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diff --git a/old/dynmt10h.htm b/old/dynmt10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c692e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dynmt10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8303 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> +<title>The Dynamiter</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Dynamiter, by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny van de Grift Stevenson</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dynamiter, by Robert Louis Stevenson +(#32 in our series by Robert Louis Stevenson) + +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: The Dynamiter + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny van de Grift Stevenson + +Release Date: September, 1996 [EBook #647] +[This file was first posted on September 13, 1996] +[Most recently updated: September 2, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII +</pre> +<p> +<a name="startoftext"></a> +Transcribed from the 1903 Longmans, Green And Co. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +THE DYNAMITER<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +TO MESSRS. COLE AND COX, POLICE OFFICERS<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Gentlemen, - In the volume now in your hands, the authors have touched +upon that ugly devil of crime, with which it is your glory to have contended. +It were a waste of ink to do so in a serious spirit. Let us dedicate +our horror to acts of a more mingled strain, where crime preserves some +features of nobility, and where reason and humanity can still relish +the temptation. Horror, in this case, is due to Mr. Parnell: he +sits before posterity silent, Mr. Forster’s appeal echoing down +the ages. Horror is due to ourselves, in that we have so long +coquetted with political crime; not seriously weighing, not acutely +following it from cause to consequence; but with a generous, unfounded +heat of sentiment, like the schoolboy with the penny tale, applauding +what was specious. When it touched ourselves (truly in a vile +shape), we proved false to the imaginations; discovered, in a clap, +that crime was no less cruel and no less ugly under sounding names; +and recoiled from our false deities.<br> +<br> +But seriousness comes most in place when we are to speak of our defenders. +Whoever be in the right in this great and confused war of politics; +whatever elements of greed, whatever traits of the bully, dishonour +both parties in this inhuman contest; - your side, your part, is at +least pure of doubt. Yours is the side of the child, of the breeding +woman, of individual pity and public trust. If our society were +the mere kingdom of the devil (as indeed it wears some of his colours) +it yet embraces many precious elements and many innocent persons whom +it is a glory to defend. Courage and devotion, so common in the +ranks of the police, so little recognised, so meagrely rewarded, have +at length found their commemoration in an historical act. History, +which will represent Mr. Parnell sitting silent under the appeal of +Mr. Forster, and Gordon setting forth upon his tragic enterprise, will +not forget Mr. Cole carrying the dynamite in his defenceless hands, +nor Mr. Cox coming coolly to his aid.<br> +<br> +Robert Louis Stevenson<br> +Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +A NOTE FOR THE READER<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +It is within the bounds of possibility that you may take up this volume, +and yet be unacquainted with its predecessor: the first series of NEW +ARABIAN NIGHTS. The loss is yours - and mine; or to be more exact, +my publishers’. But if you are thus unlucky, the least I +can do is to pass you a hint. When you shall find a reference +in the following pages to one Theophilus Godall of the Bohemian Cigar +Divan in Rupert Street, Soho, you must be prepared to recognise, under +his features, no less a person than Prince Florizel of Bohemia, formerly +one of the magnates of Europe, now dethroned, exiled, impoverished, +and embarked in the tobacco trade.<br> +<br> +R. L. S.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS<br> +<br> +<i>A SECOND SERIES<br> +<br> +</i>THE DYNAMITER<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>In the city of encounters, the Bagdad of the West, and, to be more +precise, on the broad northern pavement of Leicester Square, two young +men of five- or six-and-twenty met after years of separation. +The first, who was of a very smooth address and clothed in the best +fashion, hesitated to recognise the pinched and shabby air of his companion.<br> +<br> +‘What!’ he cried, ‘Paul Somerset!’<br> +<br> +‘I am indeed Paul Somerset,’ returned the other, ‘or +what remains of him after a well-deserved experience of poverty and +law. But in you, Challoner, I can perceive no change; and time +may be said, without hyperbole, to write no wrinkle on your azure brow.’<br> +<br> +‘All,’ replied Challoner, ‘is not gold that glitters. +But we are here in an ill posture for confidences, and interrupt the +movement of these ladies. Let us, if you please, find a more private +corner.’<br> +<br> +‘If you will allow me to guide you,’ replied Somerset, ‘I +will offer you the best cigar in London.’<br> +<br> +And taking the arm of his companion, he led him in silence and at a +brisk pace to the door of a quiet establishment in Rupert Street, Soho. +The entrance was adorned with one of those gigantic Highlanders of wood +which have almost risen to the standing of antiquities; and across the +window-glass, which sheltered the usual display of pipes, tobacco, and +cigars, there ran the gilded legend: ‘Bohemian Cigar Divan, by +T. Godall.’ The interior of the shop was small, but commodious +and ornate; the salesman grave, smiling, and urbane; and the two young +men, each puffing a select regalia, had soon taken their places on a +sofa of mouse-coloured plush and proceeded to exchange their stories.<br> +<br> +‘I am now,’ said Somerset, ‘a barrister; but Providence +and the attorneys have hitherto denied me the opportunity to shine. +A select society at the Cheshire Cheese engaged my evenings; my afternoons, +as Mr. Godall could testify, have been generally passed in this divan; +and my mornings, I have taken the precaution to abbreviate by not rising +before twelve. At this rate, my little patrimony was very rapidly, +and I am proud to remember, most agreeably expended. Since then +a gentleman, who has really nothing else to recommend him beyond the +fact of being my maternal uncle, deals me the small sum of ten shillings +a week; and if you behold me once more revisiting the glimpses of the +street lamps in my favourite quarter, you will readily divine that I +have come into a fortune.’<br> +<br> +‘I should not have supposed so,’ replied Challoner. +‘But doubtless I met you on the way to your tailors.’<br> +<br> +‘It is a visit that I purpose to delay,’ returned Somerset, +with a smile. ‘My fortune has definite limits. It +consists, or rather this morning it consisted, of one hundred pounds.’<br> +<br> +‘That is certainly odd,’ said Challoner; ‘yes, certainly +the coincidence is strange. I am myself reduced to the same margin.’<br> +<br> +‘You!’ cried Somerset. ‘And yet Solomon in all +his glory - ’<br> +<br> +‘Such is the fact. I am, dear boy, on my last legs,’ +said Challoner. ‘Besides the clothes in which you see me, +I have scarcely a decent trouser in my wardrobe; and if I knew how, +I would this instant set about some sort of work or commerce. +With a hundred pounds for capital, a man should push his way.’<br> +<br> +‘It may be,’ returned Somerset; ‘but what to do with +mine is more than I can fancy. Mr. Godall,’ he added, addressing +the salesman, ‘you are a man who knows the world: what can a young +fellow of reasonable education do with a hundred pounds?’<br> +<br> +‘It depends,’ replied the salesman, withdrawing his cheroot. +‘The power of money is an article of faith in which I profess +myself a sceptic. A hundred pounds will with difficulty support +you for a year; with somewhat more difficulty you may spend it in a +night; and without any difficulty at all you may lose it in five minutes +on the Stock Exchange. If you are of that stamp of man that rises, +a penny would be as useful; if you belong to those that fall, a penny +would be no more useless. When I was myself thrown unexpectedly +upon the world, it was my fortune to possess an art: I knew a good cigar. +Do you know nothing, Mr. Somerset?’<br> +<br> +‘Not even law,’ was the reply.<br> +<br> +‘The answer is worthy of a sage,’ returned Mr. Godall. +‘And you, sir,’ he continued, turning to Challoner, ‘as +the friend of Mr. Somerset, may I be allowed to address you the same +question?’<br> +<br> +‘Well,’ replied Challoner, ‘I play a fair hand at +whist.’<br> +<br> +‘How many persons are there in London,’ returned the salesman, +‘who have two-and-thirty teeth? Believe me, young gentleman, +there are more still who play a fair hand at whist. Whist, sir, +is wide as the world; ’tis an accomplishment like breathing. +I once knew a youth who announced that he was studying to be Chancellor +of England; the design was certainly ambitious; but I find it less excessive +than that of the man who aspires to make a livelihood by whist.’<br> +<br> +‘Dear me,’ said Challoner, ‘I am afraid I shall have +to fall to be a working man.’<br> +<br> +‘Fall to be a working man?’ echoed Mr. Godall. ‘Suppose +a rural dean to be unfrocked, does he fall to be a major? suppose a +captain were cashiered, would he fall to be a puisne judge? The +ignorance of your middle class surprises me. Outside itself, it +thinks the world to lie quite ignorant and equal, sunk in a common degradation; +but to the eye of the observer, all ranks are seen to stand in ordered +hierarchies, and each adorned with its particular aptitudes and knowledge. +By the defects of your education you are more disqualified to be a working +man than to be the ruler of an empire. The gulf, sir, is below; +and the true learned arts - those which alone are safe from the competition +of insurgent laymen - are those which give his title to the artisan.’<br> +<br> +‘This is a very pompous fellow,’ said Challoner, in the +ear of his companion.<br> +<br> +‘He is immense,’ said Somerset.<br> +<br> +Just then the door of the divan was opened, and a third young fellow +made his appearance, and rather bashfully requested some tobacco. +He was younger than the others; and, in a somewhat meaningless and altogether +English way, he was a handsome lad. When he had been served, and +had lighted his pipe and taken his place upon the sofa, he recalled +himself to Challoner by the name of Desborough.<br> +<br> +‘Desborough, to be sure,’ cried Challoner. ‘Well, +Desborough, and what do you do?’<br> +<br> +‘The fact is,’ said Desborough, ‘that I am doing nothing.’<br> +<br> +‘A private fortune possibly?’ inquired the other.<br> +<br> +‘Well, no,’ replied Desborough, rather sulkily. ‘The +fact is that I am waiting for something to turn up.’<br> +<br> +‘All in the same boat!’ cried Somerset. ‘And +have you, too, one hundred pounds?’<br> +<br> +‘Worse luck,’ said Mr. Desborough.<br> +<br> +‘This is a very pathetic sight, Mr. Godall,’ said Somerset: +‘Three futiles.’<br> +<br> +‘A character of this crowded age,’ returned the salesman.<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ said Somerset, ‘I deny that the age is crowded; +I will admit one fact, and one fact only: that I am futile, that he +is futile, and that we are all three as futile as the devil. What +am I? I have smattered law, smattered letters, smattered geography, +smattered mathematics; I have even a working knowledge of judicial astrology; +and here I stand, all London roaring by at the street’s end, as +impotent as any baby. I have a prodigious contempt for my maternal +uncle; but without him, it is idle to deny it, I should simply resolve +into my elements like an unstable mixture. I begin to perceive +that it is necessary to know some one thing to the bottom - were it +only literature. And yet, sir, the man of the world is a great +feature of this age; he is possessed of an extraordinary mass and variety +of knowledge; he is everywhere at home; he has seen life in all its +phases; and it is impossible but that this great habit of existence +should bear fruit. I count myself a man of the world, accomplished, +<i>cap-à-pie</i>. So do you, Challoner. And you, +Mr. Desborough?’<br> +<br> +‘Oh yes,’ returned the young man.<br> +<br> +‘Well then, Mr. Godall, here we stand, three men of the world, +without a trade to cover us, but planted at the strategic centre of +the universe (for so you will allow me to call Rupert Street), in the +midst of the chief mass of people, and within ear-shot of the most continuous +chink of money on the surface of the globe. Sir, as civilised +men, what do we do? I will show you. You take in a paper?’<br> +<br> +‘I take,’ said Mr. Godall solemnly, ‘the best paper +in the world, the <i>Standard</i>.’<br> +<br> +‘Good,’ resumed Somerset. ‘I now hold it in +my hand, the voice of the world, a telephone repeating all men’s +wants. I open it, and where my eye first falls - well, no, not +Morrison’s Pills - but here, sure enough, and but a little above, +I find the joint that I was seeking; here is the weak spot in the armour +of society. Here is a want, a plaint, an offer of substantial +gratitude: “<i>Two hundred Pounds Reward</i>. - The above reward +will be paid to any person giving information as to the identity and +whereabouts of a man observed yesterday in the neighbourhood of the +Green Park. He was over six feet in height, with shoulders disproportionately +broad, close shaved, with black moustaches, and wearing a sealskin great-coat.” +There, gentlemen, our fortune, if not made, is founded.’<br> +<br> +‘Do you then propose, dear boy, that we should turn detectives?’ +inquired Challoner.<br> +<br> +‘Do I propose it? No, sir,’ cried Somerset. +‘It is reason, destiny, the plain face of the world, that commands +and imposes it. Here all our merits tell; our manners, habit of +the world, powers of conversation, vast stores of unconnected knowledge, +all that we are and have builds up the character of the complete detective. +It is, in short, the only profession for a gentleman.’<br> +<br> +‘The proposition is perhaps excessive,’ replied Challoner; +‘for hitherto I own I have regarded it as of all dirty, sneaking, +and ungentlemanly trades, the least and lowest.’<br> +<br> +‘To defend society?’ asked Somerset; ‘to stake one’s +life for others? to deracinate occult and powerful evil? I appeal +to Mr. Godall. He, at least, as a philosophic looker-on at life, +will spit upon such philistine opinions. He knows that the policeman, +as he is called upon continually to face greater odds, and that both +worse equipped and for a better cause, is in form and essence a more +noble hero than the soldier. Do you, by any chance, deceive yourself +into supposing that a general would either ask or expect, from the best +army ever marshalled, and on the most momentous battle-field, the conduct +of a common constable at Peckham Rye?’ <a name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1">{1}</a><br> +<br> +‘I did not understand we were to join the force,’ said Challoner.<br> +<br> +‘Nor shall we. These are the hands; but here - here, sir, +is the head,’ cried Somerset. ‘Enough; it is decreed. +We shall hunt down this miscreant in the sealskin coat.’<br> +<br> +‘Suppose that we agreed,’ retorted Challoner, ‘you +have no plan, no knowledge; you know not where to seek for a beginning.’<br> +<br> +‘Challoner!’ cried Somerset, ‘is it possible that +you hold the doctrine of Free Will? And are you devoid of any +tincture of philosophy, that you should harp on such exploded fallacies? +Chance, the blind Madonna of the Pagan, rules this terrestrial bustle; +and in Chance I place my sole reliance. Chance has brought us +three together; when we next separate and go forth our several ways, +Chance will continually drag before our careless eyes a thousand eloquent +clues, not to this mystery only, but to the countless mysteries by which +we live surrounded. Then comes the part of the man of the world, +of the detective born and bred. This clue, which the whole town +beholds without comprehension, swift as a cat, he leaps upon it, makes +it his, follows it with craft and passion, and from one trifling circumstance +divines a world.’<br> +<br> +‘Just so,’ said Challoner; ‘and I am delighted that +you should recognise these virtues in yourself. But in the meanwhile, +dear boy, I own myself incapable of joining. I was neither born +nor bred as a detective, but as a placable and very thirsty gentleman; +and, for my part, I begin to weary for a drink. As for clues and +adventures, the only adventure that is ever likely to occur to me will +be an adventure with a bailiff.’<br> +<br> +‘Now there is the fallacy,’ cried Somerset. ‘There +I catch the secret of your futility in life. The world teems and +bubbles with adventure; it besieges you along the street: hands waving +out of windows, swindlers coming up and swearing they knew you when +you were abroad, affable and doubtful people of all sorts and conditions +begging and truckling for your notice. But not you: you turn away, +you walk your seedy mill round, you must go the dullest way. Now +here, I beg of you, the next adventure that offers itself, embrace it +in with both your arms; whatever it looks, grimy or romantic, grasp +it. I will do the like; the devil is in it, but at least we shall +have fun; and each in turn we shall narrate the story of our fortunes +to my philosophic friend of the divan, the great Godall, now hearing +me with inward joy. Come, is it a bargain? Will you, indeed, +both promise to welcome every chance that offers, to plunge boldly into +every opening, and, keeping the eye wary and the head composed, to study +and piece together all that happens? Come, promise: let me open +to you the doors of the great profession of intrigue.’<br> +<br> +‘It is not much in my way,’ said Challoner, ‘but, +since you make a point of it, amen.’<br> +<br> +‘I don’t mind promising,’ said Desborough, ‘but +nothing will happen to me.’<br> +<br> +‘O faithless ones!’ cried Somerset. ‘But at +least I have your promises; and Godall, I perceive, is transported with +delight.’<br> +<br> +‘I promise myself at least much pleasure from your various narratives,’ +said the salesman, with the customary calm polish of his manner.<br> +<br> +‘And now, gentlemen,’ concluded Somerset, ‘let us +separate. I hasten to put myself in fortune’s way. +Hark how, in this quiet corner, London roars like the noise of battle; +four million destinies are here concentred; and in the strong panoply +of one hundred pounds, payable to the bearer, I am about to plunge into +that web.’<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHALLONER’S ADVENTURE: <i>THE SQUIRE OF DAMES<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>Mr. Edward Challoner had set up lodgings in the suburb of Putney, +where he enjoyed a parlour and bedroom and the sincere esteem of the +people of the house. To this remote home he found himself, at +a very early hour in the morning of the next day, condemned to set forth +on foot. He was a young man of a portly habit; no lover of the +exercises of the body; bland, sedentary, patient of delay, a prop of +omnibuses. In happier days he would have chartered a cab; but +these luxuries were now denied him; and with what courage he could muster +he addressed himself to walk.<br> +<br> +It was then the height of the season and the summer; the weather was +serene and cloudless; and as he paced under the blinded houses and along +the vacant streets, the chill of the dawn had fled, and some of the +warmth and all the brightness of the July day already shone upon the +city. He walked at first in a profound abstraction, bitterly reviewing +and repenting his performances at whist; but as he advanced into the +labyrinth of the south-west, his ear was gradually mastered by the silence. +Street after street looked down upon his solitary figure, house after +house echoed upon his passage with a ghostly jar, shop after shop displayed +its shuttered front and its commercial legend; and meanwhile he steered +his course, under day’s effulgent dome and through this encampment +of diurnal sleepers, lonely as a ship.<br> +<br> +‘Here,’ he reflected, ‘if I were like my scatter-brained +companion, here were indeed the scene where I might look for an adventure. +Here, in broad day, the streets are secret as in the blackest night +of January, and in the midst of some four million sleepers, solitary +as the woods of Yucatan. If I but raise my voice I could summon +up the number of an army, and yet the grave is not more silent than +this city of sleep.’<br> +<br> +He was still following these quaint and serious musings when he came +into a street of more mingled ingredients than was common in the quarter. +Here, on the one hand, framed in walls and the green tops of trees, +were several of those discreet, <i>bijou</i> residences on which propriety +is apt to look askance. Here, too, were many of the brick-fronted +barracks of the poor; a plaster cow, perhaps, serving as ensign to a +dairy, or a ticket announcing the business of the mangler. Before +one such house, that stood a little separate among walled gardens, a +cat was playing with a straw, and Challoner paused a moment, looking +on this sleek and solitary creature, who seemed an emblem of the neighbouring +peace. With the cessation of the sound of his own steps the silence +fell dead; the house stood smokeless: the blinds down, the whole machinery +of life arrested; and it seemed to Challoner that he should hear the +breathing of the sleepers.<br> +<br> +As he so stood, he was startled by a dull and jarring detonation from +within. This was followed by a monstrous hissing and simmering +as from a kettle of the bigness of St. Paul’s; and at the same +time from every chink of door and window spirted an ill-smelling vapour. +The cat disappeared with a cry. Within the lodging-house feet +pounded on the stairs; the door flew back, emitting clouds of smoke; +and two men and an elegantly dressed young lady tumbled forth into the +street and fled without a word. The hissing had already ceased, +the smoke was melting in the air, the whole event had come and gone +as in a dream, and still Challoner was rooted to the spot. At +last his reason and his fear awoke together, and with the most unwonted +energy he fell to running.<br> +<br> +Little by little this first dash relaxed, and presently he had resumed +his sober gait and begun to piece together, out of the confused report +of his senses, some theory of the occurrence. But the occasion +of the sounds and stench that had so suddenly assailed him, and the +strange conjunction of fugitives whom he had seen to issue from the +house, were mysteries beyond his plummet. With an obscure awe +he considered them in his mind, continuing, meanwhile, to thread the +web of streets, and once more alone in morning sunshine.<br> +<br> +In his first retreat he had entirely wandered; and now, steering vaguely +west, it was his luck to light upon an unpretending street, which presently +widened so as to admit a strip of gardens in the midst. Here was +quite a stir of birds; even at that hour, the shadow of the leaves was +grateful; instead of the burnt atmosphere of cities, there was something +brisk and rural in the air; and Challoner paced forward, his eyes upon +the pavement and his mind running upon distant scenes, till he was recalled, +upon a sudden, by a wall that blocked his further progress. This +street, whose name I have forgotten, is no thoroughfare.<br> +<br> +He was not the first who had wandered there that morning; for as he +raised his eyes with an agreeable deliberation, they alighted on the +figure of a girl, in whom he was struck to recognise the third of the +incongruous fugitives. She had run there, seemingly, blindfold; +the wall had checked her career: and being entirely wearied, she had +sunk upon the ground beside the garden railings, soiling her dress among +the summer dust. Each saw the other in the same instant of time; +and she, with one wild look, sprang to her feet and began to hurry from +the scene.<br> +<br> +Challoner was doubly startled to meet once more the heroine of his adventure, +and to observe the fear with which she shunned him. Pity and alarm, +in nearly equal forces, contested the possession of his mind; and yet, +in spite of both, he saw himself condemned to follow in the lady’s +wake. He did so gingerly, as fearing to increase her terrors; +but, tread as lightly as he might, his footfalls eloquently echoed in +the empty street. Their sound appeared to strike in her some strong +emotion; for scarce had he begun to follow ere she paused. A second +time she addressed herself to flight; and a second time she paused. +Then she turned about, and with doubtful steps and the most attractive +appearance of timidity, drew near to the young man. He on his +side continued to advance with similar signals of distress and bashfulness. +At length, when they were but some steps apart, he saw her eyes brim +over, and she reached out both her hands in eloquent appeal.<br> +<br> +‘Are you an English gentleman?’ she cried.<br> +<br> +The unhappy Challoner regarded her with consternation. He was +the spirit of fine courtesy, and would have blushed to fail in his devoirs +to any lady; but, in the other scale, he was a man averse from amorous +adventures. He looked east and west; but the houses that looked +down upon this interview remained inexorably shut; and he saw himself, +though in the full glare of the day’s eye, cut off from any human +intervention. His looks returned at last upon the suppliant. +He remarked with irritation that she was charming both in face and figure, +elegantly dressed and gloved; a lady undeniable; the picture of distress +and innocence; weeping and lost in the city of diurnal sleep.<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ he said, ‘I protest you have no cause to +fear intrusion; and if I have appeared to follow you, the fault is in +this street, which has deceived us both.’ An unmistakable +relief appeared upon the lady’s face. ‘I might have +guessed it!’ she exclaimed. ‘Thank you a thousand +times! But at this hour, in this appalling silence, and among +all these staring windows, I am lost in terrors - oh, lost in them!’ +she cried, her face blanching at the words. ‘I beg you to +lend me your arm,’ she added with the loveliest, suppliant inflection. +‘I dare not go alone; my nerve is gone - I had a shock, oh, what +a shock! I beg of you to be my escort.’<br> +<br> +‘My dear madam,’ responded Challoner heavily, ‘my +arm is at your service.’<br> +<br> +<br> +‘She took it and clung to it for a moment, struggling with her +sobs; and the next, with feverish hurry, began to lead him in the direction +of the city. One thing was plain, among so much that was obscure: +it was plain her fears were genuine. Still, as she went, she spied +around as if for dangers; and now she would shiver like a person in +a chill, and now clutch his arm in hers. To Challoner her terror +was at once repugnant and infectious; it gained and mastered, while +it still offended him; and he wailed in spirit and longed for release.<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ he said at last, ‘I am, of course, charmed +to be of use to any lady; but I confess I was bound in a direction opposite +to that you follow, and a word of explanation - ’<br> +<br> +‘Hush!’ she sobbed, ‘not here - not here!’<br> +<br> +The blood of Challoner ran cold. He might have thought the lady +mad; but his memory was charged with more perilous stuff; and in view +of the detonation, the smoke and the flight of the ill-assorted trio, +his mind was lost among mysteries. So they continued to thread +the maze of streets in silence, with the speed of a guilty flight, and +both thrilling with incommunicable terrors. In time, however, +and above all by their quick pace of walking, the pair began to rise +to firmer spirits; the lady ceased to peer about the corners; and Challoner, +emboldened by the resonant tread and distant figure of a constable, +returned to the charge with more of spirit and directness.<br> +<br> +‘I thought,’ said he, in the tone of conversation, ‘that +I had indistinctly perceived you leaving a villa in the company of two +gentlemen.’<br> +<br> +‘Oh!’ she said, ‘you need not fear to wound me by +the truth. You saw me flee from a common lodging-house, and my +companions were not gentlemen. In such a case, the best of compliments +is to be frank.’<br> +<br> +‘I thought,’ resumed Challoner, encouraged as much as he +was surprised by the spirit of her reply, ‘to have perceived, +besides, a certain odour. A noise, too - I do not know to what +I should compare it - ’<br> +<br> +‘Silence!’ she cried. ‘You do not know the danger +you invoke. Wait, only wait; and as soon as we have left those +streets, and got beyond the reach of listeners, all shall be explained. +Meanwhile, avoid the topic. What a sight is this sleeping city!’ +she exclaimed; and then, with a most thrilling voice, ‘“Dear +God,” she quoted, “the very houses seem asleep, and all +that mighty heart is lying still.”’<br> +<br> +‘I perceive, madam,’ said he, ‘you are a reader.’<br> +<br> +‘I am more than that,’ she answered, with a sigh. +‘I am a girl condemned to thoughts beyond her age; and so untoward +is my fate, that this walk upon the arm of a stranger is like an interlude +of peace.’<br> +<br> +They had come by this time to the neighbourhood of the Victoria Station +and here, at a street corner, the young lady paused, withdrew her arm +from Challoner’s, and looked up and down as though in pain or +indecision. Then, with a lovely change of countenance, and laying +her gloved hand upon his arm -<br> +<br> +‘What you already think of me,’ she said, ‘I tremble +to conceive; yet I must here condemn myself still further. Here +I must leave you, and here I beseech you to wait for my return. +Do not attempt to follow me or spy upon my actions. Suspend yet +awhile your judgment of a girl as innocent as your own sister; and do +not, above all, desert me. Stranger as you are, I have none else +to look to. You see me in sorrow and great fear; you are a gentleman, +courteous and kind: and when I beg for a few minutes’ patience, +I make sure beforehand you will not deny me.’<br> +<br> +Challoner grudgingly promised; and the young lady, with a grateful eye-shot, +vanished round the corner. But the force of her appeal had been +a little blunted; for the young man was not only destitute of sisters, +but of any female relative nearer than a great-aunt in Wales. +Now he was alone, besides, the spell that he had hitherto obeyed began +to weaken; he considered his behaviour with a sneer; and plucking up +the spirit of revolt, he started in pursuit. The reader, if he +has ever plied the fascinating trade of the noctambulist, will not be +unaware that, in the neighbourhood of the great railway centres, certain +early taverns inaugurate the business of the day. It was into +one of these that Challoner, coming round the corner of the block, beheld +his charming companion disappear. To say he was surprised were +inexact, for he had long since left that sentiment behind him. +Acute disgust and disappointment seized upon his soul; and with silent +oaths, he damned this commonplace enchantress. She had scarce +been gone a second, ere the swing-doors reopened, and she appeared again +in company with a young man of mean and slouching attire. For +some five or six exchanges they conversed together with an animated +air; then the fellow shouldered again into the tap; and the young lady, +with something swifter than a walk, retraced her steps towards Challoner. +He saw her coming, a miracle of grace; her ankle, as she hurried, flashing +from her dress; her movements eloquent of speed and youth; and though +he still entertained some thoughts of flight, they grew miserably fainter +as the distance lessened. Against mere beauty he was proof: it +was her unmistakable gentility that now robbed him of the courage of +his cowardice. With a proved adventuress he had acted strictly +on his right; with one who, in spite of all, he could not quite deny +to be a lady, he found himself disarmed. At the very corner from +whence he had spied upon her interview, she came upon him, still transfixed, +and - ‘Ah!’ she cried, with a bright flush of colour. +‘Ah! Ungenerous!’<br> +<br> +The sharpness of the attack somewhat restored the Squire of Dames to +the possession of himself.<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ he returned, with a fair show of stoutness, ‘I +do not think that hitherto you can complain of any lack of generosity; +I have suffered myself to be led over a considerable portion of the +metropolis; and if I now request you to discharge me of my office of +protector, you have friends at hand who will be glad of the succession.’<br> +<br> +She stood a moment dumb.<br> +<br> +‘It is well,’ she said. ‘Go! go, and may God +help me! You have seen me - me, an innocent girl! fleeing from +a dire catastrophe and haunted by sinister men; and neither pity, curiosity, +nor honour move you to await my explanation or to help in my distress. +Go!’ she repeated. ‘I am lost indeed.’ +And with a passionate gesture she turned and fled along the street.<br> +<br> +Challoner observed her retreat and disappear, an almost intolerable +sense of guilt contending with the profound sense that he was being +gulled. She was no sooner gone than the first of these feelings +took the upper hand; he felt, if he had done her less than justice, +that his conduct was a perfect model of the ungracious; the cultured +tone of her voice, her choice of language, and the elegant decorum of +her movements, cried out aloud against a harsh construction; and between +penitence and curiosity he began slowly to follow in her wake. +At the corner he had her once more full in view. Her speed was +failing like a stricken bird’s. Even as he looked, she threw +her arm out gropingly, and fell and leaned against the wall. At +the spectacle, Challoner’s fortitude gave way. In a few +strides he overtook her and, for the first time removing his hat, assured +her in the most moving terms of his entire respect and firm desire to +help her. He spoke at first unheeded; but gradually it appeared +that she began to comprehend his words; she moved a little, and drew +herself upright; and finally, as with a sudden movement of forgiveness, +turned on the young man a countenance in which reproach and gratitude +were mingled. ‘Ah, madam,’ he cried, ‘use me +as you will!’ And once more, but now with a great air of +deference, he offered her the conduct of his arm. She took it +with a sigh that struck him to the heart; and they began once more to +trace the deserted streets. But now her steps, as though exhausted +by emotion, began to linger on the way; she leaned the more heavily +upon his arm; and he, like the parent bird, stooped fondly above his +drooping convoy. Her physical distress was not accompanied by +any failing of her spirits; and hearing her strike so soon into a playful +and charming vein of talk, Challoner could not sufficiently admire the +elasticity of his companion’s nature. ‘Let me forget,’ +she had said, ‘for one half hour, let me forget;’ and sure +enough, with the very word, her sorrows appeared to be forgotten. +Before every house she paused, invented a name for the proprietor, and +sketched his character: here lived the old general whom she was to marry +on the fifth of the next month, there was the mansion of the rich widow +who had set her heart on Challoner; and though she still hung wearily +on the young man’s arm, her laughter sounded low and pleasant +in his ears. ‘Ah,’ she sighed, by way of commentary, +‘in such a life as mine I must seize tight hold of any happiness +that I can find.’<br> +<br> +When they arrived, in this leisurely manner, at the head of Grosvenor +Place, the gates of the park were opening and the bedraggled company +of night-walkers were being at last admitted into that paradise of lawns. +Challoner and his companion followed the movement, and walked for awhile +in silence in that tatterdemalion crowd; but as one after another, weary +with the night’s patrolling of the city pavement, sank upon the +benches or wandered into separate paths, the vast extent of the park +had soon utterly swallowed up the last of these intruders; and the pair +proceeded on their way alone in the grateful quiet of the morning.<br> +<br> +Presently they came in sight of a bench, standing very open on a mound +of turf. The young lady looked about her with relief.<br> +<br> +‘Here,’ she said, ‘here at last we are secure from +listeners. Here, then, you shall learn and judge my history. +I could not bear that we should part, and that you should still suppose +your kindness squandered upon one who was unworthy.’<br> +<br> +Thereupon she sat down upon the bench, and motioning Challoner to take +a place immediately beside her, began in the following words, and with +the greatest appearance of enjoyment, to narrate the story of her life.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>STORY OF THE DESTROYING ANGEL<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>My father was a native of England, son of a cadet of a great, ancient, +but untitled family; and by some event, fault or misfortune, he was +driven to flee from the land of his birth and to lay aside the name +of his ancestors. He sought the States; and instead of lingering +in effeminate cities, pushed at once into the far West with an exploring +party of frontiersmen. He was no ordinary traveller; for he was +not only brave and impetuous by character, but learned in many sciences, +and above all in botany, which he particularly loved. Thus it +fell that, before many months, Fremont himself, the nominal leader of +the troop, courted and bowed to his opinion.<br> +<br> +They had pushed, as I have said, into the still unknown regions of the +West. For some time they followed the track of Mormon caravans, +guiding themselves in that vast and melancholy desert by the skeletons +of men and animals. Then they inclined their route a little to +the north, and, losing even these dire memorials, came into a country +of forbidding stillness.<br> +<br> +I have often heard my father dwell upon the features of that ride: rock, +cliff, and barren moor alternated; the streams were very far between; +and neither beast nor bird disturbed the solitude. On the fortieth +day they had already run so short of food that it was judged advisable +to call a halt and scatter upon all sides to hunt. A great fire +was built, that its smoke might serve to rally them; and each man of +the party mounted and struck off at a venture into the surrounding desert.<br> +<br> +My father rode for many hours with a steep range of cliffs upon the +one hand, very black and horrible; and upon the other an unwatered vale +dotted with boulders like the site of some subverted city. At +length he found the slot of a great animal, and from the claw-marks +and the hair among the brush, judged that he was on the track of a cinnamon +bear of most unusual size. He quickened the pace of his steed, +and still following the quarry, came at last to the division of two +watersheds. On the far side the country was exceeding intricate +and difficult, heaped with boulders, and dotted here and there with +a few pines, which seemed to indicate the neighbourhood of water. +Here, then, he picketed his horse, and relying on his trusty rifle, +advanced alone into that wilderness.<br> +<br> +Presently, in the great silence that reigned, he was aware of the sound +of running water to his right; and leaning in that direction, was rewarded +by a scene of natural wonder and human pathos strangely intermixed. +The stream ran at the bottom of a narrow and winding passage, whose +wall-like sides of rock were sometimes for miles together unscalable +by man. The water, when the stream was swelled with rains, must +have filled it from side to side; the sun’s rays only plumbed +it in the hour of noon; the wind, in that narrow and damp funnel, blew +tempestuously. And yet, in the bottom of this den, immediately +below my father’s eyes as he leaned over the margin of the cliff, +a party of some half a hundred men, women, and children lay scattered +uneasily among the rocks. They lay some upon their backs, some +prone, and not one stirring; their upturned faces seemed all of an extraordinary +paleness and emaciation; and from time to time, above the washing of +the stream, a faint sound of moaning mounted to my father’s ears.<br> +<br> +While he thus looked, an old man got staggering to his feet, unwound +his blanket, and laid it, with great gentleness, on a young girl who +sat hard by propped against a rock. The girl did not seem to be +conscious of the act; and the old man, after having looked upon her +with the most engaging pity, returned to his former bed and lay down +again uncovered on the turf. But the scene had not passed without +observation even in that starving camp. From the very outskirts +of the party, a man with a white beard and seemingly of venerable years, +rose upon his knees, and came crawling stealthily among the sleepers +towards the girl; and judge of my father’s indignation, when he +beheld this cowardly miscreant strip from her both the coverings and +return with them to his original position. Here he lay down for +a while below his spoils, and, as my father imagined, feigned to be +asleep; but presently he had raised himself again upon one elbow, looked +with sharp scrutiny at his companions, and then swiftly carried his +hand into his bosom and thence to his mouth. By the movement of +his jaws he must be eating; in that camp of famine he had reserved a +store of nourishment; and while his companions lay in the stupor of +approaching death, secretly restored his powers.<br> +<br> +My father was so incensed at what he saw that he raised his rifle; and +but for an accident, he has often declared, he would have shot the fellow +dead upon the spot. How different would then have been my history! +But it was not to be: even as he raised the barrel, his eye lighted +on the bear, as it crawled along a ledge some way below him; and ceding +to the hunters instinct, it was at the brute, not at the man, that he +discharged his piece. The bear leaped and fell into a pool of +the river; the canyon re-echoed the report; and in a moment the camp +was afoot. With cries that were scarce human, stumbling, falling +and throwing each other down, these starving people rushed upon the +quarry; and before my father, climbing down by the ledge, had time to +reach the level of the stream, many were already satisfying their hunger +on the raw flesh, and a fire was being built by the more dainty.<br> +<br> +His arrival was for some time unremarked. He stood in the midst +of these tottering and clay-faced marionettes; he was surrounded by +their cries; but their whole soul was fixed on the dead carcass; even +those who were too weak to move, lay, half-turned over, with their eyes +riveted upon the bear; and my father, seeing himself stand as though +invisible in the thick of this dreary hubbub, was seized with a desire +to weep. A touch upon the arm restrained him. Turning about, +he found himself face to face with the old man he had so nearly killed; +and yet, at the second glance, recognised him for no old man at all, +but one in the full strength of his years, and of a strong, speaking, +and intellectual countenance stigmatised by weariness and famine. +He beckoned my father near the cliff, and there, in the most private +whisper, begged for brandy. My father looked at him with scorn: +‘You remind me,’ he said, ‘of a neglected duty. +Here is my flask; it contains enough, I trust, to revive the women of +your party; and I will begin with her whom I saw you robbing of her +blankets.’ And with that, not heeding his appeals, my father +turned his back upon the egoist.<br> +<br> +The girl still lay reclined against the rock; she lay too far sunk in +the first stage of death to have observed the bustle round her couch; +but when my father had raised her head, put the flask to her lips, and +forced or aided her to swallow some drops of the restorative, she opened +her languid eyes and smiled upon him faintly. Never was there +a smile of a more touching sweetness; never were eyes more deeply violet, +more honestly eloquent of the soul! I speak with knowledge, for +these were the same eyes that smiled upon me in the cradle. From +her who was to be his wife, my father, still jealously watched and followed +by the man with the grey beard, carried his attentions to all the women +of the party, and gave the last drainings of his flask to those among +the men who seemed in the most need.<br> +<br> +‘Is there none left? not a drop for me?’ said the man with +the beard.<br> +<br> +‘Not one drop,’ replied my father; ‘and if you find +yourself in want, let me counsel you to put your hand into the pocket +of your coat.’<br> +<br> +‘Ah!’ cried the other, ‘you misjudge me. You +think me one who clings to life for selfish and commonplace considerations. +But let me tell you, that were all this caravan to perish, the world +would but be lightened of a weight. These are but human insects, +pullulating, thick as May-flies, in the slums of European cities, whom +I myself have plucked from degradation and misery, from the dung-heap +and gin-palace door. And you compare their lives with mine!’<br> +<br> +‘You are then a Mormon missionary?’ asked my father.<br> +<br> +‘Oh!’ cried the man, with a strange smile, ‘a Mormon +missionary if you will! I value not the title. Were I no +more than that, I could have died without a murmur. But with my +life as a physician is bound up the knowledge of great secrets and the +future of man. This it was, when we missed the caravan, tried +for a short cut and wandered to this desolate ravine, that ate into +my soul, and, in five days, has changed my beard from ebony to silver.’<br> +<br> +‘And you are a physician,’ mused my father, looking on his +face, ‘bound by oath to succour man in his distresses.’<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ returned the Mormon, ‘my name is Grierson: +you will hear that name again; and you will then understand that my +duty was not to this caravan of paupers, but to mankind at large.’<br> +<br> +My father turned to the remainder of the party, who were now sufficiently +revived to hear; told them that he would set off at once to bring help +from his own party; ‘and,’ he added, ‘if you be again +reduced to such extremities, look round you, and you will see the earth +strewn with assistance. Here, for instance, growing on the under +side of fissures in this cliff, you will perceive a yellow moss. +Trust me, it is both edible and excellent.’<br> +<br> +‘Ha!’ said Doctor Grierson, ‘you know botany!’<br> +<br> +‘Not I alone,’ returned my father, lowering his voice; ‘for +see where these have been scraped away. Am I right? Was +that your secret store?’<br> +<br> +My father’s comrades, he found, when he returned to the signal-fire, +had made a good day’s hunting. They were thus the more easily +persuaded to extend assistance to the Mormon caravan; and the next day +beheld both parties on the march for the frontiers of Utah. The +distance to be traversed was not great; but the nature of the country, +and the difficulty of procuring food, extended the time to nearly three +weeks; and my father had thus ample leisure to know and appreciate the +girl whom he had succoured. I will call my mother Lucy. +Her family name I am not at liberty to mention; it is one you would +know well. By what series of undeserved calamities this innocent +flower of maidenhood, lovely, refined by education, ennobled by the +finest taste, was thus cast among the horrors of a Mormon caravan, I +must not stay to tell you. Let it suffice, that even in these +untoward circumstances, she found a heart worthy of her own. The +ardour of attachment which united my father and mother was perhaps partly +due to the strange manner of their meeting; it knew, at least, no bounds +either divine or human; my father, for her sake, determined to renounce +his ambitions and abjure his faith; and a week had not yet passed upon +the march before he had resigned from his party, accepted the Mormon +doctrine, and received the promise of my mother’s hand on the +arrival of the party at Salt Lake.<br> +<br> +The marriage took place, and I was its only offspring. My father +prospered exceedingly in his affairs, remained faithful to my mother; +and though you may wonder to hear it, I believe there were few happier +homes in any country than that in which I saw the light and grew to +girlhood. We were, indeed, and in spite of all our wealth, avoided +as heretics and half-believers by the more precise and pious of the +faithful: Young himself, that formidable tyrant, was known to look askance +upon my father’s riches; but of this I had no guess. I dwelt, +indeed, under the Mormon system, with perfect innocence and faith. +Some of our friends had many wives; but such was the custom; and why +should it surprise me more than marriage itself? From time to +time one of our rich acquaintances would disappear, his family be broken +up, his wives and houses shared among the elders of the Church, and +his memory only recalled with bated breath and dreadful headshakings. +When I had been very still, and my presence perhaps was forgotten, some +such topic would arise among my elders by the evening fire; I would +see them draw the closer together and look behind them with scared eyes; +and I might gather from their whisperings how some one, rich, honoured, +healthy, and in the prime of his days, some one, perhaps, who had taken +me on his knees a week before, had in one hour been spirited from home +and family, and vanished like an image from a mirror, leaving not a +print behind. It was terrible, indeed; but so was death, the universal +law. And even if the talk should wax still bolder, full of ominous +silences and nods, and I should hear named in a whisper the Destroying +Angels, how was a child to understand these mysteries? I heard +of a Destroying Angel as some more happy child might hear in England +of a bishop or a rural dean, with vague respect and without the wish +for further information. Life anywhere, in society as in nature, +rests upon dread foundations; I beheld safe roads, a garden blooming +in the desert, pious people crowding to worship; I was aware of my parents’ +tenderness and all the harmless luxuries of my existence; and why should +I pry beneath this honest seeming surface for the mysteries on which +it stood?<br> +<br> +We dwelt originally in the city; but at an early date we moved to a +beautiful house in a green dingle, musical with splashing water, and +surrounded on almost every side by twenty miles of poisonous and rocky +desert. The city was thirty miles away; there was but one road, +which went no further than my father’s door; the rest were bridle-tracks +impassable in winter; and we thus dwelt in a solitude inconceivable +to the European. Our only neighbour was Dr. Grierson. To +my young eyes, after the hair-oiled, chin-bearded elders of the city, +and the ill-favoured and mentally stunted women of their harems, there +was something agreeable in the correct manner, the fine bearing, the +thin white hair and beard, and the piercing looks of the old doctor. +Yet, though he was almost our only visitor, I never wholly overcame +a sense of fear in his presence; and this disquietude was rather fed +by the awful solitude in which he lived and the obscurity that hung +about his occupations. His house was but a mile or two from ours, +but very differently placed. It stood overlooking the road on +the summit of a steep slope, and planted close against a range of overhanging +bluffs. Nature, you would say, had here desired to imitate the +works of man; for the slope was even, like the glacis of a fort, and +the cliffs of a constant height, like the ramparts of a city. +Not even spring could change one feature of that desolate scene; and +the windows looked down across a plain, snowy with alkali, to ranges +of cold stone sierras on the north. Twice or thrice I remember +passing within view of this forbidding residence; and seeing it always +shuttered, smokeless, and deserted, I remarked to my parents that some +day it would certainly be robbed.<br> +<br> +‘Ah, no,’ said my father, ‘never robbed;’ and +I observed a strange conviction in his tone.<br> +<br> +At last, and not long before the blow fell on my unhappy family, I chanced +to see the doctor’s house in a new light. My father was +ill; my mother confined to his bedside; and I was suffered to go, under +the charge of our driver, to the lonely house some twenty miles away, +where our packages were left for us. The horse cast a shoe; night +overtook us halfway home; and it was well on for three in the morning +when the driver and I, alone in a light waggon, came to that part of +the road which ran below the doctor’s house. The moon swam +clear; the cliffs and mountains in this strong light lay utterly deserted; +but the house, from its station on the top of the long slope and close +under the bluff, not only shone abroad from every window like a place +of festival, but from the great chimney at the west end poured forth +a coil of smoke so thick and so voluminous, that it hung for miles along +the windless night air, and its shadow lay far abroad in the moonlight +upon the glittering alkali. As we continued to draw near, besides, +a regular and panting throb began to divide the silence. First +it seemed to me like the beating of a heart; and next it put into my +mind the thought of some giant, smothered under mountains and still, +with incalculable effort, fetching breath. I had heard of the +railway, though I had not seen it, and I turned to ask the driver if +this resembled it. But some look in his eye, some pallor, whether +of fear or moonlight on his face, caused the words to die upon my lips. +We continued, therefore, to advance in silence, till we were close below +the lighted house; when suddenly, without one premonitory rustle, there +burst forth a report of such a bigness that it shook the earth and set +the echoes of the mountains thundering from cliff to cliff. A +pillar of amber flame leaped from the chimney-top and fell in multitudes +of sparks; and at the same time the lights in the windows turned for +one instant ruby red and then expired. The driver had checked +his horse instinctively, and the echoes were still rumbling farther +off among the mountains, when there broke from the now darkened interior +a series of yells - whether of man or woman it was impossible to guess +- the door flew open, and there ran forth into the moonlight, at the +top of the long slope, a figure clad in white, which began to dance +and leap and throw itself down, and roll as if in agony, before the +house. I could no more restrain my cries; the driver laid his +lash about the horse’s flank, and we fled up the rough track at +the peril of our lives; and did not draw rein till, turning the corner +of the mountain, we beheld my father’s ranch and deep, green groves +and gardens, sleeping in the tranquil light.