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diff --git a/7084.txt b/7084.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f77e607 --- /dev/null +++ b/7084.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7264 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Girl Among the Anarchists, by Isabel Meredith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Girl Among the Anarchists + +Author: Isabel Meredith + + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7084] +This file was first posted on March 8, 2003 +Last Updated: June 12, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GIRL AMONG THE ANARCHISTS *** + + + + +Produced by Nathan Harris, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + +A GIRL AMONG THE ANARCHISTS + +By Isabel Meredith + + + + +PREFACE + + +In spite of the fact that there are certain highly respectable +individualists of a rabid type who prefer to call themselves Anarchists, +it must be owned that it requires some courage to write about Anarchism +even with the sympathy befitting a clinical physician or the scientific +detachment of a pathologist. And yet it is certain that Anarchists are +curiously interesting, and not the less in need of observation from the +fact that apparently none of the social quacks who prescribe seriously +in leading articles has the faintest insight into them as a phenomenon, +a portent, or a disease. This book, if it is read with understanding, +will, I feel assured, do not a little to show how it comes about that +Anarchism is as truly endemic in Western Civilisations as cholera is in +India. Isabel Meredith, whom I had the pleasure of knowing when she +was a more humble member of the staff of the _Tocsin_ than the editor, +occupies, to my knowledge, a very curious and unique position in the +history of English Anarchism. There is nothing whatever in "A Girl among +the Anarchists" which is invented, the whole thing is an experience +told very simply, but I think convincingly. Nevertheless as such a human +document must seem incredible to the ordinary reader, I have no little +pleasure in saying that I know what she has written to be true. I was +myself a contributor to the paper which is here known as the _Tocsin_. I +have handled the press and have discussed details (which did not include +bombs) with the editor. I knew "Kosinski" and still have an admiration +for "Nekrovitch." And even now I do not mind avowing that I am +philosophically as much an Anarchist as the late Dr. H. G. Sutton, who +would no doubt have been astounded to learn that he belonged to the +brotherhood. + +Curiously enough I have found most Anarchists of the mildest +dispositions. I have met meek Germans (there are meek Germans still +extant) who even in their wildest Anarchic indignation seemed as little +capable of hurting a living soul as of setting the Elbe on fire. For it +must be understood that the "red wing" of the Anarchists is a very small +section of the body of philosophers known as Anarchists. There is no +doubt that those of the dynamite section are practically insane. They +are "impulsives"; they were outraged and they revolted before birth. +Most of the proletariat take their thrashing lying down. There are +some who cannot do that. It is out of these who are not meek and do not +inherit even standing-room on the earth that such as "Matthieu" +comes. Perhaps it may not be out of place to suggest that a little +investigation might be better than denunciation, which is always wide +of the mark, and that, as Anarchism is created by the social system of +repression, more repression will only create more Anarchism. However, I +am perfectly aware that the next time a wild-eyed philosopher, who ought +to be under restraint in an asylum, throws a bomb, all the newspapers in +Europe will advocate measures for turning all the meeker Anarchists +into outrage-mongers. For of the Anarchists it is certainly true that +repression does not repress. Anarchism is a creed and a philosophy, +but neither as creed nor philosophy does it advocate violence. It only +justifies resistance to violence. So much, I think, will be discovered +in this book even by a leader-writer. + +In conclusion I cannot do better than quote from Spinoza's _Tractatus +Politicus:_-- + +"In order that I might inquire better into the matter of this science +with the same freedom of mind with which we are wont to treat lines +and surfaces in mathematics, I determined not to laugh or weep over the +actions of men but simply to understand them, and to contemplate their +affections and passions such as love, hate, anger, envy, arrogance, +pity, and all other disturbances of soul not as vices of human nature, +but as properties pertaining to it in the same way as heat, cold, storm, +thunder pertain to the nature of the atmosphere. For these, though +troublesome, are yet necessary and have certain causes through which +we may come to understand them, and thus by contemplating them in their +truth, gain for our minds as much joy as by the knowledge of things +which are pleasing to the senses." + +I think that Isabel Meredith, so far as the outlook of her book extends, +is a disciple of Spinoza. But she can speak for herself. + +MORLEY ROBERTS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. A STRANGE CHILDHOOD + +II. A GATHERING IN CHISWICK + +III. AN ABORTIVE GROUP-MEETING. + +IV. A POLICE SCARE + +V. TO THE RESCUE + +VI. A FOREIGN INVASION + +VII. THE OFFICE OF THE _TOCSIN_ + +VIII. THE DYNAMITARD'S ESCAPE + +IX. SOME ANARCHIST PERSONALITIES + +X. A FLIGHT + +XI. A CRISIS + +XII. THE _TOCSIN'S_ LAST TOLL. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A STRANGE CHILDHOOD + + +In the small hours of a bitter January morning I sat in my room gazing +into the fire, and thinking over many things. I was alone in the house, +except for the servants, but this circumstance did not affect me. My +childhood and upbringing had been of no ordinary nature, and I was used +to looking after myself and depending on my own resources for amusement +and occupation. + +My mother had died when I was yet a small child and, with my elder +sister and brother, I had grown up under our father's eye. He was a +chemist and a man of advanced ideas on most things. He had never sent us +to school, preferring to watch in person over our education, procuring +for us private tuition in many subjects, and himself instructing us +in physical science and history, his two favourite studies. We rapidly +gained knowledge under his system and were decidedly precocious +children, but we had none of the ordinary school society and routine. +Our childhood was by no means dull or mopish, for there were three of +us and we got on very well together, but we mixed hardly at all with +children of our own age, our interests were not theirs, and their +boisterous ways were somewhat repellent to us. + +Our father was a great believer in liberty, and, strange to say, he +put his ideas into practice in his own household. He was a devoted and +enthusiastic student, and for days, nay, weeks together, we would see +but little of him. He had fitted himself up a small laboratory at the +top of our house on which he spent all his available money, and here +he passed nearly all the time he could dispose of over and beyond that +necessary for the preparation and delivery of his scientific lectures. +As we grew out of childhood he made no difference in his mode of life. +He gave us full liberty to follow our various bents, assisting us with +his advice when requested, ever ready to provide the money necessary +for any special studies or books; taking an interest in our readings and +intellectual pursuits. The idea of providing us with suitable society, +of launching us out into the world, of troubling to see that we +conformed to the ordinary conventions of society, never occurred to him. +Occasionally some old friend of his would drop in, or some young admirer +who had followed his scientific work in the press would write asking +permission to call and consult him on some point. They were always +received with cordiality, and my father would take much trouble to be +of any assistance he could to them. We children used generally to +be present on such occasions, and frequently would join in the +conversation, and thus we got to know various people, among whom +foreigners and various types of cranks were fairly in evidence. + +We lived in a large old-fashioned house in Fitzroy Square where our +father had settled down somewhere in the seventies soon after his +marriage to a South American Spaniard, whom he had met during a +scientific research expedition in Brazil. She was a girl of seventeen, +his junior by some twenty years. During his journeys into the interior +of Brazil he had fallen seriously ill with malarial fever, and had been +most kindly taken in and nursed by a coffee-planter and his family. +Here he had met his future wife who was acting as governess. She was of +Spanish descent, and combined the passionate enthusiasm of a Southerner +with the independence and self-reliance which life in a new and only +partially civilised country breeds. She was an