling, +for God's sake refuse me no longer!" + +She laid her thin transparent palm wearily over her left side, and +turned her calm eyes on the passionate straining face beside her. + +"There is that here," she said, pressing her wounded heart more +tightly, "that I know already for the touch of the messenger's hand. +Already I count the time of my sojourn here, not by weeks nor even +by days,--the end has come so very, very near at last. How do I +know but that even now that messenger of whom I speak may be standing +in our presence,--even now, while you kneel here by my side and +talk to me of life and youth and health?" + +"Adelais," pleaded the poor lover, hoarsely, "you deceive yourself, +my darling! Have you not often spoken before of dying, and yet +have lived on? O why should you die now and break my heart outright?" + +"I feel a mist coming over me," she answered, "even as I speak with +you now. I hear a sound in my ears that is not of earth, the darkness +gathers before my face, the light quivers and fades, the night is +closing about me very fast. Stephen, Stephen, don't you see that +I am dying?" + +He bowed his head over the damp colorless brow, and whispered: +"If it be so, my beloved, be as my wife yet, and die in my arms." + +But while he uttered the words there came a change over her,--a +shadow into the sweet eyes and a sudden spasm of pain across the +white parted lips. Feebly and uncertainly she put out her hands +before her face, like one groping in the darkness, her golden head +drooped on his shoulder, and her breath came sharp and thick, with +the sound of approaching death. Stephen folded his arms about her +with a cry of agony, and pressed the poor quivering hands wildly +to his bosom, as though he would fain have held them there for ever. + +"O God!" he groaned in his unutterable despair; "is there no hope, +no redemption, no retrieving of the past? Is this the bitter end +of all, and must I lose my darling so? O Adelais, Adelais, my beloved!" +But even as he spoke, the gathering shadow broke softly over all her +face, the sobbing, gasping breath ceased in the stillness of the +darkened room, the golden head fell lower,--lower yet upon the desolate +heart whose love had been so steadfast and so true; and Stephen +covered his face with the hands of the dead, and wept such tears +as men can only weep once in a lifetime,--tears that make brown +hairs grey and young men old. + +Philip Cameron and his aunt did not stay long at Kensington. They +gave up the house to strangers, and went away to the Continent for +awhile, where they traveled about together, until the old lady grew +tired of wandering, and settled down with her maid in a little villa +near Geneva; and after that, Stephen heard no more of her nor of +Philip. But Stephen himself stayed on in the old house until he +grew old too, for he loved the place where Adelais had lived, and +could not bear to leave it for another. And every evening when he +came home from his office, he would sit alone at the window of his +study whence he could see across the garden into the little chamber +next door, the little chintz-curtained old-fashioned chamber where +she used to lie in her weakness years and years ago, where they two +had so often talked and read together, and where she had died at +last in his arms. But he never wept, thinking of these things now, +for he had grown into a little withered dried-up old man, and his +tears were dried up also, and instead of his passionate despair +and heart-breaking, had come the calm bitterness of eternal regret, +and a still voiceless longing for the time that every day drew nearer +and nearer, and for the coming of the messenger from the land that +is very far off. + +But when Maurice came home once more to settle in England with his +handsome wife and his children, rich and happy and prosperous, he +would fain have taken some new house in London to share with his +twin brother, that they might live together; but Stephen would not. +Then when Maurice had reasoned and talked with him a long time in +vain, pleading by turns the love that had been between them long +ago, the loneliness of his brother's estate, and his own desire +that they should not separate now, he yielded the contest, and said +discontentedly,-- + +"Have your own way, Steenie, since you will make a solitary bachelor +of yourself, but at least give up your useless toiling at the wine- +office. To what end do you plod there every day,--you who are +wifeless and childless, and have no need of money for yourself? +Give me up this great house in which you live all alone, like an +owl in an oak-tree, and let me find you a cottage somewhere in the +neighborhood, where I can often come and see you, and where you +may spend your days in happiness and comfort." + +And the little old man shook his head and answered, "Nay, brother +Maurice, but I will go away from here to some country village where +I am not known, for I have toiled long and wearily all my life, +and I cannot rest in peace beside the mill where I have ground down +my life so many years. Do not trouble yourself about me, Maurice, +I shall find a home for myself." + +Then they parted. Maurice and his family came to live in the big +house at Kensington, for they liked to be near London, and Stephen +sold his father's business to another merchant, and went away, +Maurice knew not whither, to bury himself and his lost life in +some far-off village, until by-and-by the messenger for whom he +had waited and yearned so long should come also for him, and the +day break and the shadows flee away." + + +Such, reader mine, is in substance the story that Dr. Peyton told me. +The words in which he related it I cannot of course quite remember +now, so I have put it into words of my own, and here and there I +have added somewhat to the dialogue. But the facts and the pathos +of the romance are not mine, nor his; they are true, actual realities, +such as no dressing of fiction can make more poetical or complete +in their sorrowful interest. + +"It was a long history," said I, "for a dying man to tell." + +"Yes," answered he. "And several times it was evident enough from +his quick-drawn breath and sudden pauses, that the recital wearied +and pained him. But he was so set upon telling, and I, Lizzie, I +confess, so much interested in hearing it, that I did not absolutely +hinder his fancy, but contented myself with warning him from time +to time not to overtask his strength. He always answered me that +he was quite strong, and liked to go on, for that it made him happy +even to talk once more about Adelais, and to tell me how beautiful +and sweet and patient she had been. It was close upon sunset when +he ended his story, and he begged me, that as his fashion was, he +might be lifted out of bed and carried to his armchair by the window, +to look, as he said, for the last time, at the going down of the sun. +So I called the housekeeper, and we did what he desired together, +and opened the green Venetian blinds of the casement, which had been +closed all the afternoon because of the heat. You remember, Lizzie, +what a wonderfully bright and beautiful sunset it was this evening? +Well, as we threw back the outer shutters, the radiant glory of +the sky poured into the room like a flood of transparent gold and +almost dazzled us, so that I fancied the sudden brilliancy would +be too much for his feeble sight, and I leaned hastily forward with +the intention of partly reclosing the blinds. But he signed to me +to let them be, so I relinquished my design, and sent the housekeeper +downstairs to prepare him his tea, which I thought he might like +to take sitting up in his chair by the window. I had no idea--doctor +though I am--that his end was so near as it proved to be; for +although certainly much exhausted and agitated with the exertion +of telling me his story, I did not then perceive any immediate cause +for apprehension. Still less did I understand that he was then +actually dying; on the contrary, I began to think that my first +impressions of his danger when I entered the room that afternoon +had been erroneous, and that the change I had observed in him might +possibly be an indication of temporary revival. At all events, I +fancied the cup of tea which was then being made ready, would be +of great use in stimulating and refreshing him after the weariness +caused by his long talk, and I promised myself that if I could only +persuade him to silence for the rest of the evening, he would be +none the worse for the recent gratification of his whim. We sat +some time by the open window, watching the sun as it sank lower and +lower into the golden-sheeted west, and some unconnected speculations +were straying through my mind about `the sea of glass mingled with +fire,' when the old man's words aroused me in the midst of my dreaming, +and the voice in which he spoke was so unusual and so soft that it +startled me. + +"`Doctor,' he said, `I think I am dying.' + +"I sprang from my seat and stood at his side in a moment, but before +the utterance had well passed from his lips, I perceived that it +was no mere invalid's fancy. + +"'Thirty-five years ago,' he continued, speaking still in that new +unusual voice,--`thirty-five years ago this very selfsame day, my +Adelais died in my arms as the sun went down. Today, as the sun +goes down, I shall die also.' + +"Surely," cried I, "this is a very singular incident! Does it not +seem so to you! This evening, then, was actually the anniversary +of poor Miss Cameron's death! How strange!" + +"It certainly appeared so to me at first," he rejoined. "But when +my mind reverted to it afterwards, I thought it exceedingly probable +that his own knowledge of the fact had itself hastened his end, +for he had no doubt been long brooding over it, and maybe desired +that his death should occur that particular day and hour. In his +enfeebled condition, such a desire would have great physical effect; +I have known several similar cases. But