<br> +<br> +This was the one adventure of my life, until my father had climbed to +the very topmost point of material prosperity, and I myself had reached +the age of seventeen. I was still innocent and merry like a child; +tended my garden or ran upon the hills in glad simplicity; gave not +a thought to coquetry or to material cares; and if my eye rested on +my own image in a mirror or some sylvan spring, it was to seek and recognise +the features of my parents. But the fears which had long pressed +on others were now to be laid on my youth. I had thrown myself, +one sultry, cloudy afternoon, on a divan; the windows stood open on +the verandah, where my mother sat with her embroidery; and when my father +joined her from the garden, their conversation, clearly audible to me, +was of so startling a nature that it held me enthralled where I lay.<br> +<br> +‘The blow has come,’ my father said, after a long pause.<br> +<br> +I could hear my mother start and turn, but in words she made no reply.<br> +<br> +‘Yes,’ continued my father, ‘I have received to-day +a list of all that I possess; of all, I say; of what I have lent privately +to men whose lips are sealed with terror; of what I have buried with +my own hand on the bare mountain, when there was not a bird in heaven. +Does the air, then, carry secrets? Are the hills of glass? +Do the stones we tread upon preserve the footprint to betray us? +Oh, Lucy, Lucy, that we should have come to such a country!’<br> +<br> +‘But this,’ returned my mother, ‘is no very new or +very threatening event. You are accused of some concealment. +You will pay more taxes in the future, and be mulcted in a fine. +It is disquieting, indeed, to find our acts so spied upon, and the most +private known. But is this new? Have we not long feared +and suspected every blade of grass?’<br> +<br> +‘Ay, and our shadows!’ cried my father. ‘But +all this is nothing. Here is the letter that accompanied the list.’<br> +<br> +I heard my mother turn the pages, and she was some time silent.<br> +<br> +‘I see,’ she said at last; and then, with the tone of one +reading: ‘“From a believer so largely blessed by Providence +with this world’s goods,”’ she continued, ‘“the +Church awaits in confidence some signal mark of piety.” +There lies the sting. Am I not right? These are the words +you fear?’<br> +<br> +‘These are the words,’ replied my father. ‘Lucy, +you remember Priestley? Two days before he disappeared, he carried +me to the summit of an isolated butte; we could see around us for ten +miles; sure, if in any quarter of this land a man were safe from spies, +it were in such a station; but it was in the very ague-fit of terror +that he told me, and that I heard, his story. He had received +a letter such as this; and he submitted to my approval an answer, in +which he offered to resign a third of his possessions. I conjured +him, as he valued life, to raise his offering; and, before we parted, +he had doubled the amount. Well, two days later he was gone - +gone from the chief street of the city in the hour of noon - and gone +for ever. O God!’ cried my father, ‘by what art do +they thus spirit out of life the solid body? What death do they +command that leaves no traces? that this material structure, these strong +arms, this skeleton that can resist the grave for centuries, should +be thus reft in a moment from the world of sense? A horror dwells +in that thought more awful than mere death.’<br> +<br> +‘Is there no hope in Grierson?’ asked my mother.<br> +<br> +‘Dismiss the thought,’ replied my father. ‘He +now knows all that I can teach, and will do naught to save me. +His power, besides, is small, his own danger not improbably more imminent +than mine; for he, too, lives apart; he leaves his wives neglected and +unwatched; he is openly cited for an unbeliever; and unless he buys +security at a more awful price - but no; I will not believe it: I have +no love for him, but I will not believe it.’<br> +<br> +‘Believe what?’ asked my mother; and then, with a change +of note, ‘But oh, what matters it?’ she cried. ‘Abimelech, +there is but one way open: we must fly!’<br> +<br> +‘It is in vain,’ returned my father. ‘I should +but involve you in my fate. To leave this land is hopeless: we +are closed in it as men are closed in life; and there is no issue but +the grave.’<br> +<br> +‘We can but die then,’ replied my mother. ‘Let +us at least die together. Let not Asenath <a name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2">{2}</a> +and myself survive you. Think to what a fate we should be doomed!’<br> +<br> +My father was unable to resist her tender violence; and though I could +see he nourished not one spark of hope, he consented to desert his whole +estate, beyond some hundreds of dollars that he had by him at the moment, +and to flee that night, which promised to be dark and cloudy. +As soon as the servants were asleep, he was to load two mules with provisions; +two others were to carry my mother and myself; and, striking through +the mountains by an unfrequented trail, we were to make a fair stroke +for liberty and life. As soon as they had thus decided, I showed +myself at the window, and, owning that I had heard all, assured them +that they could rely on my prudence and devotion. I had no fear, +indeed, but to show myself unworthy of my birth; I held my life in my +hand without alarm; and when my father, weeping upon my neck, had blessed +Heaven for the courage of his child, it was with a sentiment of pride +and some of the joy that warriors take in war, that I began to look +forward to the perils of our flight.<br> +<br> +Before midnight, under an obscure and starless heaven, we had left far +behind us the plantations of the valley, and were mounting a certain +canyon in the hills, narrow, encumbered with great rocks, and echoing +with the roar of a tumultuous torrent. Cascade after cascade thundered +and hung up its flag of whiteness in the night, or fanned our faces +with the wet wind of its descent. The trail was breakneck, and +led to famine-guarded deserts; it had been long since deserted for more +practicable routes; and it was now a part of the world untrod from year +to year by human footing. Judge of our dismay, when turning suddenly +an angle of the cliffs, we found a bright bonfire blazing by itself +under an impending rock; and on the face of the rock, drawn very rudely +with charred wood, the great Open Eye which is the emblem of the Mormon +faith. We looked upon each other in the firelight; my mother broke +into a passion of tears; but not a word was said. The mules were +turned about; and leaving that great eye to guard the lonely canyon, +we retraced our steps in silence. Day had not yet broken ere we +were once more at home, condemned beyond reprieve.<br> +<br> +What answer my father sent I was not told; but two days later, a little +before sundown, I saw a plain, honest-looking man ride slowly up the +road in a great pother of dust. He was clad in homespun, with +a broad straw hat; wore a patriarchal beard; and had an air of a simple +rustic farmer, that was, in my eyes, very reassuring. He was, +indeed, a very honest man and pious Mormon; with no liking for his errand, +though neither he nor any one in Utah dared to disobey; and it was with +every mark of diffidence that he had had himself announced as Mr. Aspinwall, +and entered the room where our unhappy family was gathered. My +mother and me, he awkwardly enough dismissed; and as soon as he was +alone with my father laid before him a blank signature of President +Young’s, and offered him a choice of services: either to set out +as a missionary to the tribes about the White Sea, or to join the next +day, with a party of Destroying Angels, in the massacre of sixty German +immigrants. The last, of course, my father could not entertain, +and the first he regarded as a pretext: even if he could consent to +leave his wife defenceless, and to collect fresh victims for the tyranny +under which he was himself oppressed, he felt sure he would never be +suffered to return. He refused both; and Aspinwall, he said, betrayed +sincere emotion, part religious, at the spectacle of such disobedience, +but part human, in pity for my father and his family. He besought +him to reconsider his decision; and at length, finding he could not +prevail, gave him till the moon rose to settle his affairs, and say +farewell to wife and daughter. ‘For,’ said he, ‘then, +at the latest, you must ride with me.’<br> +<br> +I dare not dwell upon the hours that followed: they fled all too fast; +and presently the moon out-topped the eastern range, and my father and +Mr. Aspinwall set forth, side by side, on their nocturnal journey. +My mother, though still bearing an heroic countenance, had hastened +to shut herself in her apartment, thenceforward solitary; and I, alone +in the dark house, and consumed by grief and apprehension, made haste +to saddle my Indian pony, to ride up to the corner of the mountain, +and to enjoy one farewell sight of my departing father. The two +men had set forth at a deliberate pace; nor was I long behind them, +when I reached the point of view. I was the more amazed to see +no moving creature in the landscape. The moon, as the saying is, +shone bright as day; and nowhere, under the whole arch of night, was +there a growing tree, a bush, a farm, a patch of tillage, or any evidence +of man, but one. From the corner where I stood, a rugged bastion +of the line of bluffs concealed the doctor’s house; and across +the top of that projection the soft night wind carried and unwound about +the hills a coil of sable smoke. What fuel could produce a vapour +so sluggish to dissipate in that dry air, or what furnace pour it forth +so copiously, I was unable to conceive; but I knew well enough that +it came from the doctor’s chimney; I saw well enough that my father +had already disappeared; and in despite of reason, I connected in my +mind the loss of that dear protector with the ribbon of foul smoke that +trailed along the mountains.<br> +<br> +Days passed, and still my mother and I waited in vain for news; a week +went by, a second followed, but we heard no word of the father and husband. +As smoke dissipates, as the image glides from the mirror, so in the +ten or twenty minutes that I had spent in getting my horse and following +upon his trail, had that strong and brave man vanished out of life. +Hope, if any hope we had, fled with every hour; the worst was now certain +for my father, the worst was to be dreaded for his defenceless family. +Without weakness, with a desperate calm at which I marvel when I look +back upon it, the widow and the orphan awaited the event. On the +last day of the third week we rose in the morning to find ourselves +alone in the house, alone, so far as we searched, on the estate; all +our attendants, with one accord, had fled: and as we knew them to be +gratefully devoted, we drew the darkest intimations from their flight. +The day passed, indeed, without event; but in the fall of the evening +we were called at last into the verandah by the approaching clink of +horse’s hoofs.<br> +<br> +The doctor, mounted on an Indian pony, rode into the garden, dismounted, +and saluted us. He seemed much more bent, and his hair more silvery +than ever; but his demeanour was composed, serious, and not unkind.<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said he, ‘I am come upon a weighty errand; +and I would have you recognise it as an effect of kindness in the President, +that he should send as his ambassador your only neighbour and your husband’s +oldest friend in Utah.’<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ said my mother, ‘I have but one concern, one +thought. You know well what it is. Speak: my husband?’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ returned the doctor, taking a chair on the verandah, +‘if you were a silly child, my position would now be painfully +embarrassing. You are, on the other hand, a woman of great intelligence +and fortitude: you have, by my forethought, been allowed three weeks +to draw your own conclusions and to accept the inevitable. Farther +words from me are, I conceive, superfluous.’<br> +<br> +My mother was as pale as death, and trembled like a reed; I gave her +my hand, and she kept it in the folds of her dress and wrung it till +I could have cried aloud. ‘Then, sir,’ said she at +last, ‘you speak to deaf ears. If this be indeed so, what +have I to do with errands? What do I ask of Heaven but to die?’<br> +<br> +‘Come,’ said the doctor, ‘command yourself. +I bid you dismiss all thoughts of your late husband, and bring a clear +mind to bear upon your own future and the fate of that young girl.’<br> +<br> +‘You bid me dismiss - ’ began my mother. ‘Then +you know!’ she cried.<br> +<br> +‘I know,’ replied the doctor.<br> +<br> +‘You know?’ broke out the poor woman. ‘Then +it was you who did the deed! I tear off the mask, and with dread +and loathing see you as you are - you, whom the poor fugitive beholds +in nightmares, and awakes raving - you, the Destroying Angel!’<br> +<br> +‘Well, madam, and what then?’ returned the doctor. +‘Have not my fate and yours been similar? Are we not both +immured in this strong prison of Utah? Have you not tried to flee, +and did not the Open Eye confront you in the canyon? Who can escape +the watch of that unsleeping eye of Utah? Not I, at least. +Horrible tasks have, indeed, been laid upon me; and the most ungrateful +was the last; but had I refused my offices, would that have spared your +husband? You know well it would not. I, too, had perished +along with him; nor would I have been able to alleviate his last moments, +nor could I to-day have stood between his family and the hand of Brigham +Young.’<br> +<br> +‘Ah!’ cried I, ‘and could you purchase life by such +concessions?’<br> +<br> +‘Young lady,’ answered the doctor, ‘I both could and +did; and you will live to thank me for that baseness. You have +a spirit, Asenath, that it pleases me to recognise. But we waste +time. Mr. Fonblanque’s estate reverts, as you doubtless +imagine, to the Church; but some part of it has been reserved for him +who is to marry the family; and that person, I should perhaps tell you +without more delay, is no other than myself.’<br> +<br> +At this odious proposal my mother and I cried out aloud, and clung together +like lost souls.<br> +<br> +‘It is as I supposed,’ resumed the doctor, with the same +measured utterance. ‘You recoil from this arrangement. +Do you expect me to convince you? You know very well that I have +never held the Mormon view of women. Absorbed in the most arduous +studies, I have left the slatterns whom they call my wives to scratch +and quarrel among themselves; of me, they have had nothing but my purse; +such was not the union I desired, even if I had the leisure to pursue +it. No: you need not, madam, and my old friend’ - and here +the doctor rose and bowed with something of gallantry - ‘you need +not apprehend my importunities. On the contrary, I am rejoiced +to read in you a Roman spirit; and if I am obliged to bid you follow +me at once, and that in the name, not of my wish, but of my orders, +I hope it will be found that we are of a common mind.’<br> +<br> +So, bidding us dress for the road, he took a lamp (for the night had +now fallen) and set off to the stable to prepare our horses.<br> +<br> +‘What does it mean? - what will become of us?’ I cried.<br> +<br> +‘Not that, at least,’ replied my mother, shuddering. +‘So far we can trust him. I seem to read among his words +a certain tragic promise. Asenath, if I leave you, if I die, you +will not forget your miserable parents?’<br> +<br> +Thereupon we fell to cross-purposes: I beseeching her to explain her +words; she putting me by, and continuing to recommend the doctor for +a friend. ‘The doctor!’ I cried at last; ‘the +man who killed my father?’<br> +<br> +‘Nay,’ said she, ‘let us be just. I do believe +before, Heaven, he played the friendliest part. And he alone, +Asenath, can protect you in this land of death.’<br> +<br> +At this the doctor returned, leading our two horses; and when we were +all in the saddle, he bade me ride on before, as he had matter to discuss +with Mrs. Fonblanque. They came at a foot’s pace, eagerly +conversing in a whisper; and presently after the moon rose and showed +them looking eagerly in each other’s faces as they went, my mother +laying her hand upon the doctor’s arm, and the doctor himself, +against his usual custom, making vigorous gestures of protest or asseveration.<br> +<br> +At the foot of the track which ascended the talus of the mountain to +his door, the doctor overtook me at a trot.<br> +<br> +‘Here,’ he said, ‘we shall dismount; and as your mother +prefers to be alone, you and I shall walk together to my house.’<br> +<br> +‘Shall I see her again?’ I asked.<br> +<br> +‘I give you my word,’ he said, and helped me to alight. +‘We leave the horses here,’ he added. ‘There +are no thieves in this stone wilderness.’<br> +<br> +The track mounted gradually, keeping the house in view. The windows +were once more bright; the chimney once more vomited smoke; but the +most absolute silence reigned, and, but for the figure of my mother +very slowly following in our wake, I felt convinced there was no human +soul within a range of miles. At the thought, I looked upon the +doctor, gravely walking by my side, with his bowed shoulders and white +hair, and then once more at his house, lit up and pouring smoke like +some industrious factory. And then my curiosity broke forth. +‘In Heaven’s name,’ I cried, ‘what do you make +in this inhuman desert?’<br> +<br> +He looked at me with a peculiar smile, and answered with an evasion +-<br> +<br> +‘This is not the first time,’ said he, ‘that you have +seen my furnaces alight. One morning, in the small hours, I saw +you driving past; a delicate experiment miscarried; and I cannot acquit +myself of having startled either your driver or the horse that drew +you.’<br> +<br> +‘What!’ cried I, beholding again in fancy the antics of +the figure, ‘could that be you?’<br> +<br> +‘It was I,’ he replied; ‘but do not fancy that I was +mad. I was in agony. I had been scalded cruelly.’<br> +<br> +We were now near the house, which, unlike the ordinary houses of the +country, was built of hewn stone and very solid. Stone, too, was +its foundation, stone its background. Not a blade of grass sprouted +among the broken mineral about the walls, not a flower adorned the windows. +Over the door, by way of sole adornment, the Mormon Eye was rudely sculptured; +I had been brought up to view that emblem from my childhood; but since +the night of our escape, it had acquired a new significance, and set +me shrinking. The smoke rolled voluminously from the chimney top, +its edges ruddy with the fire; and from the far corner of the building, +near the ground, angry puffs of steam shone snow-white in the moon and +vanished.<br> +<br> +The doctor opened the door and paused upon the threshold. ‘You +ask me what I make here,’ he observed. ‘Two things: +Life and Death.’ And he motioned me to enter.<br> +<br> +‘I shall await my mother,’ said I.<br> +<br> +‘Child,’ he replied, ‘look at me: am I not old and +broken? Of us two, which is the stronger, the young maiden or +the withered man?’<br> +<br> +I bowed, and passing by him, entered a vestibule or kitchen, lit by +a good fire and a shaded reading-lamp. It was furnished only with +a dresser, a rude table, and some wooden benches; and on one of these +the doctor motioned me to take a seat; and passing by another door into +the interior of the house, he left me to myself. Presently I heard +the jar of iron from the far end of the building; and this was followed +by the same throbbing noise that had startled me in the valley, but +now so near at hand as to be menacing by loudness, and even to shake +the house with every recurrence of the stroke. I had scarce time +to master my alarm when the doctor returned, and almost in the same +moment my mother appeared upon the threshold. But how am I to +describe to you the peace and ravishment of that face? Years seemed +to have passed over her head during that brief ride, and left her younger +and fairer; her eyes shone, her smile went to my heart; she seemed no +more a woman but the angel of ecstatic tenderness. I ran to her +in a kind of terror; but she shrank a little back and laid her finger +on her lips, with something arch and yet unearthly. To the doctor, +on the contrary, she reached out her hand as to a friend and helper; +and so strange was the scene that I forgot to be offended.<br> +<br> +‘Lucy,’ said the doctor, ‘all is prepared. Will +you go alone, or shall your daughter follow us?’<br> +<br> +‘Let Asenath come,’ she answered, ‘dear Asenath! +At this hour, when I am purified of fear and sorrow, and already survive +myself and my affections, it is for your sake, and not for mine, that +I desire her presence. Were she shut out, dear friend, it is to +be feared she might misjudge your kindness.’<br> +<br> +‘Mother,’ I cried wildly, ‘mother, what is this?’<br> +<br> +But my mother, with her radiant smile, said only ‘Hush!’ +as though I were a child again, and tossing in some fever-fit; and the +doctor bade me be silent and trouble her no more. ‘You have +made a choice,’ he continued, addressing my mother, ‘that +has often strangely tempted me. The two extremes: all, or else +nothing; never, or this very hour upon the clock - these have been my +incongruous desires. But to accept the middle term, to be content +with a half-gift, to flicker awhile and to burn out - never for an hour, +never since I was born, has satisfied the appetite of my ambition.’ +He looked upon my mother fixedly, much of admiration and some touch +of envy in his eyes; then, with a profound sigh, he led the way into +the inner room.<br> +<br> +It was very long. From end to end it was lit up by many lamps, +which by the changeful colour of their light, and by the incessant snapping +sounds with which they burned, I have since divined to be electric. +At the extreme end an open door gave us a glimpse into what must have +been a lean-to shed beside the chimney; and this, in strong contrast +to the room, was painted with a red reverberation as from furnace-doors. +The walls were lined with books and glazed cases, the tables crowded +with the implements of chemical research; great glass accumulators glittered +in the light; and through a hole in the gable near the shed door, a +heavy driving-belt entered the apartment and ran overhead upon steel +pulleys, with clumsy activity and many ghostly and fluttering sounds. +In one corner I perceived a chair resting upon crystal feet, and curiously +wreathed with wire. To this my mother advanced with a decisive +swiftness.<br> +<br> +‘Is this it?’ she asked.<br> +<br> +The doctor bowed in silence.<br> +<br> +‘Asenath,’ said my mother, ‘in this sad end of my +life I have found one helper. Look upon him: it is Doctor Grierson. +Be not, oh my daughter, be not ungrateful to that friend!’<br> +<br> +She sate upon the chair, and took in her hands the globes that terminated +the arms.<br> +<br> +‘Am I right?’ she asked, and looked upon the doctor with +such a radiancy of face that I trembled for her reason. Once more +the doctor bowed, but this time leaning hard against the wall. +He must have touched a spring. The least shock agitated my mother +where she sat; the least passing jar appeared to cross her features; +and she sank back in the chair like one resigned to weariness. +I was at her knees that moment; but her hands fell loosely in my grasp; +her face, still beatified with the same touching smile, sank forward +on her bosom: her spirit had for ever fled.<br> +<br> +I do not know how long may have elapsed before, raising for a moment +my tearful face, I met the doctor’s eyes. They rested upon +mine with such a depth of scrutiny, pity, and interest, that even from +the freshness of my sorrow, I was startled into attention.<br> +<br> +‘Enough,’ he said, ‘to lamentation. Your mother +went to death as to a bridal, dying where her husband died. It +is time, Asenath, to think of the survivors. Follow me to the +next room.’<br> +<br> +I followed him, like a person in a dream; he made me sit by the fire, +he gave me wine to drink; and then, pacing the stone floor, he thus +began to address me -<br> +<br> +‘You are now, my child, alone in the world, and under the immediate +watch of Brigham Young. It would be your lot, in ordinary circumstances, +to become the fiftieth bride of some ignoble elder, or by particular +fortune, as fortune is counted in this land, to find favour in the eyes +of the President himself. Such a fate for a girl like you were +worse than death; better to die as your mother died than to sink daily +deeper in the mire of this pit of woman’s degradation. But +is escape conceivable? Your father tried; and you beheld yourself +with what security his jailers acted, and how a dumb drawing on a rock +was counted a sufficient sentry over the avenues of freedom. Where +your father failed, will you be wiser or more fortunate? or are you, +too, helpless in the toils?’<br> +<br> +I had followed his words with changing emotion, but now I believed I +understood.<br> +<br> +‘I see,’ I cried; ‘you judge me rightly. I must +follow where my parents led; and oh! I am not only willing, I am eager!’<br> +<br> +‘No,’ replied the doctor, ‘not death for you. +The flawed vessel we may break, but not the perfect. No, your +mother cherished a different hope, and so do I. I see,’ +he cried, ‘the girl develop to the completed woman, the plan reach +fulfilment, the promise - ay, outdone! I could not bear to arrest +so lively, so comely a process. It was your mother’s thought,’ +he added, with a change of tone, ‘that I should marry you myself.’ +I fear I must have shown a perfect horror of aversion from this fate, +for he made haste to quiet me. ‘Reassure yourself, Asenath,’ +he resumed. ‘Old as I am, I have not forgotten the tumultuous +fancies of youth. I have passed my days, indeed, in laboratories; +but in all my vigils I have not forgotten the tune of a young pulse. +Age asks with timidity to be spared intolerable pain; youth, taking +fortune by the beard, demands joy like a right. These things I +have not forgotten; none, rather, has more keenly felt, none more jealously +considered them; I have but postponed them to their day. See, +then: you stand without support; the only friend left to you, this old +investigator, old in cunning, young in sympathy. Answer me but +one question: Are you free from the entanglement of what the world calls +love? Do you still command your heart and purposes? or are you +fallen in some bond-slavery of the eye and ear?’<br> +<br> +I answered him in broken words; my heart, I think I must have told him, +lay with my dead parents.<br> +<br> +‘It is enough,’ he said. ‘It has been my fate +to be called on often, too often, for those services of which we spoke +to-night; none in Utah could carry them so well to a conclusion; hence +there has fallen into my hands a certain share of influence which I +now lay at your service, partly for the sake of my dead friends, your +parents; partly for the interest I bear you in your own right. +I shall send you to England, to the great city of London, there to await +the bridegroom I have selected. He shall be a son of mine, a young +man suitable in age and not grossly deficient in that quality of beauty +that your years demand. Since your heart is free, you may well +pledge me the sole promise that I ask in return for much expense and +still more danger: to await the arrival of that bridegroom with the +delicacy of a wife.’<br> +<br> +I sat awhile stunned. The doctor’s marriages, I remembered +to have heard, had been unfruitful; and this added perplexity to my +distress. But I was alone, as he had said, alone in that dark +land; the thought of escape, of any equal marriage, was already enough +to revive in me some dawn of hope; and in what words I know not, I accepted +the proposal.<br> +<br> +He seemed more moved by my consent than I could reasonably have looked +for. ‘You shall see,’ he cried; ‘you shall judge +for yourself.’ And hurrying to the next room he returned +with a small portrait somewhat coarsely done in oils. It showed +a man in the dress of nearly forty years before, young indeed, but still +recognisable to be the doctor. ‘Do you like it?’ he +asked. ‘That is myself when I was young. My - my boy +will be like that, like but nobler; with such health as angels might +condescend to envy; and a man of mind, Asenath, of commanding mind. +That should be a man, I think; that should be one among ten thousand. +A man like that - one to combine the passions of youth with the restraint, +the force, the dignity of age - one to fill all the parts and faculties, +one to be man’s epitome - say, will that not satisfy the needs +of an ambitious girl? Say, is not that enough?’ And +as he held the picture close before my eyes, his hands shook.<br> +<br> +I told him briefly I would ask no better, for I was transpierced with +this display of fatherly emotion; but even as I said the words, the +most insolent revolt surged through my arteries. I held him in +horror, him, his portrait, and his son; and had there been any choice +but death or a Mormon marriage, I declare before Heaven I had embraced +it.<br> +<br> +‘It is well,’ he replied, ‘and I had rightly counted +on your spirit. Eat, then, for you have far to go.’ +So saying, he set meat before me; and while I was endeavouring to obey, +he left the room and returned with an armful of coarse raiment. +‘There,’ said he, ‘is your disguise. I leave +you to your toilet.’<br> +<br> +The clothes had probably belonged to a somewhat lubberly boy of fifteen; +and they hung about me like a sack, and cruelly hampered my movements. +But what filled me with uncontrollable shudderings, was the problem +of their origin and the fate of the lad to whom they had belonged. +I had scarcely effected the exchange when the doctor returned, opened +a back window, helped me out into the narrow space between the house +and the overhanging bluffs, and showed me a ladder of iron footholds +mortised in the rock. ‘Mount,’ he said, ‘swiftly. +When you are at the summit, walk, so far as you are able, in the shadow +of the smoke. The smoke will bring you, sooner or later, to a +canyon; follow that down, and you will find a man with two horses. +Him you will implicitly obey. And remember, silence! That +machinery, which I now put in motion for your service, may by one word +be turned against you. Go; Heaven prosper you!’<br> +<br> +The ascent was easy. Arrived at the top of the cliff, I saw before +me on the other side a vast and gradual declivity of stone, lying bare +to the moon and the surrounding mountains. Nowhere was any vantage +or concealment; and knowing how these deserts were beset with spies, +I made haste to veil my movements under the blowing trail of smoke. +Sometimes it swam high, rising on the night wind, and I had no more +substantial curtain than its moon-thrown shadow; sometimes again it +crawled upon the earth, and I would walk in it, no higher than to my +shoulders, like some mountain fog. But, one way or another, the +smoke of that ill-omened furnace protected the first steps of my escape, +and led me unobserved to the canyon.<br> +<br> +There, sure enough, I found a taciturn and sombre man beside a pair +of saddle-horses; and thenceforward, all night long, we wandered in +silence by the most occult and dangerous paths among the mountains. +A little before the dayspring we took refuge in a wet and gusty cavern +at the bottom of a gorge; lay there all day concealed; and the next +night, before the glow had faded out of the west, resumed our wanderings. +About noon we stopped again, in a lawn upon a little river, where was +a screen of bushes; and here my guide, handing me a bundle from his +pack, bade me change my dress once more. The bundle contained +clothing of my own, taken from our house, with such necessaries as a +comb and soap. I made my toilet by the mirror of a quiet pool; +and as I was so doing, and smiling with some complacency to see myself +restored to my own image, the mountains rang with a scream of far more +than human piercingness; and while I still stood astonished, there sprang +up and swiftly increased a storm of the most awful and earth-rending +sounds. Shall I own to you, that I fell upon my face and shrieked? +And yet this was but the overland train winding among the near mountains: +the very means of my salvation: the strong wings that were to carry +me from Utah!<br> +<br> +When I was dressed, the guide gave me a bag, which contained, he said, +both money and papers; and telling me that I was already over the borders +in the territory of Wyoming, bade me follow the stream until I reached +the railway station, half a mile below. ‘Here,’ he +added, ‘is your ticket as far as Council Bluffs. The East +express will pass in a few hours.’ With that, he took both +horses, and, without further words or any salutation, rode off by the +way that we had come.<br> +<br> +Three hours afterwards, I was seated on the end platform of the train +as it swept eastward through the gorges and thundered in tunnels of +the mountain. The change of scene, the sense of escape, the still +throbbing terror of pursuit - above all, the astounding magic of my +new conveyance, kept me from any logical or melancholy thought. +I had gone to the doctor’s house two nights before prepared to +die, prepared for worse than death; what had passed, terrible although +it was, looked almost bright compared to my anticipations; and it was +not till I had slept a full night in the flying palace car, that I awoke +to the sense of my irreparable loss and to some reasonable alarm about +the future. In this mood, I examined the contents of the bag. +It was well supplied with gold; it contained tickets and complete directions +for my journey as far as Liverpool, and a long letter from the doctor, +supplying me with a fictitious name and story, recommending the most +guarded silence, and bidding me to await faithfully the coming of his +son. All then had been arranged beforehand: he had counted upon +my consent, and what was tenfold worse, upon my mother’s voluntary +death. My horror of my only friend, my aversion for this son who +was to marry me, my revolt against the whole current and conditions +of my life, were now complete. I was sitting stupefied by my distress +and helplessness, when, to my joy, a very pleasant lady offered me her +conversation. I clutched at the relief; and I was soon glibly +telling her the story in the doctor’s letter: how I was a Miss +Gould, of Nevada City, going to England to an uncle, what money I had, +what family, my age, and so forth, until I had exhausted my instructions, +and, as the lady still continued to ply me with questions, began to +embroider on my own account. This soon carried one of my inexperience +beyond her depth; and I had already remarked a shadow on the lady’s +face, when a gentleman drew near and very civilly addressed me.<br> +<br> +‘Miss Gould, I believe?’ said he; and then, excusing himself +to the lady by the authority of my guardian, drew me to the fore platform +of the Pullman car. ‘Miss Gould,’ he said in my ear, +‘is it possible that you suppose yourself in safety? Let +me completely undeceive you. One more such indiscretion and you +return to Utah. And, in the meanwhile, if this woman should again +address you, you are to reply with these words: “Madam, I do not +like you, and I will be obliged if you will suffer me to choose my own +associates.”’<br> +<br> +Alas, I had to do as I was bid; this lady, to whom I already felt myself +drawn with the strongest cords of sympathy, I dismissed with insult; +and thenceforward, through all that day, I sat in silence, gazing on +the bare plains and swallowing my tears. Let that suffice: it +was the pattern of my journey. Whether on the train, at the hotels, +or on board the ocean steamer, I never exchanged a friendly word with +any fellow-traveller but I was certain to be interrupted. In every +place, on every side, the most unlikely persons, man or woman, rich +or poor, became protectors to forward me upon my journey, or spies to +observe and regulate my conduct. Thus I crossed the States, thus +passed the ocean, the Mormon Eye still following my movements; and when +at length a cab had set me down before that London lodging-house from +which you saw me flee this morning, I had already ceased to struggle +and ceased to hope.<br> +<br> +The landlady, like every one else through all that journey, was expecting +my arrival. A fire was lighted in my room, which looked upon the +garden; there were books on the table, clothes in the drawers; and there +(I had almost said with contentment, and certainly with resignation) +I saw month follow month over my head. At times my landlady took +me for a walk or an excursion, but she would never suffer me to leave +the house alone; and I, seeing that she also lived under the shadow +of that widespread Mormon terror, felt too much pity to resist. +To the child born on Mormon soil, as to the man who accepts the engagements +of a secret order, no escape is possible; so I had clearly read, and +I was thankful even for this respite. Meanwhile, I tried honestly +to prepare my mind for my approaching nuptials. The day drew near +when my bridegroom was to visit me, and gratitude and fear alike obliged +me to consent. A son of Doctor Grierson’s, be he what he +pleased, must still be young, and it was even probable he should be +handsome; on more than that, I felt I dared not reckon; and in moulding +my mind towards consent I dwelt the more carefully on these physical +attractions which I felt I might expect, and averted my eyes from moral +or intellectual considerations. We have a great power upon our +spirits; and as time passed I worked myself into a frame of acquiescence, +nay, and I began to grow impatient for the hour. At night sleep +forsook me; I sat all day by the fire, absorbed in dreams, conjuring +up the features of my husband, and anticipating in fancy the touch of +his hand and the sound of his voice. In the dead level and solitude +of my existence, this was the one eastern window and the one door of +hope. At last, I had so cultivated and prepared my will, that +I began to be besieged with fears upon the other side. How if +it was I that did not please? How if this unseen lover should +turn from me with disaffection? And now I spent hours before the +glass, studying and judging my attractions, and was never weary of changing +my dress or ordering my hair.<br> +<br> +When the day came I was long about my toilet; but at last, with a sort +of hopeful desperation, I had to own that I could do no more, and must +now stand or fall by nature. My occupation ended, I fell a prey +to the most sickening impatience, mingled with alarms; giving ear to +the swelling rumour of the streets, and at each change of sound or silence, +starting, shrinking, and colouring to the brow. Love is not to +be prepared, I know, without some knowledge of the object; and yet, +when the cab at last rattled to the door and I heard my visitor mount +the stairs, such was the tumult of hopes in my poor bosom that love +itself might have been proud to own their parentage. The door +opened, and it was Doctor Grierson that appeared. I believe I +must have screamed aloud, and I know, at least, that I fell fainting +to the floor.<br> +<br> +When I came to myself he was standing over me, counting my pulse. +‘I have startled you,’ he said. ‘A difficulty +unforeseen - the impossibility of obtaining a certain drug in its full +purity - has forced me to resort to London unprepared. I regret +that I should have shown myself once more without those poor attractions +which are much, perhaps, to you, but to me are no more considerable +than rain that falls into the sea. Youth is but a state, as passing +as that syncope from which you are but just awakened, and, if there +be truth in science, as easy to recall; for I find, Asenath, that I +must now take you for my confidant. Since my first years, I have +devoted every hour and act of life to one ambitious task; and the time +of my success is at hand. In these new countries, where I was +so long content to stay, I collected indispensable ingredients; I have +fortified myself on every side from the possibility of error; what was +a dream now takes the substance of reality; and when I offered you a +son of mine I did so in a figure. That son - that husband, Asenath, +is myself - not as you now behold me, but restored to the first energy +of youth. You think me mad? It is the customary attitude +of ignorance. I will not argue; I will leave facts to speak. +When you behold me purified, invigorated, renewed, restamped in the +original image - when you recognise in me (what I shall be) the first +perfect expression of the powers of mankind - I shall be able to laugh +with a better grace at your passing and natural incredulity. To +what can you aspire - fame, riches, power, the charm of youth, the dear-bought +wisdom of age - that I shall not be able to afford you in perfection? +Do not deceive yourself. I already excel you in every human gift +but one: when that gift also has been restored to me you will recognise +your master.’<br> +<br> +Hereupon, consulting his watch, he told me he must now leave me to myself; +and bidding me consult reason, and not girlish fancies, he withdrew. +I had not the courage to move; the night fell and found me still where +he had laid me during my faint, my face buried in my hands, my soul +drowned in the darkest apprehensions. Late in the evening he returned, +carrying a candle, and, with a certain irritable tremor, bade me rise +and sup. ‘Is it possible,’ he added, ‘that I +have been deceived in your courage? A cowardly girl is no fit +mate for me.’<br> +<br> +I flung myself before him on my knees, and with floods of tears besought +him to release me from this engagement, assuring him that my cowardice +was abject, and that in every point of intellect and character I was +his hopeless and derisible inferior.<br> +<br> +‘Why, certainly,’ he replied. ‘I know you better +than yourself; and I am well enough acquainted with human nature to +understand this scene. It is addressed to me,’ he added +with a smile, ‘in my character of the still untransformed. +But do not alarm yourself about the future. Let me but attain +my end, and not you only, Asenath, but every woman on the face of the +earth becomes my willing slave.’<br> +<br> +Thereupon he obliged me to rise and eat; sat down with me to table; +helped and entertained me with the attentions of a fashionable host; +and it was not till a late hour, that, bidding me courteously good-night, +he once more left me alone to my misery.<br> +<br> +In all this talk of an elixir and the restoration of his youth, I scarce +knew from which hypothesis I should the more eagerly recoil. If +his hopes reposed on any base of fact, if indeed, by some abhorrent +miracle, he should discard his age, death were my only refuge from that +most unnatural, that most ungodly union. If, on the other hand, +these dreams were merely lunatic, the madness of a life waxed suddenly +acute, my pity would become a load almost as heavy to bear as my revolt +against the marriage. So passed the night, in alternations of +rebellion and despair, of hate and pity; and with the next morning I +was only to comprehend more fully my enslaved position. For though +he appeared with a very tranquil countenance, he had no sooner observed +the marks of grief upon my brow than an answering darkness gathered +on his own. ‘Asenath.’ he said, ‘you owe me +much already; with one finger I still hold you suspended over death; +my life is full of labour and anxiety; and I choose,’ said he, +with a remarkable accent of command, ‘that you shall greet me +with a pleasant face.’ He never needed to repeat the recommendation; +from that day forward I was always ready to receive him with apparent +cheerfulness; and he rewarded me with a good deal of his company, and +almost more than I could bear of his confidence. He had set up +a laboratory in the back part of the house, where he toiled day and +night at his elixir, and he would come thence to visit me in my parlour: +now with passing humours of discouragement; now, and far more often, +radiant with hope. It was impossible to see so much of him, and +not to recognise that the sands of his life were running low; and yet +all the time he would be laying out vast fields of future, and planning, +with all the confidence of youth, the most unbounded schemes of pleasure +and ambition. How I replied I know not; but I found a voice and +words to answer, even while I wept and raged to hear him.<br> +<br> +A week ago the doctor entered my room with the marks of great exhilaration +contending with pitiful bodily weakness. ‘Asenath,’ +said he, ‘I have now obtained the last ingredient. In one +week from now the perilous moment of the last projection will draw nigh. +You have once before assisted, although unconsciously, at the failure +of a similar experiment. It was the elixir which so terribly exploded +one night when you were passing my house; and it is idle to deny that +the conduct of so delicate a process, among the million jars and trepidations +of so great a city, presents a certain element of danger. From +this point of view, I cannot but regret the perfect stillness of my +house among the deserts; but, on the other hand, I have succeeded in +proving that the singularly unstable equilibrium of the elixir, at the +moment of projection, is due rather to the impurity than to the nature +of the ingredients; and as all are now of an equal and exquisite nicety, +I have little fear for the result. In a week then from to-day, +my dear Asenath, this period of trial will be ended.’ And +he smiled upon me in a manner unusually paternal.<br> +<br> +I smiled back with my lips, but at my heart there raged the blackest +and most unbridled terror. What if he failed? And oh, tenfold +worse! what if he succeeded? What detested and unnatural changeling +would appear before me to claim my hand? And could there, I asked +myself with a dreadful sinking, be any truth in his boasts of an assured +victory over my reluctance? I knew him, indeed, to be masterful, +to lead my life at a sign. Suppose, then, this experiment to succeed; +suppose him to return to me, hideously restored, like a vampire in a +legend; and suppose that, by some devilish fascination . . . My head +turned; all former fears deserted me: and I felt I could embrace the +worst in preference to this.<br> +<br> +My mind was instantly made up. The doctor’s presence in +London was justified by the affairs of the Mormon polity. Often, +in our conversation, he would gloat over the details of that great organisation, +which he feared even while yet he wielded it; and would remind me, that +even in the humming labyrinth of London, we were still visible to that +unsleeping eye in Utah. His visitors, indeed, who were of every +sort, from the missionary to the destroying angel, and seemed to belong +to every rank of life, had, up to that moment, filled me with unmixed +repulsion and alarm. I knew that if my secret were to reach the +ear of any leader my fate were sealed beyond redemption; and yet in +my present pass of horror and despair, it was to these very men that +I turned for help. I waylaid upon the stair one of the Mormon +missionaries, a man of a low class, but not inaccessible to pity; told +him I scarce remember what elaborate fable to explain my application; +and by his intermediacy entered into correspondence with my father’s +family. They recognised my claim for help, and on this very day +I was to begin my escape.<br> +<br> +Last night I sat up fully dressed, awaiting the result of the doctor’s +labours, and prepared against the worst. The nights at this season +and in this northern latitude are short; and I had soon the company +of the returning daylight. The silence in and around the house +was only broken by the movements of the doctor in the laboratory; to +these I listened, watch in hand, awaiting the hour of my escape, and +yet consumed by anxiety about the strange experiment that was going +forward overhead. Indeed, now that I was conscious of some protection +for myself, my sympathies had turned more directly to the doctor’s +side; I caught myself even praying for his success; and when some hours +ago a low, peculiar cry reached my ears from the laboratory, I could +no longer control my impatience, but mounted the stairs and opened the +door.<br> +<br> +The doctor was standing in the middle of the room; in his hand a large, +round-bellied, crystal flask, some three parts full of a bright amber-coloured +liquid; on his face a rapture of gratitude and joy unspeakable. +As he saw me he raised the flask at arm’s length. ‘Victory!’ +he cried. ‘Victory, Asenath!’ And then - whether +the flask escaped his trembling fingers, or whether the explosion were +spontaneous, I cannot tell - enough that we were thrown, I against the +door-post, the doctor into the corner of the room; enough that we were +shaken to the soul by the same explosion that must have startled you +upon the street; and that, in the brief space of an indistinguishable +instant, there remained nothing of the labours of the doctor’s +lifetime but a few shards of broken crystal and those voluminous and +ill-smelling vapours that pursued me in my flight.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>THE SQUIRE OF DAMES (Concluded)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>What with the lady’s animated manner and dramatic conduct +of her voice, Challoner had thrilled to every incident with genuine +emotion. His fancy, which was not perhaps of a very lively character, +applauded both the matter and the style; but the more judicial functions +of his mind refused assent. It was an excellent story; and it +might be true, but he believed it was not. Miss Fonblanque was +a lady, and it was doubtless possible for a lady to wander from the +truth; but how was a gentleman to tell her so? His spirits for +some time had been sinking, but they now fell to zero; and long after +her voice had died away he still sat with a troubled and averted countenance, +and could find no form of words to thank her for her narrative. +His mind, indeed, was empty of everything beyond a dull longing for +escape. From this pause, which grew the more embarrassing with +every second, he was roused by the sudden laughter of the lady. +His vanity was alarmed; he turned and faced her; their eyes met; and +he caught from hers a spark of such frank merriment as put him instantly +at ease.<br> +<br> +‘You certainly,’ he said, ‘appear to bear your calamities +with excellent spirit.’<br> +<br> +‘Do I not?’ she cried, and fell once more into delicious +laughter. But from this access she more speedily recovered. +‘This is all very well,’ said she, nodding at him gravely, +‘but I am still in a most distressing situation, from which, if +you deny me your help, I shall find it difficult indeed to free myself.’<br> +<br> +At this mention of help Challoner fell back to his original gloom.<br> +<br> +‘My sympathies are much engaged with you,’ he said, ‘and +I should be delighted, I am sure. But our position is most unusual; +and circumstances over which I have, I can assure you, no control, deprive +me of the power - the pleasure - Unless, indeed,’ he added, somewhat +brightening at the thought, ‘I were to recommend you to the care +of the police?’<br> +<br> +She laid her hand upon his arm and looked hard into his eyes; and he +saw with wonder that, for the first time since the moment of their meeting, +every trace of colour had faded from her cheek.<br> +<br> +‘Do so,’ she said, ‘and - weigh my words well - you +kill me as certainly as with a knife.’<br> +<br> +‘God bless me!’ exclaimed Challoner.<br> +<br> +‘Oh,’ she cried, ‘I can see you disbelieve my story +and make light of the perils that surround me; but who are you to judge? +My family share my apprehensions; they help me in secret; and you saw +yourself by what an emissary, and in what a place, they have chosen +to supply me with the funds for my escape. I admit that you are +brave and clever and have impressed me most favourably; but how are +you to prefer your opinion before that of my uncle, an ex-minister of +state, a man with the ear of the Queen, and of a long political experience? +If I am mad, is he? And you must allow me, besides, a special +claim upon your help. Strange as you may think my story, you know +that much of it is true; and if you who heard the explosion and saw +the Mormon at Victoria, refuse to credit and assist me, to whom am I +to turn?’<br> +<br> +‘He gave you money then?’ asked Challoner, who had been +dwelling singly on that fact.<br> +<br> +‘I begin to interest you,’ she cried. ‘But, +frankly, you are condemned to help me. If the service I had to +ask of you were serious, were suspicious, were even unusual, I should +say no more. But what is it? To take a pleasure trip (for +which, if you will suffer me, I propose to pay) and to carry from one +lady to another a sum of money! What can be more simple?’<br> +<br> +‘Is the sum,’ asked Challoner, ‘considerable?’