orphan and penniless, but +our father fell in love with her, attracted doubtless by her beauty and +vivaciousness in such striking contrast with his bookish way of life, +and he married her and brought her home to London. He truly loved her +and was a good husband in all essential respects, but the uncongenial +climate and monotonous life told on her health, and she died three years +after my birth, much mourned by her husband, who plunged all the more +deeply into scientific research, his only other thought being a care for +our education. He had lived on in the same old house which grew somewhat +dingier and shabbier each year, whilst the neighbourhood fell from its +pristine respectability to become the resort of foreigners of somewhat +doubtful character, of Bohemian artists and musicians. + +As I sat gazing into the fire many pictures of those old days rose +before me. I saw our large drawing-room with its old-fashioned +furniture, handsome, often beautiful, but ill-kept; its sombre hangings +and fine pictures. I recalled a typical scene there with a large fire +burning cheerily in the big grate, relieving the gloom of a late winter +afternoon with the bright flickering of its flames. Ensconced in a +roomy arm-chair, our father is seated by the fire in a skullcap and list +slippers, with his favourite cat perched on his knee. Opposite him sit +two ladies, the elder of whom--a quaint, nice-looking old lady, dressed +neatly in black, but whose innate eccentricity succeeded in imparting +something odd to the simplest and quietest of attires--is leaning +eagerly forward, pouring forth a long tale of woe into my father's +sympathetic ear. She is denouncing the London roughs, landlords, and +police, who, apparently, are all in league to ruin her and turn her +cats astray upon an unkind world. The brutality of the English poor, who +consider their duty towards the feline race fully performed when they +have fed them, and who pay no more attention to their morals and higher +feelings than if they were stocks and stones, arouses her ire; sympathy +is what she needs, sympathy to help her to face the world and continue +her crusade against cruelty. She says all this in a scattered and +disconnected style, jumping from one point to another, turning +occasionally to her friend for support or confirmation. This friend is +a meek, subdued-looking person of uncertain age, somewhat washed-out +and bedraggled in appearance. Her attire is nondescript, and seems to +consist of oddments bought solely because they were cheap and bearing +no relation whatever one to the other. Mrs. Smuts, growing more and more +absorbed in the course of her harangue on the great cat question, states +that she believes in marrying cats young in life and looking strictly +after their morals; and as she appeals to Miss Meggs whilst voicing this +sentiment, the latter timidly interjects, "But do you think, my dear +Maria, that cats can maintain themselves chaste on a meat diet? I never +give mine anything more exciting than cold potatoes and rice pudding, +and I find that they thrive on it, Mr. Meredith!" + +At this point we children, stifling our laughter, rush headlong from the +room, to vent our mirth in safety in the kitchen. + +Another frequent visitor whom my imagination summoned from the grave +in which he had lain now for several years past, was a tall, thin, +delicate-looking man of some thirty years of age. He was by birth a +Frenchman, but had lived mostly in England, his parents having come +over as political exiles from the tyranny of Louis Napoleon, afterwards +settling permanently in this country. He was an engineer by profession, +but a poet at heart, and all his spare time and thought he devoted to +tackling the problem of aerial navigation. His day was spent earning a +scanty living in a shipbuilding yard, but his evenings and nights were +passed in constructing a model of a flying-machine. He would bring his +drawings round to our father for discussion and advice; and although he +never attained success, he was always hopeful, trusting that some one +of the ever fresh improvements and additions which his fertile brain +was always busy conceiving would solve the difficulty which had hitherto +beset him. His sallow face with its large dreamy eyes and his spare +figure, clad in an old bluish suit, rusty with age and threadbare with +brushing, stand out clear in my memory. There was also an old professor, +a chemist like my father, who often assisted him in his experiments. +He was somewhat formidable in appearance, wearing gold spectacles, and +helping himself freely to the contents of a snuff-box, but he was one of +the most kind-hearted of men. Children were great favourites with him, +and his affection was returned with interest as soon as the shyness +consequent on his somewhat gruff manner was overcome. He used to enjoy +drawing us out, and would laugh heartily at our somewhat old-fashioned +remarks and observations, at which we used to grow very indignant, for +we were decidedly touchy when our dignity was at stake. He had nicknamed +me Charlotte Corday, for, after a course of Greek and Roman history, +studied in Plutarch and Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," I had plunged +into the French Revolution, glorying in its heroisms and audacity, and +it had become a favourite amusement with all three of us to enact scenes +drawn from its history, and to recite aloud, with great emphasis if +little art, revolutionary poetry. The old professor loved to tease me +by abusing my favourite heroes; and when he had at last roused me to +a vigorous assertion of revolutionary sentiments, he would turn to my +father and say, "There's a little spitfire for you; you will have to +keep a look-out or she will be making bombs soon and blowing us all up," +at which my father would smile complacently. + +Our father was very charitable. He did not like to be bothered or +disturbed, but he would willingly give a little assistance when asked, +and the result was that our door was always besieged by beggars +of various nationalities, Spaniards and Italians forming the chief +contingent. Generally they confined themselves to sending in notes, +which used to be returned with a shilling or half-crown as the case +might be, but sometimes one would insist on a personal interview. I +remember one wild-looking Hungarian, whose flowing locks were crowned +by a sort of horse's sun-bonnet, who used to rush round on one of those +obsolete bicycles, consisting of an enormously high wheel on the top +of which he was perched, and a tiny little back one. He was generally +pursued by a crowd of hooting boys, advising him to "get 'is 'air cut," +and inquiring, "Where did you get that 'at?" He used to insist on seeing +my father; but the help he solicited was not for himself but for various +political refugees in whom he was interested. One day the professor +happened to meet this wild-looking creature at our door, and inquired +of my father who that maniac might be. "Oh, he is a Hungarian refugee; +a good fellow, I believe. I have noticed something rather odd in his +appearance, but I do not consider him mad," replied his friend. + +Amid such surroundings we grew up. My elder sister, Caroline, had a +notable musical gift, and even as a small child had a fine voice, which +developed into a rich contralto. Our father, always anxious to do his +duty by us, gave her a first-rate musical education, sending her abroad +to study under famous Continental teachers, and at eighteen she made +her first appearance in public, exciting much attention by the powerful +dramatic qualities of her voice. It was evident that her right course +was to go in for operatic singing, and this she did. She continued on +the most affectionate terms with her family, but naturally her pursuit +took her into quite another path of life, and we saw less and less of +her as time went on. This threw my brother and myself more together. +There was only a year's difference between us, and we studied together, +walked, talked, played, and read together--in fact, were inseparable. +Raymond was no ordinary boy. In character and in manners he was very +like my father. His favourite study was physical science in its various +branches; mine, history and sociological subjects. He saw things from +the scientific standpoint, I from the poetical and artistic; but we were +both by nature enthusiastic and dreamers, and sympathised heartily with +each other's views. His ambition was to become a famous explorer; +mine, to die on a scaffold or a barricade, shouting Liberty, Equality, +Fraternity. + +Our father took a great pride in Raymond, and carefully supervised his +studies. He passed various brilliant examinations, and at eighteen, +having decided to go in for medicine, was already walking a hospital. +Shortly after this our father died suddenly. He was at work as usual in +his laboratory when he was seized by a paralytic stroke, and in three +days he was dead. + +This blow quite stunned us for a time. Our father was everything to us; +and the possibility of his death we had never contemplated. Though, as +I have