however that may have been, +I of course have no certain means of deciding. I have already told +you, that immediately on my entering his chamber in the afternoon, +he expressed to me his conviction that tonight he should go to his +`long rest,' and in the certainty of that conviction, related to +me the story you have heard. But though it has been the necessary +lot of my calling to be present at so many deathbeds, I never before +witnessed a calmer or a more peaceful end than Stephen Gray's. In +his changed face, in his watchful eyes, in every placid feature +of his countenance, I beheld the quiet anticipation of that `long +rest' about which he had spoken so contentedly an hour or two since. + +"He took no further heed of me whatever,--I doubt if he was even +aware of my presence. Wearily he laid his head back upon the white +pillows I had placed in the armchair behind him, folded his hands +together, and kept his eyes fixed steadfastly, and--I thought--even +reverently, upon the setting sun that was now fast sinking like a +globe of fire, towards the blue ridge of the Malvern hills, and +my heart beat violently as I saw it touch the topmost peak. While +I watched, there broke suddenly forth from between the low lines +of sunset cloud, a long ray of golden light, that fell full on the +uplifted face of the little old man. He did not turn his head, +or shrink from its intense brightness, but his lips moved, though +the utterance of the words he spoke was so broken and indistinct, +that I stooped to hear them. + +"'Adelais,--O my lost darling,--my Adelais,--let me come to thee +and be beloved at last!' + +" Then I looked again at the western sky, and saw that the sun had +gone down." + + +Next morning I gathered my June roses and sweet jasmin, and took +them over to the house of the little old man. I went upstairs into +the darkened chamber where they had laid him, and bestowed the +flowers reverently about the white-draped bed. All the wrinkles +were wiped out of his pallid face now, and he looked so wondrously +calm and peaceful, lying there with his closed eyelids and crossed +hands, in the unbroken silence of the room, that the tears of pity +I thought I should have wept at the sight never rose in my eyes; +but instead, as I turned away, there came to my memory certain +closing lines of a most beautiful poem, written not very long ago +by a master-hand that surely held God's commission to write. It +is a dead hand now, but the written words remain, and the singer +herself has gone to the land of the Hereafter, where the souls of +the poets float for ever in the full light of their recovered Godhead, +singing such songs as mortal ear hath not yet heard, nor mortal +heart conceived of. And the poem of which I spoke, has this ending:-- + + + "`Jasper first,' I said, + `And second, sapphire; third, chalcedony. + The rest in order,--last, an amethyst."' + + + + + +VII. The Nightshade + + "But silence is most noble till the end."--Atalanta in Calydon. + + + + +Chapter I. + + +Somebody, the other day, presented me with a bunch of crimson roses +and purple nightshade, tied together. + +Roses and nightshade! + +I thought the combination worthy of a poem! + +For the rose, as all the world conceives, is the emblem of love; +and the nightshade typifies silence. + +I put my posy in a little vase filled with water, and when night +came, I lay down to rest, with my head full of vague rhymes and +unfledged ideas, whose theme was still my eccentric nosegay. Sleep, +however, overtook the muse, and the soft divinities of darkness, +weaving their tender spells about me, dissolved my contemplated +sonnet into a dream. + +It seemed to my sleeping fancy that I stood in a deep, serene light +of shadowy purple, grave and sombre,--a light which suggested to +me the sound of low minor chords, the last notes of some organ +voluntary, dying beneath a master's touch, and rolling down the +hazy aisles of an empty cathedral, out into the gloomy night, and +upward to the stars. + +A spirit floated in the air before me,--a phantom draped in heavy +sweeping robes of dense purple, but with eyes of such vivid and +fiery brightness, that I could not look upon them; and my heart +quailed in my bosom with a strange oppressive sense of fear and +wonder. Then I felt that her awful gaze was fixed upon me, and +a voice, low and sonorous as the tones of an organ, broke on my +ear with an intense pathos, unutterably solemn:-- + +Daughter of earth, I am the spirit of the purple Nightshade, the +Atropa Belladonna of the south,--the scent of whose dusky chalice +is the fume of bitterness; the taste of whose dark fruit is death. +And because the children and the maidens shun my poisonous berries, +when they go out into the woods to make garlands for Mary's shrine, +or for wedding gala; and because the leech and herbalist find in +me a marvellous balm to soothe the torments of physical anguish; +because I give the sick man ease, and the sleepless man oblivion, +and the miserable man eternal rest; because I am sombre of hue +and unsweet of odour, able to calm, to hush, and to kill, the sons +of earth have chosen me to be the emblem of silence. There is a +shadow on your brow: my words sound strange and bitter to you; +yet hear me: for once on earth I dwelt with one who thought and +labored in silence. His name is inscribed upon no calendar of the +world's heroes; it is written only in heaven! + +Not far from a certain large town in Piedmont there was once a +miserable little cottage. It had been let when I knew it, to a +poor invalid woman and her only child, a boy about nine or ten years +old. They were very poor, this mother and son; and the little +living they had, came mostly by means of needlework, which the woman +did for people in the town, and by the sale of dried herbs and +suchlike. As for the cottage itself, it was a crazy, tumble-down +tenement, half in ruins, and all the outside walls of it were covered +with clinging ivies and weeds and wild climbing plants. I was one +of these. I grew just underneath the solitary window of the small +chamber wherein the poor woman slept,--the whole but consisted of +only two rooms,--and I climbed and sprouted and twisted my head in +and out of the network of shrubs about me, and clung to the crumbling +stone of the wall, and stretched myself out and up continually, +until I grew so tall, that I could look in at the casement and see +the inside of the room. It was in the summertime that I first managed +to do this, and I remember well what a burning, sultry summer it was! +Everything seemed parched and calcined under the pitiless Italian +sun, and the whole sky was like a great blazing topaz,--yellow, +and hard to look at; and the water disappeared from the runlets, +and there was not a breath of wind from one end of the sky to the other. + +So it was no great marvel to me, when one day, not long after my +first appearance at the windowsill, I saw the poor woman come into +the room with a very faltering step, and a whiter, sicklier look +on her wan face than was usual to it. She threw herself wearily +down upon her bed in the corner, and panted for breath. She had +been to the town to take thither the last piece of needlework she +had done, and she laid on the wooden table by the bedside the money +the people had given her for her labor. Hard-earned coins, and +few of them! She put her thin, wasted hands to her head as she +lay, and I heard her murmur to herself in broken words that seemed +interspersed with half suppressed sobs, and I could not understand +what she said. But by-and-by, when she had grown a little calmer,-- +there was a sharp, swift tap at the door of the room, and the boy +entered, with a small book in his hand, and a sparkle of pleasure +in his eyes. + +"Look, mother!" he cried, holding up the volume gleefully; "this +is one of the great German Professor's 'Treatises on Chemistry!' +Herr Ritter has bought it for me! Isn't it good of him? And he +is here, and wants to know if he may come and see you!" + +She smiled,--such a poor ghost of a smile as it was!--and answered +feebly, "Let him come; 'Tista." But I suppose the Herr had heard +even that broken message, for at the words the door was pushed +open a little further, and an old man appeared, bare-headed, wearing +a long white beard, and carrying a staff in his hand. He was bent +with age, and his forehead and cheeks were marked about with many +lines and crosses,--deep furrows ploughed by the harrow of thought +and sorrow. I had often seen him before, for he came frequently +to the cottage, but I had never been so close to him as on this +occasion, and had never before noticed how poor and worn his garments +were. He came into the room with a courteous greeting on his lips, +half-Italian, half-German in its phraseology, and signed with a +nod of his head to the boy Battista to be gone, who immediately +obeyed, hugging his prize, and closed the door softly behind him. + +"Herr Ritter," said the woman, raising herself on the +pillow, and putting both her hands into his; "you are too good to, +my 'Tista, and too good to me. Why will you do these things?" + +He smiled, as though the matter were not worth a word; but she +went on,-- + +"I say you are too good, dear friend. Never a day passes, but you +bring me something,--wine or fruit or some piece of dainty fare; +and as for 'Tista, there is nothing he does not owe to you! All +he knows, you have taught him. We can never repay you." + +"My dear Frau 'Lora, who thinks of such things twice? Chut! But +you look ill and over-tired this evening. You have been to the +town again?" + +"Yes." + +"I thought so. You must lie here and rest now. It will get cooler +by-and-by; and look, I have brought you some bunches of grapes and +some peaches. They will do you good." + +"Oh, Herr Ritter!" + +"Don't cry 'oh, Herr Ritter!' in that reproachful manner, for this +fruit really cost me nothing. It was given to me. Little Andrea +Bruno brought it to me today." + +"The fruit-seller's child? Yes, yes, I daresay; but it was not +meant for me! It's no use trying to hide your good deeds, Herr +Ritter! 