<br> +<br> +She produced a packet from her bosom; and observing that she had not +yet found time to make the count, tore open the cover and spread upon +her knees a considerable number of Bank of England notes. It took +some time to make the reckoning, for the notes were of every degree +of value; but at last, and counting a few loose sovereigns, she made +out the sum to be a little under £710 sterling. The sight +of so much money worked an immediate revolution in the mind of Challoner.<br> +<br> +‘And you propose, madam,’ he cried, ‘to intrust that +money to a perfect stranger?’<br> +<br> +‘Ah!’ said she, with a charming smile, ‘but I no longer +regard you as a stranger.’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said Challoner, ‘I perceive I must make you +a confession. Although of a very good family - through my mother, +indeed, a lineal descendant of the patriot Bruce - I dare not conceal +from you that my affairs are deeply, very deeply involved. I am +in debt; my pockets are practically empty; and, in short, I am fallen +to that state when a considerable sum of money would prove to many men +an irresistible temptation.’<br> +<br> +‘Do you not see,’ returned the young lady, ‘that by +these words you have removed my last hesitation? Take them.’ +And she thrust the notes into the young man’s hand.<br> +<br> +He sat so long, holding them, like a baby at the font, that Miss Fonblanque +once more bubbled into laughter.<br> +<br> +‘Pray,’ she said, ‘hesitate no further; put them in +your pocket; and to relieve our position of any shadow of embarrassment, +tell me by what name I am to address my knight-errant, for I find myself +reduced to the awkwardness of the pronoun.’<br> +<br> +Had borrowing been in question, the wisdom of our ancestors had come +lightly to the young man’s aid; but upon what pretext could he +refuse so generous a trust? Upon none he saw, that was not unpardonably +wounding; and the bright eyes and the high spirits of his companion +had already made a breach in the rampart of Challoner’s caution. +The whole thing, he reasoned, might be a mere mystification, which it +were the height of solemn folly to resent. On the other hand, +the explosion, the interview at the public-house, and the very money +in his hands, seemed to prove beyond denial the existence of some serious +danger; and if that were so, could he desert her? There was a +choice of risks: the risk of behaving with extraordinary incivility +and unhandsomeness to a lady, and the risk of going on a fool’s +errand. The story seemed false; but then the money was undeniable. +The whole circumstances were questionable and obscure; but the lady +was charming, and had the speech and manners of society. While +he still hung in the wind, a recollection returned upon his mind with +some of the dignity of prophecy. Had he not promised Somerset +to break with the traditions of the commonplace, and to accept the first +adventure offered? Well, here was the adventure.<br> +<br> +He thrust the money into his pocket.<br> +<br> +‘My name is Challoner,’ said he.<br> +<br> +‘Mr. Challoner,’ she replied, ‘you have come very +generously to my aid when all was against me. Though I am myself +a very humble person, my family commands great interest; and I do not +think you will repent this handsome action.’<br> +<br> +Challoner flushed with pleasure.<br> +<br> +‘I imagine that, perhaps, a consulship,’ she added, her +eyes dwelling on him with a judicial admiration, ‘a consulship +in some great town or capital - or else - But we waste time; let us +set about the work of my delivery.’<br> +<br> +She took his arm with a frank confidence that went to his heart; and +once more laying by all serious thoughts, she entertained him, as they +crossed the park, with her agreeable gaiety of mind. Near the +Marble Arch they found a hansom, which rapidly conveyed them to the +terminus at Euston Square; and here, in the hotel, they sat down to +an excellent breakfast. The young lady’s first step was +to call for writing materials and write, upon one corner of the table, +a hasty note; still, as she did so, glancing with smiles at her companion. +‘Here,’ said she, ‘here is the letter which will introduce +you to my cousin.’ She began to fold the paper. ‘My +cousin, although I have never seen her, has the character of a very +charming woman and a recognised beauty; of that I know nothing, but +at least she has been very kind to me; so has my lord her father; so +have you - kinder than all - kinder than I can bear to think of.’ +She said this with unusual emotion; and, at the same time, sealed the +envelope. ‘Ah!’ she cried, ‘I have shut my letter! +It is not quite courteous; and yet, as between friends, it is perhaps +better so. I introduce you, after all, into a family secret; and +though you and I are already old comrades, you are still unknown to +my uncle. You go then to this address, Richard Street, Glasgow; +go, please, as soon as you arrive; and give this letter with your own +hands into those of Miss Fonblanque, for that is the name by which she +is to pass. When we next meet, you will tell me what you think +of her,’ she added, with a touch of the provocative.<br> +<br> +‘Ah,’ said Challoner, almost tenderly, ‘she can be +nothing to me.’<br> +<br> +‘You do not know,’ replied the young lady, with a sigh. +‘By-the-bye, I had forgotten - it is very childish, and I am almost +ashamed to mention it - but when you see Miss Fonblanque, you will have +to make yourself a little ridiculous; and I am sure the part in no way +suits you. We had agreed upon a watchword. You will have +to address an earl’s daughter in these words: “<i>Nigger, +nigger, never</i> <i>die</i>;” but reassure yourself,’ she +added, laughing, ‘for the fair patrician will at once finish the +quotation. Come now, say your lesson.’<br> +<br> +‘“Nigger, nigger, never die,”’ repeated Challoner, +with undisguised reluctance.<br> +<br> +Miss Fonblanque went into fits of laughter. ‘Excellent,’ +said she, ‘it will be the most humorous scene.’ And +she laughed again.<br> +<br> +‘And what will be the counterword?’ asked Challoner stiffly.<br> +<br> +‘I will not tell you till the last moment,’ said she; ‘for +I perceive you are growing too imperious.’<br> +<br> +Breakfast over, she accompanied the young man to the platform, bought +him the <i>Graphic</i>, the <i>Athenaeum</i>, and a paper-cutter, and +stood on the step conversing till the whistle sounded. Then she +put her head into the carriage. ‘<i>Black face and shining</i> +<i>eye</i>!’ she whispered, and instantly leaped down upon the +platform, with a thrill of gay and musical laughter. As the train +steamed out of the great arch of glass, the sound of that laughter still +rang in the young man’s ears.<br> +<br> +Challoner’s position was too unusual to be long welcome to his +mind. He found himself projected the whole length of England, +on a mission beset with obscure and ridiculous circumstances, and yet, +by the trust he had accepted, irrevocably bound to persevere. +How easy it appeared, in the retrospect, to have refused the whole proposal, +returned the money, and gone forth again upon his own affairs, a free +and happy man! And it was now impossible: the enchantress who +had held him with her eye had now disappeared, taking his honour in +pledge; and as she had failed to leave him an address, he was denied +even the inglorious safety of retreat. To use the paper-knife, +or even to read the periodicals with which she had presented him, was +to renew the bitterness of his remorse; and as he was alone in the compartment, +he passed the day staring at the landscape in impotent repentance, and +long before he was landed on the platform of St. Enoch’s, had +fallen to the lowest and coldest zones of self-contempt.<br> +<br> +As he was hungry, and elegant in his habits, he would have preferred +to dine and to remove the stains of travel; but the words of the young +lady, and his own impatient eagerness, would suffer no delay. +In the late, luminous, and lamp-starred dusk of the summer evening, +he accordingly set forward with brisk steps.<br> +<br> +The street to which he was directed had first seen the day in the character +of a row of small suburban villas on a hillside; but the extension of +the city had long since, and on every hand, surrounded it with miles +of streets. From the top of the hill a range of very tall buildings, +densely inhabited by the poorest classes of the population and variegated +by drying-poles from every second window, overplumbed the villas and +their little gardens like a sea-board cliff. But still, under +the grime of years of city smoke, these antiquated cottages, with their +venetian blinds and rural porticoes, retained a somewhat melancholy +savour of the past.<br> +<br> +The street when Challoner entered it was perfectly deserted. From +hard by, indeed, the sound of a thousand footfalls filled the ear; but +in Richard Street itself there was neither light nor sound of human +habitation. The appearance of the neighbourhood weighed heavily +on the mind of the young man; once more, as in the streets of London, +he was impressed with the sense of city deserts; and as he approached +the number indicated, and somewhat falteringly rang the bell, his heart +sank within him.<br> +<br> +The bell was ancient, like the house; it had a thin and garrulous note; +and it was some time before it ceased to sound from the rear quarters +of the building. Following upon this an inner door was stealthily +opened, and careful and catlike steps drew near along the hall. +Challoner, supposing he was to be instantly admitted, produced his letter, +and, as well as he was able, prepared a smiling face. To his indescribable +surprise, however, the footsteps ceased, and then, after a pause and +with the like stealthiness, withdrew once more, and died away in the +interior of the house. A second time the young man rang violently +at the bell; a second time, to his keen hearkening, a certain bustle +of discreet footing moved upon the hollow boards of the old villa; and +again the fainthearted garrison only drew near to retreat. The +cup of the visitor’s endurance was now full to overflowing; and, +committing the whole family of Fonblanque to every mood and shade of +condemnation, he turned upon his heel and redescended the steps. +Perhaps the mover in the house was watching from a window, and plucked +up courage at the sight of this desistance; or perhaps, where he lurked +trembling in the back parts of the villa, reason in its own right had +conquered his alarms. Challoner, at least, had scarce set foot +upon the pavement when he was arrested by the sound of the withdrawal +of an inner bolt; one followed another, rattling in their sockets; the +key turned harshly in the lock; the door opened; and there appeared +upon the threshold a man of a very stalwart figure in his shirt sleeves. +He was a person neither of great manly beauty nor of a refined exterior; +he was not the man, in ordinary moods, to attract the eyes of the observer; +but as he now stood in the doorway, he was marked so legibly with the +extreme passion of terror that Challoner stood wonder-struck. +For a fraction of a minute they gazed upon each other in silence; and +then the man of the house, with ashen lips and gasping voice, inquired +the business of his visitor. Challoner replied, in tones from +which he strove to banish his surprise, that he was the bearer of a +letter to a certain Miss Fonblanque. At this name, as at a talisman, +the man fell back and impatiently invited him to enter; and no sooner +had the adventurer crossed the threshold, than the door was closed behind +him and his retreat cut off.<br> +<br> +It was already long past eight at night; and though the late twilight +of the north still lingered in the streets, in the passage it was already +groping dark. The man led Challoner directly to a parlour looking +on the garden to the back. Here he had apparently been supping; +for by the light of a tallow dip the table was seen to be covered with +a napkin, and set out with a quart of bottled ale and the heel of a +Gouda cheese. The room, on the other hand, was furnished with +faded solidity, and the walls were lined with scholarly and costly volumes +in glazed cases. The house must have been taken furnished; for +it had no congruity with this man of the shirt sleeves and the mean +supper. As for the earl’s daughter, the earl and the visionary +consulships in foreign cities, they had long ago begun to fade in Challoner’s +imagination. Like Doctor Grierson and the Mormon angels, they +were plainly woven of the stuff of dreams. Not an illusion remained +to the knight-errant; not a hope was left him, but to be speedily relieved +from this disreputable business.<br> +<br> +The man had continued to regard his visitor with undisguised anxiety, +and began once more to press him for his errand.<br> +<br> +‘I am here,’ said Challoner, ‘simply to do a service +between two ladies; and I must ask you, without further delay, to summon +Miss Fonblanque, into whose hands alone I am authorised to deliver the +letter that I bear.’<br> +<br> +A growing wonder began to mingle on the man’s face with the lines +of solicitude. ‘I am Miss Fonblanque,’ he said; and +then, perceiving the effect of this communication, ‘Good God!’ +he cried, ‘what are you staring at? I tell you, I am Miss +Fonblanque.’<br> +<br> +Seeing the speaker wore a chin-beard of considerable length, and the +remainder of his face was blue with shaving, Challoner could only suppose +himself the subject of a jest. He was no longer under the spell +of the young lady’s presence; and with men, and above all with +his inferiors, he was capable of some display of spirit.<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ said he, pretty roundly, ‘I have put myself +to great inconvenience for persons of whom I know too little, and I +begin to be weary of the business. Either you shall immediately +summon Miss Fonblanque, or I leave this house and put myself under the +direction of the police.’<br> +<br> +‘This is horrible!’ exclaimed the man. ‘I declare +before Heaven I am the person meant, but how shall I convince you? +It must have been Clara, I perceive, that sent you on this errand - +a madwoman, who jests with the most deadly interests; and here we are +incapable, perhaps, of an agreement, and Heaven knows what may depend +on our delay!’<br> +<br> +He spoke with a really startling earnestness; and at the same time there +flashed upon the mind of Challoner the ridiculous jingle which was to +serve as password. ‘This may, perhaps, assist you,’ +he said, and then, with some embarrassment, ‘“Nigger, nigger, +never die.”’<br> +<br> +A light of relief broke upon the troubled countenance of the man with +the chin-beard. ‘“Black face and shining eye” +- give me the letter,’ he panted, in one gasp.<br> +<br> +‘Well,’ said Challoner, though still with some reluctance, +‘I suppose I must regard you as the proper recipient; and though +I may justly complain of the spirit in which I have been treated, I +am only too glad to be done with all responsibility. Here it is,’ +and he produced the envelope.<br> +<br> +The man leaped upon it like a beast, and with hands that trembled in +a manner painful to behold, tore it open and unfolded the letter. +As he read, terror seemed to mount upon him to the pitch of nightmare. +He struck one hand upon his brow, while with the other, as if unconsciously, +he crumpled the paper to a ball. ‘My gracious powers!’ +he cried; and then, dashing to the window, which stood open on the garden, +he clapped forth his head and shoulders, and whistled long and shrill. +Challoner fell back into a corner, and resolutely grasping his staff, +prepared for the most desperate events; but the thoughts of the man +with the chin-beard were far removed from violence. Turning again +into the room, and once more beholding his visitor, whom he appeared +to have forgotten, he fairly danced with trepidation. ‘Impossible!’ +he cried. ‘Oh, quite impossible! O Lord, I have lost +my head.’ And then, once more striking his hand upon his +brow, ‘The money!’ he exclaimed. ‘Give me the +money.’<br> +<br> +‘My good friend,’ replied Challoner, ‘this is a very +painful exhibition; and until I see you reasonably master of yourself, +I decline to proceed with any business.’<br> +<br> +‘You are quite right,’ said the man. ‘I am of +a very nervous habit; a long course of the dumb ague has undermined +my constitution. But I know you have money; it may be still the +saving of me; and oh, dear young gentleman, in pity’s name be +expeditious!’ Challoner, sincerely uneasy as he was, could +scarce refrain from laughter; but he was himself in a hurry to be gone, +and without more delay produced the money. ‘You will find +the sum, I trust, correct,’ he observed ‘and let me ask +you to give me a receipt.’<br> +<br> +But the man heeded him not. He seized the money, and disregarding +the sovereigns that rolled loose upon the floor, thrust the bundle of +notes into his pocket.<br> +<br> +‘A receipt,’ repeated Challoner, with some asperity. +‘I insist on a receipt.’<br> +<br> +‘Receipt?’ repeated the man, a little wildly. ‘A +receipt? Immediately! Await me here.’<br> +<br> +Challoner, in reply, begged the gentleman to lose no unnecessary time, +as he was himself desirous of catching a particular train.<br> +<br> +‘Ah, by God, and so am I!’ exclaimed the man with the chin-beard; +and with that he was gone out of the room, and had rattled upstairs, +four at a time, to the upper story of the villa.<br> +<br> +‘This is certainly a most amazing business,’ thought Challoner; +‘certainly a most disquieting affair; and I cannot conceal from +myself that I have become mixed up with either lunatics or malefactors. +I may truly thank my stars that I am so nearly and so creditably done +with it.’ Thus thinking, and perhaps remembering the episode +of the whistle, he turned to the open window. The garden was still +faintly clear; he could distinguish the stairs and terraces with which +the small domain had been adorned by former owners, and the blackened +bushes and dead trees that had once afforded shelter to the country +birds; beyond these he saw the strong retaining wall, some thirty feet +in height, which enclosed the garden to the back; and again above that, +the pile of dingy buildings rearing its frontage high into the night. +A peculiar object lying stretched upon the lawn for some time baffled +his eyesight; but at length he had made it out to be a long ladder, +or series of ladders bound into one; and he was still wondering of what +service so great an instrument could be in such a scant enclosure, when +he was recalled to himself by the noise of some one running violently +down the stairs. This was followed by the sudden, clamorous banging +of the house door; and that again, by rapid and retreating footsteps +in the street.<br> +<br> +Challoner sprang into the passage. He ran from room to room, upstairs +and downstairs; and in that old dingy and worm-eaten house, he found +himself alone. Only in one apartment, looking to the front, were +there any traces of the late inhabitant: a bed that had been recently +slept in and not made, a chest of drawers disordered by a hasty search, +and on the floor a roll of crumpled paper. This he picked up. +The light in this upper story looking to the front was considerably +brighter than in the parlour; and he was able to make out that the paper +bore the mark of the hotel at Euston, and even, by peering closely, +to decipher the following lines in a very elegant and careful female +hand:<br> +<br> +<br> +‘DEAR M’GUIRE, - It is certain your retreat is known. +We have just had another failure, clockwork thirty hours too soon, with +the usual humiliating result. Zero is quite disheartened. +We are all scattered, and I could find no one but the <i>solemn ass</i> +who brings you this and the money. I would love to see your meeting. +- Ever yours,<br> +<br> +SHINING EYE.’<br> +<br> +<br> +Challoner was stricken to the heart. He perceived by what facility, +by what unmanly fear of ridicule, he had been brought down to be the +gull of this intriguer; and his wrath flowed forth in almost equal measure +against himself, against the woman, and against Somerset, whose idle +counsels had impelled him to embark on that adventure. At the +same time a great and troubled curiosity, and a certain chill of fear, +possessed his spirit. The conduct of the man with the chin-beard, +the terms of the letter, and the explosion of the early morning, fitted +together like parts in some obscure and mischievous imbroglio. +Evil was certainly afoot; evil, secrecy, terror, and falsehood were +the conditions and the passions of the people among whom he had begun +to move, like a blind puppet; and he who began as a puppet, his experience +told him, was often doomed to perish as a victim.<br> +<br> +From the stupor of deep thought into which he had glided with the letter +in his hand, he was awakened by the clatter of the bell. He glanced +from the window; and, conceive his horror and surprise when he beheld, +clustered on the steps, in the front garden and on the pavement of the +street, a formidable posse of police! He started to the full possession +of his powers and courage. Escape, and escape at any cost, was +the one idea that possessed him. Swiftly and silently he redescended +the creaking stairs; he was already in the passage when a second and +more imperious summons from the door awoke the echoes of the empty house; +nor had the bell ceased to jangle before he had bestridden the window-sill +of the parlour and was lowering himself into the garden. His coat +was hooked upon the iron flower-basket; for a moment he hung dependent +heels and head below; and then, with the noise of rending cloth, and +followed by several pots, he dropped upon the sod. Once more the +bell was rung, and now with furious and repeated peals. The desperate +Challoner turned his eyes on every side. They fell upon the ladder, +and he ran to it, and with strenuous but unavailing effort sought to +raise it from the ground. Suddenly the weight, which was thus +resisting his whole strength, began to lighten in his hands; the ladder, +like a thing of life, reared its bulk from off the sod; and Challoner, +leaping back with a cry of almost superstitious terror, beheld the whole +structure mount, foot by foot, against the face of the retaining wall. +At the same time, two heads were dimly visible above the parapet, and +he was hailed by a guarded whistle. Something in its modulation +recalled, like an echo, the whistle of the man with the chin-beard,<br> +<br> +Had he chanced upon a means of escape prepared beforehand by those very +miscreants whose messenger and gull he had become? Was this, indeed, +a means of safety, or but the starting-point of further complication +and disaster? He paused not to reflect. Scarce was the ladder +reared to its full length than he had sprung already on the rounds; +hand over hand, swift as an ape, he scaled the tottering stairway. +Strong arms received, embraced, and helped him; he was lifted and set +once more upon the earth; and with the spasm of his alarm yet unsubsided, +found himself in the company of two rough-looking men, in the paved +back yard of one of the tall houses that crowned the summit of the hill. +Meanwhile, from below, the note of the bell had been succeeded by the +sound of vigorous and redoubling blows.<br> +<br> +‘Are you all out?’ asked one of his companions; and, as +soon as he had babbled an answer in the affirmative, the rope was cut +from the top round, and the ladder thrust roughly back into the garden, +where it fell and broke with clattering reverberations. Its fall +was hailed with many broken cries; for the whole of Richard Street was +now in high emotion, the people crowding to the windows or clambering +on the garden walls. The same man who had already addressed Challoner +seized him by the arm; whisked him through the basement of the house +and across the street upon the other side; and before the unfortunate +adventurer had time to realise his situation, a door was opened, and +he was thrust into a low and dark compartment.<br> +<br> +‘Bedad,’ observed his guide, ‘there was no time to +lose. Is M’Guire gone, or was it you that whistled?<br> +<br> +‘M’Guire is gone,’ said Challoner.<br> +<br> +The guide now struck a light. ‘Ah,’ said he, ‘this +will never do. You dare not go upon the streets in such a figure. +Wait quietly here and I will bring you something decent.’<br> +<br> +With that the man was gone, and Challoner, his attention thus rudely +awakened, began ruefully to consider the havoc that had been worked +in his attire. His hat was gone; his trousers were cruelly ripped; +and the best part of one tail of his very elegant frockcoat had been +left hanging from the iron crockets of the window. He had scarce +had time to measure these disasters when his host re-entered the apartment +and proceeded, without a word, to envelop the refined and urbane Challoner +in a long ulster of the cheapest material, and of a pattern so gross +and vulgar that his spirit sickened at the sight. This calumnious +disguise was crowned and completed by a soft felt hat of the Tyrolese +design, and several sizes too small. At another moment Challoner +would simply have refused to issue forth upon the world thus travestied; +but the desire to escape from Glasgow was now too strongly and too exclusively +impressed upon his mind. With one haggard glance at the spotted +tails of his new coat, he inquired what was to pay for this accoutrement. +The man assured him that the whole expense was easily met from funds +in his possession, and begged him, instead of wasting time, to make +his best speed out of the neighbourhood.<br> +<br> +The young man was not loath to take the hint. True to his usual +courtesy, he thanked the speaker and complimented him upon his taste +in greatcoats; and leaving the man somewhat abashed by these remarks +and the manner of their delivery, he hurried forth into the lamplit +city. The last train was gone ere, after many deviations, he had +reached the terminus. Attired as he was he dared not present himself +at any reputable inn; and he felt keenly that the unassuming dignity +of his demeanour would serve to attract attention, perhaps mirth and +possibly suspicion, in any humbler hostelry. He was thus condemned +to pass the solemn and uneventful hours of a whole night in pacing the +streets of Glasgow; supperless; a figure of fun for all beholders; waiting +the dawn, with hope indeed, but with unconquerable shrinkings; and above +all things, filled with a profound sense of the folly and weakness of +his conduct. It may be conceived with what curses he assailed +the memory of the fair narrator of Hyde Park; her parting laughter rang +in his ears all night with damning mockery and iteration; and when he +could spare a thought from this chief artificer of his confusion, it +was to expend his wrath on Somerset and the career of the amateur detective. +With the coming of day, he found in a shy milk-shop the means to appease +his hunger. There were still many hours to wait before the departure +of the South express; these he passed wandering with indescribable fatigue +in the obscurer by-streets of the city; and at length slipped quietly +into the station and took his place in the darkest corner of a third-class +carriage. Here, all day long, he jolted on the bare boards, distressed +by heat and continually reawakened from uneasy slumbers. By the +half return ticket in his purse, he was entitled to make the journey +on the easy cushions and with the ample space of the first-class; but +alas! in his absurd attire, he durst not, for decency, commingle with +his equals; and this small annoyance, coming last in such a series of +disasters, cut him to the heart.<br> +<br> +That night, when, in his Putney lodging, he reviewed the expense, anxiety, +and weariness of his adventure; when he beheld the ruins of his last +good trousers and his last presentable coat; and above all, when his +eye by any chance alighted on the Tyrolese hat or the degrading ulster, +his heart would overflow with bitterness, and it was only by a serious +call on his philosophy that he maintained the dignity of his demeanour.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SOMERSET’S ADVENTURE: <i>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>Mr. Paul Somerset was a young gentleman of a lively and fiery imagination, +with very small capacity for action. He was one who lived exclusively +in dreams and in the future: the creature of his own theories, and an +actor in his own romances. From the cigar divan he proceeded to +parade the streets, still heated with the fire of his eloquence, and +scouting upon every side for the offer of some fortunate adventure. +In the continual stream of passers-by, on the sealed fronts of houses, +on the posters that covered the hoardings, and in every lineament and +throb of the great city, he saw a mysterious and hopeful hieroglyph. +But although the elements of adventure were streaming by him as thick +as drops of water in the Thames, it was in vain that, now with a beseeching, +now with something of a braggadocio air, he courted and provoked the +notice of the passengers; in vain that, putting fortune to the touch, +he even thrust himself into the way and came into direct collision with +those of the more promising demeanour. Persons brimful of secrets, +persons pining for affection, persons perishing for lack of help or +counsel, he was sure he could perceive on every side; but by some contrariety +of fortune, each passed upon his way without remarking the young gentleman, +and went farther (surely to fare worse!) in quest of the confidant, +the friend, or the adviser. To thousands he must have turned an +appealing countenance, and yet not one regarded him.<br> +<br> +A light dinner, eaten to the accompaniment of his impetuous aspirations, +broke in upon the series of his attempts on fortune; and when he returned +to the task, the lamps were already lighted, and the nocturnal crowd +was dense upon the pavement. Before a certain restaurant, whose +name will readily occur to any student of our Babylon, people were already +packed so closely that passage had grown difficult; and Somerset, standing +in the kennel, watched, with a hope that was beginning to grow somewhat +weary, the faces and the manners of the crowd. Suddenly he was +startled by a gentle touch upon the shoulder, and facing about, he was +aware of a very plain and elegant brougham, drawn by a pair of powerful +horses, and driven by a man in sober livery. There were no arms +upon the panel; the window was open, but the interior was obscure; the +driver yawned behind his palm; and the young man was already beginning +to suppose himself the dupe of his own fancy, when a hand, no larger +than a child’s and smoothly gloved in white, appeared in a corner +of the window and privily beckoned him to approach. He did so, +and looked in. The carriage was occupied by a single small and +very dainty figure, swathed head and shoulders in impenetrable folds +of white lace; and a voice, speaking low and silvery, addressed him +in these words -<br> +<br> +‘Open the door and get in.’<br> +<br> +‘It must be,’ thought the young man with an almost unbearable +thrill, ‘it must be that duchess at last!’ Yet, although +the moment was one to which he had long looked forward, it was with +a certain share of alarm that he opened the door, and, mounting into +the brougham, took his seat beside the lady of the lace. Whether +or no she had touched a spring, or given some other signal, the young +man had hardly closed the door before the carriage, with considerable +swiftness, and with a very luxurious and easy movement on its springs, +turned and began to drive towards the west.<br> +<br> +Somerset, as I have written, was not unprepared; it had long been his +particular pleasure to rehearse his conduct in the most unlikely situations; +and this, among others, of the patrician ravisher, was one he had familiarly +studied. Strange as it may seem, however, he could find no apposite +remark; and as the lady, on her side, vouchsafed no further sign, they +continued to drive in silence through the streets. Except for +alternate flashes from the passing lamps, the carriage was plunged in +obscurity; and beyond the fact that the fittings were luxurious, and +that the lady was singularly small and slender in person, and, all but +one gloved hand, still swathed in her costly veil, the young man could +decipher no detail of an inspiring nature. The suspense began +to grow unbearable. Twice he cleared his throat, and twice the +whole resources of the language failed him. In similar scenes, +when he had forecast them on the theatre of fancy, his presence of mind +had always been complete, his eloquence remarkable; and at this disparity +between the rehearsal and the performance, he began to be seized with +a panic of apprehension. Here, on the very threshold of adventure, +suppose him ignominiously to fail; suppose that after ten, twenty, or +sixty seconds of still uninterrupted silence, the lady should touch +the check-string and re-deposit him, weighed and found wanting, on the +common street! Thousands of persons of no mind at all, he reasoned, +would be found more equal to the part; could, that very instant, by +some decisive step, prove the lady’s choice to have been well +inspired, and put a stop to this intolerable silence.<br> +<br> +His eye, at this point, lighted on the hand. It was better to +fall by desperate councils than to continue as he was; and with one +tremulous swoop he pounced on the gloved fingers and drew them to himself. +One overt step, it had appeared to him, would dissolve the spell of +his embarrassment; in act, he found it otherwise: he found himself no +less incapable of speech or further progress; and with the lady’s +hand in his, sat helpless. But worse was in store. A peculiar +quivering began to agitate the form of his companion; the hand that +lay unresistingly in Somerset’s trembled as with ague; and presently +there broke forth, in the shadow of the carriage, the bubbling and musical +sound of laughter, resisted but triumphant. The young man dropped +his prize; had it been possible, he would have bounded from the carriage. +The lady, meanwhile, lying back upon the cushions, passed on from trill +to trill of the most heartfelt, high-pitched, clear and fairy-sounding +merriment.<br> +<br> +‘You must not be offended,’ she said at last, catching an +opportunity between two paroxysms. ‘If you have been mistaken +in the warmth of your attentions, the fault is solely mine; it does +not flow from your presumption, but from my eccentric manner of recruiting +friends; and, believe me, I am the last person in the world to think +the worse of a young man for showing spirit. As for to-night, +it is my intention to entertain you to a little supper; and if I shall +continue to be as much pleased with your manners as I was taken with +your face, I may perhaps end by making you an advantageous offer.’<br> +<br> +Somerset sought in vain to find some form of answer, but his discomfiture +had been too recent and complete.<br> +<br> +‘Come,’ returned the lady, ‘we must have no display +of temper; that is for me the one disqualifying fault; and as I perceive +we are drawing near our destination, I shall ask you to descend and +offer me your arm.’<br> +<br> +Indeed, at that very moment the carriage drew up before a stately and +severe mansion in a spacious square; and Somerset, who was possessed +of an excellent temper, with the best grace in the world assisted the +lady to alight. The door was opened by an old woman of a grim +appearance, who ushered the pair into a dining-room somewhat dimly lighted, +but already laid for supper, and occupied by a prodigious company of +large and valuable cats. Here, as soon as they were alone, the +lady divested herself of the lace in which she was enfolded; and Somerset +was relieved to find, that although still bearing the traces of great +beauty, and still distinguished by the fire and colour of her eye, her +hair was of a silvery whiteness and her face lined with years.<br> +<br> +‘And now, <i>mon preux</i>,’ said the old lady, nodding +at him with a quaint gaiety, ‘you perceive that I am no longer +in my first youth. You will soon find that I am all the better +company for that.’<br> +<br> +As she spoke, the maid re-entered the apartment with a light but tasteful +supper. They sat down, accordingly, to table, the cats with savage +pantomime surrounding the old lady’s chair; and what with the +excellence of the meal and the gaiety of his entertainer, Somerset was +soon completely at his ease. When they had well eaten and drunk, +the old lady leaned back in her chair, and taking a cat upon her lap, +subjected her guest to a prolonged but evidently mirthful scrutiny.<br> +<br> +‘I fear, madam,’ said Somerset, ‘that my manners have +not risen to the height of your preconceived opinion.’<br> +<br> +‘My dear young man,’ she replied, ‘you were never +more mistaken in your life. I find you charming, and you may very +well have lighted on a fairy godmother. I am not one of those +who are given to change their opinions, and short of substantial demerit, +those who have once gained my favour continue to enjoy it; but I have +a singular swiftness of decision, read my fellow men and women with +a glance, and have acted throughout life on first impressions. +Yours, as I tell you, has been favourable; and if, as I suppose, you +are a young fellow of somewhat idle habits, I think it not improbable +that we may strike a bargain.’<br> +<br> +‘Ah, madam,’ returned Somerset, ‘you have divined +my situation. I am a man of birth, parts, and breeding; excellent +company, or at least so I find myself; but by a peculiar iniquity of +fate, destitute alike of trade or money. I was, indeed, this evening +upon the quest of an adventure, resolved to close with any offer of +interest, emolument, or pleasure; and your summons, which I profess +I am still at some loss to understand, jumped naturally with the inclination +of my mind. Call it, if you will, impudence; I am here, at least, +prepared for any proposition you can find it in your heart to make, +and resolutely determined to accept.’<br> +<br> +‘You express yourself very well,’ replied the old lady, +‘and are certainly a droll and curious young man. I should +not care to affirm that you were sane, for I have never found any one +entirely so besides myself; but at least the nature of your madness +entertains me, and I will reward you with some description of my character +and life.’<br> +<br> +Thereupon the old lady, still fondling the cat upon her lap, proceeded +to narrate the following particulars.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>I was the eldest daughter of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe, who +held a valuable living in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Our family, +a very large one, was noted for a sprightly and incisive wit, and came +of a good old stock where beauty was an heirloom. In Christian +grace of character we were unhappily deficient. From my earliest +years I saw and deplored the defects of those relatives whose age and +position should have enabled them to conquer my esteem; and while I +was yet a child, my father married a second wife, in whom (strange to +say) the Fanshawe failings were exaggerated to a monstrous and almost +laughable degree. Whatever may be said against me, it cannot be +denied I was a pattern daughter; but it was in vain that, with the most +touching patience, I submitted to my stepmother’s demands; and +from the hour she entered my father’s house, I may say that I +met with nothing but injustice and ingratitude.<br> +<br> +I stood not alone, however, in the sweetness of my disposition; for +one other of the family besides myself was free from any violence of +character. Before I had reached the age of sixteen, this cousin, +John by name, had conceived for me a sincere but silent passion; and +although the poor lad was too timid to hint at the nature of his feelings, +I had soon divined and begun to share them. For some days I pondered +on the odd situation created for me by the bashfulness of my admirer; +and at length, perceiving that he began, in his distress, rather to +avoid than seek my company, I determined to take the matter into my +own hands. Finding him alone in a retired part of the rectory +garden, I told him that I had divined his amiable secret, that I knew +with what disfavour our union was sure to be regarded; and that, under +the circumstances, I was prepared to flee with him at once. Poor +John was literally paralysed with joy; such was the force of his emotions, +that he could find no words in which to thank me; and that I, seeing +him thus helpless, was obliged to arrange, myself, the details of our +flight, and of the stolen marriage which was immediately to crown it. +John had been at that time projecting a visit to the metropolis. +In this I bade him persevere, and promised on the following day to join +him at the Tavistock Hotel.<br> +<br> +True, on my side, to every detail of our arrangement, I arose, on the +day in question, before the servants, packed a few necessaries in a +bag, took with me the little money I possessed, and bade farewell for +ever to the rectory. I walked with good spirits to a town some +thirty miles from home, and was set down the next morning in this great +city of London. As I walked from the coach-office to the hotel, +I could not help exulting in the pleasant change that had befallen me; +beholding, meanwhile, with innocent delight, the traffic of the streets, +and depicting, in all the colours of fancy, the reception that awaited +me from John. But alas! when I inquired for Mr. Fanshawe, the +porter assured me there was no such gentleman among the guests. +By what channel our secret had leaked out, or what pressure had been +brought to bear on the too facile John, I could never fathom. +Enough that my family had triumphed; that I found myself alone in London, +tender in years, smarting under the most sensible mortification, and +by every sentiment of pride and self-respect debarred for ever from +my father’s house.<br> +<br> +I rose under the blow, and found lodgings in the neighbourhood of Euston +Road, where, for the first time in my life, I tasted the joys of independence. +Three days afterwards, an advertisement in the <i>Times</i> directed +me to the office of a solicitor whom I knew to be in my father’s +confidence. There I was given the promise of a very moderate allowance, +and a distinct intimation that I must never look to be received at home. +I could not but resent so cruel a desertion, and I told the lawyer it +was a meeting I desired as little as themselves. He smiled at +my courageous spirit, paid me the first quarter of my income, and gave +me the remainder of my personal effects, which had been sent to me, +under his care, in a couple of rather ponderous boxes. With these +I returned in triumph to my lodgings, more content with my position +than I should have thought possible a week before, and fully determined +to make the best of the future.<br> +<br> +All went well for several months; and, indeed, it was my own fault alone +that ended this pleasant and secluded episode of life. I have, +I must confess, the fatal trick of spoiling my inferiors. My landlady, +to whom I had as usual been overkind, impertinently called me in fault +for some particular too small to mention; and I, annoyed that I had +allowed her the freedom upon which she thus presumed, ordered her to +leave my presence. She stood a moment dumb, and then, recalling +her self-possession, ‘Your bill,’ said she, ‘shall +be ready this evening, and to-morrow, madam, you shall leave my house. +See,’ she added, ‘that you are able to pay what you owe +me; for if I do not receive the uttermost farthing, no box of yours +shall pass my threshold.’<br> +<br> +I was confounded at her audacity, but as a whole quarter’s income +was due to me, not otherwise affected by the threat. That afternoon, +as I left the solicitor’s door, carrying in one hand, and done +up in a paper parcel, the whole amount of my fortune, there befell me +one of those decisive incidents that sometimes shape a life. The +lawyer’s office was situate in a street that opened at the upper +end upon the Strand, and was closed at the lower, at the time of which +I speak, by a row of iron railings looking on the Thames. Down +this street, then, I beheld my stepmother advancing to meet me, and +doubtless bound to the very house I had just left. She was attended +by a maid whose face was new to me, but her own was too clearly printed +on my memory; and the sight of it, even from a distance, filled me with +generous indignation. Flight was impossible. There was nothing +left but to retreat against the railing, and with my back turned to +the street, pretend to be admiring the barges on the river or the chimneys +of transpontine London.<br> +<br> +I was still so standing, and had not yet fully mastered the turbulence +of my emotions, when a voice at my elbow addressed me with a trivial +question. It was the maid whom my stepmother, with characteristic +hardness, had left to await her on the street, while she transacted +her business with the family solicitor. The girl did not know +who I was; the opportunity too golden to be lost; and I was soon hearing +the latest news of my father’s rectory and parish. It did +not surprise me to find that she detested her employers; and yet the +terms in which she spoke of them were hard to bear, hard to let pass +unchallenged. I heard them, however, without dissent, for my self-command +is wonderful; and we might have parted as we met, had she not proceeded, +in an evil hour, to criticise the rector’s missing daughter, and +with the most shocking perversions, to narrate the story of her flight. +My nature is so essentially generous that I can never pause to reason. +I flung up my hand sharply, by way, as well as I remember, of indignant +protest; and, in the act, the packet slipped from my fingers, glanced +between the railings, and fell and sunk in the river. I stood +a moment petrified, and then, struck by the drollery of the incident, +gave way to peals of laughter. I was still laughing when my stepmother +reappeared, and the maid, who doubtless considered me insane, ran off +to join her; nor had I yet recovered my gravity when I presented myself +before the lawyer to solicit a fresh advance. His answer made +me serious enough, for it was a flat refusal; and it was not until I +had besought him even with tears, that he consented to lend me ten pounds +from his own pocket. ‘I am a poor man,’ said he, ‘and +you must look for nothing farther at my hands.’<br> +<br> +The landlady met me at the door. ‘Here, madam,’ said +she, with a curtsey insolently low, ‘here is my bill. Would +it inconvenience you to settle it at once?’<br> +<br> +‘You shall be paid, madam,’ said I, ‘in the morning, +in the proper course.’ And I took the paper with a very +high air, but inwardly quaking.<br> +<br> +I had no sooner looked at it than I perceived myself to be lost. +I had been short of money and had allowed my debt to mount; and it had +now reached the sum, which I shall never forget, of twelve pounds thirteen +and fourpence halfpenny. All evening I sat by the fire considering +my situation. I could not pay the bill; my landlady would not +suffer me to remove my boxes; and without either baggage or money, how +was I to find another lodging? For three months, unless I could +invent some remedy, I was condemned to be without a roof and without +a penny. It can surprise no one that I decided on immediate flight; +but even here I was confronted by a difficulty, for I had no sooner +packed my boxes than I found I was not strong enough to move, far less +to carry them.<br> +<br> +In this strait I did not hesitate a moment, but throwing on a shawl +and bonnet, and covering my face with a thick veil, I betook myself +to that great bazaar of dangerous and smiling chances, the pavement +of the city. It was already late at night, and the weather being +wet and windy, there were few abroad besides policemen. These, +on my present mission, I had wit enough to know for enemies; and wherever +I perceived their moving lanterns, I made haste to turn aside and choose +another thoroughfare. A few miserable women still walked the pavement; +here and there were young fellows returning drunk, or ruffians of the +lowest class lurking in the mouths of alleys; but of any one to whom +I might appeal in my distress, I began almost to despair.<br> +<br> +At last, at the corner of a street, I ran into the arms of one who was +evidently a gentleman, and who, in all his appointments, from his furred +great-coat to the fine cigar which he was smoking, comfortably breathed +of wealth. Much as my face has changed from its original beauty, +I still retain (or so I tell myself) some traces of the youthful lightness +of my figure. Even veiled as I then was, I could perceive the +gentleman was struck by my appearance: and this emboldened me for my +adventure.<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ said I, with a quickly beating heart, ‘sir, +are you one in whom a lady can confide?’<br> +<br> +‘Why, my dear,’ said he, removing his cigar, ‘that +depends on circumstances. If you will raise your veil - ’<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ I interrupted, ‘let there be no mistake. +I ask you, as a gentleman, to serve me, but I offer no reward.’<br> +<br> +‘That is frank,’ said he; ‘but hardly tempting. +And what, may I inquire, is the nature of the service?’<br> +<br> +But I knew well enough it was not my interest to tell him on so short +an interview. ‘If you will accompany me,’ said I, +‘to a house not far from here, you can see for yourself.’<br> +<br> +He looked at me awhile with hesitating eyes; and then, tossing away +his cigar, which was not yet a quarter smoked, ‘Here goes!’ +said he, and with perfect politeness offered me his arm. I was +wise enough to take it; to prolong our walk as far as possible, by more +than one excursion from the shortest line; and to beguile the way with +that sort of conversation which should prove to him indubitably from +what station in society I sprang. By the time we reached the door +of my lodging, I felt sure I had confirmed his interest, and might venture, +before I turned the pass-key, to beseech him to moderate his voice and +to tread softly. He promised to obey me: and I admitted him into +the passage and thence into my sitting-room, which was fortunately next +the door.<br> +<br> +‘And now,’ said he, when with trembling fingers I had lighted +a candle, ‘what is the meaning of all this?’<br> +<br> +‘I wish you,’ said I, speaking with great difficulty, ‘to +help me out with these boxes - and I wish nobody to know.’<br> +<br> +He took up the candle. ‘And I wish to see your face,’ +said he.<br> +<br> +I turned back my veil without a word, and looked at him with every appearance +of resolve that I could summon up. For some time he gazed into +my face, still holding up the candle. ‘Well,’ said +he at last, ‘and where do you wish them taken?’<br> +<br> +I knew that I had gained my point; and it was with a tremor in my voice +that I replied. ‘I had thought we might carry them between +us to the corner of Euston Road,’ said I, ‘where, even at +this late hour, we may still find a cab.’<br> +<br> +‘Very good,’ was his reply; and he immediately hoisted the +heavier of my trunks upon his shoulder, and taking one handle of the +second, signed to me to help him at the other end. In this order +we made good our retreat from the house, and without the least adventure, +drew pretty near to the corner of Euston Road. Before a house, +where there was a light still burning, my companion paused. ‘Let +us here,’ said he, ‘set down our boxes, while we go forward +to the end of the street in quest of a cab. By doing so, we can +still keep an eye upon their safety, and we avoid the very extraordinary +figure we should otherwise present - a young man, a young lady, and +a mass of baggage, standing castaway at midnight on the streets of London.’ +So it was done, and the event proved him to be wise; for long before +there was any word of a cab, a policeman appeared upon the scene, turned +upon us the full glare of his lantern, and hung suspiciously behind +us in a doorway.<br> +<br> +‘There seem to be no cabs about, policeman,’ said my champion, +with affected cheerfulness. But the constable’s answer was +ungracious; and as for the offer of a cigar, with which this rebuff +was most unwisely followed up, he refused it point-blank, and without +the least civility. The young gentleman looked at me with a warning +grimace, and there we continued to stand, on the edge of the pavement, +in the beating rain, and with the policeman still silently watching +our movements from the doorway.<br> +<br> +At last, and after a delay that seemed interminable, a four-wheeler +appeared lumbering along in the mud, and was instantly hailed by my +companion. ‘Just pull up here, will you?’ he cried. +‘We have some baggage up the street.’<br> +<br> +And now came the hitch of our adventure; for when the policeman, still +closely following us, beheld my two boxes lying in the rain, he arose +from mere suspicion to a kind of certitude of something evil. +The light in the house had been extinguished; the whole frontage of +the street was dark; there was nothing to explain the presence of these +unguarded trunks; and no two innocent people were ever, I believe, detected +in such questionable circumstances.<br> +<br> +‘Where have these things come from?’ asked the policeman, +flashing his light full into my champion’s face.<br> +<br> +‘Why, from that house, of course,’ replied the young gentleman, +hastily shouldering a trunk.<br> +<br> +The policeman whistled and turned to look at the dark windows; he then +took a step towards the door, as though to knock, a course which had +infallibly proved our ruin; but seeing us already hurrying down the +street under our double burthen, thought better or worse of it, and +followed in our wake.<br> +<br> +‘For God’s sake,’ whispered my companion, ‘tell +me where to drive to.’<br> +<br> +‘Anywhere,’ I replied with anguish. ‘I have +no idea. Anywhere you like.’