explained, he had always left us free to follow our own devices, +still he was the centre round which our family life circled; we were +passionately attached to him, and now that he was gone we felt at a loss +indeed. We had no relatives living of our father's; our mother's +family we had never known, and they were too distant to be practically +available. Our father's friends were not such as to be of much help to +us. Cat enthusiasts and scientific dreamers are all very well in their +way, but they almost always take far more than they give in the mart of +friendship. The old professor had preceded my father to his grave. + +Our father left us comfortably off. The house was our own, and property +yielding a comfortable income was divided equally between us. Our home +seemed desolate indeed without our father, and very gloomily did the +first months of his absence pass; but in time hope and youth reasserted +themselves and we gradually settled down to much our old way of +life. Caroline obtained several engagements and was still studying +enthusiastically. Raymond passed most of his time at the hospital, where +he had rooms, though he frequently came home; I was the only one who had +not a definite occupation. I read a great deal and wrote a little also, +chiefly studies on historical subjects which interested me, but I had +printed nothing. In fact I had never been in the way of the literary +world, and did not know how to set about it. Time used often to hang +rather heavily on my hands in the big house where I was generally alone. +I was the housekeeper, but such cares did not take up much of my time. +The result of so much solitude and lack of occupation was that I became +restless and dissatisfied. Mere reading without any definite object did +not and could not suffice me; to write when there seemed no prospect of +ever being read, and keenly alive as I was to my own deficiencies, did +not attract me; friends I might say I had none, for the few people my +father knew were interested in him and not in us children, and ceased to +frequent our house after his death. Caroline's musical friends did not +appeal to me, so that the whole interest of my life was centred round +my brother. When he came home we used always to be together, and +conversation never flagged. Never having been to school he had none of +the schoolboy's patronising contempt for a sister. We had always been +chums and companions, and so we continued, but whereas, as children, +it was I, with my more passionate and enterprising nature, who took +the lead, now it was he who, mixing with the outer world, provided the +stimulus of new ideas and fresh activities for which I craved. Brought +suddenly face to face, after the studious seclusion of home, with the +hard facts of life as seen in a London hospital, he had begun to take +a deep interest in social questions. The frightful havoc of life and +happiness necessitated by the economic conditions of nineteenth-century +society, impressed him deeply, and he felt that any doctor who looked +upon his profession as other than a mere means to make money must tackle +such problems. Following up this line of thought he became interested +in economics and labour questions. His views were the result of no mere +surface impression, but the logical outcome of thought and study, and he +arrived at socialism by mental processes of his own, uninfluenced by +the ordinary channels of propaganda. I shared his interests and read +on parallel lines. We had no friends in Socialist circles, no personal +interest of any kind balanced our judgment. The whole trend of our +education had been to make independent thinkers of us. What we saw in +the whole problem was a question of justice, and for this we were ready +and anxious to work. A new interest was thus brought into our lives, +which, in my case, soon became all-absorbing. I was always begging my +brother to bring me home fresh books. The driest volumes of political +economy, the most indigestible of philosophical treatises, nothing came +amiss. From these I passed on to more modern works. Raymond had made +friends with a student who was a professed socialist and through him he +came into possession of a number of pamphlets and papers, all of which +I devoured eagerly, and some of which made a lasting impression on my +mind. Krapotkin's "Appeal to the Young" was of this number. I remember +in my enthusiasm reading it aloud to my sister Caroline, who, however, +took scant interest in such matters, and who tried, but in vain, to put +a damper on my enthusiasm. + +I was always fond of scribbling, and the outcome of all this reading was +that I, too, flew to pen and paper. I used to read my papers to Raymond +on those rare occasions when I fancied I had not done so much amiss. +They would provide the material for an evening's conversation, then I +would toss them aside and think no more about them. One day, however, +Raymond brought his Socialist friend home with him. It seems they +had talked about me and my all-absorbing interest in social subjects. +Hughes, my brother's friend, had been surprised to hear from Raymond +that I knew no socialists in the flesh, and that all my hero-worship was +laid before the altar of mental abstractions, of my own creation for the +most part. + +Great was my excitement when Raymond told me that I might expect him and +his friend, of whom I had heard so much, to turn up together one Sunday +evening. So great was my ignorance of the world, so wild my enthusiasm, +that I imagined every socialist as a hero, willing to throw away +his life at a moment's notice on behalf of the "Cause." I had had no +experience of the petty internal strifes, of the jealousies and human +frailties which a closer knowledge of all political parties reveals. I +remember how ashamed I felt of the quite unostentatious comfort of +our home, how anxious I was to dissemble the presence of servants, how +necessary I thought it to dress myself in my oldest and least becoming +clothes for the occasion, and how indignant I felt when Caroline, who +was going off to sing at a concert that evening, said, on coming in to +wish me good-bye, "Why, surely, Isabel, you're not going to receive that +gentleman looking such a fright as this?" As if a Socialist could care +for dress! How I felt he would despise me for all the outward signs +which proved that I was living on the results of "unearned increment" +(_vide_ Karl Marx) and that I was a mere social parasite! + +When at last the longed-for, yet dreaded moment came, I was surprised, +relieved, and I must add somewhat disappointed, at seeing a young man +looking much like any other gentleman, except that he wore a red tie, +and that his clothes were of a looser and easier fit than is usual. +"What a jolly place you have!" he exclaimed after my brother had +introduced us and he had given a look round. I felt considerably +relieved, as I had quite expected him to scowl disapproval, and my +brother, after saying, "Yes, it is a nice old house; we are very fond of +it," suggested that we should adjourn to supper. + +During this repast I took an animated part in the conversation, which +turned on recent books and plays. At last reference was made to a book, +"The Ethics of Egoism," which had excited much attention. It was a +work advocating the most rabid individualism, denying the Socialist +standpoint of the right to live, and saying that the best safeguard for +the development and amelioration of the race lay in that relentless law +of nature which sent the mentally and morally weak to the wall. I +had read the book with interest, and had even written a rather long +criticism of it, of which I felt distinctly proud. In the course of the +discussion to which this book gave rise among us, my brother mentioned +that I had written something on it, and Hughes begged me to read my +performance. Though I felt somewhat diffident, I acceded, after some +persuasion, to his request, and was elated beyond measure at earning his +good opinion of my effort. + +"By George, that's about the best criticism I've read of the work. Where +do you intend publishing it, Miss Meredith?" + +"Oh, I had never thought of publishing it," I replied; "I have never +published anything." + +"But we cannot afford to lose such good stuff," he insisted. "Come, +Raymond, now, don't you think your sister ought to get that into print?" + +"I think you should publish it, Isabel, if you could," he replied. + +"Could! Why any of our papers would be only too delighted to have it. +Let me take it down to the _Democrat_," he said, mentioning the name of +a paper which Raymond often brought home with him. + +"Oh, if you really think it worth while, I shall be only too pleased," I +replied. + +Thus was effected my first introduction to the actual Socialist +party. My article was printed and I was asked for others. I made the +acquaintance of the editor, who, I must confess, spite of my enthusiasm, +soon struck me as a rather weak-kneed and altogether unadmirable +character. He thought it necessary to get himself up to look like an +artist, though he had not the soul of a counter-jumper, and the