'Tista has told me how kind you were to Andrea's little +sister when she sprained her foot last month; and how you bandaged +it for her, and used to go and read to her all the morning, when +her father and Andrea were out selling fruit, and she would have +been left alone but for you; and I know, too, all about poor crippled +Antonia and Catterina Pic--. Don't go away, I won't say any more +about it! But I couldn't help telling you I knew; you dear, good +Herr Ritter!" + +He had half-risen, but now he reseated himself, and drew his chair +nearer her couch. In doing this his eyes met hers, and he looked +earnestly into them a moment. + +"Lora, you have been weeping. What is the matter?" + +She moved restlessly on her hard pillows, and dropped her gaze from +his face, and I noted that a faint blush stole over her sunken cheeks +and touched her forehead. With that tender glow, under the faded +skin, she looked almost beautiful. She was young, certainly, not +more than thirty at the utmost; but she was very poor and desolate, +and there is nothing so quick at sapping the blood and withering +the beauty of women as poverty and desolation. Nothing. + +"Herr Ritter," she said, after a little pause, "I will tell you +what is the matter. Perhaps you may be able to advise me; I don't +quite know what to do. You know how very, very much my 'Tista wants +to be a chemist, so I needn't say anything about that. Well, he +must be brought up to something, you know; he must learn to be +something when the time comes for him to live without me, and I +don't think, Herr Ritter, it will be very long-- before--before +that time comes, now." + +I noted again that the old man did not contradict her. He only +watched her drooping face, and listened. + +"I have worked early and late," she went on in low, swift tones, +"to try and lay by a little money towards getting him apprenticed +to some chemist in the town. He has worked, too, poor child. But +it is little--nothing--we could save between us; for we must live +meanwhile, you know, dear friend, and there is the rent to pay. +Well, now I am coming to my story. When I was a young girl, I had +a sister, ten years older than I. We were orphans, and an old aunt +took care of us. I married--against my aunt's wish, in the face +of my sister's warnings,--a poor improvisatore. We were poor enough, +of course, before that, my sister and I, but we were not beggars, +and the husband I took was below me. Well, my sister was very angry, +dreadfully angry, but I was young and strong, and I was in love, +so I didn't care much about it then. My husband traveled from place +to place, telling his stories and singing his rhymes, and I went +with him, and soon lost sight of my sister. At last we came to Rome. +'Tista was born there, and soon after I got some news of my old +home from a wandering pedlar, who had passed through the village +where I used to live. My aunt was dead, and my sister had married,-- +married a rich inn-keeper; a match as far above our station as +mine had been below it. Well, Herr Ritter, my husband was badly +hurt in a quarrel one evening in one of the squares. Somebody +insulted him before all the people as he was telling one of his +stories, and his blood got up and he struck the man, and they fought; +and my husband was brought home to me that night, half-murdered. +He didn't live long. He had had a heavy fall, I think, in that +fight, for the back of his head was cut open, and he took brain-fever +from it. I did my best, but our money was scarce, and our child +was too young to be left alone with a sick man, and I could get +no work to do at home. So one day, at noon, my husband died. Poor +Battista! I could not help it! I could not save him! Ah Jesu! +what a terrible thing poverty is! what a mournful thing it is to live!" + +She shrouded her face in her hands, but not to weep, for when, after +a little silence, she raised her large dark eyes again to meet the +old German's compassionate gaze, I saw that they were calm and tearless. + +"After that, I used to leave little 'Tista in the care of a woman, +next door to me, while I went out as a model. I was handsome then, +the painters said, and my hair and my complexion were worth something +in the studio; but not for long. My color faded, and my hair grew +thin, for I pined and sorrowed day and night after the husband I +had lost, and at last no one would give two scudi for me, so I took +'Tista and left Rome to tramp. Sometimes I got hired out in the +vine-harvest, and sometimes I sold fruit, or eggs, or fish in the +markets, till at last I got a place as a servant in a big town, +and 'Tista went to school a bit. But seven months ago my mistress +died, and her daughters wouldn't keep me, because I had become weak +and couldn't do the work of their house as well as I used to do it. +And nobody else would take me, for all the people to whom I went +said I looked halfway in my grave, and should be no use to them +as a servant. So I gave it up at last, and came on here and got +this cottage, almost for nothing, though it's something to me; +but then they give me so little for my work, you see, in the town. +Well, Herr Ritter, I daresay you think my story a very long one, +don't you? I am just near the end of it now. I went into the town +today, and while I was standing in the shop with my needlework, a +lady came in. The shop-woman, who was talking to me about the price +of the things I had done, left me when the lady came in, and went +to serve her. So I had to stand and wait, and when the lady put +back her veil to look at something she was going to buy, I saw her +face. Oh, Herr Ritter! it was my sister, my sister Carlotta! I +was certain of it! I was certain of it! Nevertheless; after she +had gone, I asked the shop-woman some questions about the lady. +She did not tell me much, for I fancy she thought me inquisitive; +but she told me, at least, all I had need to know. Her customer, +she said, was the wife of a very rich inn-keeper, and her name was +Carlotta Nero. She is lodging, the woman told me, at the Casa d'Oro. +I didn't go to see her then, of course, because she could not then +have reached home; but I want to go tomorrow, if I can manage to +walk so far, for I think she would like to see me again, and I am +sure I should like to see her. And, shall I tell you what else I +am thinking about, Herr Ritter? It is that, perhaps,--perhaps, +her husband, being so rich, he might be able to put 'Tista in the +way of doing something, or of getting me some work, so that we +could save up the money for his apprenticeship by-and-by. What +do you think of it now, Herr Ritter? My sister, you know, is the +only friend I have in the world, except you, kind, dear Herr! and +I don't think she would mind my asking her this, though we did part +in anger; do you? For that was ten years ago." + +She paused again, and Herr Ritter gazed tenderly at the poor sharp +face, with its purple eyelids and quivering parted lips, through +which the heavy rapid breath came every moment with a sudden painful +shudder, like a sob. I think he was wondering, pityingly, what +such a feeble, shattered creature as she could have to do with work, +at least, on this side of death. + +"Herr Ritter! Herr Ritter!" cried 'Tista, bursting open the door +of the little chamber, in a state of great delight; "look what +Cristofero has just given me! These beautiful roses! Will you +have them?" + +"Not I, 'Tista, thank you. Gay colors and sweet odours are not +for me. Put them here in this cup by your mother's side. Now, +Frau 'Lora, I will not be contradicted!" + +"Won't you have one of them, Herr Ritter?" asked the boy, wistfully, +holding out towards the old man a spendid crimson bud. + +He answered hurriedly, with a gesture of avoidance. + +"No, no, 'Tista! I never touch roses! See here, I'll take a cluster +of this, 'tis more in my line a great deal." He turned away to +the lattice as he spoke; rather, I thought, to conceal a certain +emotion that had crossed his face at the sight of the roses than +for any other reason, and laid his hand upon me. + +"Why, that's nightshade!" cried the boy in surprise. + +"No matter," answered the old German, breaking off my blossom-head, +and tucking its stalk into the buttonhole of his rusty coat; "I like +it, it suits me. Belladonna is not to be despised, as you ought to +know, Master Chemist!" Then, in a softer tone, "I shall come and +see you tomorrow morning, Frau 'Lora, before you start. Goodnight." + +He went out, shutting the door behind him gently, and I went with him. +He did not walk very far. About half-a-mile from the town there +stood three or four old-fashioned houses, with projecting gables +and low green verandahs sloping over their wide balconies, and it +was in the first of these houses that Herr Ritter lodged. + +He had only one room, a little dark, studious-looking apartment, +scantily furnished, with a single window, opening on to the balcony, +and in one corner a deep recess, within which was his bed. There +were some shelves opposite the window, and upon these several ponderous +old tomes in faded covers; a human skull, and a few fossils. +Nothing else at all, except a tiny picture, hung upon the wall +above the head of his couch; but this I did not see at first. + +Later, when he had taken me out of his coat, and put me in water, +in a little glass bowl, I was able to turn my great yellow eyes +full upon the painting, and I saw that it was the miniature of a +beautiful young girl, dressed in a very old-fashioned costume, and +wearing upon her fair bosom a knot of crimson roses. "Ah," I said +to myself, "there has been a romance in this old German's life, +and now there is--silence." + + + + + +Chapter II. + + + + +Very early the next morning Battista came to see Herr Ritter. In +his hand the boy carried a large clay flowerpot, wherein, carefully +planted in