<br> +<br> +Thus it befell that, when the boxes had been stowed, and I had already +entered the cab, my deliverer called out in clear tones the address +of the house in which we are now seated. The policeman, I could +see, was staggered. This neighbourhood, so retired, so aristocratic, +was far from what he had expected. For all that, he took the number +of the cab, and spoke for a few seconds and with a decided manner in +the cabman’s ear.<br> +<br> +‘What can he have said?’ I gasped, as soon as the cab had +rolled away.<br> +<br> +‘I can very well imagine,’ replied my champion; ‘and +I can assure you that you are now condemned to go where I have said; +for, should we attempt to change our destination by the way, the jarvey +will drive us straight to a police-office. Let me compliment you +on your nerves,’ he added. ‘I have had, I believe, +the most horrible fright of my existence.’<br> +<br> +But my nerves, which he so much misjudged, were in so strange a disarray +that speech was now become impossible; and we made the drive thenceforward +in unbroken silence. When we arrived before the door of our destination, +the young gentleman alighted, opened it with a pass-key like one who +was at home, bade the driver carry the trunks into the hall, and dismissed +him with a handsome fee. He then led me into this dining-room, +looking nearly as you behold it, but with certain marks of bachelor +occupancy, and hastened to pour out a glass of wine, which he insisted +on my drinking. As soon as I could find my voice, ‘In God’s +name,’ I cried, ‘where am I?’<br> +<br> +He told me I was in his house, where I was very welcome, and had no +more urgent business than to rest myself and recover my spirits. +As he spoke he offered me another glass of wine, of which, indeed, I +stood in great want, for I was faint, and inclined to be hysterical. +Then he sat down beside the fire, lit another cigar, and for some time +observed me curiously in silence.<br> +<br> +‘And now,’ said he, ‘that you have somewhat restored +yourself, will you be kind enough to tell me in what sort of crime I +have become a partner? Are you murderer, smuggler, thief, or only +the harmless and domestic moonlight flitter?’<br> +<br> +I had been already shocked by his lighting a cigar without permission, +for I had not forgotten the one he threw away on our first meeting; +and now, at these explicit insults, I resolved at once to reconquer +his esteem. The judgment of the world I have consistently despised, +but I had already begun to set a certain value on the good opinion of +my entertainer. Beginning with a note of pathos, but soon brightening +into my habitual vivacity and humour, I rapidly narrated the circumstances +of my birth, my flight, and subsequent misfortunes. He heard me +to an end in silence, gravely smoking. ‘Miss Fanshawe,’ +said he, when I had done, ‘you are a very comical and most enchanting +creature; and I can see nothing for it but that I should return to-morrow +morning and satisfy your landlady’s demands.’<br> +<br> +‘You strangely misinterpret my confidence,’ was my reply; +‘and if you had at all appreciated my character, you would understand +that I can take no money at your hands.’<br> +<br> +‘Your landlady will doubtless not be so particular,’ he +returned; ‘nor do I at all despair of persuading even your unconquerable +self. I desire you to examine me with critical indulgence. +My name is Henry Luxmore, Lord Southwark’s second son. I +possess nine thousand a year, the house in which we are now sitting, +and seven others in the best neighbourhoods in town. I do not +believe I am repulsive to the eye, and as for my character, you have +seen me under trial. I think you simply the most original of created +beings; I need not tell you what you know very well, that you are ravishingly +pretty; and I have nothing more to add, except that, foolish as it may +appear, I am already head over heels in love with you.’<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ said I, ‘I am prepared to be misjudged; but +while I continue to accept your hospitality that fact alone should be +enough to protect me from insult.’<br> +<br> +‘Pardon me,’ said he: ‘I offer you marriage.’ +And leaning back in his chair he replaced his cigar between his lips.<br> +<br> +I own I was confounded by an offer, not only so unprepared, but couched +in terms so singular. But he knew very well how to obtain his +purposes, for he was not only handsome in person, but his very coolness +had a charm; and to make a long story short, a fortnight later I became +the wife of the Honourable Henry Luxmore.<br> +<br> +For nearly twenty years I now led a life of almost perfect quiet. +My Henry had his weaknesses; I was twice driven to flee from his roof, +but not for long; for though he was easily over-excited, his nature +was placable below the surface, and with all his faults, I loved him +tenderly. At last he was taken from me; and such is the power +of self-deception, and so strange are the whims of the dying, he actually +assured me, with his latest breath, that he forgave the violence of +my temper!<br> +<br> +There was but one pledge of the marriage, my daughter Clara. She +had, indeed, inherited a shadow of her father’s failing; but in +all things else, unless my partial eyes deceived me, she derived her +qualities from me, and might be called my moral image. On my side, +whatever else I may have done amiss, as a mother I was above reproach. +Here, then, was surely every promise for the future; here, at last, +was a relation in which I might hope to taste repose. But it was +not to be. You will hardly credit me when I inform you that she +ran away from home; yet such was the case. Some whim about oppressed +nationalities - Ireland, Poland, and the like - has turned her brain; +and if you should anywhere encounter a young lady (I must say, of remarkable +attractions) answering to the name of Luxmore, Lake, or Fonblanque (for +I am told she uses these indifferently, as well as many others), tell +her, from me, that I forgive her cruelty, and though I will never more +behold her face, I am at any time prepared to make her a liberal allowance.<br> +<br> +On the death of Mr. Luxmore, I sought oblivion in the details of business. +I believe I have mentioned that seven mansions, besides this, formed +part of Mr. Luxmore’s property: I have found them seven white +elephants. The greed of tenants, the dishonesty of solicitors, +and the incapacity that sits upon the bench, have combined together +to make these houses the burthen of my life. I had no sooner, +indeed, begun to look into these matters for myself, than I discovered +so many injustices and met with so much studied incivility, that I was +plunged into a long series of lawsuits, some of which are pending to +this day. You must have heard my name already; I am the Mrs. Luxmore +of the Law Reports: a strange destiny, indeed, for one born with an +almost cowardly desire for peace! But I am of the stamp of those +who, when they have once begun a task, will rather die than leave their +duty unfulfilled. I have met with every obstacle: insolence and +ingratitude from my own lawyers; in my adversaries, that fault of obstinacy +which is to me perhaps the most distasteful in the calendar; from the +bench, civility indeed - always, I must allow, civility - but never +a spark of independence, never that knowledge of the law and love of +justice which we have a right to look for in a judge, the most august +of human officers. And still, against all these odds, I have undissuadably +persevered.<br> +<br> +It was after the loss of one of my innumerable cases (a subject on which +I will not dwell) that it occurred to me to make a melancholy pilgrimage +to my various houses. Four were at that time tenantless and closed, +like pillars of salt, commemorating the corruption of the age and the +decline of private virtue. Three were occupied by persons who +had wearied me by every conceivable unjust demand and legal subterfuge +- persons whom, at that very hour, I was moving heaven and earth to +turn into the street. This was perhaps the sadder spectacle of +the two; and my heart grew hot within me to behold them occupying, in +my very teeth, and with an insolent ostentation, these handsome structures +which were as much mine as the flesh upon my body.<br> +<br> +One more house remained for me to visit, that in which we now are. +I had let it (for at that period I lodged in a hotel, the life that +I have always preferred) to a Colonel Geraldine, a gentleman attached +to Prince Florizel of Bohemia, whom you must certainly have heard of; +and I had supposed, from the character and position of my tenant, that +here, at least, I was safe against annoyance. What was my surprise +to find this house also shuttered and apparently deserted! I will +not deny that I was offended; I conceived that a house, like a yacht, +was better to be kept in commission; and I promised myself to bring +the matter before my solicitor the following morning. Meanwhile +the sight recalled my fancy naturally to the past; and yielding to the +tender influence of sentiment, I sat down opposite the door upon the +garden parapet. It was August, and a sultry afternoon, but that +spot is sheltered, as you may observe by daylight, under the branches +of a spreading chestnut; the square, too, was deserted; there was a +sound of distant music in the air; and all combined to plunge me into +that most agreeable of states, which is neither happiness nor sorrow, +but shares the poignancy of both.<br> +<br> +From this I was recalled by the arrival of a large van, very handsomely +appointed, drawn by valuable horses, mounted by several men of an appearance +more than decent, and bearing on its panels, instead of a trader’s +name, a coat-of-arms too modest to be deciphered from where I sat. +It drew up before my house, the door of which was immediately opened +by one of the men. His companions - I counted seven of them in +all - proceeded, with disciplined activity, to take from the van and +carry into the house a variety of hampers, bottle-baskets, and boxes, +such as are designed for plate and napery. The windows of the +dining-room were thrown widely open, as though to air it; and I saw +some of those within laying the table for a meal. Plainly, I concluded, +my tenant was about to return; and while still determined to submit +to no aggression on my rights, I was gratified by the number and discipline +of his attendants, and the quiet profusion that appeared to reign in +his establishment. I was still so thinking when, to my extreme +surprise, the windows and shutters of the dining-room were once more +closed; the men began to reappear from the interior and resume their +stations on the van; the last closed the door behind his exit; the van +drove away; and the house was once more left to itself, looking blindly +on the square with shuttered windows, as though the whole affair had +been a vision.<br> +<br> +It was no vision, however; for, as I rose to my feet, and thus brought +my eyes a little nearer to the level of the fanlight over the door, +I saw that, though the day had still some hours to run, the hall lamps +had been lighted and left burning. Plainly, then, guests were +expected, and were not expected before night. For whom, I asked +myself with indignation, were such secret preparations likely to be +made? Although no prude, I am a woman of decided views upon morality; +if my house, to which my husband had brought me, was to serve in the +character of a <i>petite maison</i>, I saw myself forced, however unwillingly, +into a new course of litigation; and, determined to return and know +the worst, I hastened to my hotel for dinner.<br> +<br> +I was at my post by ten. The night was clear and quiet; the moon +rode very high and put the lamps to shame; and the shadow below the +chestnut was black as ink. Here, then, I ensconced myself on the +low parapet, with my back against the railings, face to face with the +moonlit front of my old home, and ruminating gently on the past. +Time fled; eleven struck on all the city clocks; and presently after +I was aware of the approach of a gentleman of stately and agreeable +demeanour. He was smoking as he walked; his light paletôt, +which was open, did not conceal his evening clothes; and he bore himself +with a serious grace that immediately awakened my attention. Before +the door of this house he took a pass-key from his pocket, quietly admitted +himself, and disappeared into the lamplit hall.<br> +<br> +He was scarcely gone when I observed another and a much younger man +approaching hastily from the opposite side of the square. Considering +the season of the year and the genial mildness of the night, he was +somewhat closely muffled up; and as he came, for all his hurry, he kept +looking nervously behind him. Arrived before my door, he halted +and set one foot upon the step, as though about to enter; then, with +a sudden change, he turned and began to hurry away; halted a second +time, as if in painful indecision; and lastly, with a violent gesture, +wheeled about, returned straight to the door, and rapped upon the knocker. +He was almost immediately admitted by the first arrival.<br> +<br> +My curiosity was now broad awake. I made myself as small as I +could in the very densest of the shadow, and waited for the sequel. +Nor had I long to wait. From the same side of the square a second +young man made his appearance, walking slowly and softly, and like the +first, muffled to the nose. Before the house he paused, looked +all about him with a swift and comprehensive glance; and seeing the +square lie empty in the moon and lamplight, leaned far across the area +railings and appeared to listen to what was passing in the house. +From the dining-room there came the report of a champagne cork, and +following upon that, the sound of rich and manly laughter. The +listener took heart of grace, produced a key, unlocked the area gate, +shut it noiselessly behind him, and descended the stair. Just +when his head had reached the level of the pavement, he turned half +round and once more raked the square with a suspicious eyeshot. +The mufflings had fallen lower round his neck; the moon shone full upon +him; and I was startled to observe the pallor and passionate agitation +of his face.<br> +<br> +I could remain no longer passive. Persuaded that something deadly +was afoot, I crossed the roadway and drew near the area railings. +There was no one below; the man must therefore have entered the house, +with what purpose I dreaded to imagine. I have at no part of my +career lacked courage; and now, finding the area gate was merely laid +to, I pushed it gently open and descended the stairs. The kitchen +door of the house, like the area gate, was closed but not fastened. +It flashed upon me that the criminal was thus preparing his escape; +and the thought, as it confirmed the worst of my suspicions, lent me +new resolve. I entered the house; and being now quite reckless +of my life, I shut and locked the door.<br> +<br> +From the dining-room above I could hear the pleasant tones of a voice +in easy conversation. On the ground floor all was not only profoundly +silent, but the darkness seemed to weigh upon my eyes. Here, then, +I stood for some time, having thrust myself uncalled into the utmost +peril, and being destitute of any power to help or interfere. +Nor will I deny that fear had begun already to assail me, when I became +aware, all at once and as though by some immediate but silent incandescence, +of a certain glimmering of light upon the passage floor. Towards +this I groped my way with infinite precaution; and having come at length +as far as the angle of the corridor, beheld the door of the butler’s +pantry standing just ajar and a narrow thread of brightness falling +from the chink. Creeping still closer, I put my eye to the aperture. +The man sat within upon a chair, listening, I could see, with the most +rapt attention. On a table before him he had laid a watch, a pair +of steel revolvers, and a bull’s-eye lantern. For one second +many contradictory theories and projects whirled together in my head; +the next, I had slammed the door and turned the key upon the malefactor. +Surprised at my own decision, I stood and panted, leaning on the wall. +From within the pantry not a sound was to be heard; the man, whatever +he was, had accepted his fate without a struggle, and now, as I hugged +myself to fancy, sat frozen with terror and looking for the worst to +follow. I promised myself that he should not be disappointed; +and the better to complete my task, I turned to ascend the stairs.<br> +<br> +The situation, as I groped my way to the first floor, appealed to me +suddenly by my strong sense of humour. Here was I, the owner of +the house, burglariously present in its walls; and there, in the dining-room, +were two gentlemen, unknown to me, seated complacently at supper, and +only saved by my promptitude from some surprising or deadly interruption. +It were strange if I could not manage to extract the matter of amusement +from so unusual a situation.<br> +<br> +Behind this dining-room, there is a small apartment intended for a library. +It was to this that I cautiously groped my way; and you will see how +fortune had exactly served me. The weather, I have said, was sultry; +in order to ventilate the dining-room and yet preserve the uninhabited +appearance of the mansion to the front, the window of the library had +been widely opened, and the door of communication between the two apartments +left ajar. To this interval I now applied my eye.<br> +<br> +Wax tapers, set in silver candlesticks, shed their chastened brightness +on the damask of the tablecloth and the remains of a cold collation +of the rarest delicacy. The two gentlemen had finished supper, +and were now trifling with cigars and maraschino; while in a silver +spirit lamp, coffee of the most captivating fragrance was preparing +in the fashion of the East. The elder of the two, he who had first +arrived, was placed directly facing me; the other was set on his left +hand. Both, like the man in the butler’s pantry, seemed +to be intently listening; and on the face of the second I thought I +could perceive the marks of fear. Oddly enough, however, when +they came to speak, the parts were found to be reversed.<br> +<br> +‘I assure you,’ said the elder gentleman, ‘I not only +heard the slamming of a door, but the sound of very guarded footsteps.’<br> +<br> +‘Your highness was certainly deceived,’ replied the other. +‘I am endowed with the acutest hearing, and I can swear that not +a mouse has rustled.’ Yet the pallor and contraction of +his features were in total discord with the tenor of his words.<br> +<br> +His highness (whom, of course, I readily divined to be Prince Florizel) +looked at his companion for the least fraction of a second; and though +nothing shook the easy quiet of his attitude, I could see that he was +far from being duped. ‘It is well,’ said he; ‘let +us dismiss the topic. And now, sir, that I have very freely explained +the sentiments by which I am directed, let me ask you, according to +your promise, to imitate my frankness.’<br> +<br> +‘I have heard you,’ replied the other, ‘with great +interest.’<br> +<br> +‘With singular patience,’ said the prince politely.<br> +<br> +‘Ay, your highness, and with unlooked-for sympathy,’ returned +the young man. ‘I know not how to tell the change that has +befallen me. You have, I must suppose, a charm, to which even +your enemies are subject.’ He looked at the clock on the +mantelpiece and visibly blanched. ‘So late!’ he cried. +‘Your highness - God knows I am now speaking from the heart - +before it be too late, leave this house!’<br> +<br> +The prince glanced once more at his companion, and then very deliberately +shook the ash from his cigar. ‘That is a strange remark,’ +said he; ‘and <i>á propos de</i> <i>bottes</i>, I never +continue a cigar when once the ash is fallen; the spell breaks, the +soul of the flavour flies away, and there remains but the dead body +of tobacco; and I make it a rule to throw away that husk and choose +another.’ He suited the action to the words.<br> +<br> +‘Do not trifle with my appeal,’ resumed the young man, in +tones that trembled with emotion. ‘It is made at the price +of my honour and to the peril of my life. Go - go now! lose not +a moment; and if you have any kindness for a young man, miserably deceived +indeed, but not devoid of better sentiments, look not behind you as +you leave.’<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ said the prince, ‘I am here upon your honour; +assure you upon mine that I shall continue to rely upon that safeguard. +The coffee is ready; I must again trouble you, I fear.’ +And with a courteous movement of the hand, he seemed to invite his companion +to pour out the coffee.<br> +<br> +The unhappy young man rose from his seat. ‘I appeal to you,’ +he cried, ‘by every holy sentiment, in mercy to me, if not in +pity to yourself, begone before it is too late.’<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ replied the prince, ‘I am not readily accessible +to fear; and if there is one defect to which I must plead guilty, it +is that of a curious disposition. You go the wrong way about to +make me leave this house, in which I play the part of your entertainer; +and, suffer me to add, young man, if any peril threaten us, it was of +your contriving, not of mine.’<br> +<br> +‘Alas, you do not know to what you condemn me,’ cried the +other. ‘But I at least will have no hand in it.’ +With these words he carried his hand to his pocket, hastily swallowed +the contents of a phial, and, with the very act, reeled back and fell +across his chair upon the floor. The prince left his place and +came and stood above him, where he lay convulsed upon the carpet. +‘Poor moth!’ I heard his highness murmur. ‘Alas, +poor moth! must we again inquire which is the more fatal - weakness +or wickedness? And can a sympathy with ideas, surely not ignoble +in themselves, conduct a man to this dishonourable death?’<br> +<br> +By this time I had pushed the door open and walked into the room. +‘Your highness,’ said I, ‘this is no time for moralising; +with a little promptness we may save this creature’s life; and +as for the other, he need cause you no concern, for I have him safely +under lock and key.’<br> +<br> +The prince had turned about upon my entrance, and regarded me certainly +with no alarm, but with a profundity of wonder which almost robbed me +of my self-possession. ‘My dear madam,’ he cried at +last, ‘and who the devil are you?’<br> +<br> +I was already on the floor beside the dying man. I had, of course, +no idea with what drug he had attempted his life, and I was forced to +try him with a variety of antidotes. Here were both oil and vinegar, +for the prince had done the young man the honour of compounding for +him one of his celebrated salads; and of each of these I administered +from a quarter to half a pint, with no apparent efficacy. I next +plied him with the hot coffee, of which there may have been near upon +a quart.<br> +<br> +‘Have you no milk?’ I inquired.<br> +<br> +‘I fear, madam, that milk has been omitted,’ returned the +prince.<br> +<br> +‘Salt, then,’ said I; ‘salt is a revulsive. +Pass the salt.’<br> +<br> +‘And possibly the mustard?’ asked his highness, as he offered +me the contents of the various salt-cellars poured together on a plate.<br> +<br> +‘Ah,’ cried I, ‘the thought is excellent! Mix +me about half a pint of mustard, drinkably dilute.’<br> +<br> +Whether it was the salt or the mustard, or the mere combination of so +many subversive agents, as soon as the last had been poured over his +throat, the young sufferer obtained relief.<br> +<br> +‘There!’ I exclaimed, with natural triumph, ‘I have +saved a life!’<br> +<br> +‘And yet, madam,’ returned the prince, ‘your mercy +may be cruelty disguised. Where the honour is lost, it is, at +least, superfluous to prolong the life.’<br> +<br> +‘If you had led a life as changeable as mine, your highness,’ +I replied, ‘you would hold a very different opinion. For +my part, and after whatever extremity of misfortune or disgrace, I should +still count to-morrow worth a trial.’<br> +<br> +‘You speak as a lady, madam,’ said the prince; ‘and +for such you speak the truth. But to men there is permitted such +a field of license, and the good behaviour asked of them is at once +so easy and so little, that to fail in that is to fall beyond the reach +of pardon. But will you suffer me to repeat a question, put to +you at first, I am afraid, with some defect of courtesy; and to ask +you once more, who you are and how I have the honour of your company?’<br> +<br> +‘I am the proprietor of the house in which we stand,’ said +I.<br> +<br> +‘And still I am at fault,’ returned the prince.<br> +<br> +But at that moment the timepiece on the mantel-shelf began to strike +the hour of twelve; and the young man, raising himself upon one elbow, +with an expression of despair and horror that I have never seen excelled, +cried lamentably, ‘Midnight! oh, just God!’ We stood +frozen to our places, while the tingling hammer of the timepiece measured +the remaining strokes; nor had we yet stirred, so tragic had been the +tones of the young man, when the various bells of London began in turn +to declare the hour. The timepiece was inaudible beyond the walls +of the chamber where we stood; but the second pulsation of Big Ben had +scarcely throbbed into the night, before a sharp detonation rang about +the house. The prince sprang for the door by which I had entered; +but quick as he was, I yet contrived to intercept him.<br> +<br> +‘Are you armed?’ I cried.<br> +<br> +‘No, madam,’ replied he. ‘You remind me appositely; +I will take the poker.’<br> +<br> +‘The man below,’ said I, ‘has two revolvers. +Would you confront him at such odds?’<br> +<br> +He paused, as though staggered in his purpose.<br> +<br> +‘And yet, madam,’ said he, ‘we cannot continue to +remain in ignorance of what has passed.’<br> +<br> +‘No!’ cried I. ‘And who proposes it? I +am as curious as yourself, but let us rather send for the police; or, +if your highness dreads a scandal, for some of your own servants.’<br> +<br> +‘Nay, madam,’ he replied, smiling, ‘for so brave a +lady, you surprise me. Would you have me, then, send others where +I fear to go myself?’<br> +<br> +‘You are perfectly right,’ said I, ‘and I was entirely +wrong. Go, in God’s name, and I will hold the candle!’<br> +<br> +Together, therefore, we descended to the lower story, he carrying the +poker, I the light; and together we approached and opened the door of +the butler’s pantry. In some sort, I believe, I was prepared +for the spectacle that met our eyes; I was prepared, that is, to find +the villain dead, but the rude details of such a violent suicide I was +unable to endure. The prince, unshaken by horror as he had remained +unshaken by alarm, assisted me with the most respectful gallantry to +regain the dining-room.<br> +<br> +There we found our patient, still, indeed, deadly pale, but vastly recovered +and already seated on a chair. He held out both his hands with +a most pitiful gesture of interrogation.<br> +<br> +‘He is dead,’ said the prince.<br> +<br> +‘Alas!’ cried the young man, ‘and it should be I! +What do I do, thus lingering on the stage I have disgraced, while he, +my sure comrade, blameworthy indeed for much, but yet the soul of fidelity, +has judged and slain himself for an involuntary fault? Ah, sir,’ +said he, ‘and you too, madam, without whose cruel help I should +be now beyond the reach of my accusing conscience, you behold in me +the victim equally of my own faults and virtues. I was born a +hater of injustice; from my most tender years my blood boiled against +heaven when I beheld the sick, and against men when I witnessed the +sorrows of the poor; the pauper’s crust stuck in my throat when +I sat down to eat my dainties, and the cripple child has set me weeping. +What was there in that but what was noble? and yet observe to what a +fall these thoughts have led me! Year after year this passion +for the lost besieged me closer. What hope was there in kings? +what hope in these well-feathered classes that now roll in money? +I had observed the course of history; I knew the burgess, our ruler +of to-day, to be base, cowardly, and dull; I saw him, in every age, +combine to pull down that which was immediately above and to prey upon +those that were below; his dulness, I knew, would ultimately bring about +his ruin; I knew his days were numbered, and yet how was I to wait? +how was I to let the poor child shiver in the rain? The better +days, indeed, were coming, but the child would die before that. +Alas, your highness, in surely no ungenerous impatience I enrolled myself +among the enemies of this unjust and doomed society; in surely no unnatural +desire to keep the fires of my philanthropy alight, I bound myself by +an irrevocable oath.<br> +<br> +‘That oath is all my history. To give freedom to posterity +I had forsworn my own. I must attend upon every signal; and soon +my father complained of my irregular hours and turned me from his house. +I was engaged in betrothal to an honest girl; from her also I had to +part, for she was too shrewd to credit my inventions and too innocent +to be entrusted with the truth. Behold me, then, alone with conspirators! +Alas! as the years went on, my illusions left me. Surrounded as +I was by the fervent disciples and apologists of revolution, I beheld +them daily advance in confidence and desperation; I beheld myself, upon +the other hand, and with an almost equal regularity, decline in faith. +I had sacrificed all to further that cause in which I still believed; +and daily I began to grow in doubts if we were advancing it indeed. +Horrible was the society with which we warred, but our own means were +not less horrible.<br> +<br> +‘I will not dwell upon my sufferings; I will not pause to tell +you how, when I beheld young men still free and happy, married, fathers +of children, cheerfully toiling at their work, my heart reproached me +with the greatness and vanity of my unhappy sacrifice. I will +not describe to you how, worn by poverty, poor lodging, scanty food, +and an unquiet conscience, my health began to fail, and in the long +nights, as I wandered bedless in the rainy streets, the most cruel sufferings +of the body were added to the tortures of my mind. These things +are not personal to me; they are common to all unfortunates in my position. +An oath, so light a thing to swear, so grave a thing to break: an oath, +taken in the heat of youth, repented with what sobbings of the heart, +but yet in vain repented, as the years go on: an oath, that was once +the very utterance of the truth of God, but that falls to be the symbol +of a meaningless and empty slavery; such is the yoke that many young +men joyfully assume, and under whose dead weight they live to suffer +worse than death.<br> +<br> +‘It is not that I was patient. I have begged to be released; +but I knew too much, and I was still refused. I have fled; ay, +and for the time successfully. I reached Paris. I found +a lodging in the Rue St. Jacques, almost opposite the Val de Grâce. +My room was mean and bare, but the sun looked into it towards evening; +it commanded a peep of a green garden; a bird hung by a neighbour’s +window and made the morning beautiful; and I, who was sick, might lie +in bed and rest myself: I, who was in full revolt against the principles +that I had served, was now no longer at the beck of the council, and +was no longer charged with shameful and revolting tasks. Oh! what +an interval of peace was that! I still dream, at times, that I +can hear the note of my neighbour’s bird.<br> +<br> +‘My money was running out, and it became necessary that I should +find employment. Scarcely had I been three days upon the search, +ere I thought that I was being followed. I made certain of the +features of the man, which were quite strange to me, and turned into +a small café, where I whiled away an hour, pretending to read +the papers, but inwardly convulsed with terror. When I came forth +again into the street, it was quite empty, and I breathed again; but +alas, I had not turned three corners, when I once more observed the +human hound pursuing me. Not an hour was to be lost; timely submission +might yet preserve a life which otherwise was forfeit and dishonoured; +and I fled, with what speed you may conceive, to the Paris agency of +the society I served.<br> +<br> +‘My submission was accepted. I took up once more the hated +burthen of that life; once more I was at the call of men whom I despised +and hated, while yet I envied and admired them. They at least +were wholehearted in the things they purposed; but I, who had once been +such as they, had fallen from the brightness of my faith, and now laboured, +like a hireling, for the wages of a loathed existence. Ay, sir, +to that I was condemned; I obeyed to continue to live, and lived but +to obey.<br> +<br> +‘The last charge that was laid upon me was the one which has to-night +so tragically ended. Boldly telling who I was, I was to request +from your highness, on behalf of my society, a private audience, where +it was designed to murder you. If one thing remained to me of +my old convictions, it was the hate of kings; and when this task was +offered me, I took it gladly. Alas, sir, you triumphed. +As we supped, you gained upon my heart. Your character, your talents, +your designs for our unhappy country, all had been misrepresented. +I began to forget you were a prince; I began, all too feelingly, to +remember that you were a man. As I saw the hour approach, I suffered +agonies untold; and when, at last, we heard the slamming of the door +which announced in my unwilling ears the arrival of the partner of my +crime, you will bear me out with what instancy I besought you to depart. +You would not, alas! and what could I? Kill you, I could not; +my heart revolted, my hand turned back from such a deed. Yet it +was impossible that I should suffer you to stay; for when the hour struck +and my companion came, true to his appointment, and he, at least, true +to our design, I could neither suffer you to be killed nor yet him to +be arrested. From such a tragic passage, death, and death alone, +could save me; and it is no fault of mine if I continue to exist.<br> +<br> +‘But you, madam,’ continued the young man, addressing himself +more directly to myself, ‘were doubtless born to save the prince +and to confound our purposes. My life you have prolonged; and +by turning the key on my companion, you have made me the author of his +death. He heard the hour strike; he was impotent to help; and +thinking himself forfeit to honour, thinking that I should fall alone +upon his highness and perish for lack of his support, he has turned +his pistol on himself.’<br> +<br> +‘You are right,’ said Prince Florizel: ‘it was in +no ungenerous spirit that you brought these burthens on yourself; and +when I see you so nobly to blame, so tragically punished, I stand like +one reproved. For is it not strange, madam, that you and I, by +practising accepted and inconsiderable virtues, and commonplace but +still unpardonable faults, should stand here, in the sight of God, with +what we call clean hands and quiet consciences; while this poor youth, +for an error that I could almost envy him, should be sunk beyond the +reach of hope?<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ resumed the prince, turning to the young man, ‘I +cannot help you; my help would but unchain the thunderbolt that overhangs +you; and I can but leave you free.’<br> +<br> +‘And, sir,’ said I, ‘as this house belongs to me, +I will ask you to have the kindness to remove the body. You and +your conspirators, it appears to me, can hardly in civility do less.’<br> +<br> +‘It shall be done,’ said the young man, with a dismal accent.<br> +<br> +‘And you, dear madam,’ said the prince, ‘you, to whom +I owe my life, how can I serve you?’<br> +<br> +‘Your highness,’ I said, ‘to be very plain, this is +my favourite house, being not only a valuable property, but endeared +to me by various associations. I have endless troubles with tenants +of the ordinary class: and at first applauded my good fortune when I +found one of the station of your Master of the Horse. I now begin +to think otherwise: dangers set a siege about great personages; and +I do not wish my tenement to share these risks. Procure me the +resiliation of the lease, and I shall feel myself your debtor.’<br> +<br> +‘I must tell you, madam,’ replied his highness, ‘that +Colonel Geraldine is but a cloak for myself; and I should be sorry indeed +to think myself so unacceptable a tenant.’<br> +<br> +‘Your highness,’ said I, ‘I have conceived a sincere +admiration for your character; but on the subject of house property, +I cannot allow the interference of my feelings. I will, however, +to prove to you that there is nothing personal in my request, here solemnly +engage my word that I will never put another tenant in this house.’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said Florizel, ‘you plead your cause too +charmingly to be refused.’<br> +<br> +Thereupon we all three withdrew. The young man, still reeling +in his walk, departed by himself to seek the assistance of his fellow-conspirators; +and the prince, with the most attentive gallantry, lent me his escort +to the door of my hotel. The next day, the lease was cancelled; +nor from that hour to this, though sometimes regretting my engagement, +have I suffered a tenant in this house.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (Continued).<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>As soon as the old lady had finished her relation, Somerset made +haste to offer her his compliments.<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said he, ‘your story is not only entertaining +but instructive; and you have told it with infinite vivacity. +I was much affected towards the end, as I held at one time very liberal +opinions, and should certainly have joined a secret society if I had +been able to find one. But the whole tale came home to me; and +I was the better able to feel for you in your various perplexities, +as I am myself of somewhat hasty temper.’<br> +<br> +‘I do not understand you,’ said Mrs. Luxmore, with some +marks of irritation. ‘You must have strangely misinterpreted +what I have told you. You fill me with surprise.’<br> +<br> +Somerset, alarmed by the old lady’s change of tone and manner, +hurried to recant.<br> +<br> +‘Dear Mrs. Luxmore,’ said he, ‘you certainly misconstrue +my remark. As a man of somewhat fiery humour, my conscience repeatedly +pricked me when I heard what you had suffered at the hands of persons +similarly constituted.’<br> +<br> +‘Oh, very well indeed,’ replied the old lady; ‘and +a very proper spirit. I regret that I have met with it so rarely.’<br> +<br> +‘But in all this,’ resumed the young man, ‘I perceive +nothing that concerns myself.’<br> +<br> +‘I am about to come to that,’ she returned. ‘And +you have already before you, in the pledge I gave Prince Florizel, one +of the elements of the affair. I am a woman of the nomadic sort, +and when I have no case before the courts I make it a habit to visit +continental spas: not that I have ever been ill; but then I am no longer +young, and I am always happy in a crowd. Well, to come more shortly +to the point, I am now on the wing for Evian; this incubus of a house, +which I must leave behind and dare not let, hangs heavily upon my hands; +and I propose to rid myself of that concern, and do you a very good +turn into the bargain, by lending you the mansion, with all its fittings, +as it stands. The idea was sudden; it appealed to me as humorous: +and I am sure it will cause my relatives, if they should ever hear of +it, the keenest possible chagrin. Here, then, is the key; and +when you return at two to-morrow afternoon, you will find neither me +nor my cats to disturb you in your new possession.’<br> +<br> +So saying, the old lady arose, as if to dismiss her visitor; but Somerset, +looking somewhat blankly on the key, began to protest.<br> +<br> +‘Dear Mrs. Luxmore,’ said he, ‘this is a most unusual +proposal. You know nothing of me, beyond the fact that I displayed +both impudence and timidity. I may be the worst kind of scoundrel; +I may sell your furniture - ’<br> +<br> +‘You may blow up the house with gunpowder, for what I care!’ +cried Mrs. Luxmore. ‘It is in vain to reason. Such +is the force of my character that, when I have one idea clearly in my +head, I do not care two straws for any side consideration. It +amuses me to do it, and let that suffice. On your side, you may +do what you please - let apartments, or keep a private hotel; on mine, +I promise you a full month’s warning before I return, and I never +fail religiously to keep my promises.’<br> +<br> +The young man was about to renew his protest, when he observed a sudden +and significant change in the old lady’s countenance.<br> +<br> +‘If I thought you capable of disrespect!’ she cried.<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said Somerset, with the extreme fervour of asseveration, +‘madam, I accept. I beg you to understand that I accept +with joy and gratitude.’<br> +<br> +‘Ah well,’ returned Mrs. Luxmore, ‘if I am mistaken, +let it pass. And now, since all is comfortably settled, I wish +you a good-night.’<br> +<br> +Thereupon, as if to leave him no room for repentance, she hurried Somerset +out of the front door, and left him standing, key in hand, upon the +pavement.<br> +<br> +The next day, about the hour appointed, the young man found his way +to the square, which I will here call Golden Square, though that was +not its name. What to expect, he knew not; for a man may live +in dreams, and yet be unprepared for their realisation. It was +already with a certain pang of surprise that he beheld the mansion, +standing in the eye of day, a solid among solids. The key, upon +trial, readily opened the front door; he entered that great house, a +privileged burglar; and, escorted by the echoes of desertion, rapidly +reviewed the empty chambers. Cats, servant, old lady, the very +marks of habitation, like writing on a slate, had been in these few +hours obliterated. He wandered from floor to floor, and found +the house of great extent; the kitchen offices commodious and well appointed; +the rooms many and large; and the drawing-room, in particular, an apartment +of princely size and tasteful decoration. Although the day without +was warm, genial, and sunny, with a ruffling wind from the quarter of +Torquay, a chill, as it were, of suspended animation inhabited the house. +Dust and shadows met the eye; and but for the ominous procession of +the echoes, and the rumour of the wind among the garden trees, the ear +of the young man was stretched in vain.<br> +<br> +Behind the dining-room, that pleasant library, referred to by the old +lady in her tale, looked upon the flat roofs and netted cupolas of the +kitchen quarters; and on a second visit, this room appeared to greet +him with a smiling countenance. He might as well, he thought, +avoid the expense of lodging: the library, fitted with an iron bedstead +which he had remarked, in one of the upper chambers, would serve his +purpose for the night; while in the dining-room, which was large, airy, +and lightsome, looking on the square and garden, he might very agreeably +pass his days, cook his meals, and study to bring himself to some proficiency +in that art of painting which he had recently determined to adopt. +It did not take him long to make the change: he had soon returned to +the mansion with his modest kit; and the cabman who brought him was +readily induced, by the young man’s pleasant manner and a small +gratuity, to assist him in the installation of the iron bed. By +six in the evening, when Somerset went forth to dine, he was able to +look back upon the mansion with a sense of pride and property. +Four-square it stood, of an imposing frontage, and flanked on either +side by family hatchments. His eye, from where he stood whistling +in the key, with his back to the garden railings, reposed on every feature +of reality; and yet his own possession seemed as flimsy as a dream.<br> +<br> +In the course of a few days, the genteel inhabitants of the square began +to remark the customs of their neighbour. The sight of a young +gentleman discussing a clay pipe, about four o’clock of the afternoon, +in the drawing-room balcony of so discreet a mansion; and perhaps still +more, his periodical excursion to a decent tavern in the neighbourhood, +and his unabashed return, nursing the full tankard: had presently raised +to a high pitch the interest and indignation of the liveried servants +of the square. The disfavour of some of these gentlemen at first +proceeded to the length of insult; but Somerset knew how to be affable +with any class of men; and a few rude words merrily accepted, and a +few glasses amicably shared, gained for him the right of toleration.<br> +<br> +The young man had embraced the art of Raphael, partly from a notion +of its ease, partly from an inborn distrust of offices. He scorned +to bear the yoke of any regular schooling; and proceeded to turn one +half of the dining-room into a studio for the reproduction of still +life. There he amassed a variety of objects, indiscriminately +chosen from the kitchen, the drawing-room, and the back garden; and +there spent his days in smiling assiduity. Meantime, the great +bulk of empty building overhead lay, like a load, upon his imagination. +To hold so great a stake and to do nothing, argued some defect of energy; +and he at length determined to act upon the hint given by Mrs. Luxmore +herself, and to stick, with wafers, in the window of the dining-room, +a small handbill announcing furnished lodgings. At half-past six +of a fine July morning, he affixed the bill, and went forth into the +square to study the result. It seemed, to his eye, promising and +unpretentious; and he returned to the drawing-room balcony, to consider, +over a studious pipe, the knotty problem of how much he was to charge.<br> +<br> +Thereupon he somewhat relaxed in his devotion to the art of painting. +Indeed, from that time forth, he would spend the best part of the day +in the front balcony, like the attentive angler poring on his float; +and the better to support the tedium, he would frequently console himself +with his clay pipe. On several occasions, passers-by appeared +to be arrested by the ticket, and on several others ladies and gentlemen +drove to the very doorstep by the carriageful; but it appeared there +was something repulsive in the appearance of the house; for with one +accord, they would cast but one look upward, and hastily resume their +onward progress or direct the driver to proceed. Somerset had +thus the mortification of actually meeting the eye of a large number +of lodging-seekers; and though he hastened to withdraw his pipe, and +to compose his features to an air of invitation, he was never rewarded +by so much as an inquiry. ‘Can there,’ he thought, +‘be anything repellent in myself?’ But a candid examination +in one of the pier-glasses of the drawing-room led him to dismiss the +fear.<br> +<br> +Something, however, was amiss. His vast and accurate calculations +on the fly-leaves of books, or on the backs of playbills, appeared to +have been an idle sacrifice of time. By these, he had variously +computed the weekly takings of the house, from sums as modest as five-and-twenty +shillings, up to the more majestic figure of a hundred pounds; and yet, +in despite of the very elements of arithmetic, here he was making literally +nothing.<br> +<br> +This incongruity impressed him deeply and occupied his thoughtful leisure +on the balcony; and at last it seemed to him that he had detected the +error of his method. ‘This,’ he reflected, ‘is +an age of generous display: the age of the sandwich-man, of Griffiths, +of Pears’ legendary soap, and of Eno’s fruit salt, which, +by sheer brass and notoriety, and the most disgusting pictures I ever +remember to have seen, has overlaid that comforter of my childhood, +Lamplough’s pyretic saline. Lamplough was genteel, Eno was +omnipresent; Lamplough was trite, Eno original and abominably vulgar; +and here have I, a man of some pretensions to knowledge of the world, +contented myself with half a sheet of note-paper, a few cold words which +do not directly address the imagination, and the adornment (if adornment +it may be called) of four red wafers! Am I, then, to sink with +Lamplough, or to soar with Eno? Am I to adopt that modesty which +is doubtless becoming in a duke? or to take hold of the red facts of +life with the emphasis of the tradesman and the poet?’<br> +<br> +Pursuant upon these meditations, he procured several sheets of the very +largest size of drawing-paper; and laying forth his paints, proceeded +to compose an ensign that might attract the eye, and at the same time, +in his own phrase, directly address the imagination of the passenger. +Something taking in the way of colour, a good, savoury choice of words, +and a realistic design setting forth the life a lodger might expect +to lead within the walls of that palace of delight: these, he perceived, +must be the elements of his advertisement. It was possible, upon +the one hand, to depict the sober pleasures of domestic life, the evening +fire, blond-headed urchins and the hissing urn; but on the other, it +was possible (and he almost felt as if it were more suited to his muse) +to set forth the charms of an existence somewhat wider in its range +or, boldly say, the paradise of the Mohammedan. So long did the +artist waver between these two views, that, before he arrived at a conclusion, +he had finally conceived and completed both designs. With the +proverbially tender heart of the parent, he found himself unable to +sacrifice either of these offsprings of his art; and decided to expose +them on alternate days. ‘In this way,’ he thought, +‘I shall address myself indifferently to all classes of the world.’<br> +<br> +The tossing of a penny decided the only remaining point; and the more +imaginative canvas received the suffrages of fortune, and appeared first +in the window of the mansion. It was of a high fancy, the legend +eloquently writ, the scheme of colour taking and bold; and but for the +imperfection of the artist’s drawing, it might have been taken +for a model of its kind. As it was, however, when viewed from +his favourite point against the garden railings, and with some touch +of distance, it caused a pleasurable rising of the artist’s heart. +‘I have thrown away,’ he ejaculated, ‘an invaluable +motive; and this shall be the subject of my first academy picture.’<br> +<br> +The fate of neither of these works was equal to its merit. A crowd +would certainly, from time to time, collect before the area-railings; +but they came to jeer and not to speculate; and those who pushed their +inquiries further, were too plainly animated by the spirit of derision. +The racier of the two cartoons displayed, indeed, no symptom of attractive +merit; and though it had a certain share of that success called scandalous, +failed utterly of its effect. On the day, however, of the second +appearance of the companion work, a real inquirer did actually present +himself before the eyes of Somerset.<br> +<br> +This was a gentlemanly man, with some marks of recent merriment, and +his voice under inadequate control.<br> +<br> +‘I beg your pardon,’ said he, ‘but what is the meaning +of your extraordinary bill?’<br> +<br> +‘I beg yours,’ returned Somerset hotly. ‘Its +meaning is sufficiently explicit.’ And being now, from dire +experience, fearful of ridicule, he was preparing to close the door, +when the gentleman thrust his cane into the aperture.<br> +<br> +‘Not so fast, I beg of you,’ said he. ‘If you +really let apartments, here is a possible tenant at your door; and nothing +would give me greater pleasure than to see the accommodation and to +learn your terms.’<br> +<br> +His heart joyously beating, Somerset admitted the visitor, showed him +over the various apartments, and, with some return of his persuasive +eloquence, expounded their attractions. The gentleman was particularly +pleased by the elegant proportions of the drawing-room.<br> +<br> +‘This,’ he said, ‘would suit me very well. What, +may I ask, would be your terms a week, for this floor and the one above +it?’<br> +<br> +‘I was thinking,’ returned Somerset, ‘of a hundred +pounds.’<br> +<br> +‘Surely not,’ exclaimed the gentleman.<br> +<br> +‘Well, then,’ returned Somerset, ‘fifty.’<br> +<br> +The gentleman regarded him with an air of some amazement. ‘You +seem to be strangely elastic in your demands,’ said he. +‘What if I were to proceed on your own principle of division, +and offer twenty-five?’<br> +<br> +‘Done!’ cried Somerset; and then, overcome by a sudden embarrassment, +‘You see,’ he added apologetically, ‘it is all found +money for me.’<br> +<br> +‘Really?’ said the stranger, looking at him all the while +with growing wonder. ‘Without extras, then?’<br> +<br> +‘I - I suppose so,’ stammered the keeper of the lodging-house.<br> +<br> +‘Service included?’ pursued the gentleman.<br> +<br> +‘Service?’ cried Somerset. ‘Do you mean that +you expect me to empty your slops?’<br> +<br> +The gentleman regarded him with a very friendly interest. ‘My +dear fellow,’ said he, ‘if you take my advice, you will +give up this business.’ And thereupon he resumed his hat +and took himself away.<br> +<br> +This smarting disappointment produced a strong effect on the artist +of the cartoons; and he began with shame to eat up his rosier illusions. +First one and then the other of his great works was condemned, withdrawn +from exhibition, and relegated, as a mere wall-picture, to the decoration +of the dining-room. Their place was taken by a replica of the +original wafered announcement, to which, in particularly large letters, +he had added the pithy rubric: ‘<i>No service</i>.’ +Meanwhile he had fallen into something as nearly bordering on low spirits +as was consistent with his disposition; depressed, at once by the failure +of his scheme, the laughable turn of his late interview, and the judicial +blindness of the public to the merit of the twin cartoons.<br> +<br> +Perhaps a week had passed before he was again startled by the note of +the knocker. A gentleman of a somewhat foreign and somewhat military +air, yet closely shaven and wearing a soft hat, desired in the politest +terms to visit the apartments. He had (he explained) a friend, +a gentleman in tender health, desirous of a sedate and solitary life, +apart from interruptions and the noises of the common lodging-house. +‘The unusual clause,’ he continued, ‘in your announcement, +particularly struck me. “This,” I said, “is +the place for Mr. Jones.” You are yourself, sir, a professional +gentleman?’ concluded the visitor, looking keenly in Somerset’s +face.<br> +<br> +‘I am an artist,’ replied the young man lightly.<br> +<br> +‘And these,’ observed the other, taking a side glance through +the open door of the dining-room, which they were then passing, ‘these +are some of your works. Very remarkable.’ And he again +and still more sharply peered into the countenance of the young man.<br> +<br> +Somerset, unable to suppress a blush, made the more haste to lead his +visitor upstairs and to display the apartments.<br> +<br> +‘Excellent,’ observed the stranger, as he looked from one +of the back windows. ‘Is that a mews behind, sir? +Very good. Well, sir: see here. My friend will take your +drawing-room floor; he will sleep in the back drawing-room; his nurse, +an excellent Irish widow, will attend on all his wants and occupy a +garret; he will pay you the round sum of ten dollars a week; and you, +on your part, will engage to receive no other lodger? I think +that fair.’<br> +<br> +Somerset had scarcely words in which to clothe his gratitude and joy.<br> +<br> +‘Agreed,’ said the other; ‘and to spare you trouble, +my friend will bring some men with him to make the changes. You +will find him a retiring inmate, sir; receives but few, and rarely leaves +the house, except at night.’<br> +<br> +‘Since I have been in this house,’ returned Somerset, ‘I +have myself, unless it were to fetch beer, rarely gone abroad except +in the evening. But a man,’ he added, ‘must have some +amusement.’<br> +<br> +An hour was then agreed on; the gentleman departed; and Somerset sat +down to compute in English money the value of the figure named. +The result of this investigation filled him with amazement and disgust; +but it was now too late; nothing remained but to endure; and he awaited +the arrival of his tenant, still trying, by various arithmetical expedients, +to obtain a more favourable quotation for the dollar. With the +approach of dusk, however, his impatience drove him once more to the +front balcony. The night fell, mild and airless; the lamps shone +around the central darkness of the garden; and through the tall grove +of trees that intervened, many warmly illuminated windows on the farther +side of the square, told their tale of white napery, choice wine, and +genial hospitality. The stars were already thickening overhead, +when the young man’s eyes alighted on a procession of three four-wheelers, +coasting round the garden railing and bound for the Superfluous Mansion. +They were laden with formidable boxes; moved in a military order, one +following another; and, by the extreme slowness of their advance, inspired +Somerset with the most serious ideas of his tenant’s malady.<br> +<br> +By the time he had the door open, the cabs had drawn up beside the pavement; +and from the two first, there had alighted the military gentleman of +the morning and two very stalwart porters. These proceeded instantly +to take possession of the house; with their own hands, and firmly rejecting +Somerset’s assistance, they carried in the various crates and +boxes; with their own hands dismounted and transferred to the back drawing-room +the bed in which the tenant was to sleep; and it was not until the bustle +of arrival had subsided, and the arrangements were complete, that there +descended, from the third of the three vehicles, a gentleman of great +stature and broad shoulders, leaning on the shoulder of a woman in a +widow’s dress, and himself covered by a long cloak and muffled +in a coloured comforter.<br> +<br> +Somerset had but a glimpse of him in passing; he was soon shut into +the back drawing-room; the other men departed; silence redescended on +the house; and had not the nurse appeared a little before half-past +ten, and, with a strong brogue, asked if there were a decent public-house +in the neighbourhood, Somerset might have still supposed himself to +be alone in the Superfluous Mansion.<br> +<br> +Day followed day; and still the young man had never come by speech or +sight of his mysterious lodger. The doors of the drawing-room +flat were never open; and although Somerset could hear him moving to +and fro, the tall man had never quitted the privacy of his apartments. +Visitors, indeed, arrived; sometimes in the dusk, sometimes at intempestuous +hours of night or morning; men, for the most part; some meanly attired, +some decently; some loud, some cringing; and yet all, in the eyes of +Somerset, displeasing. A certain air of fear and secrecy was common +to them all; they were all voluble, he thought, and ill at ease; even +the military gentleman proved, on a closer inspection, to be no gentleman +at all; and as for the doctor who attended the sick man, his manners +were not suggestive of a university career. The nurse, again, +was scarcely a desirable house-fellow. Since her arrival, the +fall of whisky in the young man’s private bottle was much accelerated; +and though never communicative, she was at times unpleasantly familiar. +When asked about the patient’s health, she would dolorously shake +her head, and declare that the poor gentleman was in a pitiful condition.<br> +<br> +Yet somehow Somerset had early begun to entertain the notion that his +complaint was other than bodily. The ill-looking birds that gathered +to the house, the strange noises that sounded from the drawing-room +in the dead hours of night, the careless attendance and intemperate +habits of the nurse, the entire absence of correspondence, the entire +seclusion of Mr. Jones himself, whose face, up to that hour, he could +not have sworn to in a court of justice - all weighed unpleasantly upon +the young man’s mind. A sense of something evil, irregular +and underhand, haunted and depressed him; and this uneasy sentiment +was the more firmly rooted in his mind, when, in the fulness of time, +he had an opportunity of observing the features of his tenant. +It fell in this way. The young landlord was awakened about four +in the morning by a noise in the hall. Leaping to his feet, and +opening the door of the library, he saw the tall man, candle in hand, +in earnest conversation with the gentleman who had taken the rooms. +The faces of both were strongly illuminated; and in that of his tenant, +Somerset could perceive none of the marks of disease, but every sign +of health, energy, and resolution. While he was still looking, +the visitor took his departure; and the invalid, having carefully fastened +the front door, sprang upstairs without a trace of lassitude.<br> +<br> +That night upon his pillow, Somerset began to kindle once more into +the hot fit of the detective fever; and the next morning resumed the +practice of his art with careless hand and an abstracted mind. +The day was destined to be fertile in surprises; nor had he long been +seated at the easel ere the first of these occurred. A cab laden +with baggage drew up before the door; and Mrs. Luxmore in person rapidly +mounted the steps and began to pound upon the knocker. Somerset +hastened to attend the summons.<br> +<br> +‘My dear fellow,’ she said, with the utmost gaiety, ‘here +I come dropping from the moon. I am delighted to find you faithful; +and I have no doubt you will be equally pleased to be restored to liberty.’<br> +<br> +Somerset could find no words, whether of protest or welcome; and the +spirited old lady pushed briskly by him and paused on the threshold +of the dining-room. The sight that met her eyes was one well calculated +to inspire astonishment. The mantelpiece was arrayed with saucepans +and empty bottles; on the fire some chops were frying; the floor was +littered from end to end with books, clothes, walking-canes and the +materials of the painter’s craft; but what far outstripped the +other wonders of the place was the corner which had been arranged for +the study of still-life. This formed a sort of rockery; conspicuous +upon which, according to the principles of the art of composition, a +cabbage was relieved against a copper kettle, and both contrasted with +the mail of a boiled lobster.<br> +<br> +‘My gracious goodness!’ cried the lady of the house; and +then, turning in wrath on the young man, ‘From what rank in life +are you sprung?’ she demanded. ‘You have the exterior +of a gentleman; but from the astonishing evidences before me, I should +say you can only be a greengrocer’s man. Pray, gather up +your vegetables, and let me see no more of you.’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ babbled Somerset, ‘you promised me a month’s +warning.’<br> +<br> +‘That was under a misapprehension,’ returned the old lady. +‘I now give you warning to leave at once.’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said the young man, ‘I wish I could; and +indeed, as far as I am concerned, it might be done. But then, +my lodger!’<br> +<br> +‘Your lodger?’ echoed Mrs. Luxmore.<br> +<br> +‘My lodger: why should I deny it?’ returned Somerset. +‘He is only by the week.’<br> +<br> +The old lady sat down upon a chair. ‘You have a lodger? +- you?’ she cried. ‘And pray, how did you get him?’<br> +<br> +‘By advertisement,’ replied the young man. ‘O madam, +I have not lived unobservantly. I adopted’ - his eyes involuntarily +shifted to the cartoons - ‘I adopted every method.’<br> +<br> +Her eyes had followed his; for the first time in Somerset’s experience, +she produced a double eye-glass; and as soon as the full merit of the +works had flashed upon her, she gave way to peal after peal of her trilling +and soprano laughter.<br> +<br> +‘Oh, I think you are perfectly delicious!’ she cried. +‘I do hope you had them in the window. M’Pherson,’ +she continued, crying to her maid, who had been all this time grimly +waiting in the hall, ‘I lunch with Mr. Somerset. Take the +cellar key and bring some wine.’<br> +<br> +In this gay humour she continued throughout the luncheon; presented +Somerset with a couple of dozen of wine, which she made M’Pherson +bring up from the cellar - ‘as a present, my dear,’ she +said, with another burst of tearful merriment, ‘for your charming +pictures, which you must be sure to leave me when you go;’ and +finally, protesting that she dared not spoil the absurdest houseful +of madmen in the whole of London, departed (as she vaguely phrased it) +for the continent of Europe.<br> +<br> +She was no sooner gone, than Somerset encountered in the corridor the +Irish nurse; sober, to all appearance, and yet a prey to singularly +strong emotion. It was made to appear, from her account, that +Mr. Jones had already suffered acutely in his health from Mrs. Luxmore’s +visit, and that nothing short of a full explanation could allay the +invalid’s uneasiness. Somerset, somewhat staring, told what +he thought fit of the affair.<br> +<br> +‘Is that all?’ cried the woman. ‘As God sees +you, is that all?’<br> +<br> +‘My good woman,’ said the young man, ‘I have no idea +what you can be driving at. Suppose the lady were my friend’s +wife, suppose she were my fairy godmother, suppose she were the Queen +of Portugal; and how should that affect yourself or Mr. Jones?’<br> +<br> +‘Blessed Mary!’ cried the nurse, ‘it’s he that +will be glad to hear it!’<br> +<br> +And immediately she fled upstairs.<br> +<br> +Somerset, on his part, returned to the dining-room, and with a very +thoughtful brow and ruminating many theories, disposed of the remainder +of the bottle. It was port; and port is a wine, sole among its +equals and superiors, that can in some degree support the competition +of tobacco. Sipping, smoking, and theorising, Somerset moved on +from suspicion to suspicion, from resolve to resolve, still growing +braver and rosier as the bottle ebbed. He was a sceptic, none +prouder of the name; he had no horror at command, whether for crimes +or vices, but beheld and embraced the world, with an immoral approbation, +the frequent consequence of youth and health. At the same time, +he felt convinced that he dwelt under the same roof with secret malefactors; +and the unregenerate instinct of the chase impelled him to severity. +The bottle had run low; the summer sun had finally withdrawn; and at +the same moment, night and the pangs of hunger recalled him from his +dreams.<br> +<br> +He went forth, and dined in the Criterion: a dinner in consonance, not +so much with his purse, as with the admirable wine he had discussed. +What with one thing and another, it was long past midnight when he returned +home. A cab was at the door; and entering the hall, Somerset found +himself face to face with one of the most regular of the few who visited +Mr. Jones: a man of powerful figure, strong lineaments, and a chin-beard +in the American fashion. This person was carrying on one shoulder +a black portmanteau, seemingly of considerable weight. That he +should find a visitor removing baggage in the dead of night, recalled +some odd stories to the young man’s memory; he had heard of lodgers +who thus gradually drained away, not only their own effects, but the +very furniture and fittings of the house that sheltered them; and now, +in a mood between pleasantry and suspicion, and aping the manner of +a drunkard, he roughly bumped against the man with the chin-beard and +knocked the portmanteau from his shoulder to the floor. With a +face struck suddenly as white as paper, the man with the chin-beard +called lamentably on the name of his maker, and fell in a mere heap +on the mat at the foot of the stairs. At the same time, though +only for a single instant, the heads of the sick lodger and the Irish +nurse popped out like rabbits over the banisters of the first floor; +and on both the same scare and pallor were apparent.<br> +<br> +The sight of this incredible emotion turned Somerset to stone, and he +continued speechless, while the man gathered himself together, and, +with the help of the handrail and audibly thanking God, scrambled once +more upon his feet.<br> +<br> +‘What in Heaven’s name ails you?’ gasped the young +man as soon as he could find words and utterance.<br> +<br> +‘Have you a drop of brandy?’ returned the other. ‘I +am sick.’<br> +<br> +Somerset administered two drams, one after the other, to the man with +the chin-beard; who then, somewhat restored, began to confound himself +in apologies for what he called his miserable nervousness, the result, +he said, of a long course of dumb ague; and having taken leave with +a hand that still sweated and trembled, he gingerly resumed his burthen +and departed.<br> +<br> +Somerset retired to bed but not to sleep. What, he asked himself, +had been the contents of the black portmanteau? Stolen goods? +the carcase of one murdered? or - and at the thought he sat upright +in bed - an infernal machine? He took a solemn vow that he would +set these doubts at rest; and with the next morning, installed himself +beside the dining-room window, vigilant with eye; and ear, to await +and profit by the earliest opportunity.<br> +<br> +The hours went heavily by. Within the house there was no circumstance +of novelty; unless it might be that the nurse more frequently made little +journeys round the corner of the square, and before afternoon was somewhat +loose of speech and gait. A little after six, however, there came +round the corner of the gardens a very handsome and elegantly dressed +young woman, who paused a little way off, and for some time, and with +frequent sighs, contemplated the front of the Superfluous Mansion. +It was not the first time that she had thus stood afar and looked upon +it, like our common parents at the gates of Eden; and the young man +had already had occasion to remark the lively slimness of her carriage, +and had already been the butt of a chance arrow from her eye. +He hailed her coming, then, with pleasant feelings, and moved a little +nearer to the window to enjoy the sight. What was his surprise, +however, when, as if with a sensible effort, she drew near, mounted +the steps and tapped discreetly at the door! He made haste to +get before the Irish nurse, who was not improbably asleep, and had the +satisfaction to receive this gracious visitor in person.<br> +<br> +She inquired for Mr. Jones; and then, without transition, asked the +young man if he were the person of the house (and at the words, he thought +he could perceive her to be smiling), ‘because,’ she added, +‘if you are, I should like to see some of the other rooms.’ +Somerset told her he was under an engagement to receive no other lodgers; +but she assured him that would be no matter, as these were friends of +Mr. Jones’s. ‘And,’ she continued, moving suddenly +to the dining-room door, ‘let us begin here.’ Somerset +was too late to prevent her entering, and perhaps he lacked the courage +to essay. ‘Ah!’ she cried, ‘how changed it is!’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ cried the young man, ‘since your entrance, +it is I who have the right to say so.’<br> +<br> +She received this inane compliment with a demure and conscious droop +of the eyelids, and gracefully steering her dress among the mingled +litter, now with a smile, now with a sigh, reviewed the wonders of the +two apartments. She gazed upon the cartoons with sparkling eyes, +and a heightened colour, and in a somewhat breathless voice, expressed +a high opinion of their merits. She praised the effective disposition +of the rockery, and in the bedroom, of which Somerset had vainly endeavoured +to defend the entry, she fairly broke forth in admiration. ‘How +simple and manly!’ she cried: ‘none of that effeminacy of +neatness, which is so detestable in a man!’ Hard upon this, +telling him, before he had time to reply, that she very well knew her +way, and would trouble him no further, she took her leave with an engaging +smile, and ascended the staircase alone.<br> +<br> +For more than an hour the young lady remained closeted with Mr. Jones; +and at the end of that time, the night being now come completely, they +left the house in company. This was the first time since the arrival +of his lodger, that Somerset had found himself alone with the Irish +widow; and without the loss of any more time than was required by decency, +he stepped to the foot of the stairs and hailed her by her name. +She came instantly, wreathed in weak smiles and with a nodding head; +and when the young man politely offered to introduce her to the treasures +of his art, she swore that nothing could afford her greater pleasure, +for, though she had never crossed the threshold, she had frequently +observed his beautiful pictures through the door. On entering +the dining-room, the sight of a bottle and two glasses prepared her +to be a gentle critic; and as soon as the pictures had been viewed and +praised, she was easily persuaded to join the painter in a single glass. +‘Here,’ she said, ‘are my respects; and a pleasure +it is, in this horrible house, to see a gentleman like yourself, so +affable and free, and a very nice painter, I am sure.’ One +glass so agreeably prefaced, was sure to lead to the acceptance of a +second; at the third, Somerset was free to cease from the affectation +of keeping her company; and as for the fourth, she asked it of her own +accord. ‘For indeed,’ said she, ‘what with all +these clocks and chemicals, without a drop of the creature life would +be impossible entirely. And you seen yourself that even M’Guire +was glad to beg for it. And even himself, when he is downhearted +with all these cruel disappointments, though as temperate a man as any +child, will be sometimes crying for a glass of it. And I’ll +thank you for a thimbleful to settle what I got.’ Soon after, +she began with tears to narrate the deathbed dispositions and lament +the trifling assets of her husband. Then she declared she heard +‘the master’ calling her, rose to her feet, made but one +lurch of it into the still-life rockery, and with her head upon the +lobster, fell into stertorous slumbers.<br> +<br> +Somerset mounted at once to the first story, and opened the door of +the drawing-room, which was brilliantly lit by several lamps. +It was a great apartment; looking on the square with three tall windows, +and joined by a pair of ample folding-doors to the next room; elegant +in proportion, papered in sea-green, furnished in velvet of a delicate +blue, and adorned with a majestic mantelpiece of variously tinted marbles. +Such was the room that Somerset remembered; that which he now beheld +was changed in almost every feature: the furniture covered with a figured +chintz; the walls hung with a rhubarb-coloured paper, and diversified +by the curtained recesses for no less than seven windows. It seemed +to himself that he must have entered, without observing the transition, +into the adjoining house. Presently from these more specious changes, +his eye condescended to the many curious objects with which the floor +was littered. Here were the locks of dismounted pistols; clocks +and clockwork in every stage of demolition, some still busily ticking, +some reduced to their dainty elements; a great company of carboys, jars +and bottles; a carpenter’s bench and a laboratory-table.<br> +<br> +The back drawing-room, to which Somerset proceeded, had likewise undergone +a change. It was transformed to the exact appearance of a common +lodging-house bedroom; a bed with green curtains occupied one corner; +and the window was blocked by the regulation table and mirror. +The door of a small closet here attracted the young man’s attention; +and striking a vesta, he opened it and entered. On a table several +wigs and beards were lying spread; about the walls hung an incongruous +display of suits and overcoats; and conspicuous among the last the young +man observed a large overall of the most costly sealskin. In a +flash his mind reverted to the advertisement in the <i>Standard</i> +newspaper. The great height of his lodger, the disproportionate +breadth of his shoulders, and the strange particulars of his instalment, +all pointed to the same conclusion.<br> +<br> +The vesta had now burned to his fingers; and taking the coat upon his +arm, Somerset hastily returned to the lighted drawing-room. There, +with a mixture of fear and admiration, he pored upon its goodly proportions +and the regularity and softness of the pile. The sight of a large +pier-glass put another fancy in his head. He donned the fur-coat; +and standing before the mirror in an attitude suggestive of a Russian +prince, he thrust his hands into the ample pockets. There his +fingers encountered a folded journal. He drew it out, and recognised +the type and paper of the <i>Standard</i>; and at the same instant, +his eyes alighted on the offer of two hundred pounds. Plainly +then, his lodger, now no longer mysterious, had laid aside his coat +on the very day of the appearance of the advertisement.<br> +<br> +He was thus standing, the tell-tale coat upon his back, the incriminating +paper in his hand, when the door opened and the tall lodger, with a +firm but somewhat pallid face, stepped into the room and closed the +door again behind him. For some time, the two looked upon each +other in perfect silence; then Mr. Jones moved forward to the table, +took a seat, and still without once changing the direction of his eyes, +addressed the young man.<br> +<br> +‘You are right,’ he said. ‘It is for me the +blood money is offered. And now what will you do?’<br> +<br> +It was a question to which Somerset was far from being able to reply. +Taken as he was at unawares, masquerading in the man’s own coat, +and surrounded by a whole arsenal of diabolical explosives, the keeper +of the lodging-house was silenced.<br> +<br> +‘Yes,’ resumed the other, ‘I am he. I am that +man, whom with impotent hate and fear, they still hunt from den to den, +from disguise to disguise. Yes, my landlord, you have it in your +power, if you be poor, to lay the basis of your fortune; if you be unknown, +to capture honour at one snatch. You have hocussed an innocent +widow; and I find you here in my apartment, for whose use I pay you +in stamped money, searching my wardrobe, and your hand - shame, sir! +- your hand in my very pocket. You can now complete the cycle +of your ignominious acts, by what will be at once the simplest, the +safest, and the most remunerative.’ The speaker paused as +if to emphasise his words; and then, with a great change of tone and +manner, thus resumed: ‘And yet, sir, when I look upon your face, +I feel certain that I cannot be deceived: certain that in spite of all, +I have the honour and pleasure of speaking to a gentleman. Take +off my coat, sir - which but cumbers you. Divest yourself of this +confusion: that which is but thought upon, thank God, need be no burthen +to the conscience; we have all harboured guilty thoughts: and if it +flashed into your mind to sell my flesh and blood, my anguish in the +dock, and the sweat of my death agony - it was a thought, dear sir, +you were as incapable of acting on, as I of any further question of +your honour.’ At these words, the speaker, with a very open, +smiling countenance, like a forgiving father, offered Somerset his hand.<br> +<br> +It was not in the young man’s nature to refuse forgiveness or +dissect generosity. He instantly, and almost without thought, +accepted the proffered grasp.<br> +<br> +‘And now,’ resumed the lodger, ‘now that I hold in +mine your loyal hand, I lay by my apprehensions, I dismiss suspicion, +I go further - by an effort of will, I banish the memory of what is +past. How you came here, I care not: enough that you are here +- as my guest. Sit ye down; and let us, with your good permission, +improve acquaintance over a glass of excellent whisky.’<br> +<br> +So speaking, he produced glasses and a bottle: and the pair pledged +each other in silence.<br> +<br> +‘Confess,’ observed the smiling host, ‘you were surprised +at the appearance of the room.’<br> +<br> +‘I was indeed,’ said Somerset; ‘nor can I imagine +the purpose of these changes.’<br> +<br> +‘These,’ replied the conspirator, ‘are the devices +by which I continue to exist. Conceive me now, accused before +one of your unjust tribunals; conceive the various witnesses appearing, +and the singular variety of their reports! One will have visited +me in this drawing-room as it originally stood; a second finds it as +it is to-night; and to-morrow or next day, all may have been changed. +If you love romance (as artists do), few lives are more romantic than +that of the obscure individual now addressing you. Obscure yet +famous. Mine is an anonymous, infernal glory. By infamous +means, I work towards my bright purpose. I found the liberty and +peace of a poor country, desperately abused; the future smiles upon +that land; yet, in the meantime, I lead the existence of a hunted brute, +work towards appalling ends, and practice hell’s dexterities.’<br> +<br> +Somerset, glass in hand, contemplated the strange fanatic before him, +and listened to his heated rhapsody, with indescribable bewilderment. +He looked him in the face with curious particularity; saw there the +marks of education; and wondered the more profoundly.<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ he said - ‘for I know not whether I should +still address you as Mr. Jones - ’<br> +<br> +‘Jones, Breitman, Higginbotham, Pumpernickel, Daviot, Henderland, +by all or any of these you may address me,’ said the plotter; +‘for all I have at some time borne. Yet that which I most +prize, that which is most feared, hated, and obeyed, is not a name to +be found in your directories; it is not a name current in post-offices +or banks; and, indeed, like the celebrated clan M’Gregor, I may +justly describe myself as being nameless by day. But,’ he +continued, rising to his feet, ‘by night, and among my desperate +followers, I am the redoubted Zero.’<br> +<br> +Somerset was unacquainted with the name, but he politely expressed surprise +and gratification. ‘I am to understand,’ he continued, +‘that, under this alias, you follow the profession of a dynamiter?’ +<a name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3">{3}</a><br> +<br> +The plotter had resumed his seat and now replenished the glasses.<br> +<br> +‘I do,’ he said. ‘In this dark period of time, +a star - the star of dynamite - has risen for the oppressed; and among +those who practise its use, so thick beset with dangers and attended +by such incredible difficulties and disappointments, few have been more +assiduous, and not many - ’ He paused, and a shade of embarrassment +appeared upon his face - ‘not many have been more successful than +myself.’<br> +<br> +‘I can imagine,’ observed Somerset, ‘that, from the +sweeping consequences looked for, the career is not devoid of interest. +You have, besides, some of the entertainment of the game of hide and +seek. But it would still seem to me - I speak as a layman - that +nothing could be simpler or safer than to deposit an infernal machine +and retire to an adjacent county to await the painful consequences.’<br> +<br> +‘You speak, indeed,’ returned the plotter, with some evidence +of warmth, ‘you speak, indeed, most ignorantly. Do you make +nothing, then, of such a peril as we share this moment? Do you +think it nothing to occupy a house like this one, mined, menaced, and, +in a word, literally tottering to its fall?’<br> +<br> +‘Good God!’ ejaculated Somerset.<br> +<br> +‘And when you speak of ease,’ pursued Zero, ‘in this +age of scientific studies, you fill me with surprise. Are you +not aware that chemicals are proverbially fickle as woman, and clockwork +as capricious as the very devil? Do you see upon my brow these +furrows of anxiety? Do you observe the silver threads that mingle +with my hair? Clockwork, clockwork has stamped them on my brow +- chemicals have sprinkled them upon my locks! No, Mr. Somerset,’ +he resumed, after a moment’s pause, his voice still quivering +with sensibility, ‘you must not suppose the dynamiter’s +life to be all gold. On the contrary, you cannot picture to yourself +the bloodshot vigils and the staggering disappointments of a life like +mine. I have toiled (let us say) for months, up early and down +late; my bag is ready, my clock set; a daring agent has hurried with +white face to deposit the instrument of ruin; we await the fall of England, +the massacre of thousands, the yell of fear and execration; and lo! +a snap like that of a child’s pistol, an offensive smell, and +the entire loss of so much time and plant! If,’ he concluded, +musingly, ‘we had been merely able to recover the lost bags, I +believe with but a touch or two, I could have remedied the peccant engine. +But what with the loss of plant and the almost insuperable scientific +difficulties of the task, our friends in France are almost ready to +desert the chosen medium. They propose, instead, to break up the +drainage system of cities and sweep off whole populations with the devastating +typhoid pestilence: a tempting and a scientific project: a process, +indiscriminate indeed, but of idyllical simplicity. I recognise +its elegance; but, sir, I have something of the poet in my nature; something, +possibly, of the tribune. And, for my small part, I shall remain +devoted to that more emphatic, more striking, and (if you please) more +popular method, of the explosive bomb. Yes,’ he cried, with +unshaken hope, ‘I will still continue, and, I feel it in my bosom, +I shall yet succeed.’<br> +<br> +‘Two things I remark,’ said Somerset. ‘The first +somewhat staggers me. Have you, then - in all this course of life, +which you have sketched so vividly - have you not once succeeded?’<br> +<br> +‘Pardon me,’ said Zero. ‘I have had one success. +You behold in me the author of the outrage of Red Lion Court.’<br> +<br> +‘But if I remember right,’ objected Somerset, ‘the +thing was a <i>fiasco</i>. A scavenger’s barrow and some +copies of the <i>Weekly Budget</i> - these were the only victims.’<br> +<br> +‘You will pardon me again,’ returned Zero with positive +asperity: ‘a child was injured.’<br> +<br> +‘And that fitly brings me to my second point,’ said Somerset. +‘For I observed you to employ the word “indiscriminate.” +Now, surely, a scavenger’s barrow and a child (if child there +were) represent the very acme and top pin-point of indiscriminate, and, +pardon me, of ineffectual reprisal.’<br> +<br> +‘Did I employ the word?’ asked Zero. ‘Well, +I will not defend it. But for efficiency, you touch on graver +matters; and before entering upon so vast a subject, permit me once +more to fill our glasses. Disputation is dry work,’ he added, +with a charming gaiety of manner.<br> +<br> +Once more accordingly the pair pledged each other in a stalwart grog; +and Zero, leaning back with an air of some complacency, proceeded more +largely to develop his opinions.<br> +<br> +‘The indiscriminate?’ he began. ‘War, my dear +sir, is indiscriminate. War spares not the child; it spares not +the barrow of the harmless scavenger. No more,’ he concluded, +beaming, ‘no more do I. Whatever may strike fear, whatever +may confound or paralyse the activities of the guilty nation, barrow +or child, imperial Parliament or excursion steamer, is welcome to my +simple plans. You are not,’ he inquired, with a shade of +sympathetic interest, ‘you are not, I trust, a believer?’<br> +<br> +‘Sir, I believe in nothing,’ said the young man.<br> +<br> +‘You are then,’ replied Zero, ‘in a position to grasp +my argument. We agree that humanity is the object, the glorious +triumph of humanity; and being pledged to labour for that end, and face +to face with the banded opposition of kings, parliaments, churches, +and the members of the force, who am I - who are we, dear sir - to affect +a nicety about the tools employed? You might, perhaps, expect +us to attack the Queen, the sinister Gladstone, the rigid Derby, or +the dexterous Granville; but there you would be in error. Our +appeal is to the body of the people; it is these that we would touch +and interest. Now, sir, have you observed the English housemaid?’<br> +<br> +‘I should think I had,’ cried Somerset.<br> +<br> +‘From a man of taste and a votary of art, I had expected it,’ +returned the conspirator politely. ‘A type apart; a very +charming figure; and thoroughly adapted to our ends. The neat +cap, the clean print, the comely person, the engaging manner; her position +between classes, parents in one, employers in another; the probability +that she will have at least one sweet-heart, whose feelings we shall +address: - yes, I have a leaning - call it, if you will, a weakness +- for the housemaid. Not that I would be understood to despise +the nurse. For the child is a very interesting feature: I have +long since marked out the child as the sensitive point in society.’ +He wagged his head, with a wise, pensive smile. ‘And talking, +sir, of children and of the perils of our trade, let me now narrate +to you a little incident of an explosive bomb, that fell out some weeks +ago under my own observation. It fell out thus.’<br> +<br> +And Zero, leaning back in his chair, narrated the following simple tale.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>ZERO’S TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE BOMB</i>. <a name="citation4"></a><a href="#footnote4">{4}</a><br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +I dined by appointment with one of our most trusted agents, in a private +chamber at St. James’s Hall. You have seen the man: it was +M’Guire, the most chivalrous of creatures, but not himself expert +in our contrivances. Hence the necessity of our meeting; for I +need not remind you what enormous issues depend upon the nice adjustment +of the engine. I set our little petard for half an hour, the scene +of action being hard by; and the better to avert miscarriage, employed +a device, a recent invention of my own, by which the opening of the +Gladstone bag in which the bomb was carried, should instantly determine +the explosion. M’Guire was somewhat dashed by this arrangement, +which was new to him: and pointed out, with excellent, clear good sense, +that should he be arrested, it would probably involve him in the fall +of our opponents. But I was not to be moved, made a strong appeal +to his patriotism, gave him a good glass of whisky, and despatched him +on his glorious errand.<br> +<br> +Our objective was the effigy of Shakespeare in Leicester Square: a spot, +I think, admirably chosen; not only for the sake of the dramatist, still +very foolishly claimed as a glory by the English race, in spite of his +disgusting political opinions; but from the fact that the seats in the +immediate neighbourhood are often thronged by children, errand-boys, +unfortunate young ladies of the poorer class and infirm old men - all +classes making a direct appeal to public pity, and therefore suitable +with our designs. As M’Guire drew near his heart was inflamed +by the most noble sentiment of triumph. Never had he seen the +garden so crowded; children, still stumbling in the impotence of youth, +ran to and fro, shouting and playing, round the pedestal; an old, sick +pensioner sat upon the nearest bench, a medal on his breast, a stick +with which he walked (for he was disabled by wounds) reclining on his +knee. Guilty England would thus be stabbed in the most delicate +quarters; the moment had, indeed, been well selected; and M’Guire, +with a radiant provision of the event, drew merrily nearer. Suddenly +his eye alighted on the burly form of a policeman, standing hard by +the effigy in an attitude of watch. My bold companion paused; +he looked about him closely; here and there, at different points of +the enclosure, other men stood or loitered, affecting an abstraction, +feigning to gaze upon the shrubs, feigning to talk, feigning to be weary +and to rest upon the benches. M’Guire was no child in these +affairs; he instantly divined one of the plots of the Machiavellian +Gladstone.<br> +<br> +A chief difficulty with which we have to deal, is a certain nervousness +in the subaltern branches of the corps; as the hour of some design draws +near, these chicken-souled conspirators appear to suffer some revulsion +of intent; and frequently despatch to the authorities, not indeed specific +denunciations, but vague anonymous warnings. But for this purely +accidental circumstance, England had long ago been an historical expression. +On the receipt of such a letter, the Government lay a trap for their +adversaries, and surround the threatened spot with hirelings. +My blood sometimes boils in my veins, when I consider the case of those +who sell themselves for money in such a cause. True, thanks to +the generosity of our supporters, we patriots receive a very comfortable +stipend; I myself, of course, touch a salary which puts me quite beyond +the reach of any peddling, mercenary thoughts; M’Guire, again, +ere he joined our ranks, was on the brink of starving, and now, thank +God! receives a decent income. That is as it should be; the patriot +must not be diverted from his task by any base consideration; and the +distinction between our position and that of the police is too obvious +to be stated.<br> +<br> +Plainly, however, our Leicester Square design had been divulged; the +Government had craftily filled the place with minions; even the pensioner +was not improbably a hireling in disguise; and our emissary, without +other aid or protection than the simple apparatus in his bag, found +himself confronted by force; brutal force; that strong hand which was +a character of the ages of oppression. Should he venture to deposit +the machine, it was almost certain that he would be observed and arrested; +a cry would arise; and there was just a fear that the police might not +be present in sufficient force, to protect him from the savagery of +the mob. The scheme must be delayed. He stood with his bag +on his arm, pretending to survey the front of the Alhambra, when there +flashed into his mind a thought to appal the bravest. The machine +was set; at the appointed hour, it must explode; and how, in the interval, +was he to be rid of it?<br> +<br> +Put yourself, I beseech you, into the body of that patriot. There +he was, friendless and helpless; a man in the very flower of life, for +he is not yet forty; with long years of happiness before him; and now +condemned, in one moment, to a cruel and revolting death by dynamite! +The square, he said, went round him like a thaumatrope; he saw the Alhambra +leap into the air like a balloon; and reeled against the railing. +It is probable he fainted.<br> +<br> +When he came to himself, a constable had him by the arm.<br> +<br> +‘My God!’ he cried.<br> +<br> +‘You seem to be unwell, sir,’ said the hireling.<br> +<br> +‘I feel better now,’ cried poor M’Guire: and with +uneven steps, for the pavement of the square seemed to lurch and reel +under his footing, he fled from the scene of this disaster. Fled? +Alas, from what was he fleeing? Did he not carry that from which +he fled along with him? and had he the wings of the eagle, had he the +swiftness of the ocean winds, could he have been rapt into the uttermost +quarters of the earth, how should he escape the ruin that he carried? +We have heard of living men who have been fettered to the dead; the +grievance, soberly considered, is no more than sentimental; the case +is but a flea-bite to that of him who should be linked, like poor M’Guire, +to an explosive bomb.<br> +<br> +A thought struck him in Green Street, like a dart through his liver: +suppose it were the hour already. He stopped as though he had +been shot, and plucked his watch out. There was a howling in his +ears, as loud as a winter tempest; his sight was now obscured as if +by a cloud, now, as by a lightning flash, would show him the very dust +upon the street. But so brief were these intervals of vision, +and so violently did the watch vibrate in his hands, that it was impossible +to distinguish the numbers on the dial. He covered his eyes for +a few seconds; and in that space, it seemed to him that he had fallen +to be a man of ninety. When he looked again, the watch-plate had +grown legible: he had twenty minutes. Twenty minutes, and no plan!<br> +<br> +Green Street, at that time, was very empty; and he now observed a little +girl of about six drawing near to him, and as she came, kicking in front +of her, as children will, a piece of wood. She sang, too; and +something in her accent recalling him to the past, produced a sudden +clearness in his mind. Here was a God-sent opportunity!<br> +<br> +‘My dear,’ said he, ‘would you like a present of a +pretty bag?’<br> +<br> +The child cried aloud with joy and put out her hands to take it. +She had looked first at the bag, like a true child; but most unfortunately, +before she had yet received the fatal gift, her eyes fell directly on +M’Guire; and no sooner had she seen the poor gentleman’s +face, than she screamed out and leaped backward, as though she had seen +the devil. Almost at the same moment a woman appeared upon the +threshold of a neighbouring shop, and called upon the child in anger. +‘Come here, colleen,’ she said, ‘and don’t be +plaguing the poor old gentleman!’ With that she re-entered +the house, and the child followed her, sobbing aloud.<br> +<br> +With the loss of this hope M’Guire’s reason swooned within +him. When next he awoke to consciousness, he was standing before +St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, wavering like a drunken man; the passers-by +regarding him with eyes in which he read, as in a glass, an image of +the terror and horror that dwelt within his own.<br> +<br> +‘I am afraid you are very ill, sir,’ observed a woman, stopping +and gazing hard in his face. ‘Can I do anything to help +you?’<br> +<br> +‘Ill?’ said M’Guire. ‘O God!’ +And then, recovering some shadow of his self-command, ‘Chronic, +madam,’ said he: ‘a long course of the dumb ague. +But since you are so compassionate - an errand that I lack the strength +to carry out,’ he gasped - ‘this bag to Portman Square. +Oh, compassionate woman, as you hope to be saved, as you are a mother, +in the name of your babes that wait to welcome you at home, oh, take +this bag to Portman Square! I have a mother, too,’ he added, +with a broken voice. ‘Number 19, Portman Square.’<br> +<br> +I suppose he had expressed himself with too much energy of voice; for +the woman was plainly taken with a certain fear of him. ‘Poor +gentleman!’ said she. ‘If I were you, I would go home.’ +And she left him standing there in his distress.<br> +<br> +‘Home!’ thought M’Guire, ‘what a derision!’ +What home was there for him, the victim of philanthropy? He thought +of his old mother, of his happy youth; of the hideous, rending pang +of the explosion; of the possibility that he might not be killed, that +he might be cruelly mangled, crippled for life, condemned to lifelong +pains, blinded perhaps, and almost surely deafened. Ah, you spoke +lightly of the dynamiter’s peril; but even waiving death, have +you realised what it is for a fine, brave young man of forty, to be +smitten suddenly with deafness, cut off from all the music of life, +and from the voice of friendship, and love? How little do we realise +the sufferings of others! Even your brutal Government, in the +heyday of its lust for cruelty, though it scruples not to hound the +patriot with spies, to pack the corrupt jury, to bribe the hangman, +and to erect the infamous gallows, would hesitate to inflict so horrible +a doom: not, I am well aware, from virtue, not from philanthropy, but +with the fear before it of the withering scorn of the good.<br> +<br> +But I wander from M’Guire. From this dread glance into the +past and future, his thoughts returned at a bound upon the present. +How had he wandered there? and how long - oh, heavens! how long had +he been about it? He pulled out his watch; and found that but +three minutes had elapsed. It seemed too bright a thing to be +believed. He glanced at the church clock; and sure enough, it +marked an hour four minutes faster than the watch.<br> +<br> +Of all that he endured, M’Guire declares that pang was the most +desolate. Till then, he had had one friend, one counsellor, in +whom he plenarily trusted; by whose advertisement, he numbered the minutes +that remained to him of life; on whose sure testimony, he could tell +when the time was come to risk the last adventure, to cast the bag away +from him, and take to flight. And now in what was he to place +reliance? His watch was slow; it might be losing time; if so, +in what degree? What limit could he set to its derangement? and +how much was it possible for a watch to lose in thirty minutes? +Five? ten? fifteen? It might be so; already, it seemed years since +he had left St. James’s Hall on this so promising enterprise; +at any moment, then, the blow was to be looked for.<br> +<br> +In the face of this new distress, the wild disorder of his pulses settled +down; and a broken weariness succeeded, as though he had lived for centuries +and for centuries been dead. The buildings and the people in the +street became incredibly small, and far-away, and bright; London sounded +in his ears stilly, like a whisper; and the rattle of the cab that nearly +charged him down, was like a sound from Africa. Meanwhile, he +was conscious of a strange abstraction from himself; and heard and felt +his footfalls on the ground, as those of a very old, small, debile and +tragically fortuned man, whom he sincerely pitied.<br> +<br> +As he was thus moving forward past the National Gallery, in a medium, +it seemed, of greater rarity and quiet than ordinary air, there slipped +into his mind the recollection of a certain entry in Whitcomb Street +hard by, where he might perhaps lay down his tragic cargo unremarked. +Thither, then, he bent his steps, seeming, as he went, to float above +the pavement; and there, in the mouth of the entry, he found a man in +a sleeved waistcoat, gravely chewing a straw. He passed him by, +and twice patrolled the entry, scouting for the barest chance; but the +man had faced about and continued to observe him curiously.<br> +<br> +Another hope was gone. M’Guire reissued from the entry, +still followed by the wondering eyes of the man in the sleeved waistcoat. +He once more consulted his watch: there were but fourteen minutes left +to him. At that, it seemed as if a sudden, genial heat were spread +about his brain; for a second or two, he saw the world as red as blood; +and thereafter entered into a complete possession of himself, with an +incredible cheerfulness of spirits, prompting him to sing and chuckle +as he walked. And yet this mirth seemed to belong to things external; +and within, like a black and leaden-heavy kernel, he was conscious of +the weight upon his soul.<br> +<br> +<br> +I care for nobody, no, not I,<br> +And nobody cares for me,<br> +<br> +<br> +he sang, and laughed at the appropriate burthen, so that the passengers +stared upon him on the street. And still the warmth seemed to +increase and to become more genial. What was life? he considered, +and what he, M’Guire? What even Erin, our green Erin? +All seemed so incalculably little that he smiled as he looked down upon +it. He would have given years, had he possessed them, for a glass +of spirits; but time failed, and he must deny himself this last indulgence.<br> +<br> +At the corner of the Haymarket, he very jauntily hailed a hansom cab; +jumped in; bade the fellow drive him to a part of the Embankment, which +he named; and as soon as the vehicle was in motion, concealed the bag +as completely as he could under the vantage of the apron, and once more +drew out his watch. So he rode for five interminable minutes, +his heart in his mouth at every jolt, scarce able to possess his terrors, +yet fearing to wake the attention of the driver by too obvious a change +of plan, and willing, if possible, to leave him time to forget the Gladstone +bag.<br> +<br> +At length, at the head of some stairs on the Embankment, he hailed; +the cab was stopped; and he alighted - with how glad a heart! +He thrust his hand into his pocket. All was now over; he had saved +his life; nor that alone, but he had engineered a striking act of dynamite; +for what could be more pictorial, what more effective, than the explosion +of a hansom cab, as it sped rapidly along the streets of London. +He felt in one pocket; then in another. The most crushing seizure +of despair descended on his soul; and struck into abject dumbness, he +stared upon the driver. He had not one penny.<br> +<br> +‘Hillo,’ said the driver, ‘don’t seem well.’<br> +<br> +‘Lost my money,’ said M’Guire, in tones so faint and +strange that they surprised his hearing.<br> +<br> +The man looked through the trap. ‘I dessay,’ said +he: ‘you’ve left your bag.’<br> +<br> +M’Guire half unconsciously fetched it out; and looking on that +black continent at arm’s length, withered inwardly and felt his +features sharpen as with mortal sickness.<br> +<br> +‘This is not mine,’ said he. ‘Your last fare +must have left it. You had better take it to the station.’<br> +<br> +‘Now look here,’ returned the cabman: ‘are you off +your chump? or am I?’<br> +<br> +‘Well, then, I’ll tell you what,’ exclaimed M’Guire; +‘you take it for your fare!’<br> +<br> +‘Oh, I dessay,’ replied the driver. ‘Anything +else? What’s <i>in</i> your bag? Open it, and let +me see.’<br> +<br> +‘No, no,’ returned M’Guire. ‘Oh no, not +that. It’s a surprise; it’s prepared expressly: a +surprise for honest cabmen.’<br> +<br> +‘No, you don’t,’ said the man, alighting from his +perch, and coming very close to the unhappy patriot. ‘You’re +either going to pay my fare, or get in again and drive to the office.’<br> +<br> +It was at this supreme hour of his distress, that M’Guire spied +the stout figure of one Godall, a tobacconist of Rupert Street, drawing +near along the Embankment. The man was not unknown to him; he +had bought of his wares, and heard him quoted for the soul of liberality; +and such was now the nearness of his peril, that even at such a straw +of hope, he clutched with gratitude.<br> +<br> +‘Thank God!’ he cried. ‘Here comes a friend +of mine. I’ll borrow.’ And he dashed to meet +the tradesman. ‘Sir,’ said he, ‘Mr. Godall, +I have dealt with you - you doubtless know my face - calamities for +which I cannot blame myself have overwhelmed me. Oh, sir, for +the love of innocence, for the sake of the bonds of humanity, and as +you hope for mercy at the throne of grace, lend me two-and-six!’<br> +<br> +‘I do not recognise your face,’ replied Mr. Godall; ‘but +I remember the cut of your beard, which I have the misfortune to dislike. +Here, sir, is a sovereign; which I very willingly advance to you, on +the single condition that you shave your chin.’<br> +<br> +M’Guire grasped the coin without a word; cast it to the cabman, +calling out to him to keep the change; bounded down the steps, flung +the bag far forth into the river, and fell headlong after it. +He was plucked from a watery grave, it is believed, by the hands of +Mr. Godall. Even as he was being hoisted dripping to the shore, +a dull and choked explosion shook the solid masonry of the Embankment, +and far out in the river a momentary fountain rose and disappeared.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (Continued)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>Somerset in vain strove to attach a meaning to these words. +He had, in the meanwhile, applied himself assiduously to the flagon; +the plotter began to melt in twain, and seemed to expand and hover on +his seat; and with a vague sense of nightmare, the young man rose unsteadily +to his feet, and, refusing the proffer of a third grog, insisted that +the hour was late and he must positively get to bed.<br> +<br> +‘Dear me,’ observed Zero, ‘I find you very temperate. +But I will not be oppressive. Suffice it that we are now fast +friends; and, my dear landlord, <i>au revoir</i>!’<br> +<br> +So saying the plotter once more shook hands; and with the politest ceremonies, +and some necessary guidance, conducted the bewildered young gentleman +to the top of the stair.