result +was long hair, a velvet coat, a red tie, bumptious bearing, and an +altogether scatter-brained and fly-away manner. In figure he was long +and willowy, and reminded me irresistibly of an unhealthy cellar-grown +potato plant. My circle of acquaintances rapidly enlarged, and soon, +instead of having too much time on my hands for reading and study, I +had too little. At one of the Sunday evening lectures of the Democratic +Club, at which I had become a regular attendant, I made the acquaintance +of Nekrovitch, the famous Nihilist, and his wife. I took to him +instinctively, drawn by the utter absence of sham or "side" which +characterised the man. I had never understood why Socialism need imply +the arraying of oneself in a green curtain or a terra-cotta rug, or +the cultivation of flowing locks, blue shirts, and a peculiar cut of +clothes: and the complete absence of all such outward "trade marks" +pleased me in the Russian. He invited me to his house, and I soon became +a constant visitor. In the little Chiswick house I met a class of people +who stimulated me intellectually, and once more aroused my rather waning +enthusiasm for the "Cause." The habit of taking nothing for granted, of +boldly inquiring into the origin of all accepted precepts of morality, +of intellectual speculation unbiassed by prejudice and untrammelled by +all those petty personal and party questions and interests which I had +seen occupy so much time and thought at the Democratic Club, permeated +the intellectual atmosphere. Quite a new side of the problem--that of +its moral bearings and abstract rights as opposed to the merely material +right to daily bread which had first appealed to my sense of justice and +humanity--now opened before me. The right to complete liberty of action, +the conviction that morality is relative and personal and can never +be imposed from without, that men are not responsible, or only very +partially so, for their surroundings, by which their actions are +determined, and that consequently no man has a right to judge his +fellow; such and similar doctrines which I heard frequently upheld, +impressed me deeply. I was morally convinced of their truth, and +consequently more than half an Anarchist. The bold thought and lofty +ideal which made of each man a law unto himself, answerable for his own +actions only to his own conscience, acting righteously towards others as +the result of his feeling of solidarity and not because of any external +compulsion, captivated my mind. + +The Anarchists who frequented Nekrovitch's house were men of bold and +original thought, the intellectual part of the movement, and I was never +tired of listening to their arguments. Meantime the more I saw of the +Social Democrats the less I felt satisfied with them. A wider experience +would have told me that all political parties, irrespective of opinion, +are subject to much the same criticism, and that Socialist ideas are +no protection against human weaknesses; but extreme youth is not +compromising where its ideals are concerned, and I expected and insisted +on a certain approach to perfection in my heroes. True, Nekrovitch made +me hesitate some time before taking the final step. His attitude in such +discussions was one of sound common sense, and he never ceased reminding +his Anarchist friends, though all in vain, that we must live in our own +times, and that it is no use trying to forestall human evolution by some +thousand years. + +At home I had become more and more my own mistress. I was now full +eighteen years of age, and had always been accustomed to think and +act for myself. Caroline, with whom I was on most affectionate terms, +despite our frequent differences on politics, had accepted an engagement +as _prima donna_ with a travelling opera company which was to visit the +United States and the principal cities of South America; her engagement +was to last two years, and she had left just three weeks before the +opening of my first chapter. + +Raymond slept at home, but as the date of his final examination drew +near he was more and more occupied, and frequently whole weeks passed +in which I only caught a glimpse of him. He knew and sympathised with +my new line of thought; he had accompanied me more than once to the +Nekrovitchs', whom he liked much, but he had no longer the time +to devote much thought to such matters. Of money I always had a +considerable command; ever since our father's death I had kept house, +and now that Caroline was away I had full control of the household +purse. + +Turning over all these thoughts in my mind as I sat toasting my feet +before the fire, I felt more and more inclined to throw in my lot with +the Anarchists. At the same time I felt that if I did take this step it +must be as a worker and in no half-hearted spirit. The small hours of +the morning were rapidly slipping by as I turned at last into bed to +dream of Anarchist meetings, melting into a confused jumble with the +rights of cats and the claims of the proletariat. + + + +CHAPTER II + +A GATHERING IN CHISWICK + + +As my first actual acquaintance with Anarchists was effected in +Nekrovitch's house, it will not be out of place for me to give a slight +sketch of the gatherings held there and of my host himself. + +An interminably dreary journey by tram and rail, omnibus and foot, the +latter end of which lay along a monotonous suburban road, brought you +to the humble dwelling of the famous Nihilist. Here from time to time +on Sunday evenings it was my wont to put in an appearance towards ten +or eleven, for the journey was deceptively long from Fitzroy Square, +and Nekrovitch, like most Russians, was himself of so unpunctual and +irregular a nature, that he seemed to foster the like habits in all his +friends. The nominal hour for these social gatherings to commence was +eight, but not till past nine did the guests begin to assemble, and +till midnight and later they would come dribbling in. Only one +conscientiously punctual German was ever known to arrive at the +appointed hour, but the only reward of the Teuton's mistaken zeal was to +wait for hours in solitary state in an unwarmed, unlighted room till his +host and fellow-guests saw fit to assemble. + +The meeting-room, or parlour, or drawing-room in Nekrovitch's house was +by no means a palatial apartment. Small and even stuffy to the notions +of a hygienic Englishman, and very bare, scanty in furniture, and yet +poorer in decoration, this room bore evidence to its owners' contempt +for such impedimenta, and their entire freedom from slavery to household +gods. It was evidently the home of people used to pitching their tent +often, and to whom a feeling of settled security was unknown. But its +occupants usually made up for any deficiencies in their surroundings. + +The company was always of a very mixed cosmopolitan character--Russian +Nihilists and exiles, English Liberals who sympathised with the Russian +constitutional movement, Socialists and Fabians, Anarchists of all +nationalities, journalists and literary men whose political views were +immaterial, the pseudo-Bohemian who professes interest in the "queer +side of life," all manner of faddists, rising and impecunious musicians +and artists--all were made welcome, and all were irresistibly attracted +towards the great Russian Nihilist. + +The most notable figure in this assembly, and he certainly would +have been in most assemblies, was Nekrovitch himself. Nekrovitch was +essentially a great man; one of those men whom to know was to admire and +to love; a man of strong intellect, and of the strong personal magnetism +which is so frequently an adjunct of genius. Physically he was a huge +powerful man, so massive and striking in appearance that he suggested +comparison rather with some fact of nature--a rock, a vigorous forest +tree--than with another man. He was one of those rare men who, like +mountains in a landscape, suffice in themselves to relieve their +environments, whatever these may be, from all taint of meanness. He +stood out from among his guests the centre of conversation, of feeling, +and of interest. He was almost invariably engaged in eager conversation, +pitched in a loud tone of voice, broken at intervals when he listened +to the other disputants, while puffing the cigarettes which he was +constantly rolling, and looking intently out of his deep-set penetrating +eyes. + +Nekrovitch's wife, a Russian like himself, had been a student of +medicine at the Russian University until, along with her husband, she +had been compelled to take flight from the attentions of the Russian +police. She was a curly-headed brunette, with bright hazel eyes and a +vivacious manner; a very intelligent and highly "simpatica" woman, as +the Italians would put it. + +Round Nekrovitch there always clustered an eager crowd of admirers and +intimates, discussing, disputing, listening, arguing. They were mostly +foreigners, of the shaggy though not unwashed persuasion, but two +English faces especially attracted notice. One belonged to a young +woman, still on the right side of thirty, dressed without exaggeration +in the aesthetic style, with