damp mould, and supported by long sticks set crosswise +against each other, I beheld my own twining branches and pendulous +tendrils; all of myself, indeed, that had been left the day before +outside the cottage window. Battista bore the pot triumphantly +across the room, and deposited it in the balcony under the +green verandah. + +"Ecco! Herr Ritter!" cried he, with vast delight. "You see I don't +forget what you say! You told me yesterday you liked the belladonna, +so when you were gone I went and dug up its root and planted it in +this pot for you, that you may always keep it in your balcony, and +always have a bunch to wear in your coat. Though, indeed, I can't +think how you can like it; it smells so nasty! But you are a +strange old darling, aren't you, Herr Ritter?" + +Battista had set down his pot now, and was looking into the old +German's face with glistening eyes. + +"Child," answered the Herr, smiling very gravely and tenderly, as +one may fancy that perhaps a Socrates or a Plato may have smiled +sometimes; "your gift is very welcome, and I am glad to know you +thought of me. These are the first flowers I have ever had in my +little dark room; and as for the scent of them, you know, 'Tista, +that is a matter of taste, isn't it, just like color." + +"Yes," quoth 'Tista, emphatically, "I like roses!" + +But Herr Ritter interposed hurriedly. + +"Tista, how is your mother today?" + +"That is one of the things I came to talk about. She is ill; too +ill to rise this morning, and she wants to see you. Will you come +back with me, for I think she has something particular to say to you?" + +"Yes, 'Tista, I will come." + +He took down his old velvet cap from its peg behind the door, and +stooping over the little glass dish in which he had placed the spray +of my blossoms the preceding day, lifted me carefully out of the +water, wiped the dripping stem, and fastened me in his coat again. +I believe he did this to show the boy a pleasure. + +But a little while after this, and Herr Ritter sat again in the +old wooden chair by the widow's couch. Early that morning she had +written to her sister a long letter, which she now put into the +old German's hands, begging him to carry it for her to the Casa d'Oro, +and bring her in return whatever message or note Carlotta Nero should +give him. "For," said the poor woman, with anxious eyes, and pallid +lips that quivered under the burden of the words they uttered, "I +do not know for how long my sister may be staying here, and perhaps +I shall never meet her again. And since I am not able to go myself +into the town today, and I fear to miss her, I thought, dear friend, +you would not mind taking this for me; and, perhaps, if my sister +should ask you anything, saying you know me, and--and--'Tista?" + +She faltered a little there, and the old man took her hand in his +with the tender, pitying gesture we use to little children. + +"Be at ease, dear 'Lora," he murmured, "I will bring you good news. +But the hour is early yet, and if I start so soon, your sister may +not be able to receive me. So I'll go back and take my cup of +coffee at home before I set out." + +He was rising, but she laid her hand on his arm gently. + +"Dear friend, why should you leave us? 'Tista is getting my breakfast +ready now, let him get yours also." + +So Herr Ritter stayed, and the three had their morning meal together. +There was a little loaf of coarse black bread, a tin jug filled with +coffee, and some milk in a broken mug. Only that, and yet they +enjoyed it, for they finished all the loaf, and they drank all the +coffee and the milk, and seemed wonderfully better for their frugal +symposium when 'Tista rose to clear the table. Only black bread +and coffee; and yet that sorry repast was dignified with such +discourse as those who sit at the tables of Dives are not often +privileged to hear. + +For Herr Ritter was a scholar and a philosopher. He had studied +from his youth the strange and growing discoveries of geology, +astronomy, and chemistry; he had wrested from the bosom of Nature +her most subtle secrets, and the earth and the heavens were written +in a language which he understood and loved to read. I learned +that he had been a student in earlier days at a German university, +and had there first begun to think. From the time he was twenty, +until this very hour in which he sat by the side of 'Lora Delcor, +he had been thinking; and now that he had become an ancient man, +with a beard of snow, and a face full of the deep furrows of a +solitary old age, he was thinking still. He had given up the world +in order to think, and yet, he told us, he was as far from the truth +as ever, and was content to know nothing, and to be as a little +child in the presence of Life and of God. + +And when 'Lora asked him why he had never cared to enter into the +lists of argument and controversy with other learned philosophers +and doctors of his time, and to make himself a name that should +have been reverenced among men, he answered mildly, that he had +no ambition, or if he had once had any, he had always felt the +mysteries of existence too profoundly to make them stepping-stones +to worldly honor. "It is impossible," he said, "that any man should +be able, in this sphere of life, and under these conditions of being, +to penetrate into the meaning of things,--or to touch their inmost +source with fingers of flesh. All that we can attain to know is +this, that we can know nothing; and the fairest answer we can give +when we are questioned, is that we do not know. If, then, we know +so little about life, much less can we ever hope to discern the +meaning of death. And as for the lesser considerations of our daily +being, what are they? Long ago I ceased to desire; ambition and +love are things of the past to me." + +I thought the shadows of the hanging vine outside the lattice darkened +over the old man's face as he spoke, and there seemed to come into +his clear keen eyes a sudden mist as of tears that would not flow. +Whether or not the gentle woman beside him also saw these things, +I cannot tell, but when he paused she asked him softly, if his life +had not been a sorrowful one? She feared he must have suffered deeply. + +"To all of us," he answered, "life is a sorrowful thing, because +to all of us it is a mystery past finding out. Have you found it +sweet, Frau 'Lora? no? nor have I. But what I have lost, if indeed +I lost anything, I lost not wilfully. Well,--I have realised my +destiny; the meanest can do no less, the greatest can do no more." + +"But you withdrew yourself of your own accord from the world, dear +Herr; you buried yourself in your own solitude, and kept yourself +apart from the honor you might have earned by your learning in the +world? You chose to be silent?" + +"Yes," he echoed, mournfully, "I chose to be silent. Why should +I have wasted my breath in idle disputation, or to what end should +I have laboured to get a string of empty letters tacked to my name, +like the flypapers of a boy's kite? I do not seek to be dragged +back to the ground, I prefer to mount without a string. Everything +we attempt to do falls short of its conception in its fulfilment. +All glory is disappointment,--all success is failure; how acutely +bitter, only the hero himself can know!" + +"You lave no regrets, then, Herr Ritter?" said 'Lora, with her +clear earnest gaze full upon his face. + +"None," he answered, simply. + +"And will you always keep silence?" + +"Always, so far as I can see," said the old German. "There are +quarrels enough in the world without my intervention, there are +dogmas enough in the world without my enunciations. I do not think +I should do any good by speaking to men. Could I make them any +wiser, purer, gentler, truer than they are? Could I teach them +to be honest in their dealings with each other, compassionate, +considerate, liberal? If they have not heard the prophets, nor +even the divine teacher of Nazareth, shall I be able to do them +any good? Are not their very creeds pretexts for slaughter and +persecution and fraud? Do they not support even their holiest +truths, their sincerest beliefs, by organised systems of deceit +and chicanery? Chut! I tell you that the very vesture which men +compel Truth to wear, is lined and stiffened with lies! The mysteries +of life are so terrible, and its sadness so profound, that blatant +tongues do not become philosophers. Words only serve to rend and +vex and divide us. Therefore I think it best to hide my thoughts +in my heart, believing that in matters which we cannot fathom, +silence is noblest; and knowing that when I say, `I am nothing, +but God is all,--I am ignorant, but God is wise,'--all I am able +to say is said. By-and-by, in the brighter light of a more perfect +day beyond the sun, I shall see the King in His beauty, face to face; +I shall know, even as I am known!" + +"This, then," asked 'Lora, gently, "is why you gave up the world, +that you might be alone?" + +"I gave up the world, dear Frau, because I found in it all manner +of oppression done in the names of justice and of Virtue. My heart +turned against the Wrong, and I had no power to set it Right. The +mystery of life overcame me; I refused the gold and the honours +which might have been mine, if I could have been content in being +dishonest. But God gave me grace to be strong, and the world cast +me out of its gilded nursery. I became a man, and put away childish +things." + +Then he rose slowly from his seat, and as he laid his hand on the +door-latch, and lifted it to go out, a welcome little puff of outside +air darted into the chamber, and stirred the nightshade blossoms in +the breast of the old rusty coat. And I raised my dark purple head, +and perceived that the mournful shadow rested again upon the face +of Herr Ritter, like a cloud at sunset time, when the day that has +passed away has been a day of storm. + +We went to the Casa d'Oro. + +Carlotta Nero was in her sitting-room, and would see the Herr there, +said