<br> +<br> +Precisely, how he got to bed, was a point on which Somerset remained +in utter darkness; but the next morning when, at a blow, he started +broad awake, there fell upon his mind a perfect hurricane of horror +and wonder. That he should have suffered himself to be led into +the semblance of intimacy with such a man as his abominable lodger, +appeared, in the cold light of day, a mystery of human weakness. +True, he was caught in a situation that might have tested the aplomb +of Talleyrand. That was perhaps a palliation; but it was no excuse. +For so wholesale a capitulation of principle, for such a fall into criminal +familiarity, no excuse indeed was possible; nor any remedy, but to withdraw +at once from the relation.<br> +<br> +As soon as he was dressed, he hurried upstairs, determined on a rupture. +Zero hailed him with the warmth of an old friend.<br> +<br> +‘Come in,’ he cried, ‘dear Mr. Somerset! Come +in, sit down, and, without ceremony, join me at my morning meal.’<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ said Somerset, ‘you must permit me first to +disengage my honour. Last night, I was surprised into a certain +appearance of complicity; but once for all, let me inform you that I +regard you and your machinations with unmingled horror and disgust, +and I will leave no stone unturned to crush your vile conspiracy.’<br> +<br> +‘My dear fellow,’ replied Zero, with an air of some complacency, +‘I am well accustomed to these human weaknesses. Disgust? +I have felt it myself; it speedily wears off. I think none the +worse, I think the more of you, for this engaging frankness. And +in the meanwhile, what are you to do? You find yourself, if I +interpret rightly, in very much the same situation as Charles the Second +(possibly the least degraded of your British sovereigns) when he was +taken into the confidence of the thief. To denounce me, is out +of the question; and what else can you attempt? No, dear Mr. Somerset, +your hands are tied; and you find yourself condemned, under pain of +behaving like a cad, to be that same charming and intellectual companion +who delighted me last night.’<br> +<br> +‘At least,’ cried Somerset, ‘I can, and do, order +you to leave this house.’<br> +<br> +‘Ah!’ cried the plotter, ‘but there I fail to follow +you. You may, if you please, enact the part of Judas; but if, +as I suppose, you recoil from that extremity of meanness, I am, on my +side, far too intelligent to leave these lodgings, in which I please +myself exceedingly, and from which you lack the power to drive me. +No, no, dear sir; here I am, and here I propose to stay.’<br> +<br> +‘I repeat,’ cried Somerset, beside himself with a sense +of his own weakness, ‘I repeat that I give you warning. +I am the master of this house; and I emphatically give you warning.’<br> +<br> +‘A week’s warning?’ said the imperturbable conspirator. +‘Very well: we will talk of it a week from now. That is +arranged; and in the meanwhile, I observe my breakfast growing cold. +Do, dear Mr. Somerset, since you find yourself condemned, for a week +at least, to the society of a very interesting character, display some +of that open favour, some of that interest in life’s obscurer +sides, which stamp the character of the true artist. Hang me, +if you will, to-morrow; but to-day show yourself divested of the scruples +of the burgess, and sit down pleasantly to share my meal.’<br> +<br> +‘Man!’ cried Somerset, ‘do you understand my sentiments?’<br> +<br> +‘Certainly,’ replied Zero; ‘and I respect them! +Would you be outdone in such a contest? will you alone be partial? and +in this nineteenth century, cannot two gentlemen of education agree +to differ on a point of politics? Come, sir: all your hard words +have left me smiling; judge then, which of us is the philosopher!’<br> +<br> +Somerset was a young man of a very tolerant disposition and by nature +easily amenable to sophistry. He threw up his hands with a gesture +of despair, and took the seat to which the conspirator invited him. +The meal was excellent; the host not only affable, but primed with curious +information. He seemed, indeed, like one who had too long endured +the torture of silence, to exult in the most wholesale disclosures. +The interest of what he had to tell was great; his character, besides, +developed step by step; and Somerset, as the time fled, not only outgrew +some of the discomfort of his false position, but began to regard the +conspirator with a familiarity that verged upon contempt. In any +circumstances, he had a singular inability to leave the society in which +he found himself; company, even if distasteful, held him captive like +a limed sparrow; and on this occasion, he suffered hour to follow hour, +was easily persuaded to sit down once more to table, and did not even +attempt to withdraw till, on the approach of evening, Zero, with many +apologies, dismissed his guest. His fellow-conspirators, the dynamiter +handsomely explained, as they were unacquainted with the sterling qualities +of the young man, would be alarmed at the sight of a strange face.<br> +<br> +As soon as he was alone, Somerset fell back upon the humour of the morning. +He raged at the thought of his facility; he paced the dining-room, forming +the sternest resolutions for the future; he wrung the hand which had +been dishonoured by the touch of an assassin; and among all these whirling +thoughts, there flashed in from time to time, and ever with a chill +of fear, the thought of the confounded ingredients with which the house +was stored. A powder magazine seemed a secure smoking-room alongside +of the Superfluous Mansion.<br> +<br> +He sought refuge in flight, in locomotion, in the flowing bowl. +As long as the bars were open, he travelled from one to another, seeking +light, safety, and the companionship of human faces; when these resources +failed him, he fell back on the belated baked-potato man; and at length, +still pacing the streets, he was goaded to fraternise with the police. +Alas, with what a sense of guilt he conversed with these guardians of +the law; how gladly had he wept upon their ample bosoms; and how the +secret fluttered to his lips and was still denied an exit! Fatigue +began at last to triumph over remorse; and about the hour of the first +milkman, he returned to the door of the mansion; looked at it with a +horrid expectation, as though it should have burst that instant into +flames; drew out his key, and when his foot already rested on the steps, +once more lost heart and fled for repose to the grisly shelter of a +coffee-shop.<br> +<br> +It was on the stroke of noon when he awoke. Dismally searching +in his pockets, he found himself reduced to half-a-crown; and when he +had paid the price of his distasteful couch, saw himself obliged to +return to the Superfluous Mansion. He sneaked into the hall and +stole on tiptoe to the cupboard where he kept his money. Yet half +a minute, he told himself, and he would be free for days from his obseding +lodger, and might decide at leisure on the course he should pursue. +But fate had otherwise designed: there came a tap at the door and Zero +entered.<br> +<br> +‘Have I caught you?’ he cried, with innocent gaiety. +‘Dear fellow, I was growing quite impatient.’ And +on the speaker’s somewhat stolid face, there came a glow of genuine +affection. ‘I am so long unused to have a friend,’ +he continued, ‘that I begin to be afraid I may prove jealous.’ +And he wrung the hand of his landlord.<br> +<br> +Somerset was, of all men, least fit to deal with such a greeting. +To reject these kind advances was beyond his strength. That he +could not return cordiality for cordiality, was already almost more +than he could carry. That inequality between kind sentiments which, +to generous characters, will always seem to be a sort of guilt, oppressed +him to the ground; and he stammered vague and lying words.<br> +<br> +‘That is all right,’ cried Zero - ‘that is as it should +be - say no more! I had a vague alarm; I feared you had deserted +me; but I now own that fear to have been unworthy, and apologise. +To doubt of your forgiveness were to repeat my sin. Come, then; +dinner waits; join me again and tell me your adventures of the night.’<br> +<br> +Kindness still sealed the lips of Somerset; and he suffered himself +once more to be set down to table with his innocent and criminal acquaintance. +Once more, the plotter plunged up to the neck in damaging disclosures: +now it would be the name and biography of an individual, now the address +of some important centre, that rose, as if by accident, upon his lips; +and each word was like another turn of the thumbscrew to his unhappy +guest. Finally, the course of Zero’s bland monologue led +him to the young lady of two days ago: that young lady, who had flashed +on Somerset for so brief a while but with so conquering a charm; and +whose engaging grace, communicative eyes, and admirable conduct of the +sweeping skirt, remained imprinted on his memory.<br> +<br> +‘You saw her?’ said Zero. ‘Beautiful, is she +not? She, too, is one of ours: a true enthusiast: nervous, perhaps, +in presence of the chemicals; but in matters of intrigue, the very soul +of skill and daring. Lake, Fonblanque, de Marly, Valdevia, such +are some of the names that she employs; her true name - but there, perhaps, +I go too far. Suffice it, that it is to her I owe my present lodging, +and, dear Somerset, the pleasure of your acquaintance. It appears +she knew the house. You see dear fellow, I make no concealment: +all that you can care to hear, I tell you openly.’<br> +<br> +‘For God’s sake,’ cried the wretched Somerset, ‘hold +your tongue! You cannot imagine how you torture me!’<br> +<br> +A shade of serious discomposure crossed the open countenance of Zero.<br> +<br> +‘There are times,’ he said, ‘when I begin to fancy +that you do not like me. Why, why, dear Somerset, this lack of +cordiality? I am depressed; the touchstone of my life draws near; +and if I fail’ - he gloomily nodded - ‘from all the height +of my ambitious schemes, I fall, dear boy, into contempt. These +are grave thoughts, and you may judge my need of your delightful company. +Innocent prattler, you relieve the weight of my concerns. And +yet . . . and yet . . .’ The speaker pushed away his plate, +and rose from table. ‘Follow me,’ said he, ‘follow +me. My mood is on; I must have air, I must behold the plain of +battle.’<br> +<br> +So saying, he led the way hurriedly to the top flat of the mansion, +and thence, by ladder and trap, to a certain leaded platform, sheltered +at one end by a great stalk of chimneys and occupying the actual summit +of the roof. On both sides, it bordered, without parapet or rail, +on the incline of slates; and, northward above all, commanded an extensive +view of housetops, and rising through the smoke, the distant spires +of churches.<br> +<br> +‘Here,’ cried Zero, ‘you behold this field of city, +rich, crowded, laughing with the spoil of continents; but soon, how +soon, to be laid low! Some day, some night, from this coign of +vantage, you shall perhaps be startled by the detonation of the judgment +gun - not sharp and empty like the crack of cannon, but deep-mouthed +and unctuously solemn. Instantly thereafter, you shall behold +the flames break forth. Ay,’ he cried, stretching forth +his hand, ‘ay, that will be a day of retribution. Then shall +the pallid constable flee side by side with the detected thief. +Blaze!’ he cried, ‘blaze, derided city! Fall, flatulent +monarchy, fall like Dagon!’<br> +<br> +With these words his foot slipped upon the lead; and but for Somerset’s +quickness, he had been instantly precipitated into space. Pale +as a sheet, and limp as a pocket-handkerchief, he was dragged from the +edge of downfall by one arm; helped, or rather carried, down the ladder; +and deposited in safety on the attic landing. Here he began to +come to himself, wiped his brow, and at length, seizing Somerset’s +hand in both of his, began to utter his acknowledgments.<br> +<br> +‘This seals it,’ said he. ‘Ours is a life and +death connection. You have plucked me from the jaws of death; +and if I were before attracted by your character, judge now of the ardour +of my gratitude and love! But I perceive I am still greatly shaken. +Lend me, I beseech you, lend me your arm as far as my apartment.’<br> +<br> +A dram of spirits restored the plotter to something of his customary +self-possession; and he was standing, glass in hand and genially convalescent, +when his eye was attracted by the dejection of the unfortunate young +man.<br> +<br> +‘Good heavens, dear Somerset,’ he cried, ‘what ails +you? Let me offer you a touch of spirits.’<br> +<br> +But Somerset had fallen below the reach of this material comfort.<br> +<br> +‘Let me be,’ he said. ‘I am lost; you have caught +me in the toils. Up to this moment, I have lived all my life in +the most reckless manner, and done exactly what I pleased, with the +most perfect innocence. And now - what am I? Are you so +blind and wooden that you do not see the loathing you inspire me with? +Is it possible you can suppose me willing to continue to exist upon +such terms? To think,’ he cried, ‘that a young man, +guilty of no fault on earth but amiability, should find himself involved +in such a damned imbroglio!’ And placing his knuckles in +his eyes, Somerset rolled upon the sofa.<br> +<br> +‘My God,’ said Zero, ‘is this possible? And +I so filled with tenderness and interest! Can it be, dear Somerset, +that you are under the empire of these out-worn scruples? or that you +judge a patriot by the morality of the religious tract? I thought +you were a good agnostic.’<br> +<br> +‘Mr. Jones,’ said Somerset, ‘it is in vain to argue. +I boast myself a total disbeliever, not only in revealed religion, but +in the data, method, and conclusions of the whole of ethics. Well! +what matters it? what signifies a form of words? I regard you +as a reptile, whom I would rejoice, whom I long, to stamp under my heel. +You would blow up others? Well then, understand: I want, with +every circumstance of infamy and agony, to blow up you!’<br> +<br> +‘Somerset, Somerset!’ said Zero, turning very pale, ‘this +is wrong; this is very wrong. You pain, you wound me, Somerset.’<br> +<br> +‘Give me a match!’ cried Somerset wildly. ‘Let +me set fire to this incomparable monster! Let me perish with him +in his fall!’<br> +<br> +‘For God’s sake,’ cried Zero, clutching hold of the +young man, ‘for God’s sake command yourself! We stand +upon the brink; death yawns around us; a man - a stranger in this foreign +land - one whom you have called your friend - ’<br> +<br> +‘Silence!’ cried Somerset, ‘you are no friend, no +friend of mine. I look on you with loathing, like a toad: my flesh +creeps with physical repulsion; my soul revolts against the sight of +you.’<br> +<br> +Zero burst into tears. ‘Alas!’ he sobbed, ‘this +snaps the last link that bound me to humanity. My friend disowns +- he insults me. I am indeed accurst.’<br> +<br> +Somerset stood for an instant staggered by this sudden change of front. +The next moment, with a despairing gesture, he fled from the room and +from the house. The first dash of his escape carried him hard +upon half-way to the next police-office: but presently began to droop; +and before he reached the house of lawful intervention, he fell once +more among doubtful counsels. Was he an agnostic? had he a right +to act? Away with such nonsense, and let Zero perish! ran his +thoughts. And then again: had he not promised, had he not shaken +hands and broken bread? and that with open eyes? and if so how could +he take action, and not forfeit honour? But honour? what was honour? +A figment, which, in the hot pursuit of crime, he ought to dash aside. +Ay, but crime? A figment, too, which his enfranchised intellect +discarded. All day, he wandered in the parks, a prey to whirling +thoughts; all night, patrolled the city; and at the peep of day he sat +down by the wayside in the neighbourhood of Peckham and bitterly wept. +His gods had fallen. He who had chosen the broad, daylit, unencumbered +paths of universal scepticism, found himself still the bondslave of +honour. He who had accepted life from a point of view as lofty +as the predatory eagle’s, though with no design to prey; he who +had clearly recognised the common moral basis of war, of commercial +competition, and of crime; he who was prepared to help the escaping +murderer or to embrace the impenitent thief, found, to the overthrow +of all his logic, that he objected to the use of dynamite. The +dawn crept among the sleeping villas and over the smokeless fields of +city; and still the unfortunate sceptic sobbed over his fall from consistency.<br> +<br> +At length, he rose and took the rising sun to witness. ‘There +is no question as to fact,’ he cried; ‘right and wrong are +but figments and the shadow of a word; but for all that, there are certain +things that I cannot do, and there are certain others that I will not +stand.’ Thereupon he decided to return to make one last +effort of persuasion, and, if he could not prevail on Zero to desist +from his infernal trade, throw delicacy to the winds, give the plotter +an hour’s start, and denounce him to the police. Fast as +he went, being winged by this resolution, it was already well on in +the morning when he came in sight of the Superfluous Mansion. +Tripping down the steps, was the young lady of the various aliases; +and he was surprised to see upon her countenance the marks of anger +and concern.<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ he began, yielding to impulse and with no clear +knowledge of what he was to add.<br> +<br> +But at the sound of his voice she seemed to experience a shock of fear +or horror; started back; lowered her veil with a sudden movement; and +fled, without turning, from the square.<br> +<br> +Here then, we step aside a moment from following the fortunes of Somerset, +and proceed to relate the strange and romantic episode of THE BROWN +BOX.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +DESBOROUGH’S ADVENTURE: <i>THE BROWN BOX<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>Mr. Harry Desborough lodged in the fine and grave old quarter of +Bloomsbury, roared about on every side by the high tides of London, +but itself rejoicing in romantic silences and city peace. It was +in Queen Square that he had pitched his tent, next door to the Children’s +Hospital, on your left hand as you go north: Queen Square, sacred to +humane and liberal arts, whence homes were made beautiful, where the +poor were taught, where the sparrows were plentiful and loud, and where +groups of patient little ones would hover all day long before the hospital, +if by chance they might kiss their hand or speak a word to their sick +brother at the window. Desborough’s room was on the first +floor and fronted to the square; but he enjoyed besides, a right by +which he often profited, to sit and smoke upon a terrace at the back, +which looked down upon a fine forest of back gardens, and was in turn +commanded by the windows of an empty room.<br> +<br> +On the afternoon of a warm day, Desborough sauntered forth upon this +terrace, somewhat out of hope and heart, for he had been now some weeks +on the vain quest of situations, and prepared for melancholy and tobacco. +Here, at least, he told himself that he would be alone; for, like most +youths, who are neither rich, nor witty, nor successful, he rather shunned +than courted the society of other men. Even as he expressed the +thought, his eye alighted on the window of the room that looked upon +the terrace; and to his surprise and annoyance, he beheld it curtained +with a silken hanging. It was like his luck, he thought; his privacy +was gone, he could no longer brood and sigh unwatched, he could no longer +suffer his discouragement to find a vent in words or soothe himself +with sentimental whistling; and in the irritation of the moment, he +struck his pipe upon the rail with unnecessary force. It was an +old, sweet, seasoned briar-root, glossy and dark with long employment, +and justly dear to his fancy. What, then, was his chagrin, when +the head snapped from the stem, leaped airily in space, and fell and +disappeared among the lilacs of the garden?<br> +<br> +He threw himself savagely into the garden chair, pulled out the story-paper +which he had brought with him to read, tore off a fragment of the last +sheet, which contains only the answers to correspondents, and set himself +to roll a cigarette. He was no master of the art; again and again, +the paper broke between his fingers and the tobacco showered upon the +ground; and he was already on the point of angry resignation, when the +window swung slowly inward, the silken curtain was thrust aside, and +a lady, somewhat strangely attired, stepped forth upon the terrace.<br> +<br> +‘Señorito,’ said she, and there was a rich thrill +in her voice, like an organ note, ‘Señorito, you are in +difficulties. Suffer me to come to your assistance.’<br> +<br> +With the words, she took the paper and tobacco from his unresisting +hands; and with a facility that, in Desborough’s eyes, seemed +magical, rolled and presented him a cigarette. He took it, still +seated, still without a word; staring with all his eyes upon that apparition. +Her face was warm and rich in colour; in shape, it was that piquant +triangle, so innocently sly, so saucily attractive, so rare in our more +northern climates; her eyes were large, starry, and visited by changing +lights; her hair was partly covered by a lace mantilla, through which +her arms, bare to the shoulder, gleamed white; her figure, full and +soft in all the womanly contours, was yet alive and active, light with +excess of life, and slender by grace of some divine proportion.<br> +<br> +‘You do not like my cigarrito, Señor?’ she asked. +‘Yet it is better made than yours.’ At that she laughed, +and her laughter trilled in his ear like music; but the next moment +her face fell. ‘I see,’ she cried. ‘It +is my manner that repels you. I am too constrained, too cold. +I am not,’ she added, with a more engaging air, ‘I am not +the simple English maiden I appear.’<br> +<br> +‘Oh!’ murmured Harry, filled with inexpressible thoughts.<br> +<br> +‘In my own dear land,’ she pursued, ‘things are differently +ordered. There, I must own, a girl is bound by many and rigorous +restrictions; little is permitted her; she learns to be distant, she +learns to appear forbidding. But here, in free England - oh, glorious +liberty!’ she cried, and threw up her arms with a gesture of inimitable +grace - ‘here there are no fetters; here the woman may dare to +be herself entirely, and the men, the chivalrous men - is it not written +on the very shield of your nation, <i>honi soit</i>? Ah, it is +hard for me to learn, hard for me to dare to be myself. You must +not judge me yet awhile; I shall end by conquering this stiffness, I +shall end by growing English. Do I speak the language well?’<br> +<br> +‘Perfectly - oh, perfectly!’ said Harry, with a fervency +of conviction worthy of a graver subject.<br> +<br> +‘Ah, then,’ she said, ‘I shall soon learn; English +blood ran in my father’s veins; and I have had the advantage of +some training in your expressive tongue. If I speak already without +accent, with my thorough English appearance, there is nothing left to +change except my manners.’<br> +<br> +‘Oh no,’ said Desborough. ‘Oh pray not! +I - madam - ’<br> +<br> +‘I am,’ interrupted the lady, ‘the Señorita +Teresa Valdevia. The evening air grows chill. Adios, Señorito.’ +And before Harry could stammer out a word, she had disappeared into +her room.<br> +<br> +He stood transfixed, the cigarette still unlighted in his hand. +His thoughts had soared above tobacco, and still recalled and beautified +the image of his new acquaintance. Her voice re-echoed in his +memory; her eyes, of which he could not tell the colour, haunted his +soul. The clouds had risen at her coming, and he beheld a new-created +world. What she was, he could not fancy, but he adored her. +Her age, he durst not estimate; fearing to find her older than himself, +and thinking sacrilege to couple that fair favour with the thought of +mortal changes. As for her character, beauty to the young is always +good. So the poor lad lingered late upon the terrace, stealing +timid glances at the curtained window, sighing to the gold laburnums, +rapt into the country of romance; and when at length he entered and +sat down to dine, on cold boiled mutton and a pint of ale, he feasted +on the food of gods.<br> +<br> +Next day when he returned to the terrace, the window was a little ajar, +and he enjoyed a view of the lady’s shoulder, as she sat patiently +sewing and all unconscious of his presence. On the next, he had +scarce appeared when the window opened, and the Señorita tripped +forth into the sunlight, in a morning disorder, delicately neat, and +yet somehow foreign, tropical, and strange. In one hand she held +a packet.<br> +<br> +‘Will you try,’ she said, ‘some of my father’s +tobacco - from dear Cuba? There, as I suppose you know, all smoke, +ladies as well as gentlemen. So you need not fear to annoy me. +The fragrance will remind me of home. My home, Señor, was +by the sea.’ And as she uttered these few words, Desborough, +for the first time in his life, realised the poetry of the great deep. +‘Awake or asleep, I dream of it: dear home, dear Cuba!’<br> +<br> +‘But some day,’ said Desborough, with an inward pang, ‘some +day you will return?’<br> +<br> +‘ Never!’ she cried; ‘ah, never, in Heaven’s +name!’<br> +<br> +‘Are you then resident for life in England?’ he inquired, +with a strange lightening of spirit.<br> +<br> +‘You ask too much, for you ask more than I know,’ she answered +sadly; and then, resuming her gaiety of manner: ‘But you have +not tried my Cuban tobacco,’ she said.<br> +<br> +‘Señorita,’ said he, shyly abashed by some shadow +of coquetry in her manner, ‘whatever comes to me - you - I mean,’ +he concluded, deeply flushing, ‘that I have no doubt the tobacco +is delightful.’<br> +<br> +‘Ah, Señor,’ she said, with almost mournful gravity, +‘you seemed so simple and good, and already you are trying to +pay compliments - and besides,’ she added, brightening, with a +quick upward glance, into a smile, ‘you do it so badly! +English gentlemen, I used to hear, could be fast friends, respectful, +honest friends; could be companions, comforters, if the need arose, +or champions, and yet never encroach. Do not seek to please me +by copying the graces of my countrymen. Be yourself: the frank, +kindly, honest English gentleman that I have heard of since my childhood +and still longed to meet.’<br> +<br> +Harry, much bewildered, and far from clear as to the manners of the +Cuban gentlemen, strenuously disclaimed the thought of plagiarism.<br> +<br> +‘Your national seriousness of bearing best becomes you, Señor,’ +said the lady. ‘See!’ marking a line with her dainty, +slippered foot, ‘thus far it shall be common ground; there, at +my window-sill, begins the scientific frontier. If you choose, +you may drive me to my forts; but if, on the other hand, we are to be +real English friends, I may join you here when I am not too sad; or, +when I am yet more graciously inclined, you may draw your chair beside +the window and teach me English customs, while I work. You will +find me an apt scholar, for my heart is in the task.’ She +laid her hand lightly upon Harry’s arm, and looked into his eyes. +‘Do you know,’ said she, ‘I am emboldened to believe +that I have already caught something of your English aplomb? Do +you not perceive a change, Señor? Slight, perhaps, but +still a change? Is my deportment not more open, more free, more +like that of the dear “British Miss” than when you saw me +first?’ She gave a radiant smile; withdrew her hand from +Harry’s arm; and before the young man could formulate in words +the eloquent emotions that ran riot through his brain - with an ‘Adios, +Señor: good-night, my English friend,’ she vanished from +his sight behind the curtain.<br> +<br> +The next day Harry consumed an ounce of tobacco in vain upon the neutral +terrace; neither sight nor sound rewarded him, and the dinner-hour summoned +him at length from the scene of disappointment. On the next it +rained; but nothing, neither business nor weather, neither prospective +poverty nor present hardship, could now divert the young man from the +service of his lady; and wrapt in a long ulster, with the collar raised, +he took his stand against the balustrade, awaiting fortune, the picture +of damp and discomfort to the eye, but glowing inwardly with tender +and delightful ardours. Presently the window opened, and the fair +Cuban, with a smile imperfectly dissembled, appeared upon the sill.<br> +<br> +‘Come here,’ she said, ‘here, beside my window. +The small verandah gives a belt of shelter.’ And she graciously +handed him a folding-chair.<br> +<br> +As he sat down, visibly aglow with shyness and delight, a certain bulkiness +in his pocket reminded him that he was not come empty-handed.<br> +<br> +‘I have taken the liberty,’ said he, ‘of bringing +you a little book. I thought of you, when I observed it on the +stall, because I saw it was in Spanish. The man assured me it +was by one of the best authors, and quite proper.’ As he +spoke, he placed the little volume in her hand. Her eyes fell +as she turned the pages, and a flush rose and died again upon her cheeks, +as deep as it was fleeting. ‘You are angry,’ he cried +in agony. ‘I have presumed.’<br> +<br> +‘No, Señor, it is not that,’ returned the lady. +‘I - ’ and a flood of colour once more mounted to her brow +- ‘I am confused and ashamed because I have deceived you. +Spanish,’ she began, and paused - ‘Spanish is, of course, +my native tongue,’ she resumed, as though suddenly taking courage; +‘and this should certainly put the highest value on your thoughtful +present; but alas, sir, of what use is it to me? And how shall +I confess to you the truth - the humiliating truth - that I cannot read?’<br> +<br> +As Harry’s eyes met hers in undisguised amazement, the fair Cuban +seemed to shrink before his gaze. ‘Read?’ repeated +Harry. ‘You!’<br> +<br> +She pushed the window still more widely open with a large and noble +gesture. ‘Enter, Señor,’ said she. ‘The +time has come to which I have long looked forward, not without alarm; +when I must either fear to lose your friendship, or tell you without +disguise the story of my life.’<br> +<br> +It was with a sentiment bordering on devotion, that Harry passed the +window. A semi-barbarous delight in form and colour had presided +over the studied disorder of the room in which he found himself. +It was filled with dainty stuffs, furs and rugs and scarves of brilliant +hues, and set with elegant and curious trifles-fans on the mantelshelf, +an antique lamp upon a bracket, and on the table a silver-mounted bowl +of cocoa-nut about half full of unset jewels. The fair Cuban, +herself a gem of colour and the fit masterpiece for that rich frame, +motioned Harry to a seat, and sinking herself into another, thus began +her history.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>I am not what I seem. My father drew his descent, on the one +hand, from grandees of Spain, and on the other, through the maternal +line, from the patriot Bruce. My mother, too, was the descendant +of a line of kings; but, alas! these kings were African. She was +fair as the day: fairer than I, for I inherited a darker strain of blood +from the veins of my European father; her mind was noble, her manners +queenly and accomplished; and seeing her more than the equal of her +neighbours, and surrounded by the most considerate affection and respect, +I grew up to adore her, and when the time came, received her last sigh +upon my lips, still ignorant that she was a slave, and alas! my father’s +mistress. Her death, which befell me in my sixteenth year, was +the first sorrow I had known: it left our home bereaved of its attractions, +cast a shade of melancholy on my youth, and wrought in my father a tragic +and durable change. Months went by; with the elasticity of my +years, I regained some of the simple mirth that had before distinguished +me; the plantation smiled with fresh crops; the negroes on the estate +had already forgotten my mother and transferred their simple obedience +to myself; but still the cloud only darkened on the brows of Señor +Valdevia. His absences from home had been frequent even in the +old days, for he did business in precious gems in the city of Havana; +they now became almost continuous; and when he returned, it was but +for the night and with the manner of a man crushed down by adverse fortune.<br> +<br> +The place where I was born and passed my days was an isle set in the +Caribbean Sea, some half-hour’s rowing from the coasts of Cuba. +It was steep, rugged, and, except for my father’s family and plantation, +uninhabited and left to nature. The house, a low building surrounded +by spacious verandahs, stood upon a rise of ground and looked across +the sea to Cuba. The breezes blew about it gratefully, fanned +us as we lay swinging in our silken hammocks, and tossed the boughs +and flowers of the magnolia. Behind and to the left, the quarter +of the negroes and the waving fields of the plantation covered an eighth +part of the surface of the isle. On the right and closely bordering +on the garden, lay a vast and deadly swamp, densely covered with wood, +breathing fever, dotted with profound sloughs, and inhabited by poisonous +oysters, man-eating crabs, snakes, alligators, and sickly fishes. +Into the recesses of that jungle, none could penetrate but those of +African descent; an invisible, unconquerable foe lay there in wait for +the European; and the air was death.<br> +<br> +One morning (from which I must date the beginning of my ruinous misfortune) +I left my room a little after day, for in that warm climate all are +early risers, and found not a servant to attend upon my wants. +I made the circuit of the house, still calling: and my surprise had +almost changed into alarm, when coming at last into a large verandahed +court, I found it thronged with negroes. Even then, even when +I was amongst them, not one turned or paid the least regard to my arrival. +They had eyes and ears for but one person: a woman, richly and tastefully +attired; of elegant carriage, and a musical speech; not so much old +in years, as worn and marred by self-indulgence: her face, which was +still attractive, stamped with the most cruel passions, her eye burning +with the greed of evil. It was not from her appearance, I believe, +but from some emanation of her soul, that I recoiled in a kind of fainting +terror; as we hear of plants that blight and snakes that fascinate, +the woman shocked and daunted me. But I was of a brave nature; +trod the weakness down; and forcing my way through the slaves, who fell +back before me in embarrassment, as though in the presence of rival +mistresses, I asked, in imperious tones: ‘Who is this person?’<br> +<br> +A slave girl, to whom I had been kind, whispered in my ear to have a +care, for that was Madam Mendizabal; but the name was new to me.<br> +<br> +In the meanwhile the woman, applying a pair of glasses to her eyes, +studied me with insolent particularity from head to foot.<br> +<br> +‘Young woman,’ said she, at last, ‘I have had a great +experience in refractory servants, and take a pride in breaking them. +You really tempt me; and if I had not other affairs, and these of more +importance, on my hand, I should certainly buy you at your father’s +sale.’<br> +<br> +‘Madam - ’ I began, but my voice failed me.<br> +<br> +‘Is it possible that you do not know your position?’ she +returned, with a hateful laugh. ‘How comical! Positively, +I must buy her. Accomplishments, I suppose?’ she added, +turning to the servants.<br> +<br> +Several assured her that the young mistress had been brought up like +any lady, for so it seemed in their inexperience.<br> +<br> +‘She would do very well for my place of business in Havana,’ +said the Señora Mendizabal, once more studying me through her +glasses; ‘and I should take a pleasure,’ she pursued, more +directly addressing myself, ‘in bringing you acquainted with a +whip.’ And she smiled at me with a savoury lust of cruelty +upon her face.<br> +<br> +At this, I found expression. Calling by name upon the servants, +I bade them turn this woman from the house, fetch her to the boat, and +set her back upon the mainland. But with one voice, they protested +that they durst not obey, coming close about me, pleading and beseeching +me to be more wise; and, when I insisted, rising higher in passion and +speaking of this foul intruder in the terms she had deserved, they fell +back from me as from one who had blasphemed. A superstitious reverence +plainly encircled the stranger; I could read it in their changed demeanour, +and in the paleness that prevailed upon the natural colour of their +faces; and their fear perhaps reacted on myself. I looked again +at Madam Mendizabal. She stood perfectly composed, watching my +face through her glasses with a smile of scorn; and at the sight of +her assured superiority to all my threats, a cry broke from my lips, +a cry of rage, fear, and despair, and I fled from the verandah and the +house.<br> +<br> +I ran I knew not where, but it was towards the beach. As I went, +my head whirled; so strange, so sudden, were these events and insults. +Who was she? what, in Heaven’s name, the power she wielded over +my obedient negroes? Why had she addressed me as a slave? why +spoken of my father’s sale? To all these tumultuary questions +I could find no answer; and in the turmoil of my mind, nothing was plain +except the hateful leering image of the woman.<br> +<br> +I was still running, mad with fear and anger, when I saw my father coming +to meet me from the landing-place; and with a cry that I thought would +have killed me, leaped into his arms and broke into a passion of sobs +and tears upon his bosom. He made me sit down below a tall palmetto +that grew not far off; comforted me, but with some abstraction in his +voice; and as soon as I regained the least command upon my feelings, +asked me, not without harshness, what this grief betokened. I +was surprised by his tone into a still greater measure of composure; +and in firm tones, though still interrupted by sobs, I told him there +was a stranger in the island, at which I thought he started and turned +pale; that the servants would not obey me; that the stranger’s +name was Madam Mendizabal, and, at that, he seemed to me both troubled +and relieved; that she had insulted me, treated me as a slave (and here +my father’s brow began to darken), threatened to buy me at a sale, +and questioned my own servants before my face; and that, at last, finding +myself quite helpless and exposed to these intolerable liberties, I +had fled from the house in terror, indignation, and amazement.<br> +<br> +‘Teresa,’ said my father, with singular gravity of voice, +‘I must make to-day a call upon your courage; much must be told +you, there is much that you must do to help me; and my daughter must +prove herself a woman by her spirit. As for this Mendizabal, what +shall I say? or how am I to tell you what she is? Twenty years +ago, she was the loveliest of slaves; to-day she is what you see her +- prematurely old, disgraced by the practice of every vice and every +nefarious industry, but free, rich, married, they say, to some reputable +man, whom may Heaven assist! and exercising among her ancient mates, +the slaves of Cuba, an influence as unbounded as its reason is mysterious. +Horrible rites, it is supposed, cement her empire: the rites of Hoodoo. +Be that as it may, I would have you dismiss the thought of this incomparable +witch; it is not from her that danger threatens us; and into her hands, +I make bold to promise, you shall never fall.’<br> +<br> +‘Father!’ I cried. ‘Fall? Was there any +truth, then, in her words? Am I - O father, tell me plain; I can +bear anything but this suspense.’<br> +<br> +‘I will tell you,’ he replied, with merciful bluntness. +‘Your mother was a slave; it was my design, so soon as I had saved +a competence, to sail to the free land of Britain, where the law would +suffer me to marry her: a design too long procrastinated; for death, +at the last moment, intervened. You will now understand the heaviness +with which your mother’s memory hangs about my neck.’<br> +<br> +I cried out aloud, in pity for my parents; and in seeking to console +the survivor, I forgot myself.<br> +<br> +‘It matters not,’ resumed my father. ‘What I +have left undone can never be repaired, and I must bear the penalty +of my remorse. But, Teresa, with so cutting a reminder of the +evils of delay, I set myself at once to do what was still possible: +to liberate yourself.’<br> +<br> +I began to break forth in thanks, but he checked me with a sombre roughness.<br> +<br> +‘Your mother’s illness,’ he resumed, ‘had engaged +too great a portion of my time; my business in the city had lain too +long at the mercy of ignorant underlings; my head, my taste, my unequalled +knowledge of the more precious stones, that art by which I can distinguish, +even on the darkest night, a sapphire from a ruby, and tell at a glance +in what quarter of the earth a gem was disinterred - all these had been +too long absent from the conduct of affairs. Teresa, I was insolvent.’<br> +<br> +‘What matters that?’ I cried. ‘What matters +poverty, if we be left together with our love and sacred memories?’<br> +<br> +‘You do not comprehend,’ he said gloomily. ‘Slave, +as you are, young - alas! scarce more than child! - accomplished, beautiful +with the most touching beauty, innocent as an angel - all these qualities +that should disarm the very wolves and crocodiles, are, in the eyes +of those to whom I stand indebted, commodities to buy and sell. +You are a chattel; a marketable thing; and worth - heavens, that I should +say such words! - worth money. Do you begin to see? If I +were to give you freedom, I should defraud my creditors; the manumission +would be certainly annulled; you would be still a slave, and I a criminal.’<br> +<br> +I caught his hand in mine, kissed it, and moaned in pity for myself, +in sympathy for my father.<br> +<br> +‘How I have toiled,’ he continued, ‘how I have dared +and striven to repair my losses, Heaven has beheld and will remember. +Its blessing was denied to my endeavours, or, as I please myself by +thinking, but delayed to descend upon my daughter’s head. +At length, all hope was at an end; I was ruined beyond retrieve; a heavy +debt fell due upon the morrow, which I could not meet; I should be declared +a bankrupt, and my goods, my lands, my jewels that I so much loved, +my slaves whom I have spoiled and rendered happy, and oh! tenfold worse, +you, my beloved daughter, would be sold and pass into the hands of ignorant +and greedy traffickers. Too long, I saw, had I accepted and profited +by this great crime of slavery; but was my daughter, my innocent unsullied +daughter, was <i>she</i> to pay the price? I cried out - no! - +I took Heaven to witness my temptation; I caught up this bag and fled. +Close upon my track are the pursuers; perhaps to-night, perhaps to-morrow, +they will land upon this isle, sacred to the memory of the dear soul +that bore you, to consign your father to an ignominious prison, and +yourself to slavery and dishonour. We have not many hours before +us. Off the north coast of our isle, by strange good fortune, +an English yacht has for some days been hovering. It belongs to +Sir George Greville, whom I slightly know, to whom ere now I have rendered +unusual services, and who will not refuse to help in our escape. +Or if he did, if his gratitude were in default, I have the power to +force him. For what does it mean, my child - what means this Englishman, +who hangs for years upon the shores of Cuba, and returns from every +trip with new and valuable gems?’<br> +<br> +‘He may have found a mine,’ I hazarded.<br> +<br> +‘So he declares,’ returned my father; ‘but the strange +gift I have received from nature, easily transpierced the fable. +He brought me diamonds only, which I bought, at first, in innocence; +at a second glance, I started; for of these stones, my child, some had +first seen the day in Africa, some in Brazil; while others, from their +peculiar water and rude workmanship, I divined to be the spoil of ancient +temples. Thus put upon the scent, I made inquiries. Oh, +he is cunning, but I was cunninger than he. He visited, I found, +the shop of every jeweller in town; to one he came with rubies, to one +with emeralds, to one with precious beryl; to all, with this same story +of the mine. But in what mine, what rich epitome of the earth’s +surface, were there conjoined the rubies of Ispahan, the pearls of Coromandel, +and the diamonds of Golconda? No, child, that man, for all his +yacht and title, that man must fear and must obey me. To-night, +then, as soon as it is dark, we must take our way through the swamp +by the path which I shall presently show you; thence, across the highlands +of the isle, a track is blazed, which shall conduct us to the haven +on the north; and close by the yacht is riding. Should my pursuers +come before the hour at which I look to see them, they will still arrive +too late; a trusty man attends on the mainland; as soon as they appear, +we shall behold, if it be dark, the redness of a fire, if it be day, +a pillar of smoke, on the opposing headland; and thus warned, we shall +have time to put the swamp between ourselves and danger. Meantime, +I would conceal this bag; I would, before all things, be seen to arrive +at the house with empty hands; a blabbing slave might else undo us. +For see!’ he added; and holding up the bag, which he had already +shown me, he poured into my lap a shower of unmounted jewels, brighter +than flowers, of every size and colour, and catching, as they fell, +upon a million dainty facets, the ardour of the sun.<br> +<br> +I could not restrain a cry of admiration.<br> +<br> +‘Even in your ignorant eyes,’ pursued my father, ‘they +command respect. Yet what are they but pebbles, passive to the +tool, cold as death? Ingrate!’ he cried. ‘Each +one of these - miracles of nature’s patience, conceived out of +the dust in centuries of microscopical activity, each one is, for you +and me, a year of life, liberty, and mutual affection. How, then, +should I cherish them! and why do I delay to place them beyond reach! +Teresa, follow me.’<br> +<br> +He rose to his feet, and led me to the borders of the great jungle, +where they overhung, in a wall of poisonous and dusky foliage, the declivity +of the hill on which my father’s house stood planted. For +some while he skirted, with attentive eyes, the margin of the thicket. +Then, seeming to recognise some mark, for his countenance became immediately +lightened of a load of thought, he paused and addressed me. ‘Here,’ +said he, ‘is the entrance of the secret path that I have mentioned, +and here you shall await me. I but pass some hundreds of yards +into the swamp to bury my poor treasure; as soon as that is safe, I +will return.’ It was in vain that I sought to dissuade him, +urging the dangers of the place; in vain that I begged to be allowed +to follow, pleading the black blood that I now knew to circulate in +my veins: to all my appeals he turned a deaf ear, and, bending back +a portion of the screen of bushes, disappeared into the pestilential +silence of the swamp.<br> +<br> +At the end of a full hour, the bushes were once more thrust aside; and +my father stepped from out the thicket, and paused and almost staggered +in the first shock of the blinding sunlight. His face was of a +singular dusky red; and yet for all the heat of the tropical noon, he +did not seem to sweat.<br> +<br> +‘You are tired,’ I cried, springing to meet him. ‘You +are ill.’<br> +<br> +‘I am tired,’ he replied; ‘the air in that jungle +stifles one; my eyes, besides, have grown accustomed to its gloom, and +the strong sunshine pierces them like knives. A moment, Teresa, +give me but a moment. All shall yet be well. I have buried +the hoard under a cypress, immediately beyond the bayou, on the left-hand +margin of the path; beautiful, bright things, they now lie whelmed in +slime; you shall find them there, if needful. But come, let us +to the house; it is time to eat against our journey of the night: to +eat and then to sleep, my poor Teresa: then to sleep.’ And +he looked upon me out of bloodshot eyes, shaking his head as if in pity.<br> +<br> +We went hurriedly, for he kept murmuring that he had been gone too long, +and that the servants might suspect; passed through the airy stretch +of the verandah; and came at length into the grateful twilight of the +shuttered house. The meal was spread; the house servants, already +informed by the boatmen of the master’s return, were all back +at their posts, and terrified, as I could see, to face me. My +father still murmuring of haste with weary and feverish pertinacity, +I hurried at once to take my place at table; but I had no sooner left +his arm than he paused and thrust forth both his hands with a strange +gesture of groping. ‘How is this?’ he cried, in a +sharp, unhuman voice. ‘Am I blind?’ I ran to +him and tried to lead him to the table; but he resisted and stood stiffly +where he was, opening and shutting his jaws, as if in a painful effort +after breath. Then suddenly he raised both hands to his temples, +cried out, ‘My head, my head!’ and reeled and fell against +the wall.<br> +<br> +I knew too well what it must be. I turned and begged the servants +to relieve him. But they, with one accord, denied the possibility +of hope; the master had gone into the swamp, they said, the master must +die; all help was idle. Why should I dwell upon his sufferings? +I had him carried to a bed, and watched beside him. He lay still, +and at times ground his teeth, and talked at times unintelligibly, only +that one word of hurry, hurry, coming distinctly to my ears, and telling +me that, even in the last struggle with the powers of death, his mind +was still tortured by his daughter’s peril. The sun had +gone down, the darkness had fallen, when I perceived that I was alone +on this unhappy earth. What thought had I of flight, of safety, +of the impending dangers of my situation? Beside the body of my +last friend, I had forgotten all except the natural pangs of my bereavement.<br> +<br> +The sun was some four hours above the eastern line, when I was recalled +to a knowledge of the things of earth, by the entrance of the slave-girl +to whom I have already referred. The poor soul was indeed devotedly +attached to me; and it was with streaming tears that she broke to me +the import of her coming. With the first light of dawn a boat +had reached our landing-place, and set on shore upon our isle (till +now so fortunate) a party of officers bearing a warrant to arrest my +father’s person, and a man of a gross body and low manners, who +declared the island, the plantation, and all its human chattels, to +be now his own. ‘I think,’ said my slave-girl, ‘he +must be a politician or some very powerful sorcerer; for Madam Mendizabal +had no sooner seen them coming, than she took to the woods.’<br> +<br> +‘Fool,’ said I, ‘it was the officers she feared; and +at any rate why does that beldam still dare to pollute the island with +her presence? And O Cora,’ I exclaimed, remembering my grief, +‘what matter all these troubles to an orphan?’<br> +<br> +‘Mistress,’ said she, ‘I must remind you of two things. +Never speak as you do now of Madam Mendizabal; or never to a person +of colour; for she is the most powerful woman in this world, and her +real name even, if one durst pronounce it, were a spell to raise the +dead. And whatever you do, speak no more of her to your unhappy +Cora; for though it is possible she may be afraid of the police (and +indeed I think that I have heard she is in hiding), and though I know +that you will laugh and not believe, yet it is true, and proved, and +known that she hears every word that people utter in this whole vast +world; and your poor Cora is already deep enough in her black books. +She looks at me, mistress, till my blood turns ice. That is the +first I had to say; and now for the second: do, pray, for Heaven’s +sake, bear in mind that you are no longer the poor Señor’s +daughter. He is gone, dear gentleman; and now you are no more +than a common slave-girl like myself. The man to whom you belong +calls for you; oh, my dear mistress, go at once! With your youth +and beauty, you may still, if you are winning and obedient, secure yourself +an easy life.’<br> +<br> +For a moment I looked on the creature with the indignation you may conceive; +the next, it was gone: she did but speak after her kind, as the bird +sings or cattle bellow. ‘Go,’ said I. ‘Go, +Cora. I thank you for your kind intentions. Leave me alone +one moment with my dead father; and tell this man that I will come at +once.’<br> +<br> +She went: and I, turning to the bed of death, addressed to those deaf +ears the last appeal and defence of my beleaguered innocence. +‘Father,’ I said, ‘it was your last thought, even +in the pangs of dissolution, that your daughter should escape disgrace. +Here, at your side, I swear to you that purpose shall be carried out; +by what means, I know not; by crime, if need be; and Heaven forgive +both you and me and our oppressors, and Heaven help my helplessness!’ +Thereupon I felt strengthened as by long repose; stepped to the mirror, +ay, even in that chamber of the dead; hastily arranged my hair, refreshed +my tear-worn eyes, breathed a dumb farewell to the originator of my +days and sorrows; and composing my features to a smile, went forth to +meet my master.<br> +<br> +He was in a great, hot bustle, reviewing that house, once ours, to which +he had but now succeeded; a corpulent, sanguine man of middle age, sensual, +vulgar, humorous, and, if I judged rightly, not ill-disposed by nature. +But the sparkle that came into his eye as he observed me enter, warned +me to expect the worst.<br> +<br> +‘Is this your late mistress?’ he inquired of the slaves; +and when he had learnt it was so, instantly dismissed them. ‘Now, +my dear,’ said he, ‘I am a plain man: none of your damned +Spaniards, but a true blue, hard-working, honest Englishman. My +name is Caulder.’<br> +<br> +‘Thank you, sir,’ said I, and curtsied very smartly as I +had seen the servants.