a small but singularly intellectual head +and an argumentative manner, whom I knew as Miss Cooper. The other was +a man of some thirty-seven years, with auburn hair, which displayed a +distinct tendency to develop into a flowing mane; tall, slim, and lithe +of limb, with a splendid set of teeth, which showed under his bushy +moustache whenever his frank, benevolent smile parted his lips. He was +somewhat taciturn, but evidently tenacious; a glance at his spacious +forehead and finely-shaped head revealed a man of mind, and the +friendly, fearless glance of his eyes betokened a lovable nature, +though, as he listened to his opponents or answered in his low +distinct voice, there was an intensity and fixedness in their depth not +incompatible with the fanatic. + +This Dr. Armitage was one of the most noticeable figures in the English +Anarchist movement, and it was with him that I first discussed Anarchist +principles as opposed to those of legal Socialism. Nekrovitch and others +often joined in the discussion, and very animated we all grew in the +course of debate. Nekrovitch smiled sympathetically at my whole-hearted +and ingenuous enthusiasm. He never made any attempt to scoff at it or to +discourage me, though he vainly attempted to persuade me that Anarchism +was too distant and unpractical an ideal, and that my energies and +enthusiasm might be more advantageously expended in other directions. +"Anyway," he once said to me, "it is very agreeable to a Russian to see +young people interested in politics and political ideals. It reminds him +of his own country." + +Among the other Anarchists who frequented Nekrovitch's house was the +Anarchist and scientist, Count Voratin, a man who had sacrificed wealth +and high position and family ties for his principles with less fuss +than another rich man would make in giving a donation to an hospital. He +seemed always absolutely oblivious of his own great qualities, as simple +and kindly in manners as a _moujik_ but with a certain innate dignity +and courtliness of demeanour which lifted him above most of those with +whom he came in contact. I nourished an almost passionate admiration +for Voratin as a thinker and a man, and his writings had gone far +to influence me in my Anarchist leanings. Never shall I forget the +excitement I felt when first I met him at Nekrovitch's house. I +reverenced him as only a youthful disciple can reverence a great leader. + +From Armitage and Nekrovitch I heard much from time to time of another +Russian Anarchist, Ivan Kosinski, a man actively engaged in the +Anarchist propaganda all over Europe. He was much admired by them for +his absolute unswerving devotion to his ideas. A student and a man of +means, he had never hesitated between his interests and his convictions. +He had come into collision with the Russian authorities by refusing to +perform military service. In prison he would not recognise the right +of judges and jailers, and had consequently spent most of his time in +a strait waistcoat and a dark cell. His forte was silence and dogged +unyielding obstinacy. On escaping from Russian prisons he had gone to +America: he had starved and tramped, but he had never accepted any +sort of help. How he lived was a mystery to all. He was known to be +an ascetic and a woman-hater, and had been seen at one time selling +fly-papers in the streets of New York. In revolutionary circles he was +looked up to as an original thinker, and it was rumoured that he played +a leading part in most of the revolutionary movements of recent years. +He was also engaged on a life of Bakounine which was to be the standard +work on the famous revolutionist, for which purpose he was always +reading and travelling in search of material. + +And at last one evening Nekrovitch announced that Kosinski was expected. +I had heard so much about this man that I spent my whole evening in a +state of suppressed excitement at the news. For many months past I had +sympathised with the Anarchist principles, but I had taken no particular +steps towards joining the party or exerting myself on its behalf. I was +waiting for some special stimulus to action. Half unconsciously I found +myself wondering whether Kosinski would prove this. + +I had passed a pleasant evening in the little Chiswick house between +the usual political and ethical discussions and the usual interesting or +entertaining company. I had assisted at a long discussion between Miss +Cooper and Dr. Armitage, which, commencing on the question of Socialism, +had gradually deviated into one on food and dress reform, a matter upon +which that lady held very strong views. I had felt a little irritated at +the conversation, for I entertained scant sympathy for what I regarded +as hygienic fads; and the emphasis with which the lady averred that she +touched neither flesh nor alcohol, and felt that by this abstinence she +was not "besotting her brain nor befouling her soul," amused me much. +Dr. Armitage, to my surprise, expressed some sympathy with her views, +and treated the question with what I considered undue importance. This +discussion was brought at last to a termination by Miss Cooper breaking +off for a meal (she always ate at regular intervals), and retiring into +a corner to consume monkey-nuts out of a hanging pocket or pouch which +she carried with her. + +The evening advanced, and I began to despair of Kosinski's ever +arriving. Every time there was a knock at the door, I wondered whether +it was the much-expected Anarchist, but I was repeatedly disappointed. +Once it was the musical infant prodigy of the season whose talents had +taken London by storm, another time it was a Nihilist, yet another a +wild-looking Czech poet. One loud rat-tat made me feel certain that +Kosinski had arrived, but I was again disillusioned, as an aesthetic, +fascinating little lady made her entry, dragging triumphantly in tow +a reluctant, unengaging and green-haired husband. Nekrovitch gave me a +significant glance. "So sorry to be so late," the little lady began in +a high-pitched voice, "but I had to attend a meeting of our society +for the distribution of sanitary dust-bins; and Humphry got quite +disagreeable waiting for me outside, although he was well wrapped up in +comforters and mits. My dear Anna (this to Madame Nekrovitch), _do_ +tell him that he is most absurd and egoistic, and that it is his duty to +think less of personal comfort and more of humanity." + +At this last word the injured Humphry, who had approached the fire, and +was attempting to thaw his nose and toes, gave utterance to a suppressed +groan; but a cup of steaming tea and some appetising buttered toast +diverted his spouse's thoughts, and she was soon deep in a confidential +chat with Anna. + +At last, long after eleven, appeared the new-comer of whom I had heard +so much. I must confess that my preconceived notions (one always has +a preconceived notion of the appearance of a person one has heard much +spoken of) fell to the ground. I had imagined him dark and audacious, +and I saw before me a tall, big, well-built man, with a slight stoop +in his shoulders, fair of skin, with a blonde beard and moustache, +lank long hair, a finely-cut, firm-set mouth, and blue dreamy eyes, +altogether a somewhat Christ-like face. He was clad in a thick, heavy, +old-fashioned blue overcoat with a velvet collar, which he refused +to remove, baggy nondescript trousers, and uncouth-looking boots. +He saluted his host and hostess in an undemonstrative style, bowed +awkwardly to the other guests, and settled down to crouch over the fire, +and look unostentatiously miserable. + +From the first moment Kosinski interested me. His manners were not +engaging; towards women especially he was decidedly hostile. But +the marked indifference to opinion which his bearing indicated, his +sincerity, his unmistakable moral courage, perhaps his evident aversion +to my sex, all had for me a certain fascination. + +I felt attracted towards the man, and was pleased that a discussion on +Anarchism with Armitage at last afforded me an opportunity of exchanging +a few words with him--even though on his side the conversation was not +altogether flattering to myself. It happened in this way. + +Nekrovitch, Armitage, and myself had, according to our wont, been +discussing the great Anarchist question. For the hundredth time the +Russian had endeavoured to persuade us of the truth and the reason of +his point of view. + +"So long as men are men," he maintained, "there must be some sort of +government, some fixed recognised law--organisation, if you will, to +control them." + +"All governments are equally bad," answered the doctor. "All law is +coercion, and coercion is immoral. Immoral conditions breed immoral +people. In a free and enlightened society there would be no room for +coercive law. Crime will disappear when healthy and natural conditions +prevail." + +And Nekrovitch, perceiving for the hundredth time that his arguments +were vain, and that Armitage was not to be moved, had left us to +ourselves and gone across to his other guests. Doctor Armitage, always +eager for converts, turned his undivided attention to me. + +"I hope yet to be able to claim you for a comrade," he said: "you are +intelligent and open-minded, and cannot fail to see the futility of +attempting to tinker up our worn-out society. You must see that our +Socialist friends have only seized on half-truths, and they stop short +where true reform should begin." + +"I can quite see your point of view," I replied; "in fact I am more than +half a convert already. But I should like to know what I can do. I +have been interested now in these problems for a year or two, and must +confess that the electioneering and drawing-room politics of Fabians and +Social Democrats are not much to my taste; in fact I may say that I +am sick of them. A few men like our friend Nekrovitch, who ennoble any +opinions they may hold, are of course exceptions, but I cannot blind +myself to the fact that ambition, wire-pulling, and faddism play a +prominent part in the general proceedings. On the other hand you seem +to me to sin in the opposite direction. No organisation, no definite +programme, no specific object!