the dark-haired smiling contadina, who admitted the old German +into the house. She was a native of the place, and evidently remembered +him with gratitude and pleasure. So we presently found ourselves in +a small well-appointed chamber, on the first floor of the Casa. + +On a tapestry-covered dormeuse, by the open window, and carefully +protected with gauze curtains from the glare of the coming noon, +reclined a handsome woman of middle age, so like, and yet so strangely +unlike 'Lora Delcor, that my dusky blooms quivered and fretted with +emotion, as the contadina closed the door behind us. + +The same delicate features, the same luxuriance of hair, but--the +eyes of 'Lora! ah,--a soul, a divinity looked out of them; but in +these one saw only the metallic glitter of the innkeeper's gold! +They turned coldly upon Herr Ritter as he stood in the doorway, +and a hard ringing utterance--again how unlike 'Lora ! for this +was the dry tintinnabulation of coin--inquired his errand. + +"Herr Ritter, I am told. You wish to speak to me?" + +I observed that she allowed the old man to stand while she spoke. + +"Yes; Signora," he answered, mildly, "I bring you this letter; +may I beg you will read it now, before I go? for the writer charged +me to carry back to her your answer." + +He drew 'Lora's note from his vest with a gesture of reverent +tenderness, as though he loved the very paper his friend had touched, +and were something loath to part with it to such indifferent hands +and eyes as these. Carlotta Nero took it coldly, and glanced through +the close-written pages with the languid air of a supercilious fine +lady. Once I fancied I saw her cheek flush and her lip quiver as +she read, but when she looked up again and spoke, I thought I must +have been mistaken in that fancy, or else her emotion had been due +to another cause than that I had imagined. For there was no change +in the ungentle glittering eyes; no softening in the dry tinkle +of the voice that delivered the Signora's answer. + +"I am sorry I can do nothing for your friend. You will tell her +I have read her letter, and that I leave this place tomorrow morning." + +She inclined her head as she said this, I suppose by way of indication +that the Herr might accept his dismissal; and laid the letter on +an ebony console beside her sofa. But the old German kept his ground. + +"Signora," he said, tremulously, and my blossoms thrilled through +all their delicate fibres with the indignant beating of his heart; +"do you know that letter comes from your sister? That she is poor, +in want, widowed, and almost dying?" + +Carlotta Nero lifted her pencilled eyebrows. + +"Indeed?" she said. "I am pained to hear it. Still I cannot do +anything for her. You may tell her so." + +"Signora, I beg you to consider. Will you suffer the--the fault +of ten years ago to bear weight upon your sisterly kindness,--your +human compassion and sympathy, now?" + +"Excuse me, Herr Ritter, I think you are talking romance. I have +no sisterly kindness, no compassion, no sympathy, for any one of-- +of this description." + +She motioned impatiently towards the letter on the console; and +I thought she spoke the truth. + +Her Ritter was speechless. + +"Dolores chose her own path," said the innkeeper's wife, seeing +that her visitor still waited for something more, "and she has no +right to appeal to me now. She disgraced herself deliberately, +and she must take the consequences of her own act. I will not move +a finger to help her out of a condition into which she wilfully +degraded herself, in spite of my most stringent remonstrances. +All imprudence brings its own punishment,--and she must bear hers +as other foolish people have to do. She is not the only widow in +the world, and she might be worse off than she is; a great deal." + +"I am to tell her this"--asked Herr Ritter, recovering himself with +a prodigious effort "from you?" + +"As you please," returned the great lady, still in the same indifferent +tone. "It will be useless for her to call here, I cannot see her; +and besides, I leave tomorrow with my husband." + +Again she bowed her head, and this time Herr Ritter obeyed the signal. +I felt his great liberal heart heaving,--thump, thump, under the +lapel of the old rusty coat; but I breathed my spirit into his +face, and he said no more as he turned away than just a formal "Buon +giorno, Signora." + +"Silence is best," I whispered. + + + + + +Chapter III. + + + + +He went home to his little dark studio, where the sunlight so rarely +entered, and where the big tomes and the skull and the fossils, +and the picture of the beautiful girl and her crimson roses, greeted +him with unchanged looks. All the room was pervaded with the aroma +of the belladonna plant in the balcony, and all the soul of the +old philosopher was filled with an atmosphere of silent liberality. + +He stood before the bookshelves and laid his withered fingers +falteringly upon the volumes, one after another. I knew already +what was passing in his heart, and my rising perfume assisted the +noble sacrifice. Then he lifted the books from their places,--one, +two, three,--the volumes he prized the most, ancient classical +editions that must have been an El Dorado of themselves to such a +student and connoisseur as he. For a moment he lingered over the +open pages with a loving, tremulous tenderness of look and touch, +as though they had been faces of dear and life-long friends; then +he turned and looked at the picture in the dark corner. A name +rose to his lips; a soft-sounding German diminutive, but I hardly +heard it for the exceeding bitterness of the sigh that caught and +drowned the muttered utterance. But I knew that in that moment +his liberal heart renounced a double sweetness, for surely he had +cherished the gift of a dead love no less than he had treasured +the noble work of immortal genius. + +Then, with his books under his arm, he went silently out of the +studio, and back again into the town, along many a dingy winding +court, avoiding the open squares and the market-place, until we +came to a tall dark-looking house in a narrow street. There Herr +Ritter paused and entered, passing through along vestibule into a +spacious apartment at the back of the house, where there was a +gentleman lounging in an easy attitude over the back of an armchair, +from which he seemed to have just risen, and slashing with an ivory +paper-knife the leaves of a book he was holding. The room in which +we found ourselves had a curiously hybrid appearance, and I could +not determine whether it were, indeed, part of a publisher's warehouse, +or of a literary museum, or only the rather expansive sanctum of +an opulent homme de lettres. + +Herr Ritter laid down his three big volumes on a table that was +absolutely littered from end to end with old manuscripts and curious +fossilised-looking tomes in vellum covers. + +"Ah, 'Giorno, Herr!" said the gentleman, looking up from his book; +"what is that?" + +He came towards us as he spoke, and opening the topmost volume of +the pile which the old man had deposited on the table, examined +the title-page. + +"Sancta Maria! " cried he, his whole manner changing in a moment +from easy indifference to earnest interest: "what, you will part +with this after all? Why, it is the same book I offered you two +hundred pistoles for at Rome! You wouldn't sell it then at any +price, you said!" + +"No, Signor, but I will now." + +Ah, it was a generous martyrdom, but the pangs of it were very +grievous; what wonder that the martyr sighed a little! + +"The same price, then, Herr? Don't let us bargain about it. The +Eminenza is liberal in these things, you know; and you're poor, +my friend, I know." + +He nodded at the old German with a sort of familiar patronage, as +though he would have said, "Don't be modest, I'll stand by you!" + +But the Herr seemed to notice neither words nor manner, though I +thought the heart beneath the shabby coat recoiled at that instant +somewhat unusually. + +"The same price, if you please, Signor." + +The Cardinal's agent, for such I guessed this tender-hearted individual +before us to be, flashed a keen sudden glance of mingled scrutiny +and surprise at the calm dignified face of the philosopher, whistled +pleasantly a short aria of two notes, apparently with some design +of assisting his mental digestion to victory over a tough morsel; +and then turning to an iron-bound cashbox at his elbow, unlocked it, +and produced therefrom the stipulated sum, which he counted out +with much celerity, and forthwith handed to the old German. With +tremulous fingers the Herr gathered up the money, as though it had +been the price of a friend's betrayal, and drooped his noble head +upon his breast, like a war-horse smitten to the heart in the +passionate front of battle. + +What he had done was registered in Heaven. + +"Addio, Herr." + +"Guten-tag, Signor." + +Herr Ritter did not go back to his lodgings then. He went past +the low house with its green verandah, blistering under the fierce +noon-sun, and across the pastures to the cottage of 'Lora Delcor. +She was sitting at the open door, her thin transparent palms pressed +tightly together, as though she were praying, and her great fringed +eyelids dark and heavy with their burden of pain. Ah! 'Lora! 'Lora! +"blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted!" Not +in the world that men have made, daughter of earth, ah, not in that; +but in the world that God shall make hereafter! + +"Herr Ritter! you have been? O tell me what she said! 