<br> +<br> +‘Come,’ said he, ‘this is better than I had expected; +and if you choose to be dutiful in the station to which it has pleased +God to call you, you will find me a very kind old fellow. I like +your looks,’ he added, calling me by my name, which he scandalously +mispronounced. ‘Is your hair all your own?’ he then +inquired with a certain sharpness, and coming up to me, as though I +were a horse, he grossly satisfied his doubts. I was all one flame +from head to foot, but I contained my righteous anger and submitted. +‘That is very well,’ he continued, chucking me good humouredly +under the chin. ‘You will have no cause to regret coming +to old Caulder, eh? But that is by the way. What is more +to the point is this: your late master was a most dishonest rogue, and +levanted with some valuable property that belonged of rights to me. +Now, considering your relation to him, I regard you as the likeliest +person to know what has become of it; and I warn you, before you answer, +that my whole future kindness will depend upon your honesty. I +am an honest man myself, and expect the same in my servants.’<br> +<br> +‘Do you mean the jewels?’ said I, sinking my voice into +a whisper.<br> +<br> +‘That is just precisely what I do,’ said he, and chuckled.<br> +<br> +‘Hush!’ said I.<br> +<br> +‘Hush?’ he repeated. ‘And why hush? I +am on my own place, I would have you to know, and surrounded by my own +lawful servants.’<br> +<br> +‘Are the officers gone?’ I asked; and oh! how my hopes hung +upon the answer!<br> +<br> +‘They are,’ said he, looking somewhat disconcerted. +‘Why do you ask?’<br> +<br> +‘I wish you had kept them,’ I answered, solemnly enough, +although my heart at that same moment leaped with exultation. +‘Master, I must not conceal from you the truth. The servants +on this estate are in a dangerous condition, and mutiny has long been +brewing.’<br> +<br> +‘Why,’ he cried, ‘I never saw a milder-looking lot +of niggers in my life.’ But for all that he turned somewhat +pale.<br> +<br> +‘Did they tell you,’ I continued, ‘that Madam Mendizabal +is on the island? that, since her coming, they obey none but her? that +if, this morning, they have received you with even decent civility, +it was only by her orders - issued with what after-thought I leave you +to consider?’<br> +<br> +‘Madam Jezebel?’ said he. ‘Well, she is a dangerous +devil; the police are after her, besides, for a whole series of murders; +but after all, what then? To be sure, she has a great influence +with you coloured folk. But what in fortune’s name can be +her errand here?’<br> +<br> +‘The jewels,’ I replied. ‘Ah, sir, had you seen +that treasure, sapphire and emerald and opal, and the golden topaz, +and rubies red as the sunset - of what incalculable worth, of what unequalled +beauty to the eye! - had you seen it, as I have, and alas! as <i>she</i> +has - you would understand and tremble at your danger.’<br> +<br> +‘She has seen them!’ he cried, and I could see by his face, +that my audacity was justified by its success.<br> +<br> +I caught his hand in mine. ‘My master,’ said I, ‘I +am now yours; it is my duty, it should be my pleasure, to defend your +interests and life. Hear my advice, then; and, I conjure you, +be guided by my prudence. Follow me privily; let none see where +we are going; I will lead you to the place where the treasure has been +buried; that once disinterred, let us make straight for the boat, escape +to the mainland, and not return to this dangerous isle without the countenance +of soldiers.’<br> +<br> +What free man in a free land would have credited so sudden a devotion? +But this oppressor, through the very arts and sophistries he had abused, +to quiet the rebellion of his conscience and to convince himself that +slavery was natural, fell like a child into the trap I laid for him. +He praised and thanked me; told me I had all the qualities he valued +in a servant; and when he had questioned me further as to the nature +and value of the treasure, and I had once more artfully inflamed his +greed, bade me without delay proceed to carry out my plan of action.<br> +<br> +From a shed in the garden, I took a pick and shovel; and thence, by +devious paths among the magnolias, led my master to the entrance of +the swamp. I walked first, carrying, as I was now in duty bound, +the tools, and glancing continually behind me, lest we should be spied +upon and followed. When we were come as far as the beginning of +the path, it flashed into my mind I had forgotten meat; and leaving +Mr. Caulder in the shadow of a tree, I returned alone to the house for +a basket of provisions. Were they for him? I asked myself. +And a voice within me answered, No. While we were face to face, while +I still saw before my eyes the man to whom I belonged as the hand belongs +to the body, my indignation held me bravely up. But now that I +was alone, I conceived a sickness at myself and my designs that I could +scarce endure; I longed to throw myself at his feet, avow my intended +treachery, and warn him from that pestilential swamp, to which I was +decoying him to die; but my vow to my dead father, my duty to my innocent +youth, prevailed upon these scruples; and though my face was pale and +must have reflected the horror that oppressed my spirits, it was with +a firm step that I returned to the borders of the swamp, and with smiling +lips that I bade him rise and follow me.<br> +<br> +The path on which we now entered was cut, like a tunnel, through the +living jungle. On either hand and overhead, the mass of foliage +was continuously joined; the day sparingly filtered through the depth +of super-impending wood; and the air was hot like steam, and heady with +vegetable odours, and lay like a load upon the lungs and brain. +Underfoot, a great depth of mould received our silent footprints; on +each side, mimosas, as tall as a man, shrank from my passing skirts +with a continuous hissing rustle; and but for these sentient vegetables, +all in that den of pestilence was motionless and noiseless.<br> +<br> +We had gone but a little way in, when Mr. Caulder was seized with sudden +nausea, and must sit down a moment on the path. My heart yearned, +as I beheld him; and I seriously begged the doomed mortal to return +upon his steps. What were a few jewels in the scales with life? +I asked. But no, he said; that witch Madam Jezebel would find +them out; he was an honest man, and would not stand to be defrauded, +and so forth, panting the while, like a sick dog. Presently he +got to his feet again, protesting he had conquered his uneasiness; but +as we again began to go forward, I saw in his changed countenance, the +first approaches of death.<br> +<br> +‘Master,’ said I, ‘you look pale, deathly pale; your +pallor fills me with dread. Your eyes are bloodshot; they are +red like the rubies that we seek.’<br> +<br> +‘Wench,’ he cried, ‘look before you; look at your +steps. I declare to Heaven, if you annoy me once again by looking +back, I shall remind you of the change in your position.’<br> +<br> +A little after, I observed a worm upon the ground, and told, in a whisper, +that its touch was death. Presently a great green serpent, vivid +as the grass in spring, wound rapidly across the path; and once again +I paused and looked back at my companion, with a horror in my eyes. +‘The coffin snake,’ said I, ‘the snake that dogs its +victim like a hound.’<br> +<br> +But he was not to be dissuaded. ‘I am an old traveller,’ +said he. ‘This is a foul jungle indeed; but we shall soon +be at an end.’<br> +<br> +‘Ay,’ said I, looking at him, with a strange smile, ‘what +end?’<br> +<br> +Thereupon he laughed again and again, but not very heartily; and then, +perceiving that the path began to widen and grow higher, ‘There!’ +said he. ‘What did I tell you? We are past the worst.’<br> +<br> +Indeed, we had now come to the bayou, which was in that place very narrow +and bridged across by a fallen trunk; but on either hand we could see +it broaden out, under a cavern of great arms of trees and hanging creepers: +sluggish, putrid, of a horrible and sickly stench, floated on by the +flat heads of alligators, and its banks alive with scarlet crabs.<br> +<br> +‘If we fall from that unsteady bridge,’ said I, ‘see, +where the caiman lies ready to devour us! If, by the least divergence +from the path, we should be snared in a morass, see, where those myriads +of scarlet vermin scour the border of the thicket! Once helpless, +how they would swarm together to the assault! What could man do +against a thousand of such mailed assailants? And what a death +were that, to perish alive under their claws.’<br> +<br> +‘Are you mad, girl?’ he cried. ‘I bid you be +silent and lead on.’<br> +<br> +Again I looked upon him, half relenting; and at that he raised the stick +that was in his hand and cruelly struck me on the face. ‘Lead +on!’ he cried again. ‘Must I be all day, catching +my death in this vile slough, and all for a prating slave-girl?’<br> +<br> +I took the blow in silence, I took it smiling; but the blood welled +back upon my heart. Something, I know not what, fell at that moment +with a dull plunge in the waters of the lagoon, and I told myself it +was my pity that had fallen.<br> +<br> +On the farther side, to which we now hastily scrambled, the wood was +not so dense, the web of creepers not so solidly convolved. It +was possible, here and there, to mark a patch of somewhat brighter daylight, +or to distinguish, through the lighter web of parasites, the proportions +of some soaring tree. The cypress on the left stood very visibly +forth, upon the edge of such a clearing; the path in that place widened +broadly; and there was a patch of open ground, beset with horrible ant-heaps, +thick with their artificers. I laid down the tools and basket +by the cypress root, where they were instantly blackened over with the +crawling ants; and looked once more in the face of my unconscious victim. +Mosquitoes and foul flies wove so close a veil between us that his features +were obscured; and the sound of their flight was like the turning of +a mighty wheel.<br> +<br> +‘Here,’ I said, ‘is the spot. I cannot dig, +for I have not learned to use such instruments; but, for your own sake, +I beseech you to be swift in what you do.’<br> +<br> +He had sunk once more upon the ground, panting like a fish; and I saw +rising in his face the same dusky flush that had mantled on my father’s. +‘I feel ill,’ he gasped, ‘horribly ill; the swamp +turns around me; the drone of these carrion flies confounds me. +Have you not wine?’<br> +<br> +I gave him a glass, and he drank greedily. ‘It is for you +to think,’ said I, ‘if you should further persevere. +The swamp has an ill name.’ And at the word I ominously +nodded.<br> +<br> +‘Give me the pick,’ said he. ‘Where are the +jewels buried?’<br> +<br> +I told him vaguely; and in the sweltering heat and closeness, and dim +twilight of the jungle, he began to wield the pickaxe, swinging it overhead +with the vigour of a healthy man. At first, there broke forth +upon him a strong sweat, that made his face to shine, and in which the +greedy insects settled thickly.<br> +<br> +‘To sweat in such a place,’ said I. ‘O master, +is this wise? Fever is drunk in through open pores.’<br> +<br> +‘What do you mean?’ he screamed, pausing with the pick buried +in the soil. ‘Do you seek to drive me mad? Do you +think I do not understand the danger that I run?’<br> +<br> +‘That is all I want,’ said I: ‘I only wish you to +be swift.’ And then, my mind flitting to my father’s +deathbed, I began to murmur, scarce above my breath, the same vain repetition +of words, ‘Hurry, hurry, hurry.’<br> +<br> +Presently, to my surprise, the treasure-seeker took them up; and while +he still wielded the pick, but now with staggering and uncertain blows, +repeated to himself, as it were the burthen of a song, ‘Hurry, +hurry, hurry;’ and then again, ‘There is no time to lose; +the marsh has an ill name, ill name;’ and then back to ‘Hurry, +hurry, hurry,’ with a dreadful, mechanical, hurried, and yet wearied +utterance, as a sick man rolls upon his pillow. The sweat had +disappeared; he was now dry, but all that I could see of him, of the +same dull brick red. Presently his pick unearthed the bag of jewels; +but he did not observe it, and continued hewing at the soil.<br> +<br> +‘Master,’ said I, ‘there is the treasure.’ +He seemed to waken from a dream. ‘Where?’ he cried; +and then, seeing it before his eyes, ‘Can this be possible?’ +he added. ‘I must be light-headed. Girl,’ he +cried suddenly, with the same screaming tone of voice that I had once +before observed, ‘what is wrong? is this swamp accursed?’<br> +<br> +‘It is a grave,’ I answered. ‘You will not go +out alive; and as for me, my life is in God’s hands.’<br> +<br> +He fell upon the ground like a man struck by a blow, but whether from +the effect of my words, or from sudden seizure of the malady, I cannot +tell. Pretty soon, he raised his head. ‘You have brought +me here to die,’ he said; ‘at the risk of your own days, +you have condemned me. Why?’<br> +<br> +‘To save my honour,’ I replied. ‘Bear me out +that I have warned you. Greed of these pebbles, and not I, has +been your undoer.’<br> +<br> +He took out his revolver and handed it to me. ‘You see,’ +he said, ‘I could have killed you even yet. But I am dying, +as you say; nothing could save me; and my bill is long enough already. +Dear me, dear me,’ he said, looking in my face with a curious, +puzzled, and pathetic look, like a dull child at school, ‘if there +be a judgment afterwards, my bill is long enough.’<br> +<br> +At that, I broke into a passion of weeping, crawled at his feet, kissed +his hands, begged his forgiveness, put the pistol back into his grasp +and besought him to avenge his death; for indeed, if with my life I +could have bought back his, I had not balanced at the cost. But +he was determined, the poor soul, that I should yet more bitterly regret +my act.<br> +<br> +‘I have nothing to forgive,’ said he. ‘Dear +heaven, what a thing is an old fool! I thought, upon my word, +you had taken quite a fancy to me.’<br> +<br> +He was seized, at the same time, with a dreadful, swimming dizziness, +clung to me like a child, and called upon the name of some woman. +Presently this spasm, which I watched with choking tears, lessened and +died away; and he came again to the full possession of his mind. +‘I must write my will,’ he said. ‘Get out my +pocket-book.’ I did so, and he wrote hurriedly on one page +with a pencil. ‘Do not let my son know,’ he said; +‘he is a cruel dog, is my son Philip; do not let him know how +you have paid me out;’ and then all of a sudden, ‘God,’ +he cried, ‘I am blind,’ and clapped both hands before his +eyes; and then again, and in a groaning whisper, ‘Don’t +leave me to the crabs!’ I swore I would be true to him so +long as a pulse stirred; and I redeemed my promise. I sat there +and watched him, as I had watched my father, but with what different, +with what appalling thoughts! Through the long afternoon, he gradually +sank. All that while, I fought an uphill battle to shield him +from the swarms of ants and the clouds of mosquitoes: the prisoner of +my crime. The night fell, the roar of insects instantly redoubled +in the dark arcades of the swamp; and still I was not sure that he had +breathed his last. At length, the flesh of his hand, which I yet +held in mine, grew chill between my fingers, and I knew that I was free.<br> +<br> +I took his pocket-book and the revolver, being resolved rather to die +than to be captured, and laden besides with the basket and the bag of +gems, set forward towards the north. The swamp, at that hour of +the night, was filled with a continuous din: animals and insects of +all kinds, and all inimical to life, contributing their parts. +Yet in the midst of this turmoil of sound, I walked as though my eyes +were bandaged, beholding nothing. The soil sank under my foot, +with a horrid, slippery consistence, as though I were walking among +toads; the touch of the thick wall of foliage, by which alone I guided +myself, affrighted me like the touch of serpents; the darkness checked +my breathing like a gag; indeed, I have never suffered such extremes +of fear as during that nocturnal walk, nor have I ever known a more +sensible relief than when I found the path beginning to mount and to +grow firmer under foot, and saw, although still some way in front of +me, the silver brightness of the moon.<br> +<br> +Presently, I had crossed the last of the jungle, and come forth amongst +noble and lofty woods, clean rock, the clean, dry dust, the aromatic +smell of mountain plants that had been baked all day in sunlight, and +the expressive silence of the night. My negro blood had carried +me unhurt across that reeking and pestiferous morass; by mere good fortune, +I had escaped the crawling and stinging vermin with which it was alive; +and I had now before me the easier portion of my enterprise, to cross +the isle and to make good my arrival at the haven and my acceptance +on the English yacht. It was impossible by night to follow such +a track as my father had described; and I was casting about for any +landmark, and, in my ignorance, vainly consulting the disposition of +the stars, when there fell upon my ear, from somewhere far in front, +the sound of many voices hurriedly singing.<br> +<br> +I scarce knew upon what grounds I acted; but I shaped my steps in the +direction of that sound; and in a quarter of an hour’s walking, +came unperceived to the margin of an open glade. It was lighted +by the strong moon and by the flames of a fire. In the midst, +there stood a little low and rude building, surmounted by a cross: a +chapel, as I then remembered to have heard, long since desecrated and +given over to the rites of Hoodoo. Hard by the steps of entrance +was a black mass, continually agitated and stirring to and fro as if +with inarticulate life; and this I presently perceived to be a heap +of cocks, hares, dogs, and other birds and animals, still struggling, +but helplessly tethered and cruelly tossed one upon another. Both +the fire and the chapel were surrounded by a ring of kneeling Africans, +both men and women. Now they would raise their palms half-closed +to heaven, with a peculiar, passionate gesture of supplication; now +they would bow their heads and spread their hands before them on the +ground. As the double movement passed and repassed along the line, +the heads kept rising and falling, like waves upon the sea; and still, +as if in time to these gesticulations, the hurried chant continued. +I stood spellbound, knowing that my life depended by a hair, knowing +that I had stumbled on a celebration of the rites of Hoodoo.<br> +<br> +Presently, the door of the chapel opened, and there came forth a tall +negro, entirely nude, and bearing in his hand the sacrificial knife. +He was followed by an apparition still more strange and shocking: Madam +Mendizabal, naked also, and carrying in both hands and raised to the +level of her face, an open basket of wicker. It was filled with +coiling snakes; and these, as she stood there with the uplifted basket, +shot through the osier grating and curled about her arms. At the +sight of this, the fervour of the crowd seemed to swell suddenly higher; +and the chant rose in pitch and grew more irregular in time and accent. +Then, at a sign from the tall negro, where he stood, motionless and +smiling, in the moon and firelight, the singing died away, and there +began the second stage of this barbarous and bloody celebration. +From different parts of the ring, one after another, man or woman, ran +forth into the midst; ducked, with that same gesture of the thrown-up +hand, before the priestess and her snakes; and with various adjurations, +uttered aloud the blackest wishes of the heart. Death and disease +were the favours usually invoked: the death or the disease of enemies +or rivals; some calling down these plagues upon the nearest of their +own blood, and one, to whom I swear I had been never less than kind, +invoking them upon myself. At each petition, the tall negro, still +smiling, picked up some bird or animal from the heaving mass upon his +left, slew it with the knife, and tossed its body on the ground. +At length, it seemed, it reached the turn of the high-priestess. +She set down the basket on the steps, moved into the centre of the ring, +grovelled in the dust before the reptiles, and still grovelling lifted +up her voice, between speech and singing, and with so great, with so +insane a fervour of excitement, as struck a sort of horror through my +blood.<br> +<br> +‘Power,’ she began, ‘whose name we do not utter; power +that is neither good nor evil, but below them both; stronger than good, +greater than evil - all my life long I have adored and served thee. +Who has shed blood upon thine altars? whose voice is broken with the +singing of thy praises? whose limbs are faint before their age with +leaping in thy revels? Who has slain the child of her body? +I,’ she cried, ‘I, Metamnbogu! By my own name, I name +myself. I tear away the veil. I would be served or perish. +Hear me, slime of the fat swamp, blackness of the thunder, venom of +the serpent’s udder - hear or slay me! I would have two +things, O shapeless one, O horror of emptiness - two things, or die! +The blood of my white-faced husband; oh! give me that; he is the enemy +of Hoodoo; give me his blood! And yet another, O racer of the +blind winds, O germinator in the ruins of the dead, O root of life, +root of corruption! I grow old, I grow hideous; I am known, I +am hunted for my life: let thy servant then lay by this outworn body; +let thy chief priestess turn again to the blossom of her days, and be +a girl once more, and the desired of all men, even as in the past! +And, O lord and master, as I here ask a marvel not yet wrought since +we were torn from the old land, have I not prepared the sacrifice in +which thy soul delighteth - the kid without the horns?’<br> +<br> +Even as she uttered the words, there was a great rumour of joy through +all the circle of worshippers; it rose, and fell, and rose again; and +swelled at last into rapture, when the tall negro, who had stepped an +instant into the chapel, reappeared before the door, carrying in his +arms the body of the slave-girl, Cora. I know not if I saw what +followed. When next my mind awoke to a clear knowledge, Cora was +laid upon the steps before the serpents; the negro with the knife stood +over her; the knife rose; and at this I screamed out in my great horror, +bidding them, in God’s name, to pause.<br> +<br> +A stillness fell upon the mob of cannibals. A moment more, and +they must have thrown off this stupor, and I infallibly have perished. +But Heaven had designed to save me. The silence of these wretched +men was not yet broken, when there arose, in the empty night, a sound +louder than the roar of any European tempest, swifter to travel than +the wings of any Eastern wind. Blackness engulfed the world; blackness, +stabbed across from every side by intricate and blinding lightning. +Almost in the same second, at one world-swallowing stride, the heart +of the tornado reached the clearing. I heard an agonising crash, +and the light of my reason was overwhelmed.<br> +<br> +When I recovered consciousness, the day was come. I was unhurt; +the trees close about me had not lost a bough; and I might have thought +at first that the tornado was a feature in a dream. It was otherwise +indeed; for when I looked abroad, I perceived I had escaped destruction +by a hand’s-breadth. Right through the forest, which here +covered hill and dale, the storm had ploughed a lane of ruin. +On either hand, the trees waved uninjured in the air of the morning; +but in the forthright course of its advance, the hurricane had left +no trophy standing. Everything, in that line, tree, man, or animal, +the desecrated chapel and the votaries of Hoodoo, had been subverted +and destroyed in that brief spasm of anger of the powers of air. +Everything, but a yard or two beyond the line of its passage, humble +flower, lofty tree, and the poor vulnerable maid who now knelt to pay +her gratitude to heaven, awoke unharmed in the crystal purity and peace +of the new day.<br> +<br> +To move by the path of the tornado was a thing impossible to man, so +wildly were the wrecks of the tall forest piled together by that fugitive +convulsion. I crossed it indeed; with such labour and patience, +with so many dangerous slips and falls, as left me, at the further side, +bankrupt alike of strength and courage. There I sat down awhile +to recruit my forces; and as I ate (how should I bless the kindliness +of Heaven!) my eye, flitting to and fro in the colonnade of the great +trees, alighted on a trunk that had been blazed. Yes, by the directing +hand of Providence, I had been conducted to the very track I was to +follow. With what a light heart I now set forth, and walking with +how glad a step, traversed the uplands of the isle!<br> +<br> +It was hard upon the hour of noon, when I came, all tattered and wayworn, +to the summit of a steep descent, and looked below me on the sea. +About all the coast, the surf, roused by the tornado of the night, beat +with a particular fury and made a fringe of snow. Close at my +feet, I saw a haven, set in precipitous and palm-crowned bluffs of rock. +Just outside, a ship was heaving on the surge, so trimly sparred, so +glossily painted, so elegant and point-device in every feature, that +my heart was seized with admiration. The English colours blew +from her masthead; and from my high station, I caught glimpses of her +snowy planking, as she rolled on the uneven deep, and saw the sun glitter +on the brass of her deck furniture. There, then, was my ship of +refuge; and of all my difficulties only one remained: to get on board +of her.<br> +<br> +Half an hour later, I issued at last out of the woods on the margin +of a cove, into whose jaws the tossing and blue billows entered, and +along whose shores they broke with a surprising loudness. A wooded +promontory hid the yacht; and I had walked some distance round the beach, +in what appeared to be a virgin solitude, when my eye fell on a boat, +drawn into a natural harbour, where it rocked in safety, but deserted. +I looked about for those who should have manned her; and presently, +in the immediate entrance of the wood, spied the red embers of a fire, +and, stretched around in various attitudes, a party of slumbering mariners. +To these I drew near: most were black, a few white; but all were dressed +with the conspicuous decency of yachtsmen; and one, from his peaked +cap and glittering buttons, I rightly divined to be an officer. +Him, then, I touched upon the shoulder. He started up; the sharpness +of his movement woke the rest; and they all stared upon me in surprise.<br> +<br> +‘What do you want?’ inquired the officer.<br> +<br> +‘To go on board the yacht,’ I answered.<br> +<br> +I thought they all seemed disconcerted at this; and the officer, with +something of sharpness, asked me who I was. Now I had determined +to conceal my name until I met Sir George; and the first name that rose +to my lips was that of the Señora Mendizabal. At the word, +there went a shock about the little party of seamen; the negroes stared +at me with indescribable eagerness, the whites themselves with something +of a scared surprise; and instantly the spirit of mischief prompted +me to add, ‘And if the name is new to your ears, call me Metamnbogu.’<br> +<br> +I had never seen an effect so wonderful. The negroes threw their +hands into the air, with the same gesture I remarked the night before +about the Hoodoo camp-fire; first one, and then another, ran forward +and kneeled down and kissed the skirts of my torn dress; and when the +white officer broke out swearing and calling to know if they were mad, +the coloured seamen took him by the shoulders, dragged him on one side +till they were out of hearing, and surrounded him with open mouths and +extravagant pantomime. The officer seemed to struggle hard; he +laughed aloud, and I saw him make gestures of dissent and protest; but +in the end, whether overcome by reason or simply weary of resistance, +he gave in - approached me civilly enough, but with something of a sneering +manner underneath - and touching his cap, ‘My lady,’ said +he, ‘if that is what you are, the boat is ready.’<br> +<br> +My reception on board the <i>Nemorosa</i> (for so the yacht was named) +partook of the same mingled nature. We were scarcely within hail +of that great and elegant fabric, where she lay rolling gunwale under +and churning the blue sea to snow, before the bulwarks were lined with +the heads of a great crowd of seamen, black, white, and yellow; and +these and the few who manned the boat began exchanging shouts in some +<i>lingua franca</i> incomprehensible to me. All eyes were directed +on the passenger; and once more I saw the negroes toss up their hands +to heaven, but now as if with passionate wonder and delight.<br> +<br> +At the head of the gangway, I was received by another officer, a gentlemanly +man with blond and bushy whiskers; and to him I addressed my demand +to see Sir George.<br> +<br> +‘But this is not - ’ he cried, and paused.<br> +<br> +‘I know it,’ returned the other officer, who had brought +me from the shore. ‘But what the devil can we do? +Look at all the niggers!’<br> +<br> +I followed his direction; and as my eye lighted upon each, the poor +ignorant Africans ducked, and bowed, and threw their hands into the +air, as though in the presence of a creature half divine. Apparently +the officer with the whiskers had instantly come round to the opinion +of his subaltern; for he now addressed me with every signal of respect.<br> +<br> +‘Sir George is at the island, my lady,’ said he: ‘for +which, with your ladyship’s permission, I shall immediately make +all sail. The cabins are prepared. Steward, take Lady Greville +below.’<br> +<br> +Under this new name, then, and so captivated by surprise that I could +neither think nor speak, I was ushered into a spacious and airy cabin, +hung about with weapons and surrounded by divans. The steward +asked for my commands; but I was by this time so wearied, bewildered, +and disturbed, that I could only wave him to leave me to myself, and +sink upon a pile of cushions. Presently, by the changed motion +of the ship, I knew her to be under way; my thoughts, so far from clarifying, +grew the more distracted and confused; dreams began to mingle and confound +them; and at length, by insensible transition, I sank into a dreamless +slumber.<br> +<br> +When I awoke, the day and night had passed, and it was once more morning. +The world on which I reopened my eyes swam strangely up and down; the +jewels in the bag that lay beside me chinked together ceaselessly; the +clock and the barometer wagged to and fro like pendulums; and overhead, +seamen were singing out at their work, and coils of rope clattering +and thumping on the deck. Yet it was long before I had divined +that I was at sea; long before I had recalled, one after another, the +tragical, mysterious, and inexplicable events that had brought me where +was.<br> +<br> +When I had done so, I thrust the jewels, which I was surprised to find +had been respected, into the bosom of my dress; and seeing a silver +bell hard by upon a table, rang it loudly. The steward instantly +appeared; I asked for food; and he proceeded to lay the table, regarding +me the while with a disquieting and pertinacious scrutiny. To +relieve myself of my embarrassment, I asked him, with as fair a show +of ease as I could muster, if it were usual for yachts to carry so numerous +a crew?<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said he, ‘I know not who you are, nor what +mad fancy has induced you to usurp a name and an appalling destiny that +are not yours. I warn you from the soul. No sooner arrived +at the island - ’<br> +<br> +At this moment he was interrupted by the whiskered officer, who had +entered unperceived behind him, and now laid a hand upon his shoulder. +The sudden pallor, the deadly and sick fear, that was imprinted on the +steward’s face, formed a startling addition to his words.<br> +<br> +‘Parker!’ said the officer, and pointed towards the door.<br> +<br> +‘Yes, Mr. Kentish,’ said the steward. ‘For God’s +sake, Mr. Kentish!’ And vanished, with a white face, from +the cabin.<br> +<br> +Thereupon the officer bade me sit down, and began to help me, and join +in the meal. ‘I fill your ladyship’s glass,’ +said he, and handed me a tumbler of neat rum.<br> +<br> +‘Sir,’ cried I, ‘do you expect me to drink this?’<br> +<br> +He laughed heartily. ‘Your ladyship is so much changed,’ +said he, ‘that I no longer expect any one thing more than any +other.’<br> +<br> +Immediately after, a white seaman entered the cabin, saluted both Mr. +Kentish and myself, and informed the officer there was a sail in sight, +which was bound to pass us very close, and that Mr. Harland was in doubt +about the colours.<br> +<br> +‘Being so near the island?’ asked Mr. Kentish.<br> +<br> +‘That was what Mr. Harland said, sir,’ returned the sailor, +with a scrape.<br> +<br> +‘Better not, I think,’ said Mr. Kentish. ‘My +compliments to Mr. Harland; and if she seem a lively boat, give her +the stars and stripes; but if she be dull, and we can easily outsail +her, show John Dutchman. That is always another word for incivility +at sea; so we can disregard a hail or a flag of distress, without attracting +notice.’<br> +<br> +As soon as the sailor had gone on deck, I turned to the officer in wonder. +‘Mr. Kentish, if that be your name,’ said I, ‘are +you ashamed of your own colours?’<br> +<br> +‘Your ladyship refers to the <i>Jolly Roger</i>?’ he inquired, +with perfect gravity; and immediately after, went into peals of laughter. +‘Pardon me,’ said he; ‘but here for the first time +I recognise your ladyship’s impetuosity.’ Nor, try +as I pleased, could I extract from him any explanation of this mystery, +but only oily and commonplace evasion.<br> +<br> +While we were thus occupied, the movement of the <i>Nemorosa</i> gradually +became less violent; its speed at the same time diminished; and presently +after, with a sullen plunge, the anchor was discharged into the sea. +Kentish immediately rose, offered his arm, and conducted me on deck; +where I found we were lying in a roadstead among many low and rocky +islets, hovered about by an innumerable cloud of sea-fowl. Immediately +under our board, a somewhat larger isle was green with trees, set with +a few low buildings and approached by a pier of very crazy workmanship; +and a little inshore of us, a smaller vessel lay at anchor.<br> +<br> +I had scarce time to glance to the four quarters, ere a boat was lowered. +I was handed in, Kentish took place beside me, and we pulled briskly +to the pier. A crowd of villainous, armed loiterers, both black +and white, looked on upon our landing; and again the word passed about +among the negroes, and again I was received with prostrations and the +same gesture of the flung-up hand. By this, what with the appearance +of these men, and the lawless, sea-girt spot in which I found myself, +my courage began a little to decline, and clinging to the arm of Mr. +Kentish, I begged him to tell me what it meant?<br> +<br> +‘Nay, madam,’ he returned, <i>‘you</i> know.’ +And leading me smartly through the crowd, which continued to follow +at a considerable distance, and at which he still kept looking back, +I thought, with apprehension, he brought me to a low house that stood +alone in an encumbered yard, opened the door, and begged me to enter.<br> +<br> +‘But why?’ said I. ‘I demand to see Sir George.’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ returned Mr. Kentish, looking suddenly as black +as thunder, ‘to drop all fence, I know neither who nor what you +are; beyond the fact that you are not the person whose name you have +assumed. But be what you please, spy, ghost, devil, or most ill-judging +jester, if you do not immediately enter that house, I will cut you to +the earth.’ And even as he spoke, he threw an uneasy glance +behind him at the following crowd of blacks.<br> +<br> +I did not wait to be twice threatened; I obeyed at once, and with a +palpitating heart; and the next moment, the door was locked from the +outside and the key withdrawn. The interior was long, low, and +quite unfurnished, but filled, almost from end to end, with sugar-cane, +tar-barrels, old tarry rope, and other incongruous and highly inflammable +material; and not only was the door locked, but the solitary window +barred with iron.<br> +<br> +I was by this time so exceedingly bewildered and afraid, that I would +have given years of my life to be once more the slave of Mr. Caulder. +I still stood, with my hands clasped, the image of despair, looking +about me on the lumber of the room or raising my eyes to heaven; when +there appeared outside the window bars, the face of a very black negro, +who signed to me imperiously to draw near. I did so, and he instantly, +and with every mark of fervour, addressed me a long speech in some unknown +and barbarous tongue.<br> +<br> +‘I declare,’ I cried, clasping my brow, ‘I do not +understand one syllable.’<br> +<br> +‘Not?’ he said in Spanish. ‘Great, great, are +the powers of Hoodoo! Her very mind is changed! But, O chief +priestess, why have you suffered yourself to be shut into this cage? +why did you not call your slaves at once to your defence? Do you +not see that all has been prepared to murder you? at a spark, this flimsy +house will go in flames; and alas! who shall then be the chief priestess? +and what shall be the profit of the miracle?’<br> +<br> +‘Heavens!’ cried I, ‘can I not see Sir George? +I must, I must, come by speech of him. Oh, bring me to Sir George!’ +And, my terror fairly mastering my courage, I fell upon my knees and +began to pray to all the saints.<br> +<br> +‘Lordy!’ cried the negro, ‘here they come!’ +And his black head was instantly withdrawn from the window.<br> +<br> +‘I never heard such nonsense in my life,’ exclaimed a voice.<br> +<br> +‘Why, so we all say, Sir George,’ replied the voice of Mr. +Kentish. ‘But put yourself in our place. The niggers +were near two to one. And upon my word, if you’ll excuse +me, sir, considering the notion they have taken in their heads, I regard +it as precious fortunate for all of us that the mistake occurred.’<br> +<br> +‘This is no question of fortune, sir,’ returned Sir George. +‘It is a question of my orders, and you may take my word for it, +Kentish, either Harland, or yourself, or Parker - or, by George, all +three of you! - shall swing for this affair. These are my sentiments. +Give me the key and be off.’<br> +<br> +Immediately after, the key turned in the lock; and there appeared upon +the threshold a gentleman, between forty and fifty, with a very open +countenance, and of a stout and personable figure.<br> +<br> +‘My dear young lady,’ said he, ‘who the devil may +you be?’<br> +<br> +I told him all my story in one rush of words. He heard me, from +the first, with an amazement you can scarcely picture, but when I came +to the death of the Señora Mendizabal in the tornado, he fairly +leaped into the air.<br> +<br> +‘My dear child,’ he cried, clasping me in his arms, ‘excuse +a man who might be your father! This is the best news I ever had +since I was born; for that hag of a mulatto was no less a person than +my wife.’ He sat down upon a tar-barrel, as if unmanned +by joy. ‘Dear me,’ said he, ‘I declare this +tempts me to believe in Providence. And what,’ he added, +‘can I do for you?’<br> +<br> +‘Sir George,’ said I, ‘I am already rich: all that +I ask is your protection.’<br> +<br> +‘Understand one thing,’ he said, with great energy. +‘I will never marry.’<br> +<br> +‘I had not ventured to propose it,’ I exclaimed, unable +to restrain my mirth; ‘I only seek to be conveyed to England, +the natural home of the escaped slave.’<br> +<br> +‘Well,’ returned Sir George, ‘frankly I owe you something +for this exhilarating news; besides, your father was of use to me. +Now, I have made a small competence in business - a jewel mine, a sort +of naval agency, et caetera, and I am on the point of breaking up my +company, and retiring to my place in Devonshire to pass a plain old +age, unmarried. One good turn deserves another: if you swear to +hold your tongue about this island, these little bonfire arrangements, +and the whole episode of my unfortunate marriage, why, I’ll carry +you home aboard the <i>Nemorosa.’</i> I eagerly accepted +his conditions.<br> +<br> +‘One thing more,’ said he. ‘My late wife was +some sort of a sorceress among the blacks; and they are all persuaded +she has come alive again in your agreeable person. Now, you will +have the goodness to keep up that fancy, if you please; and to swear +to them, on the authority of Hoodoo or whatever his name may be, that +I am from this moment quite a sacred character.’<br> +<br> +‘I swear it,’ said I, ‘by my father’s memory; +and that is a vow that I will never break.’<br> +<br> +‘I have considerably better hold on you than any oath,’ +returned Sir George, with a chuckle; ‘for you are not only an +escaped slave, but have, by your own account, a considerable amount +of stolen property.’<br> +<br> +I was struck dumb; I saw it was too true; in a glance, I recognised +that these jewels were no longer mine; with similar quickness, I decided +they should be restored, ay, if it cost me the liberty that I had just +regained. Forgetful of all else, forgetful of Sir George, who +sat and watched me with a smile, I drew out Mr. Caulder’s pocket-book +and turned to the page on which the dying man had scrawled his testament. +How shall I describe the agony of happiness and remorse with which I +read it! for my victim had not only set me free, but bequeathed to me +the bag of jewels.<br> +<br> +My plain tale draws towards a close. Sir George and I, in my character +of his rejuvenated wife, displayed ourselves arm-in-arm among the negroes, +and were cheered and followed to the place of embarkation. There, +Sir George, turning about, made a speech to his old companions, in which +he thanked and bade them farewell with a very manly spirit; and towards +the end of which he fell on some expressions which I still remember. +‘If any of you gentry lose your money,’ he said, ‘take +care you do not come to me; for in the first place, I shall do my best +to have you murdered; and if that fails, I hand you over to the law. +Blackmail won’t do for me. I’ll rather risk all upon +a cast, than be pulled to pieces by degrees. I’ll rather +be found out and hang, than give a doit to one man-jack of you.’ +That same night we got under way and crossed to the port of New Orleans, +whence, as a sacred trust, I sent the pocket-book to Mr. Caulder’s +son. In a week’s time, the men were all paid off; new hands +were shipped; and the <i>Nemorosa</i> weighed her anchor for Old England.<br> +<br> +A more delightful voyage it were hard to fancy. Sir George, of +course, was not a conscientious man; but he had an unaffected gaiety +of character that naturally endeared him to the young; and it was interesting +to hear him lay out his projects for the future, when he should be returned +to Parliament, and place at the service of the nation his experience +of marine affairs. I asked him, if his notion of piracy upon a +private yacht were not original. But he told me, no. ‘A +yacht, Miss Valdevia,’ he observed, ‘is a chartered nuisance. +Who smuggles? Who robs the salmon rivers of the West of Scotland? +Who cruelly beats the keepers if they dare to intervene? The crews +and the proprietors of yachts. All I have done is to extend the +line a trifle, and if you ask me for my unbiassed opinion, I do not +suppose that I am in the least alone.’<br> +<br> +In short, we were the best of friends, and lived like father and daughter; +though I still withheld from him, of course, that respect which is only +due to moral excellence.<br> +<br> +We were still some days’ sail from England, when Sir George obtained, +from an outward-bound ship, a packet of newspapers; and from that fatal +hour my misfortunes recommenced. He sat, the same evening, in +the cabin, reading the news, and making savoury comments on the decline +of England and the poor condition of the navy, when I suddenly observed +him to change countenance.<br> +<br> +‘Hullo!’ said he, ‘this is bad; this is deuced bad, +Miss Valdevia. You would not listen to sound sense, you would +send that pocket-book to that man Caulder’s son.’<br> +<br> +‘Sir George,’ said I, ‘it was my duty.’<br> +<br> +‘You are prettily paid for it, at least,’ says he; ‘and +much as I regret it, I, for one, am done with you. This fellow +Caulder demands your extradition.’<br> +<br> +‘But a slave,’ I returned, ‘is safe in England.’<br> +<br> +‘Yes, by George!’ replied the baronet; ‘but it’s +not a slave, Miss Valdevia, it’s a thief that he demands. +He has quietly destroyed the will; and now accuses you of robbing your +father’s bankrupt estate of jewels to the value of a hundred thousand +pounds.’<br> +<br> +I was so much overcome by indignation at this hateful charge and concern +for my unhappy fate that the genial baronet made haste to put me more +at ease.<br> +<br> +‘Do not be cast down,’ said he. ‘Of course, +I wash my hands of you myself. A man in my position - baronet, +old family, and all that - cannot possibly be too particular about the +company he keeps. But I am a deuced good-humoured old boy, let +me tell you, when not ruffled; and I will do the best I can to put you +right. I will lend you a trifle of ready money, give you the address +of an excellent lawyer in London, and find a way to set you on shore +unsuspected.’<br> +<br> +He was in every particular as good as his word. Four days later, +the <i>Nemorosa</i> sounded her way, under the cloak of a dark night, +into a certain haven of the coast of England; and a boat, rowing with +muffled oars, set me ashore upon the beach within a stone’s throw +of a railway station. Thither, guided by Sir George’s directions, +I groped a devious way; and finding a bench upon the platform, sat me +down, wrapped in a man’s fur great-coat, to await the coming of +the day. It was still dark when a light was struck behind one +of the windows of the building; nor had the east begun to kindle to +the warmer colours of the dawn, before a porter carrying a lantern, +issued from the door and found himself face to face with the unfortunate +Teresa. He looked all about him; in the grey twilight of the dawn, +the haven was seen to lie deserted, and the yacht had long since disappeared.<br> +<br> +‘Who are you?’ he cried.<br> +<br> +‘I am a traveller,’ said I.<br> +<br> +‘And where do you come from?’ he asked.<br> +<br> +‘I am going by the first train to London,’ I replied.<br> +<br> +In such manner, like a ghost or a new creation, was Teresa with her +bag of jewels landed on the shores of England; in this silent fashion, +without history or name, she took her place among the millions of a +new country.<br> +<br> +Since then, I have lived by the expedients of my lawyer, lying concealed +in quiet lodgings, dogged by the spies of Cuba, and not knowing at what +hour my liberty and honour may be lost.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>THE BROWN BOX (Concluded)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>The effect of this tale on the mind of Harry Desborough was instant +and convincing. The Fair Cuban had been already the loveliest, +she now became, in his eyes, the most romantic, the most innocent, and +the most unhappy of her sex. He was bereft of words to utter what +he felt: what pity, what admiration, what youthful envy of a career +so vivid and adventurous. ‘O madam!’ he began; and +finding no language adequate to that apostrophe, caught up her hand +and wrung it in his own. ‘Count upon me,’ he added, +with bewildered fervour; and getting somehow or other out of the apartment +and from the circle of that radiant sorceress, he found himself in the +strange out-of-doors, beholding dull houses, wondering at dull passers-by, +a fallen angel. She had smiled upon him as he left, and with how +significant, how beautiful a smile! The memory lingered in his +heart; and when he found his way to a certain restaurant where music +was performed, flutes (as it were of Paradise) accompanied his meal. +The strings went to the melody of that parting smile; they paraphrased +and glossed it in the sense that he desired; and for the first time +in his plain and somewhat dreary life, he perceived himself to have +a taste for music.<br> +<br> +The next day, and the next, his meditations moved to that delectable +air. Now he saw her, and was favoured; now saw her not at all; +now saw her and was put by. The fall of her foot upon the stair +entranced him; the books that he sought out and read were books on Cuba, +and spoke of her indirectly; nay, and in the very landlady’s parlour, +he found one that told of precisely such a hurricane, and, down to the +smallest detail, confirmed (had confirmation been required) the truth +of her recital. Presently he began to fall into that prettiest +mood of a young love, in which the lover scorns himself for his presumption. +Who was he, the dull one, the commonplace unemployed, the man without +adventure, the impure, the untruthful, to aspire to such a creature +made of fire and air, and hallowed and adorned by such incomparable +passages of life? What should he do, to be more worthy? by what +devotion, call down the notice of these eyes to so terrene a being as +himself?<br> +<br> +He betook himself, thereupon, to the rural privacy of the square, where, +being a lad of a kind heart, he had made himself a circle of acquaintances +among its shy frequenters, the half-domestic cats and the visitors that +hung before the windows of the Children’s Hospital. There +he walked, considering the depth of his demerit and the height of the +adored one’s super-excellence; now lighting upon earth to say +a pleasant word to the brother of some infant invalid; now, with a great +heave of breath, remembering the queen of women, and the sunshine of +his life.<br> +<br> +What was he to do? Teresa, he had observed, was in the habit of +leaving the house towards afternoon: she might, perchance, run danger +from some Cuban emissary, when the presence of a friend might turn the +balance in her favour: how, then, if he should follow her? To +offer his company would seem like an intrusion; to dog her openly were +a manifest impertinence; he saw himself reduced to a more stealthy part, +which, though in some ways distasteful to his mind, he did not doubt +that he could practise with the skill of a detective.<br> +<br> +The next day he proceeded to put his plan in action. At the corner +of Tottenham Court Road, however, the Señorita suddenly turned +back, and met him face to face, with every mark of pleasure and surprise.<br> +<br> +‘Ah, Señor, I am sometimes fortunate!’ she cried. +‘I was looking for a messenger;’ and with the sweetest of +smiles, she despatched him to the East End of London, to an address +which he was unable to find. This was a bitter pill to the knight-errant; +but when he returned at night, worn out with fruitless wandering and +dismayed by his <i>fiasco</i>, the lady received him with a friendly +gaiety, protesting that all was for the best, since she had changed +her mind and long since repented of her message.<br> +<br> +Next day he resumed his labours, glowing with pity and courage, and +determined to protect Teresa with his life. But a painful shock +awaited him. In the narrow and silent Hanway Street, she turned +suddenly about and addressed him with a manner and a light in her eyes +that were new to the young man’s experience.<br> +<br> +‘Do I understand that you follow me, Señor?’ she +cried. ‘Are these the manners of the English gentleman?’<br> +<br> +Harry confounded himself in the most abject apologies and prayers to +be forgiven, vowed to offend no more, and was at length dismissed, crestfallen +and heavy of heart. The check was final; he gave up that road +to service; and began once more to hang about the square or on the terrace, +filled with remorse and love, admirable and idiotic, a fit object for +the scorn and envy of older men. In these idle hours, while he +was courting fortune for a sight of the beloved, it fell out naturally +that he should observe the manners and appearance of such as came about +the house. One person alone was the occasional visitor of the +young lady: a man of considerable stature, and distinguished only by +the doubtful ornament of a chin-beard in the style of an American deacon. +Something in his appearance grated upon Harry; this distaste grew upon +him in the course of days; and when at length he mustered courage to +inquire of the Fair Cuban who this was, he was yet more dismayed by +her reply.<br> +<br> +‘That gentleman,’ said she, a smile struggling to her face, +‘that gentleman, I will not attempt to conceal from you, desires +my hand in marriage, and presses me with the most respectful ardour. +Alas, what am I to say? I, the forlorn Teresa, how shall I refuse +or accept such protestations?’<br> +<br> +Harry feared to say more; a horrid pang of jealousy transfixed him; +and he had scarce the strength of mind to take his leave with decency. +In the solitude of his own chamber, he gave way to every manifestation +of despair. He passionately adored the Señorita; but it +was not only the thought of her possible union with another that distressed +his soul, it was the indefeasible conviction that her suitor was unworthy. +To a duke, a bishop, a victorious general, or any man adorned with obvious +qualities, he had resigned her with a sort of bitter joy; he saw himself +follow the wedding party from a great way off; he saw himself return +to the poor house, then robbed of its jewel; and while he could have +wept for his despair, he felt he could support it nobly. But this +affair looked otherwise. The man was patently no gentleman; he +had a startled, skulking, guilty bearing; his nails were black, his +eyes evasive; his love perhaps was a pretext; he was perhaps, under +this deep disguise, a Cuban emissary!<br> +<br> +Harry swore that he would satisfy these doubts; and the next evening, +about the hour of the usual visit, he posted himself at a spot whence +his eye commanded the three issues of the square.