--what practical good could any one like +myself do in such a party?" + +The doctor smiled a quiet smile of triumph as he proceeded to overthrow +my objections: "Why, the very strength of our party lies in the +fact that it has not what you are pleased to call an organisation. +Organisations are only a means for intriguers and rogues to climb to +power on the shoulders of their fellow-men; and at best only serve +to trammel initiative and enterprise. With us every individual enjoys +complete liberty of action. This of course does not mean to say that +several individuals may not unite to attain some common object, as is +shown by our groups which are scattered all over the globe. But each +group is autonomous, and within the group each individual is his own +law. Such an arrangement, besides being right in principle, offers +great practical advantages in our war against society, and renders it +impossible for governments to stamp us out. Again, as to our lack of +programme, if a clear grasp of principle and of the ultimate aim to be +attained is meant, it is wrong to say we have no programme, but, if you +mean a set of rules and formulas, why, what are they after all but a +means of sterilising ideas? Men and their surroundings are unceasingly +undergoing modification and change, and one of the chief defects of all +governments and parties hitherto has been that men have had to +adapt themselves to their programmes, instead of their programmes to +themselves. We make no statement as to specific object: each comrade has +his own, and goes for it without considering it necessary to proclaim +the fact to the whole world. Now you ask me how you could help this +movement or what you could do, and I have no hesitation in saying, much. +Every revolution requires revolutionists, we need propagandists, we need +workers, we need brains and money, and you have both." + +"So you think that one ought to place one's property at the service of +the Cause, and that thus one is doing more good than by helping in the +ordinary way?" + +"Why, of course, the revolutionist aims at eradicating the causes of +poverty and vice, whereas benevolence, by making it just possible for +people to put up with their circumstances, only strengthens the chains +which hold mankind in slavery." + +We had unconsciously raised our voices in the heat of discussion, and +Kosinski, who had caught our last observations, broke in unexpectedly. +It was the first time he had opened his mouth to any purpose, and he +went straight to the point: "It is you bourgeois Socialists, with your +talk of helping us, and your anxiety about using your property 'to +the best advantage,' who are the ruin of every movement," he said, +addressing me in an uncompromising spirit. "What is wanted to accomplish +any great change is enthusiasm, whole-hearted labour, and where that is, +no thought is taken as to whether everything is being used to the best +advantage. If you are prepared to enter the movement in this spirit, +without any backward notion that you are conferring a favour upon any +one--for indeed the contrary is the case--well and good: your work will +be willingly accepted for what it is worth, and your money, if you have +any, will be made good use of; but if not, you had better side with your +own class and enjoy your privileges so long as the workers put up with +you." + +These outspoken remarks were followed by a momentary silence. Mrs. +Trevillian looked dismayed; Miss Cooper evidently concluded that +Kosinski must have dined on steak; Dr. Armitage agreed, but seemed to +consider that more amenity of language might be compatible with the +situation. Nekrovitch laughed heartily, enjoying this psychological +sidelight, and I, who ought to have felt crushed, was perhaps the only +one who thoroughly endorsed the sentiment expressed, finding therein +the solution of many moral difficulties which had beset me. Kosinksi was +right. I felt one must go the whole length or altogether refrain from +dabbling in such matters. And as to property I again knew that he was +right; it was what I had all along instinctively felt. Private property +was, after all, but the outcome of theft, and there can be no virtue in +restoring what we have come by unrighteously. + +Small things are often the turning-point in a career; and, looking back, +I clearly see that that evening's discussion played no small part in +determining my future conduct. I was already disposed towards Anarchist +doctrines, and my disposition was more inclined towards action of any +order than towards mere speculation. I was the first to speak. "Kosinski +is quite right; I am the first to recognise it. Only I think it a little +unfair to assume me to be a mere bourgeois, attempting to play the part +of lady patroness to the revolution. I am sure none who know me can +accuse me of such an attitude." + +Kosinski grumbled out a reply: "Well, of course I may be mistaken; but +I have seen so many movements ruined by women that I am rather +distrustful; they are so rarely prepared to forgo what they consider the +privileges of the sex--which is but another phrase for bossing every one +and everything and expecting much in return for nothing; but of course +there may be exceptions. Perhaps you are one." + +Nekrovitch laughed aloud: "Bravo, bravo, you are always true to +yourself, Kosinski. I have always known you as a confirmed misogynist, +and I see you still resist all temptations to reform. You carry +boorishness to the verge of heroism." + +The hours had slipped by rapidly, and Mrs. Trevillian took the hint +which her spouse had long tried to give by shuffling restlessly in his +seat and casting side glances at the clock which pointed to half-past +one. She rose to go. "We really must be leaving--it is quite late, and +Humphry is never fit for anything unless he gets at least six hours' +sleep. Good-bye; thanks for such a pleasant evening," and she bustled +out, followed by her husband. I rose to follow her example and, turning +a deaf ear to Nekrovitch, who remarked, "Oh, Isabel, do stay on; it is +not yet late, and as you have lost your last train it is no use being +in a hurry," I shook hands with my friends, including Kosinski, who had +once more subsided into a corner, and left, accompanied by Dr. Armitage, +who offered to walk home with me. + +We walked rapidly on through the keen night air. I felt excited and +resolute with the feeling that a new phase of existence was opening +before me. Dr. Armitage at last spoke. "I hope, Isabel"--it was usual in +this circle to eschew surnames, and most of my friends and acquaintances +called me Isabel in preference to Miss Meredith--"I hope, Isabel, that +you will come to our meetings. I should like you to know some of our +comrades; there are many very interesting men, quite original thinkers, +some of them. And I think human beings so often throw light on matters +which one otherwise fails to grasp." + +"I should much like to," I replied, "if you can tell me how and when; +for I suppose one requires some sort of introduction even to Anarchist +circles." + +"Oh, that is easy enough," he replied. "I have often mentioned your +name, and the comrades will be very glad to see you; we make no sort of +mystery about our meetings. There will be a meeting at the office of +our paper, the _Bomb_, next Saturday. Do come. The business on hand will +perhaps not interest you much, but it will be an opportunity for meeting +some of our men, and I shall be there." + +"Oh, I shall be so glad to come!" I exclaimed. "What will you be +discussing?" + +"Well, to tell the truth, it is a somewhat unpleasant matter," replied +the doctor with some hesitation in his voice. "There have been some +strange reports circulating about the Myers case, and we are anxious +to get at the truth of the business. It may strike you as a rather +unsuitable introduction, but come nevertheless. The movement is always +in need of new blood and fresh energies to keep it from narrowing its +sphere of activity, and it is well that you should know us as we are." + +"Very