'Tista is +not here, he is gone into the woods to gather herbs." + +"Have you told 'Tista anything?" + +"About this? Nothing. I thought I would wait until I knew--" + +She had risen from her seat to greet him, with painful agitation; +and now she staggered, and I think would have fallen, but that the +old man timely caught and held her in his gentle grasp. + +"Be comforted, dear 'Lora," he whispered; " bring you good news." + +She dropped into her wooden chair and covered her face with her +bloodless hands, weeping and sobbing for joy, as only women can +who have suffered much and long and alone. + +Herr Ritter stood by, watching her kindly, and stroking his white +flowing beard in silence, until she had wept her fill; and her +dark blissful eyes, dreamy with the mist of fallen tears, were lifted +again to his face, like caverned pools in summer refreshed with a +happy rain. + +"What did she say? she sent me a note? a message?" + +Herr Ritter poured his pistoles into her lap. + +"I bring you these," said he, simply. + +"Jesu-Maria! She sent me all this! how good! how generous! but +ought I to take it, Herr?" + +"It is for 'Tista; to pay his apprenticeship. But there is a +condition, dear Frau; 'Tista is not to know who sends him this gift. +He is to be told it comes from an unknown friend. When he is older +he will know, perhaps." + +"My kind dear 'Lotta! Ah, she would have 'Tista learn to love her, +then, before she tells him of her goodness! For him I cannot refuse +the money; can I, Herr? But I may go and thank her myself; I +may go and thank her?" + +"Not just yet, 'Lora. Your sister is obliged to leave this place +tomorrow morning; Signor Nero's engagements compel him to proceed; +and so for the present time she charged me to bear you with the gift, +her greeting, and her farewell." + +He was looking at her with grave mild eyes, while he leant against +the cottage-wall and stroked his silver beard. + +Daughter of earth, let God be judge; for He alone understands the +heart of mortal man. As for me, I am only a flower of the dust of the +ground, yet I confess I thought the deceit the old philosopher used, +at least more graceful and gentle than the candour of Carlotta Nero. + +"'Lora: you are happy now?" + +She looked up and smiled in his eyes. + +In that smile the philosopher had his reward. + + +Soon afterwards Battista Delcor was apprenticed to a chemist in +the town, and the cup of his content was filled to the brim; but +as yet, neither his mother nor Herr Ritter told him the name of +his unknown friend. Then it grew towards the end of summer, and +the ferns and the brake began to tarnish in the woodlands, and Dolores +Delcor sickened, and failed, and whitened more and more from day +to day, till at last she could do no work at all, but lived only +at the hands of 'Tista and Herr Ritter. + +As for me, I blossomed still in the balcony beneath the green verandah, +looking always into the dark studio, and noting how, one by one, +the tall musty books upon the old German's shelves were bartered +away for gold. + +But one morning, just at dawn, the woman of that sorrowful name +and dolorous life passed away into her rest, while she slept. And +when 'Tista, with his heart almost breaking for grief, came at the +hour of sunrise to tell Herr Ritter that she was dead, the old man +looked out across the hazy blue of the eastern reaches at the sea +of golden splendour breaking beyond them, and answered only in his +quiet patient way, that he had known it could not be for long. + +I heard the words and understood them, but to the boy they meant nothing. + +Then there came a night when the shelves stood empty, save for the +skull and the fossils, and Herr Ritter wore a strange luminous aspect +upon his placid face, that was not of the shadows nor of the lights +of earth. For five days he had broken no bread, and his strength +had failed him for want and for age, and no friend had been to visit +him. 'Tista, I suppose, had his business now, and of late his +presence in the dark studio had become more and more rare; not +that he was unkind, but that he was full of youth, and the vigorous +love of youth; and the old man's talk was wearisome to ears that +delighted in sounds of laughter and frolic. And besides all this, +he did not know how much he owed to the old philosopher, for Herr +Ritter still kept silence. + +All the autumn day had been sultry, and the wind seemed to have +fallen asleep in some remote corner of the sky, for there had scarce +been air enough to stir the feathery tassels of the pasture grasses, +and the stillness of drought and heat had been everywhere unbroken. + +But when I looked towards the west at sundown, I saw that all the +long low horizon was shrouded in twirling cumuli, with tops of lurid +flame; and great shafts of red tempestuous light, shot upward from +the dying sun, launched themselves over the heavens, and hung there +like fiery swords above a city of doom. + +Herr Ritter sat up late that night, reading a packet of old worn- +looking letters, which he had taken out of a small wooden box beneath +his bed; and as he read them, burning them to tinder one by one +in the flame of his lamp. A little torn morsel of a note, yellow +with age, and half charred with the smoke of the destruction it +had escaped, fluttered down from the table through the open casement, +and fell in the balcony by my side. There were words on the paper, +written in stiff German characters, orthodox and methodical in every +turn and upstroke and formal pothook. They were these:-- + +"I distinctly refuse to give my daughter in marriage to a man who +is so great a fool as to throw away his chances of wealth and fame +for the sake of a mere whim. Yesterday you thought fit to decline +a Professorship which was offered you, on account of a condition +being attached to your acceptance of it. You fancied you could +not honestly fulfil that condition, and you lost your promotion. +Very well: you have also lost my daughter. I see plainly that +you will never be rich, for you will never get on in the world, +and no child of mine shall be wife to you. Consider your engagement +with her at an end." + +Alas! In this, then, was the story of the crimson roses! + +It was far into the night when the last letter dropped to powder +upon the table, and the old German, not pausing to undress, laid +himself wearily down upon the little bed in the dark corner to take +his rest. The oil of the lamp was well-nigh spent then, and its +languid flame quivered dimly upon the wan starved hands that were +folded above the rusty coat, and on the noble face with its pale +closed eyelids and patient lips, stedfast and calm as the face of +a marble king. Over his head the beautiful woman and her crimson +flowers ever and anon brightened in the fitful leaping light, and +shone like a beacon of lost hope upon a life that had been wrecked +and cast adrift in a night of storm. He died as he had lived, in +silence; and his death was the sacrifice of a martyr, the fall of +a warrior at his post. + +Then the tempest broke over all the Piedmont lands, and the wind +arose as a giant refreshed with his rest, and drove the dark thunder- +clouds upward before the sounding pinions of his might like demon +hounds upon the track of a flying world. Then came the sharp swift +hiss of the stinging hail and rain, and the baying of the hurricane, +and the awful roll of the storm that shook the whole broad heaven +from end to end. Strange! that in the tumult of such a wild and +terrible night as this, so gentle and so calm a soul should be +destined to pass away! + +Once again for a single instant I saw him, in the midst of a dazzling +flash of lightning that showed me, clear and distinct as in a mirror, +the whole of the silent chamber where the lamp had gone out, and +the charred tinder of the burnt letters was scattered over the +wooden table. + +He lay motionless upon the white draped bed, a hero slain in the +hour of his triumph, with broad chivalrous brows and tranquil lips, +whence speech had fled for ever, grand and serene in the repose +of a sleep that, like 'Lora's, had borne him away into peace. + +For him there was no longer storm, nor darkness, nor conflict. He +beheld his God face to face in the light of the Perfect Day. + +Slowly at last, beyond the farthest bounds of the dull landscape, +broke the white ghostly lines of dawn; and the shouting of the wind, +and the rage of the chattering tempest fled down the watery sky +with the flying scuds of cloud, away into the distant horizon of +the west. But the belladonna-plant lay dead on the stones of the +balcony, torn and beaten by the hail and the wind, its trailing +stem and clinging tendrils seared with the lightning, its purple +blooms scattered among the shards of the broken flowerpot and the +burnt tinder on the floor of the desolate studio. + +High above the white front of the coming morning, the wind, returning +into the bosom of God, bore upon its limitless wings a twofold burden, +the spirit of a perished flower, the oblation of a Gentle Life. + + +The grave, sonorous intonation sank and ended as it had begun, like +the organ-roll of minor cadences; and the countenance of the phantom +grew indistinct and fluctuating, till it seemed to blend with the +sombre purple atmosphere that surrounded us. But as I perceived +her bright eyes still fastened upon my face, I lifted my hands +imploringly towards the floating presence, and would fain have +caught her fading impalpable garments. + +"Spirit!" I cried, "one question more! The boy 'Tista surely came +with the morning, and learned at last, even though too late, who +had been his unknown friend?" + +"Daughter of mortality," returned the dying voice of the phantom, +"I cannot tell. That night my mission upon earth was ended. But +some of my sister-flowers, which bloom about the graves of the dead, +have sent me messages from time to time by the breath of God's +messenger, the errant breeze of heaven. And they tell me that a +certain rich chemist of a large town in Piedmont, a handsome +prosperous young man, named Battista Delcor, has caused a great +white cross to be set above the resting-place of Herr Ritter. And +upon the base of the cross these words are graven in letters of gold: +"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this; +to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep +oneself unspotted from the world." + +And again, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these +My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." + + + + + +VIII. St. George the Chevalier* + + + + +During the last few years a growing interest in the subject of +religious metaphysic has shown itself in certain strata of our +intellectual world. This interest has taken many forms, and +attached itself to many developments, some of which have been +chiefly distinguished for + +----------- +* Although, strictly, neither a "dream" nor a "dream-story," this paper +is included by the express wish of its writer, the interpretations +contained in it being largely the product of instructions received by +her in sleep.