<br> +<br> +Presently after, a four-wheeler rumbled to the door, and the man with +the chin-beard alighted, paid off the cabman, and was seen by Harry +to enter the house with a brown box hoisted on his back. Half +an hour later, he came forth again without the box, and struck eastward +at a rapid walk; and Desborough, with the same skill and caution that +he had displayed in following Teresa, proceeded to dog the steps of +her admirer. The man began to loiter, studying with apparent interest +the wares of the small fruiterer or tobacconist; twice he returned hurriedly +upon his former course; and then, as though he had suddenly conquered +a moment’s hesitation, once more set forth with resolute and swift +steps in the direction of Lincoln’s Inn. At length, in a +deserted by-street, he turned; and coming up to Harry with a countenance +which seemed to have become older and whiter, inquired with some severity +of speech if he had not had the pleasure of seeing the gentleman before.<br> +<br> +‘You have, sir,’ said Harry, somewhat abashed, but with +a good show of stoutness; ‘and I will not deny that I was following +you on purpose. Doubtless,’ he added, for he supposed that +all men’s minds must still be running on Teresa, ‘you can +divine my reason.’<br> +<br> +At these words, the man with the chin-beard was seized with a palsied +tremor. He seemed, for some seconds, to seek the utterance which +his fear denied him; and then whipping sharply about, he took to his +heels at the most furious speed of running.<br> +<br> +Harry was at first so taken aback that he neglected to pursue; and by +the time he had recovered his wits, his best expedition was only rewarded +by a glimpse of the man with the chin-beard mounting into a hansom, +which immediately after disappeared into the moving crowds of Holborn.<br> +<br> +Puzzled and dismayed by this unusual behaviour, Harry returned to the +house in Queen Square, and ventured for the first time to knock at the +fair Cuban’s door. She bade him enter, and he found her +kneeling with rather a disconsolate air beside a brown wooden trunk.<br> +<br> +‘Señorita,’ he broke out, ‘I doubt whether +that man’s character is what he wishes you to believe. His +manner, when he found, and indeed when I admitted that I was following +him, was not the manner of an honest man.’<br> +<br> +‘Oh!’ she cried, throwing up her hands as in desperation, +‘Don Quixote, Don Quixote, have you again been tilting against +windmills?’ And then, with a laugh, ‘Poor soul!’ +she added, ‘how you must have terrified him! For know that +the Cuban authorities are here, and your poor Teresa may soon be hunted +down. Even yon humble clerk from my solicitor’s office may +find himself at any moment the quarry of armed spies.’<br> +<br> +‘A humble clerk!’ cried Harry, ‘why, you told me yourself +that he wished to marry you!’<br> +<br> +‘I thought you English like what you call a joke,’ replied +the lady calmly. ‘As a matter of fact, he is my lawyer’s +clerk, and has been here to-night charged with disastrous news. +I am in sore straits, Señor Harry. Will you help me?’<br> +<br> +At this most welcome word, the young man’s heart exulted; and +in the hope, pride, and self-esteem that kindled with the very thought +of service, he forgot to dwell upon the lady’s jest. ‘Can +you ask?’ he cried. ‘What is there that I can do? +Only tell me that.’<br> +<br> +With signs of an emotion that was certainly unfeigned, the fair Cuban +laid her hand upon the box. ‘This box,’ she said, +‘contains my jewels, papers, and clothes; all, in a word, that +still connects me with Cuba and my dreadful past. They must now +be smuggled out of England; or, by the opinion of my lawyer, I am lost +beyond remedy. To-morrow, on board the Irish packet, a sure hand +awaits the box: the problem still unsolved, is to find some one to carry +it as far as Holyhead, to see it placed on board the steamer, and instantly +return to town. Will you be he? Will you leave to-morrow +by the first train, punctually obey orders, bear still in mind that +you are surrounded by Cuban spies; and without so much as a look behind +you, or a single movement to betray your interest, leave the box where +you have put it and come straight on shore? Will you do this, and so +save your friend?’<br> +<br> +‘I do not clearly understand . . .’ began Harry.<br> +<br> +‘No more do I,’ replied the Cuban. ‘It is not +necessary that we should, so long as we obey the lawyer’s orders.’<br> +<br> +‘Señorita,’ returned Harry gravely, ‘I think +this, of course, a very little thing to do for you, when I would willingly +do all. But suffer me to say one word. If London is unsafe +for your treasures, it cannot long be safe for you; and indeed, if I +at all fathom the plan of your solicitor, I fear I may find you already +fled on my return. I am not considered clever, and can only speak +out plainly what is in my heart: that I love you, and that I cannot +bear to lose all knowledge of you. I hope no more than to be your +servant; I ask no more than just that I shall hear of you. Oh, +promise me so much!’<br> +<br> +‘You shall,’ she said, after a pause. ‘I promise +you, you shall.’ But though she spoke with earnestness, +the marks of great embarrassment and a strong conflict of emotions appeared +upon her face.<br> +<br> +‘I wish to tell you,’ resumed Desborough, ‘in case +of accidents. . . .’<br> +<br> +‘Accidents!’ she cried: ‘why do you say that?’<br> +<br> +‘I do not know,’ said he, ‘you may be gone before +my return, and we may not meet again for long. And so I wished +you to know this: That since the day you gave me the cigarette, you +have never once, not once, been absent from my mind; and if it will +in any way serve you, you may crumple me up like that piece of paper, +and throw me on the fire. I would love to die for you.’<br> +<br> +‘Go!’ she said. ‘Go now at once. My brain +is in a whirl. I scarce know what we are talking. Go; and +good-night; and oh, may you come safe!’<br> +<br> +Once back in his own room a fearful joy possessed the young man’s +mind; and as he recalled her face struck suddenly white and the broken +utterance of her last words, his heart at once exulted and misgave him. +Love had indeed looked upon him with a tragic mask; and yet what mattered, +since at least it was love - since at least she was commoved at their +division? He got to bed with these parti-coloured thoughts; passed +from one dream to another all night long, the white face of Teresa still +haunting him, wrung with unspoken thoughts; and in the grey of the dawn, +leaped suddenly out of bed, in a kind of horror. It was already +time for him to rise. He dressed, made his breakfast on cold food +that had been laid for him the night before; and went down to the room +of his idol for the box. The door was open; a strange disorder +reigned within; the furniture all pushed aside, and the centre of the +room left bare of impediment, as though for the pacing of a creature +with a tortured mind. There lay the box, however, and upon the +lid a paper with these words: ‘Harry, I hope to be back before +you go. Teresa.’<br> +<br> +He sat down to wait, laying his watch before him on the table. +She had called him Harry: that should be enough, he thought, to fill +the day with sunshine; and yet somehow the sight of that disordered +room still poisoned his enjoyment. The door of the bed-chamber +stood gaping open; and though he turned aside his eyes as from a sacrilege, +he could not but observe the bed had not been slept in. He was +still pondering what this should mean, still trying to convince himself +that all was well, when the moving needle of his watch summoned him +to set forth without delay. He was before all things a man of +his word; ran round to Southampton Row to fetch a cab; and taking the +box on the front seat, drove off towards the terminus.<br> +<br> +The streets were scarcely awake; there was little to amuse the eye; +and the young man’s attention centred on the dumb companion of +his drive. A card was nailed upon one side, bearing the superscription: +‘Miss Doolan, passenger to Dublin. Glass. With care.’ +He thought with a sentimental shock that the fair idol of his heart +was perhaps driven to adopt the name of Doolan; and as he still studied +the card, he was aware of a deadly, black depression settling steadily +upon his spirits. It was in vain for him to contend against the +tide; in vain that he shook himself or tried to whistle: the sense of +some impending blow was not to be averted. He looked out; in the +long, empty streets, the cab pursued its way without a trace of any +follower. He gave ear; and over and above the jolting of the wheels +upon the road, he was conscious of a certain regular and quiet sound +that seemed to issue from the box. He put his ear to the cover; +at one moment, he seemed to perceive a delicate ticking: the next, the +sound was gone, nor could his closest hearkening recapture it. +He laughed at himself; but still the gloom continued; and it was with +more than the common relief of an arrival, that he leaped from the cab +before the station.<br> +<br> +Probably enough on purpose, Teresa had named an hour some thirty minutes +earlier than needful; and when Harry had given the box into the charge +of a porter, who sat it on a truck, he proceeded briskly to pace the +platform. Presently the bookstall opened; and the young man was +looking at the books when he was seized by the arm. He turned, +and, though she was closely veiled, at once recognised the Fair Cuban.<br> +<br> +‘Where is it?’ she asked; and the sound of her voice surprised +him.<br> +<br> +‘It?’ he said. ‘What?’<br> +<br> +‘The box. Have it put on a cab instantly. I am in +fearful haste.’<br> +<br> +He hurried to obey, marvelling at these changes, but not daring to trouble +her with questions; and when the cab had been brought round, and the +box mounted on the front, she passed a little way off upon the pavement +and beckoned him to follow.<br> +<br> +‘Now,’ said she, still in those mechanical and hushed tones +that had at first affected him, ‘you must go on to Holyhead alone; +go on board the steamer; and if you see a man in tartan trousers and +a pink scarf, say to him that all has been put off: if not,’ she +added, with a sobbing sigh, ‘it does not matter. So, good-bye.’<br> +<br> +‘Teresa,’ said Harry, ‘get into your cab, and I will +go along with you. You are in some distress, perhaps some danger; +and till I know the whole, not even you can make me leave you.’<br> +<br> +‘You will not?’ she asked. ‘O Harry, it were +better!’<br> +<br> +‘I will not,’ said Harry stoutly.<br> +<br> +She looked at him for a moment through her veil; took his hand suddenly +and sharply, but more as if in fear than tenderness; and still holding +him, walked to the cab-door.<br> +<br> +‘Where are we to drive?’ asked Harry.<br> +<br> +‘Home, quickly,’ she answered; ‘double fare!’ +And as soon as they had both mounted to their places, the vehicle crazily +trundled from the station.<br> +<br> +Teresa leaned back in a corner. The whole way Harry could perceive +her tears to flow under her veil; but she vouchsafed no explanation. +At the door of the house in Queen Square, both alighted; and the cabman +lowered the box, which Harry, glad to display his strength, received +upon his shoulders.<br> +<br> +‘Let the man take it,’ she whispered. ‘Let the +man take it.’<br> +<br> +‘I will do no such thing,’ said Harry cheerfully; and having +paid the fare, he followed Teresa through the door which she had opened +with her key. The landlady and maid were gone upon their morning +errands; the house was empty and still; and as the rattling of the cab +died away down Gloucester Street, and Harry continued to ascend the +stair with his burthen, he heard close against his shoulders the same +faint and muffled ticking as before. The lady, still preceding +him, opened the door of her room, and helped him to lower the box tenderly +in the corner by the window.<br> +<br> +‘And now,’ said Harry, ‘what is wrong?’<br> +<br> +‘You will not go away?’ she cried, with a sudden break in +her voice and beating her hands together in the very agony of impatience. +‘O Harry, Harry, go away! Oh, go, and leave me to the fate +that I deserve!’<br> +<br> +‘The fate?’ repeated Harry. ‘What is this?’<br> +<br> +‘No fate,’ she resumed. ‘I do not know what +I am saying. But I wish to be alone. You may come back this +evening, Harry; come again when you like; but leave me now, only leave +me now!’ And then suddenly, ‘I have an errand,’ +she exclaimed; ‘you cannot refuse me that!’<br> +<br> +‘No,’ replied Harry, ‘you have no errand. You +are in grief or danger. Lift your veil and tell me what it is.’<br> +<br> +‘Then,’ she said, with a sudden composure, ‘you leave +but one course open to me.’ And raising the veil, she showed +him a countenance from which every trace of colour had fled, eyes marred +with weeping, and a brow on which resolve had conquered fear. +‘Harry,’ she began, ‘I am not what I seem.’<br> +<br> +‘You have told me that before,’ said Harry, ‘several +times.’<br> +<br> +‘O Harry, Harry,’ she cried, ‘how you shame me! +But this is the God’s truth. I am a dangerous and wicked +girl. My name is Clara Luxmore. I was never nearer Cuba +than Penzance. From first to last I have cheated and played with +you. And what I am I dare not even name to you in words. +Indeed, until to-day, until the sleepless watches of last night, I never +grasped the depth and foulness of my guilt.’<br> +<br> +The young man looked upon her aghast. Then a generous current +poured along his veins. ‘That is all one,’ he said. +‘If you be all you say, you have the greater need of me.’<br> +<br> +‘Is it possible,’ she exclaimed, ‘that I have schemed +in vain? And will nothing drive you from this house of death?’<br> +<br> +‘Of death?’ he echoed.<br> +<br> +‘Death!’ she cried: ‘death! In that box that +you have dragged about London and carried on your defenceless shoulders, +sleep, at the trigger’s mercy, the destroying energies of dynamite.’<br> +<br> +‘My God!’ cried Harry.<br> +<br> +‘Ah!’ she continued wildly, ‘will you flee now? +At any moment you may hear the click that sounds the ruin of this building. +I was sure M’Guire was wrong; this morning, before day, I flew +to Zero; he confirmed my fears; I beheld you, my beloved Harry, fall +a victim to my own contrivances. I knew then I loved you - Harry, +will you go now? Will you not spare me this unwilling crime?’<br> +<br> +Harry remained speechless, his eyes fixed upon the box: at last he turned +to her.<br> +<br> +‘Is it,’ he asked hoarsely, ‘an infernal machine?’<br> +<br> +Her lips formed the word ‘Yes,’ which her voice refused +to utter.<br> +<br> +With fearful curiosity, he drew near and bent above the box; in that +still chamber, the ticking was distinctly audible; and at the measured +sound, the blood flowed back upon his heart.<br> +<br> +‘For whom?’ he asked.<br> +<br> +‘What matters it,’ she cried, seizing him by the arm. +‘If you may still be saved, what matter questions?’<br> +<br> +‘God in heaven!’ cried Harry. ‘And the Children’s +Hospital! At whatever cost, this damned contrivance must be stopped!’<br> +<br> +‘It cannot,’ she gasped. ‘The power of man cannot +avert the blow. But you, Harry - you, my beloved - you may still +- ’<br> +<br> +And then from the box that lay so quietly in the corner, a sudden catch +was audible, like the catch of a clock before it strikes the hour. +For one second the two stared at each other with lifted brows and stony +eyes. Then Harry, throwing one arm over his face, with the other +clutched the girl to his breast and staggered against the wall.<br> +<br> +A dull and startling thud resounded through the room; their eyes blinked +against the coming horror; and still clinging together like drowning +people, they fell to the floor. Then followed a prolonged and +strident hissing as from the indignant pit; an offensive stench seized +them by the throat; the room was filled with dense and choking fumes.<br> +<br> +Presently these began a little to disperse: and when at length they +drew themselves, all limp and shaken, to a sitting posture, the first +object that greeted their vision was the box reposing uninjured in its +corner, but still leaking little wreaths of vapour round the lid.<br> +<br> +‘Oh, poor Zero!’ cried the girl, with a strange sobbing +laugh. ‘Alas, poor Zero! This will break his heart!’<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (Concluded)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>Somerset ran straight upstairs; the door of the drawing-room, contrary +to all custom, was unlocked; and bursting in, the young man found Zero +seated on a sofa in an attitude of singular dejection. Close beside +him stood an untasted grog, the mark of strong preoccupation. +The room besides was in confusion: boxes had been tumbled to and fro; +the floor was strewn with keys and other implements; and in the midst +of this disorder lay a lady’s glove.<br> +<br> +‘I have come,’ cried Somerset, ‘to make an end of +this. Either you will instantly abandon all your schemes, or (cost +what it may) I will denounce you to the police.’<br> +<br> +‘Ah!’ replied Zero, slowly shaking his head. ‘You +are too late, dear fellow! I am already at the end of all my hopes, +and fallen to be a laughing-stock and mockery. My reading,’ +he added, with a gentle despondency of manner, ‘has not been much +among romances; yet I recall from one a phrase that depicts my present +state with critical exactitude; and you behold me sitting here “like +a burst drum.”’<br> +<br> +‘What has befallen you?’ cried Somerset.<br> +<br> +‘My last batch,’ returned the plotter wearily, ‘like +all the others, is a hollow mockery and a fraud. In vain do I +combine the elements; in vain adjust the springs; and I have now arrived +at such a pitch of disconsideration that (except yourself, dear fellow) +I do not know a soul that I can face. My subordinates themselves +have turned upon me. What language have I heard to-day, what illiberality +of sentiment, what pungency of expression! She came once; I could +have pardoned that, for she was moved; but she returned, returned to +announce to me this crushing blow; and, Somerset, she was very inhumane. +Yes, dear fellow, I have drunk a bitter cup; the speech of females is +remarkable for . . . well, well! Denounce me, if you will; you +but denounce the dead. I am extinct. It is strange how, +at this supreme crisis of my life, I should be haunted by quotations +from works of an inexact and even fanciful description; but here,’ +he added, ‘is another: “Othello’s occupation’s +gone.” Yes, dear Somerset, it is gone; I am no more a dynamiter; +and how, I ask you, after having tasted of these joys, am I to condescend +to a less glorious life?’<br> +<br> +‘I cannot describe how you relieve me,’ returned Somerset, +sitting down on one of several boxes that had been drawn out into the +middle of the floor. ‘I had conceived a sort of maudlin +toleration for your character; I have a great distaste, besides, for +anything in the nature of a duty; and upon both grounds, your news delights +me. But I seem to perceive,’ he added, ‘a certain +sound of ticking in this box.’<br> +<br> +‘Yes,’ replied Zero, with the same slow weariness of manner, +‘I have set several of them going.’<br> +<br> +‘My God!’ cried Somerset, bounding to his feet.<br> +<br> +‘Machines?’<br> +<br> +‘Machines!’ returned the plotter bitterly. ‘Machines +indeed! I blush to be their author. Alas!’ he said, +burying his face in his hands, ‘that I should live to say it!’<br> +<br> +‘Madman!’ cried Somerset, shaking him by the arm. +‘What am I to understand? Have you, indeed, set these diabolical +contrivances in motion? and do we stay here to be blown up?’<br> +<br> +‘“Hoist with his own petard?”’ returned the +plotter musingly. ‘One more quotation: strange! But +indeed my brain is struck with numbness. Yes, dear boy, I have, +as you say, put my contrivance in motion. The one on which you +are sitting, I have timed for half an hour. Yon other - ’<br> +<br> +‘Half an hour! - ’ echoed Somerset, dancing with trepidation. +‘Merciful Heavens, in half an hour?’<br> +<br> +‘Dear fellow, why so much excitement?’ inquired Zero. +‘My dynamite is not more dangerous than toffy; had I an only child, +I would give it him to play with. You see this brick?’ he +continued, lifting a cake of the infernal compound from the laboratory-table. +‘At a touch it should explode, and that with such unconquerable +energy as should bestrew the square with ruins. Well now, behold! +I dash it on the floor.’<br> +<br> +Somerset sprang forward, and with the strength of the very ecstasy of +terror, wrested the brick from his possession. ‘Heavens!’ +he cried, wiping his brow; and then with more care than ever mother +handled her first-born withal, gingerly transported the explosive to +the far end of the apartment: the plotter, his arms once more fallen +to his side, dispiritedly watching him.<br> +<br> +‘It was entirely harmless,’ he sighed. ‘They +describe it as burning like tobacco.’<br> +<br> +‘In the name of fortune,’ cried Somerset, ‘what have +I done to you, or what have you done to yourself, that you should persist +in this insane behaviour? If not for your own sake, then for mine, +let us depart from this doomed house, where I profess I have not the +heart to leave you; and then, if you will take my advice, and if your +determination be sincere, you will instantly quit this city, where no +further occupation can detain you.’<br> +<br> +‘Such, dear fellow, was my own design,’ replied the plotter. +‘I have, as you observe, no further business here; and once I +have packed a little bag, I shall ask you to share a frugal meal, to +go with me as far as to the station, and see the last of a broken-hearted +man. And yet,’ he added, looking on the boxes with a lingering +regret, ‘I should have liked to make quite certain. I cannot +but suspect my underlings of some mismanagement; it may be fond, but +yet I cherish that idea: it may be the weakness of a man of science, +but yet,’ he cried, rising into some energy, ‘I will never, +I cannot if I try, believe that my poor dynamite has had fair usage!’<br> +<br> +‘Five minutes!’ said Somerset, glancing with horror at the +timepiece. ‘If you do not instantly buckle to your bag, +I leave you.’<br> +<br> +‘A few necessaries,’ returned Zero, ‘only a few necessaries, +dear Somerset, and you behold me ready.’<br> +<br> +He passed into the bedroom, and after an interval which seemed to draw +out into eternity for his unfortunate companion, he returned, bearing +in his hand an open Gladstone bag. His movements were still horribly +deliberate, and his eyes lingered gloatingly on his dear boxes, as he +moved to and fro about the drawing-room, gathering a few small trifles. +Last of all, he lifted one of the squares of dynamite.<br> +<br> +‘Put that down!’ cried Somerset. ‘If what you +say be true, you have no call to load yourself with that ungodly contraband.’<br> +<br> +‘Merely a curiosity, dear boy,’ he said persuasively, and +slipped the brick into his bag; ‘merely a memento of the past +- ah, happy past, bright past! You will not take a touch of spirits? +no? I find you very abstemious. Well,’ he added, ‘if +you have really no curiosity to await the event - ’<br> +<br> +‘I!’ cried Somerset. ‘My blood boils to get +away.’<br> +<br> +‘Well, then,’ said Zero, ‘I am ready; I would I could +say, willing; but thus to leave the scene of my sublime endeavours - +’<br> +<br> +Without further parley, Somerset seized him by the arm, and dragged +him downstairs; the hall-door shut with a clang on the deserted mansion; +and still towing his laggardly companion, the young man sped across +the square in the Oxford Street direction. They had not yet passed +the corner of the garden, when they were arrested by a dull thud of +an extraordinary amplitude of sound, accompanied and followed by a shattering<i> +fracas</i>. Somerset turned in time to see the mansion rend in +twain, vomit forth flames and smoke, and instantly collapse into its +cellars. At the same moment, he was thrown violently to the ground. +His first glance was towards Zero. The plotter had but reeled +against the garden rail; he stood there, the Gladstone bag clasped tight +upon his heart, his whole face radiant with relief and gratitude; and +the young man heard him murmur to himself: <i>‘Nunc dimittis, +nunc</i> <i>dimittis</i>!’<br> +<br> +The consternation of the populace was indescribable; the whole of Golden +Square was alive with men, women, and children, running wildly to and +fro, and like rabbits in a warren, dashing in and out of the house doors. +And under favour of this confusion, Somerset dragged away the lingering +plotter.<br> +<br> +‘It was grand,’ he continued to murmur: ‘it was indescribably +grand. Ah, green Erin, green Erin, what a day of glory! and oh, +my calumniated dynamite, how triumphantly hast thou prevailed!’<br> +<br> +Suddenly a shade crossed his face; and pausing in the middle of the +footway, he consulted the dial of his watch.<br> +<br> +‘Good God!’ he cried, ‘how mortifying! seven minutes +too early! The dynamite surpassed my hopes; but the clockwork, +fickle clockwork, has once more betrayed me. Alas, can there be +no success unmixed with failure? and must even this red-letter day be +chequered by a shadow?’<br> +<br> +‘Incomparable ass!’ said Somerset, ‘what have you +done? Blown up the house of an unoffending old lady, and the whole +earthly property of the only person who is fool enough to befriend you!’<br> +<br> +‘You do not understand these matters,’ replied Zero, with +an air of great dignity. ‘This will shake England to the +heart. Gladstone, the truculent old man, will quail before the +pointing finger of revenge. And now that my dynamite is proved +effective - ’<br> +<br> +‘Heavens, you remind me!’ ejaculated Somerset. ‘That +brick in your bag must be instantly disposed of. But how? +If we could throw it in the river - ’<br> +<br> +‘A torpedo,’ cried Zero, brightening, ‘a torpedo in +the Thames! Superb, dear fellow! I recognise in you the +marks of an accomplished anarch.’<br> +<br> +‘True!’ returned Somerset. ‘It cannot so be +done; and there is no help but you must carry it away with you. +Come on, then, and let me at once consign you to a train.’<br> +<br> +‘Nay, nay, dear boy,’ protested Zero. ‘There +is now no call for me to leave. My character is now reinstated; +my fame brightens; this is the best thing I have done yet; and I see +from here the ovations that await the author of the Golden Square Atrocity.’<br> +<br> +‘My young friend,’ returned the other, ‘I give you +your choice. I will either see you safe on board a train or safe +in gaol.’<br> +<br> +‘Somerset, this is unlike you!’ said the chymist. +‘You surprise me, Somerset.’<br> +<br> +‘I shall considerably more surprise you at the next police office,’ +returned Somerset, with something bordering on rage. ‘For +on one point my mind is settled: either I see you packed off to America, +brick and all, or else you dine in prison.’<br> +<br> +‘You have perhaps neglected one point,’ returned the unoffended +Zero: ‘for, speaking as a philosopher, I fail to see what means +you can employ to force me. The will, my dear fellow - ’<br> +<br> +‘Now, see here,’ interrupted Somerset. ‘You +are ignorant of anything but science, which I can never regard as being +truly knowledge; I, sir, have studied life; and allow me to inform you +that I have but to raise my hand and voice - here in this street - and +the mob - ’<br> +<br> +‘Good God in heaven, Somerset,’ cried Zero, turning deadly +white and stopping in his walk, ‘great God in heaven, what words +are these? Oh, not in jest, not even in jest, should they be used! +The brutal mob, the savage passions . . . . Somerset, for God’s +sake, a public-house!’<br> +<br> +Somerset considered him with freshly awakened curiosity. ‘This +is very interesting,’ said he. ‘You recoil from such +a death?’<br> +<br> +‘Who would not?’ asked the plotter.<br> +<br> +‘And to be blown up by dynamite,’ inquired the young man, +‘doubtless strikes you as a form of euthanasia?’<br> +<br> +‘Pardon me,’ returned Zero: ‘I own, and since I have +braved it daily in my professional career, I own it even with pride: +it is a death unusually distasteful to the mind of man.’<br> +<br> +‘One more question,’ said Somerset: ‘you object to +Lynch Law? why?’<br> +<br> +‘It is assassination,’ said the plotter calmly, but with +eyebrows a little lifted, as in wonder at the question.<br> +<br> +‘Shake hands with me,’ cried Somerset. ‘Thank +God, I have now no ill-feeling left; and though you cannot conceive +how I burn to see you on the gallows, I can quite contentedly assist +at your departure.’<br> +<br> +‘I do not very clearly take your meaning,’ said Zero, ‘but +I am sure you mean kindly. As to my departure, there is another +point to be considered. I have neglected to supply myself with +funds; my little all has perished in what history will love to relate +under the name of the Golden Square Atrocity; and without what is coarsely +if vigorously called stamps, you must be well aware it is impossible +for me to pass the ocean.’<br> +<br> +‘For me,’ said Somerset, ‘you have now ceased to be +a man. You have no more claim upon me than a door scraper; but +the touching confusion of your mind disarms me from extremities. +Until to-day, I always thought stupidity was funny; I now know otherwise; +and when I look upon your idiot face, laughter rises within me like +a deadly sickness, and the tears spring up into my eyes as bitter as +blood. What should this portend? I begin to doubt; I am +losing faith in scepticism. Is it possible,’ he cried, in +a kind of horror of himself - ‘is it conceivable that I believe +in right and wrong? Already I have found myself, with incredulous +surprise, to be the victim of a prejudice of personal honour. +And must this change proceed? Have you robbed me of my youth? +Must I fall, at my time of life, into the Common Banker? But why +should I address that head of wood? Let this suffice. I +dare not let you stay among women and children; I lack the courage to +denounce you, if by any means I may avoid it; you have no money: well +then, take mine, and go; and if ever I behold your face after to-day, +that day will be your last.’<br> +<br> +‘Under the circumstances,’ replied Zero, ‘I scarce +see my way to refuse your offer. Your expressions may pain, they +cannot surprise me; I am aware our point of view requires a little training, +a little moral hygiene, if I may so express it; and one of the points +that has always charmed me in your character is this delightful frankness. +As for the small advance, it shall be remitted you from Philadelphia.’<br> +<br> +‘It shall not,’ said Somerset.<br> +<br> +‘Dear fellow, you do not understand,’ returned the plotter. +‘I shall now be received with fresh confidence by my superiors; +and my experiments will be no longer hampered by pitiful conditions +of the purse.’<br> +<br> +‘What I am now about, sir, is a crime,’ replied Somerset; +‘and were you to roll in wealth like Vanderbilt, I should scorn +to be reimbursed of money I had so scandalously misapplied. Take +it, and keep it. By George, sir, three days of you have transformed +me to an ancient Roman.’<br> +<br> +With these words, Somerset hailed a passing hansom; and the pair were +driven rapidly to the railway terminus. There, an oath having +been exacted, the money changed hands.<br> +<br> +‘And now,’ said Somerset, ‘I have bought back my honour +with every penny I possess. And I thank God, though there is nothing +before me but starvation, I am free from all entanglement with Mr. Zero +Pumpernickel Jones.’<br> +<br> +‘To starve?’ cried Zero. ‘Dear fellow, I cannot +endure the thought.’<br> +<br> +‘Take your ticket!’ returned Somerset.<br> +<br> +‘I think you display temper,’ said Zero.<br> +<br> +‘Take your ticket,’ reiterated the young man.<br> +<br> +‘Well,’ said the plotter, as he returned, ticket in hand, +‘your attitude is so strange and painful, that I scarce know if +I should ask you to shake hands.’<br> +<br> +‘As a man, no,’ replied Somerset; ‘but I have no objection +to shake hands with you, as I might with a pump-well that ran poison +or bell-fire.’<br> +<br> +‘This is a very cold parting,’ sighed the dynamiter; and +still followed by Somerset, he began to descend the platform. +This was now bustling with passengers; the train for Liverpool was just +about to start, another had but recently arrived; and the double tide +made movement difficult. As the pair reached the neighbourhood +of the bookstall, however, they came into an open space; and here the +attention of the plotter was attracted by a <i>Standard</i> broadside +bearing the words: ‘Second Edition: Explosion in Golden Square.’ +His eye lighted; groping in his pocket for the necessary coin, he sprang +forward - his bag knocked sharply on the corner of the stall - and instantly, +with a formidable report, the dynamite exploded. When the smoke +cleared away the stall was seen much shattered, and the stall keeper +running forth in terror from the ruins; but of the Irish patriot or +the Gladstone bag no adequate remains were to be found.<br> +<br> +In the first scramble of the alarm, Somerset made good his escape, and +came out upon the Euston Road, his head spinning, his body sick with +hunger, and his pockets destitute of coin. Yet as he continued +to walk the pavements, he wondered to find in his heart a sort of peaceful +exultation, a great content, a sense, as it were, of divine presence +and the kindliness of fate; and he was able to tell himself that even +if the worst befell, he could now starve with a certain comfort since +Zero was expunged.<br> +<br> +Late in the afternoon, he found himself at the door of Mr. Godall’s +shop; and being quite unmanned by his long fast, and scarce considering +what he did, he opened the glass door and entered.<br> +<br> +‘Ha!’ said Mr. Godall, ‘Mr. Somerset! Well, +have you met with an adventure? Have you the promised story? +Sit down, if you please; suffer me to choose you a cigar of my own special +brand; and reward me with a narrative in your best style.’<br> +<br> +‘I must not take a cigar,’ said Somerset.<br> +<br> +‘Indeed!’ said Mr. Godall. ‘But now I come to +look at you more closely, I perceive that you are changed. My +poor boy, I hope there is nothing wrong?’<br> +<br> +Somerset burst into tears.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<i>EPILOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>On a certain day of lashing rain in the December of last year, and +between the hours of nine and ten in the morning, Mr. Edward Challoner +pioneered himself under an umbrella to the door of the Cigar Divan in +Rupert Street. It was a place he had visited but once before: +the memory of what had followed on that visit and the fear of Somerset +having prevented his return. Even now, he looked in before he +entered; but the shop was free of customers.<br> +<br> +The young man behind the counter was so intently writing in a penny +version-book, that he paid no heed to Challoner’s arrival. +On a second glance, it seemed to the latter that he recognised him.<br> +<br> +‘By Jove,’ he thought, ‘unquestionably Somerset!’<br> +<br> +And though this was the very man he had been so sedulously careful to +avoid, his unexplained position at the receipt of custom changed distaste +to curiosity.<br> +<br> +‘“Or opulent rotunda strike the sky,”’ said +the shopman to himself, in the tone of one considering a verse. +‘I suppose it would be too much to say “orotunda,” +and yet how noble it were! “Or opulent orotunda strike the +sky.” But that is the bitterness of arts; you see a good +effect, and some nonsense about sense continually intervenes.’<br> +<br> +‘Somerset, my dear fellow,’ said Challoner, ‘is this +a masquerade?’<br> +<br> +‘What? Challoner!’ cried the shopman. ‘I +am delighted to see you. One moment, till I finish the octave +of my sonnet: only the octave.’ And with a friendly waggle +of the hand, he once more buried himself in the commerce of the Muses. +‘I say,’ he said presently, looking up, ‘you seem +in wonderful preservation: how about the hundred pounds?’<br> +<br> +‘I have made a small inheritance from a great aunt in Wales,’ +replied Challoner modestly.<br> +<br> +‘Ah,’ said Somerset, ‘I very much doubt the legitimacy +of inheritance. The State, in my view, should collar it. +I am now going through a stage of socialism and poetry,’ he added +apologetically, as one who spoke of a course of medicinal waters.<br> +<br> +‘And are you really the person of the - establishment?’ +inquired Challoner, deftly evading the word ‘shop.’<br> +<br> +‘A vendor, sir, a vendor,’ returned the other, pocketing +his poesy. ‘I help old Happy and Glorious. Can I offer +you a weed?’<br> +<br> +‘Well, I scarcely like . . . ’ began Challoner.<br> +<br> +‘Nonsense, my dear fellow,’ cried the shopman. ‘We +are very proud of the business; and the old man, let me inform you, +besides being the most egregious of created beings from the point of +view of ethics, is literally sprung from the loins of kings. “<i>De +Godall je suis le fervent</i>.” There is only one Godall. +- By the way,’ he added, as Challoner lit his cigar, ‘how +did you get on with the detective trade?’<br> +<br> +‘I did not try,’ said Challoner curtly.<br> +<br> +‘Ah, well, I did,’ returned Somerset, ‘and made the +most incomparable mess of it: lost all my money and fairly covered myself +with odium and ridicule. There is more in that business, Challoner, +than meets the eye; there is more, in fact, in all businesses. +You must believe in them, or get up the belief that you believe. +Hence,’ he added, ‘the recognised inferiority of the plumber, +for no one could believe in plumbing.’<br> +<br> +‘<i>A propos,’</i> asked Challoner, ‘do you still +paint?’<br> +<br> +‘Not now,’ replied Paul; ‘but I think of taking up +the violin.’<br> +<br> +Challoner’s eye, which had been somewhat restless since the trade +of the detective had been named, now rested for a moment on the columns +of the morning paper, where it lay spread upon the counter.<br> +<br> +‘By Jove,’ he cried, ‘that’s odd!’<br> +<br> +‘What is odd?’ asked Paul.<br> +<br> +‘Oh, nothing,’ returned the other: ‘only I once met +a person called M’Guire.’<br> +<br> +‘So did I!’ cried Somerset. ‘Is there anything +about him?’<br> +<br> +Challoner read as follows: ‘<i>Mysterious death in Stepney</i>. +An inquest was held yesterday on the body of Patrick M’Guire, +described as a carpenter. Doctor Dovering stated that he had for +some time treated the deceased as a dispensary patient, for sleeplessness, +loss of appetite, and nervous depression. There was no cause of +death to be found. He would say the deceased had sunk. Deceased +was not a temperate man, which doubtless accelerated death. Deceased +complained of dumb ague, but witness had never been able to detect any +positive disease. He did not know that he had any family. +He regarded him as a person of unsound intellect, who believed himself +a member and the victim of some secret society. If he were to +hazard an opinion, he would say deceased had died of fear.’<br> +<br> +‘And the doctor would be right,’ cried Somerset; ‘and +my dear Challoner, I am so relieved to hear of his demise, that I will +- Well, after all,’ he added, ‘poor devil, he was well served.’<br> +<br> +The door at this moment opened, and Desborough appeared upon the threshold. +He was wrapped in a long waterproof, imperfectly supplied with buttons; +his boots were full of water, his hat greasy with service; and yet he +wore the air of one exceeding well content with life. He was hailed +by the two others with exclamations of surprise and welcome.<br> +<br> +‘And did you try the detective business?’ inquired Paul.<br> +<br> +‘No,’ returned Harry. ‘Oh yes, by the way, I +did though: twice, and got caught out both times. But I thought +I should find my - my wife here?’ he added, with a kind of proud +confusion.<br> +<br> +‘What? are you married?’ cried Somerset.<br> +<br> +‘Oh yes,’ said Harry, ‘quite a long time: a month +at least.’<br> +<br> +‘Money?’ asked Challoner.<br> +<br> +‘That’s the worst of it,’ Desborough admitted. +‘We are deadly hard up. But the Pri--- Mr. Godall is going +to do something for us. That is what brings us here.’<br> +<br> +‘Who was Mrs. Desborough?’ said Challoner, in the tone of +a man of society.<br> +<br> +‘She was a Miss Luxmore,’ returned Harry. ‘You +fellows will be sure to like her, for she is much cleverer than I. +She tells wonderful stories, too; better than a book.’<br> +<br> +And just then the door opened, and Mrs. Desborough entered. Somerset +cried out aloud to recognise the young lady of the Superfluous Mansion, +and Challoner fell back a step and dropped his cigar as he beheld the +sorceress of Chelsea.<br> +<br> +‘What!’ cried Harry, ‘do you both know my wife?’<br> +<br> +‘I believe I have seen her,’ said Somerset, a little wildly.<br> +<br> +‘I think I have met the gentleman,’ said Mrs. Desborough +sweetly; ‘but I cannot imagine where it was.’<br> +<br> +‘Oh no,’ cried Somerset fervently: ‘I have no notion +- I cannot conceive - where it could have been. Indeed,’ +he continued, growing in emphasis, ‘I think it highly probable +that it’s a mistake.’<br> +<br> +‘And you, Challoner?’ asked Harry, ‘you seemed to +recognise her too.’<br> +<br> +‘These are both friends of yours, Harry?’ said the lady. +‘Delighted, I am sure. I do not remember to have met Mr. +Challoner.’<br> +<br> +Challoner was very red in the face, perhaps from having groped after +his cigar. ‘I do not remember to have had the pleasure,’ +he responded huskily.<br> +<br> +‘Well, and Mr. Godall?’ asked Mrs. Desborough.<br> +<br> +‘Are you the lady that has an appointment with old - ’ began +Somerset, and paused blushing. ‘Because if so,’ he +resumed, ‘I was to announce you at once.’<br> +<br> +And the shopman raised a curtain, opened a door, and passed into a small +pavilion which had been added to the back of the house. On the +roof, the rain resounded musically. The walls were lined with +maps and prints and a few works of reference. Upon a table was +a large-scale map of Egypt and the Soudan, and another of Tonkin, on +which, by the aid of coloured pins, the progress of the different wars +was being followed day by day. A light, refreshing odour of the +most delicate tobacco hung upon the air; and a fire, not of foul coal, +but of clear-flaming resinous billets, chattered upon silver dogs. +In this elegant and plain apartment, Mr. Godall sat in a morning muse, +placidly gazing at the fire and hearkening to the rain upon the roof.<br> +<br> +‘Ha, my dear Mr. Somerset,’ said he, ‘and have you +since last night adopted any fresh political principle?’<br> +<br> +‘The lady, sir,’ said Somerset, with another blush.<br> +<br> +‘You have seen her, I believe?’ returned Mr. Godall; and +on Somerset’s replying in the affirmative, ‘You will excuse +me, my dear sir,’ he resumed, ‘if I offer you a hint. +I think it not improbable this lady may desire entirely to forget the +past. From one gentleman to another, no more words are necessary.’<br> +<br> +A moment after, he had received Mrs. Desborough with that grave and +touching urbanity that so well became him.<br> +<br> +‘I am pleased, madam, to welcome you to my poor house,’ +he said; ‘and shall be still more so, if what were else a barren +courtesy and a pleasure personal to myself, shall prove to be of serious +benefit to you and Mr. Desborough.’<br> +<br> +‘Your Highness,’ replied Clara, ‘I must begin with +thanks; it is like what I have heard of you, that you should thus take +up the case of the unfortunate; and as for my Harry, he is worthy of +all that you can do.’ She paused.<br> +<br> +‘But for yourself?’ suggested Mr. Godall - ‘it was +thus you were about to continue, I believe.’<br> +<br> +‘You take the words out of my mouth,’ she said. ‘For +myself, it is different.’<br> +<br> +‘I am not here to be a judge of men,’ replied the Prince; +‘still less of women. I am now a private person like yourself +and many million others; but I am one who still fights upon the side +of quiet. Now, madam, you know better than I, and God better than +you, what you have done to mankind in the past; I pause not to inquire; +it is with the future I concern myself, it is for the future I demand +security. I would not willingly put arms into the hands of a disloyal +combatant; and I dare not restore to wealth one of the levyers of a +private and a barbarous war. I speak with some severity, and yet +I pick my terms. I tell myself continually that you are a woman; +and a voice continually reminds me of the children whose lives and limbs +you have endangered. A woman,’ he repeated solemnly - ‘and +children. Possibly, madam, when you are yourself a mother, you +will feel the bite of that antithesis: possibly when you kneel at night +beside a cradle, a fear will fall upon you, heavier than any shame; +and when your child lies in the pain and danger of disease, you shall +hesitate to kneel before your Maker.’<br> +<br> +‘You look at the fault,’ she said, ‘and not at the +excuse. Has your own heart never leaped within you at some story +of oppression? But, alas, no! for you were born upon a throne.’<br> +<br> +‘I was born of woman,’ said the Prince; ‘I came forth +from my mother’s agony, helpless as a wren, like other nurselings. +This, which you forgot, I have still faithfully remembered. Is +it not one of your English poets, that looked abroad upon the earth +and saw vast circumvallations, innumerable troops manoeuvring, warships +at sea and a great dust of battles on shore; and casting anxiously about +for what should be the cause of so many and painful preparations, spied +at last, in the centre of all, a mother and her babe? These, madam, +are my politics; and the verses, which are by Mr. Coventry Patmore, +I have caused to be translated into the Bohemian tongue. Yes, +these are my politics: to change what we can, to better what we can; +but still to bear in mind that man is but a devil weakly fettered by +some generous beliefs and impositions, and for no word however nobly +sounding, and no cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture +of these bonds.’<br> +<br> +There was a silence of a moment.<br> +<br> +‘I fear, madam,’ resumed the Prince, ‘that I but weary +you. My views are formal like myself; and like myself, they also +begin to grow old. But I must still trouble you for some reply.’<br> +<br> +‘I can say but one thing,’ said Mrs. Desborough: ‘I +love my husband.’<br> +<br> +‘It is a good answer,’ returned the Prince; ‘and you +name a good influence, but one that need not be conterminous with life.’<br> +<br> +‘I will not play at pride with such a man as you,’ she answered. +‘What do you ask of me? not protestations, I am sure. What +shall I say? I have done much that I cannot defend and that I +would not do again. Can I say more? Yes: I can say this: +I never abused myself with the muddle-headed fairy tales of politics. +I was at least prepared to meet reprisals. While I was levying +war myself - or levying murder, if you choose the plainer term - I never +accused my adversaries of assassination. I never felt or feigned +a righteous horror, when a price was put upon my life by those whom +I attacked. I never called the policeman a hireling. I may +have been a criminal, in short; but I never was a fool.’<br> +<br> +‘Enough, madam,’ returned the Prince: ‘more than enough! +Your words are most reviving to my spirits; for in this age, when even +the assassin is a sentimentalist, there is no virtue greater in my eyes +than intellectual clarity. Suffer me, then, to ask you to retire; +for by the signal of that bell, I perceive my old friend, your mother, +to be close at hand. With her I promise you to do my utmost.’<br> +<br> +And as Mrs. Desborough returned to the Divan, the Prince, opening a +door upon the other side, admitted Mrs. Luxmore.<br> +<br> +‘Madam and my very good friend,’ said he, ‘is my face +so much changed that you no longer recognise Prince Florizel in Mr. +Godall?’<br> +<br> +‘To be sure!’ she cried, looking at him through her glasses. +‘I have always regarded your Highness as a perfect man; and in +your altered circumstances, of which I have already heard with deep +regret, I will beg you to consider my respect increased instead of lessened.’<br> +<br> +‘I have found it so,’ returned the Prince, ‘with every +class of my acquaintance. But, madam, I pray you to be seated. +My business is of a delicate order, and regards your daughter.’<br> +<br> +‘In that case,’ said Mrs. Luxmore, ‘you may save yourself +the trouble of speaking, for I have fully made up my mind to have nothing +to do with her. I will not hear one word in her defence; but as +I value nothing so particularly as the virtue of justice, I think it +my duty to explain to you the grounds of my complaint. She deserted +me, her natural protector; for years, she has consorted with the most +disreputable persons; and to fill the cup of her offence, she has recently +married. I refuse to see her, or the being to whom she has linked +herself. One hundred and twenty pounds a year, I have always offered +her: I offer it again. It is what I had myself when I was her +age.’<br> +<br> +‘Very well, madam,’ said the Prince; ‘and be that +so! But to touch upon another matter: what was the income of the +Reverend Bernard Fanshawe?’<br> +<br> +‘My father?’ asked the spirited old lady. ‘I +believe he had seven hundred pounds in the year.’<br> +<br> +‘You were one, I think, of several?’ pursued the Prince.<br> +<br> +‘Of four,’ was the reply. ‘We were four daughters; +and painful as the admission is to make, a more detestable family could +scarce be found in England.’<br> +<br> +‘Dear me!’ said the Prince. ‘And you, madam, +have an income of eight thousand?’<br> +<br> +‘Not more than five,’ returned the old lady; ‘but +where on earth are you conducting me?’<br> +<br> +‘To an allowance of one thousand pounds a year,’ replied +Florizel, smiling. ‘For I must not suffer you to take your +father for a rule. He was poor, you are rich. He had many +calls upon his poverty: there are none upon your wealth. And indeed, +madam, if you will let me touch this matter with a needle, there is +but one point in common to your two positions: that each had a daughter +more remarkable for liveliness than duty.’<br> +<br> +‘I have been entrapped into this house,’ said the old lady, +getting to her feet. ‘But it shall not avail. Not +all the tobacconists in Europe . . .’<br> +<br> +‘Ah, madam,’ interrupted Florizel, ‘before what is +referred to as my fall, you had not used such language! And since +you so much object to the simple industry by which I live, let me give +you a friendly hint. If you will not consent to support your daughter, +I shall be constrained to place that lady behind my counter, where I +doubt not she would prove a great attraction; and your son-in-law shall +have a livery and run the errands. With such young blood my business +might be doubled, and I might be bound in common gratitude to place +the name of Luxmore beside that of Godall.’<br> +<br> +‘Your Highness,’ said the old lady, ‘I have been very +rude, and you are very cunning. I suppose the minx is on the premises. +Produce her.’<br> +<br> +‘Let us rather observe them unperceived,’ said the Prince; +and so saying he rose and quietly drew back the curtain.<br> +<br> +Mrs. Desborough sat with her back to them on a chair; Somerset and Harry +were hanging on her words with extraordinary interest; Challoner, alleging +some affair, had long ago withdrawn from the detested neighbourhood +of the enchantress.<br> +<br> +‘At that moment,’ Mrs. Desborough was saying, ‘Mr +Gladstone detected the features of his cowardly assailant. A cry +rose to his lips: a cry of mingled triumph . . .’<br> +<br> +‘That is Mr. Somerset!’ interrupted the spirited old lady, +in the highest note of her register. ‘Mr. Somerset, what +have you done with my house-property?’<br> +<br> +‘Madam,’ said the Prince, ‘let it be mine to give +the explanation; and in the meanwhile, welcome your daughter.’<br> +<br> +‘Well, Clara, how do you do?’ said Mrs. Luxmore. ‘It +appears I am to give you an allowance. So much the better for +you. As for Mr. Somerset, I am very ready to have an explanation; +for the whole affair, though costly, was eminently humorous. And +at any rate,’ she added, nodding to Paul, ‘he is a young +gentleman for whom I have a great affection, and his pictures were the +funniest I ever saw.’<br> +<br> +‘I have ordered a collation,’ said the Prince. ‘Mr. +Somerset, as these are all your friends, I propose, if you please, that +you should join them at table. I will take the shop.’<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Footnotes:<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1">{1}</a> Hereupon +the Arabian author enters on one of his digressions. Fearing, +apparently, that the somewhat eccentric views of Mr. Somerset should +throw discredit on a part of truth, he calls upon the English people +to remember with more gratitude the services of the police; to what +unobserved and solitary acts of heroism they are called; against what +odds of numbers and of arms, and for how small a reward, either in fame +or money: matter, it has appeared to the translators, too serious for +this place.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2">{2}</a> In this name +the accent falls upon the <i>e</i>; the <i>s</i> is sibilant.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3">{3}</a> The Arabian +author of the original has here a long passage conceived in a style +too oriental for the English reader. We subjoin a specimen, and +it seems doubtful whether it should be printed as prose or verse: ‘Any +writard who writes dynamitard shall find in me a never-resting fightard;’ +and he goes on (if we correctly gather his meaning) to object to such +elegant and obviously correct spellings as lamp-lightard, corn-dealard, +apple-filchard (clearly justified by the parallel - pilchard) and opera +dancard. ‘Dynamitist,’ he adds, ‘I could understand.’<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4">{4}</a> The Arabian +author, with that quaint particularity of touch which our translation +usually praetermits, here registers a somewhat interesting detail. +Zero pronounced the word ‘boom;’ and the reader, if but +for the nonce, will possibly consent to follow him.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE DYNAMITER ***<br> +<pre> + +******This file should be named dynmt10h.htm or dynmt10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, dynmt11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, dynmt10ah.htm + +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. 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