well, I will come if you will give me the direction." + +"Let us say nine o'clock at the office of the _Bomb_ in Slater's Mews, +---- Street; you will find me there." + +"Agreed," I replied, and conversation dropped as we walked rapidly +along. I was much occupied with my own thoughts and Dr. Armitage was +noted for his long periods of silence. At last we reached my doorstep. I +fumbled for my latch-key, found it, and wished my friend good-night. We +shook hands and parted. + + + +CHAPTER III + +AN ABORTIVE GROUP-MEETING + + +Before describing the strange committee or group-meeting about to be +dealt with, it is necessary to say a few words concerning the mysterious +affair which gave rise to it. + +On the 17th of December 189- the posters of the evening papers had +announced in striking characters:-- + +"DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST: ATTEMPTED OUTRAGE IN A LONDON PARK." + +That same afternoon a loud explosion had aroused the inhabitants of a +quiet suburban district, and on reaching the corner of ---- Park whence +the report emanated, the police had found, amid a motley debris of +trees, bushes, and railings, the charred and shattered remains of a man. +These, at the inquest, proved to have belonged to Augustin Myers, an +obscure little French Anarchist, but despite the usual lengthy and +unsatisfactory routine of police inquiries, searches, and arrests, +practically nothing could be ascertained concerning him or the +circumstances attending his death. All that was certain was that the +deceased man had in his possession an explosive machine, evidently +destined for some deadly work, and that, while traversing the park, it +had exploded, thus putting an end both to its owner and his projects. + +Various conflicting theories were mooted as to the motive which prompted +the conduct of the deceased Anarchist, but no confirmation could be +obtained to any of these. Some held that Myers was traversing London on +his way to some inconspicuous country railway station, whence to take +train for the Continent where a wider and more propitious field for +Anarchist outrage lay before him. Others opined that he had contemplated +committing an outrage in the immediate vicinity of the spot which +witnessed his own death; and others, again, that, having manufactured +his infernal machine for some nefarious purpose either at home or +abroad, he was suddenly seized either with fear or remorse, and had +journeyed to this unobserved spot in order to bury it. The papers hinted +at accomplices and talked about the usual "widespread conspiracy"; the +police opened wide their eyes, but saw very little. The whole matter, in +short, remained, and must always remain, a mystery to the public. + +Behind the scenes, however, the Anarchists talked of a very different +order of "conspiracy." The funeral rites of the poor little Augustin +were performed with as much ceremony and sympathy as an indignant London +mob would allow, and he was followed to his grave by a goodly _cortege_ +of "comrades," red and black flags and revolutionary song. Among the +chief mourners was the deceased man's brother Jacob, who wept copiously +into the open grave and sung his "Carmagnole" with inimitable zeal. It +was this brother whose conduct had given rise to suspicion among his +companions, and "spies" and "police plots" were in every one's mouth. +The office of the _Bomb_, as being the centre of English anarchy, had +been selected as the scene for an inquiry _en group_ into the matter. + +Thus on a wet and chilling January evening--one of those evenings when +London, and more especially squalid London, is at the height of its +unattractiveness--I set out towards my first Anarchist "group-meeting." +And certainly the spirit which moved me from within must have been +strong that the flesh quailed not at the foul scenery amid which my +destination lay. + +Half-way down one of the busiest, grimiest, and most depressing streets +in the W.C. district stands a squalid public-house, the type of many +hundreds and thousands of similar dens in the metropolis. The "Myrtle +Grove Tavern," pastoral as the name sounds, was not precisely the abode +of peace and goodwill. From four A.M., when the first of her _habitues_ +began to muster round the yet unopened doors, till half-past twelve +P.M., when the last of them was expelled by the sturdy "chucker-out," +the atmosphere was dense with the foul breath and still fouler language +of drunken and besotted men and women. Every phase of the lower order of +British drinker and drunkard was represented here. The coarse oaths of +the men, mingled with the shriller voices of their female companions, +and the eternal "'e saids" and "she saids" of the latter's complaints +and disputes were interrupted by the plaintive wailings of the puny, +gin-nourished infants at their breasts. Here, too, sat the taciturn man, +clay pipe in mouth, on his accustomed bench day after day, year in year +out, gazing with stony and blear-eyed indifference on all that went +on around him; deaf, dumb, and unseeing; only spitting deliberately +at intervals, and with apparently no other vocation in life than the +consumption of fermented liquor. + +The side-door for "jugs and bottles" gave on to a dirty and odoriferous +mews, down which my destination lay. The unbridled enthusiasm of +eighteen years can do much to harden or deaden the nervous system, +but certainly it required all my fortitude to withstand the sickening +combination of beer and damp horsy hay which greeted my nostrils. +Neither could the cabmen and stablemen, hanging round the public-house +doors and the mews generally, be calculated to increase one's democratic +aspirations, but I walked resolutely on, and turning to my left, +dexterously avoiding an unsavoury heap of horse manure, straw, and other +offal, I clambered up a break-neck ladder, at the top of which loomed +the office of the _Bomb_. + +The door was furtively opened in response to my kick by a lean, +hungry-looking little man of very circumspect appearance. He cast me +a surly and suspicious glance, accompanied by a not very encouraging +snarl, but on my mentioning Dr. Armitage he opened the door a few inches +wider and I passed in. + +It took me some seconds before I could accustom my eyes to the fetid +atmosphere of this den, which was laden with the smoke of divers +specimens of the worst shag and cheapest tobacco in the metropolis. But +various objects, human and inanimate, became gradually more distinct, +and I found myself in a long, ill-lighted wooden shed, where type and +dust and unwashed human beings had left their mark, and where soap and +sanitation were unknown. Past the type racks and cases, which occupied +the first half of this apartment, were grouped benches, stools, +packing-cases, and a few maimed and deformed chairs for the +accommodation of the assembly. Then came a hand printing-press, on which +were spread the remains of some comrade's repast: the vertebral column +of a bloater and an empty condensed-milk can, among other relics. The +floor, from one extremity to the other of the "office," was littered +with heaps of unsold revolutionary literature, the approximate date +of which could be gauged by the thickness of dust in which it was +smothered. On the walls and from beams and rafters hung foils and +boxing-gloves; artistic posters and cartoons, the relics of a great +artist who had founded the _Bomb_, and the effigies of divers comrades +to whom a pathway to a better world had been opened through the +hangman's drop. But what most riveted my attention was an indistinct +animate _something_ enveloped in a red flag, rolled up in a heap on +the frouziest and most forbidding old sofa it had ever been my lot to +behold. That this _something_ was animate could be gathered from the +occasional twitchings of the red bundle, and from the dark mop of black +greasy hair which emerged from one end. But to what section of the +animal kingdom _it_ belonged I was quite at a loss to decide. +Other stray objects which I noted about this apartment were an +ostentatious-looking old revolver of obsolete make, and some chemical +bottles, which, however, contained no substance more dangerous than +Epsom salts. + +The human occupants were not less noticeable than the inanimate, and +some of them are deserving of our attention. + +The man Myers, round whom the interest of the meeting was principally +centred this evening, was to all appearances a mean enough type of the +East End sartorial Jew. His physiognomy was not that of a fool, but +indicated rather that low order of intelligence, cunning and intriguing, +which goes to make a good swindler. The low forehead, wide awake, shifty +little eyes, the nose of his forefathers, and insolent lock of black +hair plastered low on his brow--all these characteristics may frequently +be met with in the dock of the "Old Bailey" when some case of petty +swindling is being tried. + +Next Myers I noticed Dr. Armitage, who stood out in striking contrast +from the rest of his companions. The smile with which he welcomed me was +eloquent of the satisfaction with which he noted this