--Ed. +---------- + +eccentricity, and have attracted attention rather by this quality +than by their intrinsic value as solid contributions to thought. +Phrases, symbols, and expositions of theosophical doctrine gathered +from sources unfamiliar to the ordinary Western mind, and requiring +for their comprehension the study of a foreign tongue and of a strange +and intricate psychology, task too much the intellect of a seeker +trained in the Christian faith and seriously bent on the profitable +study of its mysteries. Fain would he learn what are these mysteries +without recourse to a foreign interpreter. His own Church, his +own creed, he thinks, should teach him all that he seeks to know, +and he cares not to set aside and reject names and symbols hallowed +by the use of ages among his people, in favour of others new to +his ear and tongue. If a revival of religious metaphysic is imminent +among us, let it then be directed along the old channels worn deep +by the prayers and aspirations of our fathers. Let us hear what +the tradition of our faith has to unfold to us of arcane secrets, +and to what mystic heights of transcendental thought the paths +trodden by Christian saints can lead us. For the legends and visions +of the saints are full of precious testimonies to the esoteric origin +and nature of Catholic dogma; and the older and more venerable +the tradition, the more fundamental and spiritual its character. +Chiefest for us, and most important among such sacred legends, is +that of ST. GEORGE the Champion, not only because he is for English +folk pre-eminent among the saintly throng celebrated by our Church +as each November-tide comes round, but also because his story is +thoroughly typical of the class of esoteric tradition in which +Catholic truth and faith crystallised themselves in simpler and +purer-hearted times than these. Students of religious mystic thought +can scarce do better than turn to such a tale by way of proem to +more elaborate research. There, in softened outlines and graceful +language, they will find an exposition of the whole argument of +spiritual metaphysics, and a complete vindication of the method of +theosophy. At the outset of a new line of inquiry the mind is +usually more quickened to interest by parable than by dissertation. +All great religious teachers have recognised this fact, and have +directed their instructions accordingly. Nor can those who care +to pursue a systematic study of Christian mysticism afford to despise +these poetic embodiments. + +The highest form of thought is, after all, imaginative. Man ends, +as he begins, with images. Truth in itself is unutterable. The +loftiest metaphysic is as purely symbolic as the popular legend. + +The Catholic tale of St. George, our national patron and champion, +was once of worldwide renown. But since our youth have taken to +reading Mill and Huxley, Spencer and Darwin, in place of the old +books wherein their ancestors took delight, the romances of the +Paladins and the knights-errant of Christian chivalry lie somewhat +rusty in the memories of the present generation. I propose, then, +first to recite the legend of the great St. George and his famous +conquest, and next to offer an interpretation of the story after +the esoteric manner. + +According to Catholic legend, St. George was born in Cappadocia, +and early in the fourth century came to Lybia in quest of chivalrous +adventure. For this great saint was the noblest and bravest knight- +errant the ranks of chivalry have ever known, and the fame of his +prowess in arms vied with, the glory of his virtue, and made his +name a terror to all evil-doers the wide world over. + +In Lybia there was, in those days, a city called Silena, near whose +walls lay a great lake, inhabited by a monstrous and fearsome dragon. +Many a redoubted knight had fallen in conflict with this terrible +beast; none had obtained the least advantage over it; and now +for a long time it had laid waste and ravaged all the country round, +no man daring to attack or hinder it. Every day for many a long +year past the miserable inhabitants of Silena had delivered up to +the dragon a certain number of sheep or kine from their herds, so +that at least the monster might be appeased without the sacrifice +of human life. At last all the flocks and the kine were devoured, +and the townspeople found themselves reduced to a terrible strait. +The dragon besieged the walls of the city, and infected all the +air with his poisonous breath, so that many persons died, as though +smitten by a pestilence. Then, in order to save the people, lots +were cast among all those who had children, and he to whom the die +fell was forced to give a son or daughter to the monster. This +terrible state of things had already continued for some time, when +one day the fatal lot fell to the king, none being exempted from +the tax. + +Now the king had an only child, a fair and virgin daughter. To +save her from so horrible a doom he offered to any man who would +redeem the tax, his crown, his kingdom, and all his wealth. But +the people would hear of no exchange. They demanded that the king +should bear the stroke of fate in common with the meanest citizen. +Then the king asked for a reprieve of eight days to lament his child +and prepare her for her death. Meanwhile the dragon, infuriated at +the unusual delay, hung continually about the city gates, expecting +his victim, and poisoned all the sentinels and men-at-arms who guarded +the walls. Wherefore the people sent messengers to the king and +reproached him with his faint-heartedness. "Why," said they, "do +you suffer your subjects to die for your daughter's sake? Why doom +us to perish daily by the poisonous breath of the dragon?" + +Then the king, perceiving that he could put off the evil hour no +longer, clad his daughter in royal apparel, embraced her tenderly, +and said, "Alas! dear child, I thought to see my race perpetuated +in thine heirs; I hoped to have welcomed princes to thy nuptials; +but now thou must perish in the flower of thy youth, a sacrifice +to this accursed monster! Why did not the Gods decree my death +before I brought thee into the world?" + +When the princess heard these sorrowful words she fell at her father's +feet, and, with tears, besought his blessing. Weeping, he gave it, +and folded her a last time in his arms. Then, followed by her +afflicted women and a great concourse of people, she was led like +a lamb to the gates of the city. Here she parted from her companions, +the drawbridge was lowered across the deep moat, and alone she passed +forth and went towards the lake to meet her destroyer. + +Now it chanced that just then St. George, in his shining armour, +came riding by, and, seeing a fair damsel alone and in tears, he +sprang from his horse, and hastened to offer her his knightly service. +But she only waved him back, and cried, "Good sir, remount your +steed and fly in haste, that you perish not with me!" But to this +the Saint responded, "Tell me first why thou art here with such +sad mien, and why this crowd of people on the city walls gaze after +us so fearfully." And the Princess answered him, "Thou hast, I see, +a great and noble heart; but make the more haste to be gone therefore. +It is not meet that one so good should die unworthily." + +"I will not go," returned the knight, "until thou tell me what I +seek to know." + +So she told him, weeping, all the woeful tale; and St George made +answer with a brave heart, in a voice that all the townfolk on the +walls could hear, "Fear not, fair maid; in the name of Christ I +will do battle for thee against this dragon." + +Then the Princess loved him, and wrung her hands and cried, "Brave +knight, seek not to die with me; enough that I should perish. There +is no man living that can stand against this dragon. Thou canst +neither aid nor deliver me. Thou canst but share my doom." + +As she spoke the words, the waters of the lake divided, and the +monster rose from its depths and espied its prey. At that the +virgin trembled, and cried again, "Fly! fly! O knight! stay not to +see me perish!" + +For all answer St George flung himself upon his steed, made the +holy sign of the cross, and, commending himself to Christ, lowered +his lance and rushed full on the open jaws of the hideous beast. +With such force he directed his aim that the dragon was instantly +overthrown, and lay, disabled and powerless, at the feet of the saint. +Then, with the words of a holy spell, St. George cast a great fear +upon the monster, so that it was shorn of all its fury, and durst +not lift its body from the dust. Thereupon the blessed knight +beckoned to the Princess to approach, and bade her loose her girdle, +and, without fear, bind it about the dragon's neck. And when this +was done, behold, the beast followed the maid, spellbound, and thus +they entered the city. + +But the people, when they saw the dragon approaching, fled tumultuously +on every side, crying out that they would all surely perish. St. +George therefore struck off the monster's head with his sword, and +bade them take heart and fear nothing, because the Lord had given +him grace over all evil things to deliver the earth from plagues. + +So, when the people saw that the dragon was slain, they thronged +about St. George, and kissed his hands and his robe; and the king +embraced him joyfully, praising his valour and prowess above the +fame of all mortal men. And when the saint had preached to them +the faith of Christ, the whole city was straightway baptised; and +the king thereafter built a noble church to the honour of our Lady +and of the brave St. George. And from the foot of the altar flowed +forth a marvellous stream, whose waters healed all manner of sickness; +so that for many a long year no man died in that city. + +Such is the legend of the patron saint of England,--a legend +reproduced in Spenser's poem of the "Faery Queen," wherein St. +George appears as the Red Cross Knight, and the Princess as Una, +the mystical maid, who, after the overthrow of the dragon, becomes +the bride of her champion. + +Need I recall to any student of classic story the resemblance between +this sacred romance and that of the Greek hero Perseus, who rescued +the fair Andromeda from the fangs of the sea-monster which would +have devoured her? Or whose divine favour it was that directed +and shielded the Argive champion; whose winged sandals bore him +unharmed across sea and land; whose magic sword and helm armed +and defended him? + +With all these symbols the name of HERMES is indissolubly connected. +His are the Wings of Courage, the Rod of Science, and the Helmet +of Secrecy. And his, too, is the Sword of Power, the strong and +steadfast Will, by which the elemental forces are overcome and +controlled, and the monsters of the abyss bound in obedience,--those +spiritual dragons and chimeras that ravage the hopes of humanity +and would fain devour the "King's Daughter." + +For Hermes--Archangel, Messenger of Heaven, and slayer of Argos +the hundred-eyed (type of the stellar powers)--is no other than +Thought: Thought which alone exalts man above the beast, and sets +him noble tasks to do and precious rewards to win, and lifts him +at last to shine evermore with the gods above the starry heights +of heaven. + +All the heroes are sons of Hermes, for he is the Master and Initiator +of spiritual chivalry. The heroes are the knights-errant of Greek +legend. Like St. George and his six holy peers; like Arthur's +knights; like the Teuton Siegfried, the British Artegal, and many +another saintly chevalier "sans peur et sans reproche," the heroes +of yet older days--Heracles, Bellerophon, Theseus, Jason, Perseus-- +roamed the earth under divine guidance, waging ceaseless warfare +with tyranny and wrong; rescuing and avenging the oppressed, +destroying the agents of hell, and everywhere delivering mankind +from the devices of terrorism, thrall, and the power of darkness. + +The divine Order of Chivalry is the enemy of ascetic isolation and +indifferentism. It is the Order of the Christ who goes about doing +good. The Christian knight, mounted on a valiant steed (for the +horse is the symbol of Intelligence), and equipped with the panoply +of Michael, is the type of the spiritual life,--the life of heroic +and active charity. + +All the stories about knights and dragons have one common esoteric +meaning. The dragon is always Materialism in some form; the fearsome, +irrepressible spirit of Unbelief, which wages war on human peace +and blights the hopes of all mankind. In most of these tales, as +in the typical legend of St. George, there is a princess to be +delivered,--a lady, sweet and lovely, whose sacrifice is imminent +at the moment of her champion's arrival on the scene. By this +princess is intended the Soul:--the "Woman of Holy Writ," and the +central figure of all sacred dramatic art of every date and country. +That the allegory is of such wide and ancient repute, proves the +identity of the needs and troubles of humanity throughout the ages. +Yet one cannot fail to be struck with its special bearing on the +present state of thought. It seems, indeed, as though the story +of St. George and the Dragon might have been written yesterday, +and dedicated to the men and women of our own times. Never, surely, +has the dragon ravaged and despoiled the earth as he does now. When +at first he came upon us, it was not much that the monster's appetite +demanded. It was satisfied with the sacrifice of a few superstitions +and antique beliefs, which we could well spare, and the loss of +which did not greatly affect us. These were the mere sheep and +kine of our outlying pastures. But at length all these were swept +away, and the genius of Materialism remained unsatisfied. Then +we began, reluctantly, to yield up to it far more precious things,-- +our religious convictions, our hold on sacred Scriptures, our trust +in prayer, our confidence in heavenly providence,--the very children +of our hearts, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, endeared to +us by the hereditary faith which had become even as nature itself. +All these we gave and with tears; many of them had made life lovely +and desirable to us, and without them our hearth seemed desolate. +But complaint and resistance we knew to be in vain; materialistic +science devoured them one by one; none were left in all that ancient +city, the Human Kingdom, whose ruler and monarch is Mind. This +our sovereign-Mind--had hitherto cherished with fond delight one +lovely and only child, the Soul. He believed that she would survive +and perpetuate him, and that for ever her heirs should sit on the +throne of his kingdom. To part with her would be blight and ruin +to all his hopes and aspirations. Better that he should never have +drawn breath than that he should be forced to see the child he had +brought into the world perish before his eyes. + +Still, with ominous persistence the terrible monster hangs about +the gates of the city. All the air is filled with the pestilent +effluvium of his nostrils. Relentless, indeed, is this pessimistic +science. It demands the sacrifice of the Soul itself, the last +lovely and precious thing remaining to despoiled humanity. Into +the limbo of those horrid jaws must be swept--with all other and +meaner beliefs and hopes--faith in the higher Selfhood and its +immortal Life. The Soul must perish! Despair seizes the Mind of man. +For some time he resists the cruel demand; he produces argument +after argument, appeal after appeal. All are unavailing. Why +should the Soul be respected where nothing else is spared? Forced +into surrender, the Mind at last yields up his best-beloved. Life +is no more worth living now; black death and despair confront him; +he cares no longer to be ruler over a miserable kingdom bereft of +its fairest treasure, its only hope. For of what value to man is +the Mind without the Soul? + +Poor and puny now indeed the crown, the wealth, the royalty of Mind. +Their value lay alone in this, that some day they should devolve +on her, that for her they were being garnered and stored and cherished. + +So the dragon triumphs; and the Soul, cast out of the city, stands +face to face with the black abyss, expecting her Destroyer. + +Then, even at that last and awful hour, the Divine Deliverer appears, +the Son of Hermes, Genius of Interpretation, Champion of the Spiritual +Life. As Hercules slew the Hydra, the Lion, and many another noxious +thing; as Theseus the Minotaur, as Bellerophon the Chimera, as +Rama the Ogre Ravan, as David the Giant, as Perseus the Gorgon and +Sea-monster, so St. George slays the Dragon and rescues from its +insatiable clutch the hope and pride of humanity. + +This hero of so many names is the Higher Reason; the Reason that +knows (gnosis) as distinguished from the Lower Reason of mere opinion +(doxa). He is no earthly warrior. He carries celestial arms, and +bears the ensigns of the God. Thus the commemoration of St. George, +and of the famous legend of which he is the hero, involves the praise +of all valiant knights of the Hermetic art throughout the ages. +Every divine man who has carried the enchanted sword, or worn the +sandals of the winged God, who has fought with monsters and championed +the King's daughter--Una, the one peerless maid--is celebrated in +the person of our national patron saint. The Order to which he +belongs is a Spiritual Order of the Garter, or Girdle of the Virgin; +and its ensign is the armed chevalier trampling under his horse's +hoofs the foul and furious agent of the nether world. + +The idea of knighthood implies that of activity. The pattern saint +and flower of chivalry is one who gladly fights and would as gladly +die in noble causes. The words pronounced of old times on the +dubbing of a knight, "Be gentle, valiant, and fortunate," are not +words which could realise themselves in the dullard or the churl. +To the good knight, the ardent love of beauty, in all its aspects +is indispensable. The fair lady of his dreams is the spiritual +bright-shining of goodness, which expresses itself to him fitly +and sweetly in material and visible things. Hence he is always +poet, and fighter in some cause. And he is impelled to fight because +the love of beauty burns so hot within him that he cannot abide +to see it outraged. His very gentleness of heart is the spur of +his valour. Champion and knight as well as thinker and student, +the Son of Hermes is of necessity a reformer of men, a redeemer +of the world. It is not enough for him to know the doctrine, he +must likewise do the will of the gods, and bid the kingdom of the +Lord come upon earth without, even as in the heaven within his heart. + +For the rule of his Order is the Law of Love, and "Love seeketh +ssnot her own." + + +The End + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, DREAMS AND DREAM STORIES *** + +This file should be named 5651.txt or 5651.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04 + +Or /etext03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/5651.zip b/5651.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f30264 --- /dev/null +++ b/5651.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5286fa6 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #5651 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5651) |