my first entrance +into an Anarchist circle. + +The short bench on which he sat was shared by a man in corduroys of +the navvy type, a large honest-looking fellow whose views of the Social +question appeared to be limited to a not very definite idea of the +injustice of third-class railway travelling and the payment of rent, and +he expressed his opinions on these knotty problems with more freedom +and warmth of language than was perhaps altogether warranted by the +occasion. + +Gracefully poised on one leg against an adjoining type-rack leaned a +tall youth with fair curling hair, a weak tremulous mouth, and an almost +girlish physiognomy. This youth had been drummed out of the army, the +discipline of which he had found too severe, for feigning illness, +since when he had passed his time between the bosom of his family, the +workhouse, and the Anarchist party. He paid very little attention to the +proceedings of the meeting, but discoursed eloquently, in a low voice, +of the brutality of his parents who refused to keep him any longer +unless he made some attempt to find employment. I remember wondering, +_en passant_, why this fair-haired, weak-kneed youth had ever entered +the Anarchist party; but the explanation, had I but known, was close at +hand. + +This explanation was a square-built, sturdy-looking man of some forty +years. His appearance was the reverse of engaging, but by no means +lacking in intelligence. He was ill-satisfied and annoyed with the +universe, and habitually defied it from the stronghold of a double +bed. Thither he had retired after the death of his father, an old +market-porter, who had been crushed by the fall of a basket of potatoes. +The son saw in this tragic circumstance the outcome and the reward of +labour, swore a solemn oath never to do a stroke of work again, threw +up his job, and from that day became a confirmed loafer in the Anarchist +party. Some months previously, while propagandising in the workhouse, +he found the youth there, and learned from his own lips how, being +disinclined to become a burden on his poor old parents after his exit +from the army, he had seen no other alternative but to become a pauper, +and make the best he could of the opportunities afforded him by the +poor-rates. From the workhouse he was dragged triumphantly forth by +his new friend, and became an easy convert to anarchic and communistic +principles. + +The only feminine element in this assembly was a fair, earnest-looking +Russian girl, whose slight knowledge of English did not allow her to +follow the proceedings very accurately. She was an almost pathetic +figure in her naive enthusiasm, and evidently regarded her present +companions as seriously as those she had left behind her in Russia, and +seemed to imagine they played as dangerous a role, and ran the same risk +as they did. + +There were several others present among whom the loafer type was perhaps +in the ascendant. But there were also many of the more intelligent +artisan class, discontented with their lot; labourers and dockers who +had tramped up after a hard day's work, a young artist who looked rather +of the Social Democratic type, a cabman, a few stray gentlemen, a clever +but never-sober tanner, a labour agitator, a professional stump-orator, +and one or two fishy and nondescript characters of the Hebraic race. +O'Flynn, the printer of the _Bomb_, was a cantankerous Irishman with a +taste for discoursing on abstract questions, concerning which he grew +frightfully muddled and confused. He had a rather mad look in his eye +and a disputatious manner. + +When at last inquiry was made whether all companions expected were +present, the red flag began to quiver and writhe most noticeably and +finally to unfurl, and there emerged from its depths the dirtiest and +most slovenly man I had ever seen, and the frouziest and most repulsive +of dogs. This man, if man I may call him, was bony and ill-built, and +appeared to consist largely of hands and feet. His arms were abnormally +long and his chest narrow and hollow, and altogether he seemed to hang +together by a mere fluke. His ill-assorted limbs were surmounted by a +sallow, yellowish face, large repulsive lips, and a shapeless nose, and +to him belonged the long, black greasy hair which I had already noted +amid the folds of the red banner. Large gristly ears emerged from his +uncombed mop of hair, and the only redeeming feature about the abject +creature was his large, brown, dog-like eyes. He crept forward, grinding +his teeth and rubbing his bony hands, and subsided into a waste-paper +basket which was the only available seat left unoccupied. + +And now at last, after much talking and shifting about, and not before a +young German hairdresser had been stationed with one eye glued to a hole +in the outer wall of the shed, in order to make sure that no detective +was listening outside, the proceedings commenced. + +Banter, the little man who had opened the door to me, rose to his feet, +cleared his throat, and said "_Com_rades" in a stentorian voice. Then +followed a long and rambling statement which he read out, from amid +the grammatical inaccuracies and continual digressions of which I was +enabled to gather that he had noticed of late something very peculiar +about the conduct of Jacob Myers, who had appeared to exercise undue +influence and power over his brother Augustin; that, moreover, Jacob +had been seen by a third party drinking a glass of rum in the "Nag and +Beetle" in company with a well-known detective, and that, in final and +conclusive proof of some very fishy transactions on his part, three +undeniable half-crowns had been distinctly observed in his overcoat +pocket the previous week. "And how should he come by these by honest +means?" indignantly inquired Banter. "He says he's out of work, and he's +not got the courage to steal!" + +"'Ear, 'ear! Why pay rent to robber landlords?" the navvy, Armitage's +neighbour, ejaculated at this juncture, after which irrelevant inquiry +he spat defiance at Society. + +Then followed the speeches for the prosecution, if the use of such a +word may be permitted in connection with an Anarchist transaction. The +chief accusations made against Myers were his violent blood-and-thunder +speeches which he had in no wise carried out in action, but which he +had delivered under the eyes and in the hearing of the police who had +listened and seen it all with quite commendable Christian forbearance. +Besides this several sensational articles had appeared in the daily +press in connection with Augustin's death, exaggerating the importance +of the affair and hinting at dark plots; of which articles he was +suspected of being the author. Jacob was in fact accused of having egged +on his unfortunate brother to his doom in order that he might turn a +little money out of the transaction between newspaper reports and police +fees. It apparently mattered little to this modern Shylock whence came +his pound of flesh or what blood ran or congealed in its veins. + +Through all these statements and questions Myers sat in stolid and +insolent silence--occasionally whistling snatches of some music-hall +air. At last when reference was made to some chemicals which he was +alleged to have procured and handed on to his brother, he roused up from +his affected indifference and appealed to Armitage for assistance. "Dr. +Armitage knows," he exclaimed indignantly, "that I only procured the +sulphuric acid from him for domestic purposes." + +My eyes were riveted on the doctor's face, and only to one who knew him +well could the expression be at all decipherable. To me it distinctly +denoted disappointment--that humiliating sense of disappointment +and disillusion which must invariably come upon a man of strong and +fanatical convictions when brought into contact with the meanness and +cowardice of his fellows. + +Dr. Armitage was a fanatic and an idealist, and two convictions were +paramount in his mind at this time: the necessity and the justice of the +"propaganda by force" doctrine preached by the more advanced Anarchists, +and the absolute good faith and devotion to principle of the men +with whom he was associated. A man of the Myers type was quite +incomprehensible to him. Not for a single instant had Armitage hesitated +to throw open the doors of his Harley Street establishment to the +Anarchists: to him the cause was everything, and interests, prudence, +prospects, all had to give way before it. And here was this man who had +professed the same principles as himself, with whom he had discoursed +freely on the necessity of force, who had openly advocated dynamite +in his presence--this man who had spoken of the revolution and the +regeneration of Society with the same warmth as himself--talking of +"domestic purposes," and ready to recant all that he had preached and +said. And what lay behind this reticence and these denials? Treachery of +the basest kind, and the most sordid, abominable calculations which it +was possible to conceive. + +These thoughts I read in the doctor's face, and turning my eyes from +him to the abject Jacob I could only wonder at the naive sincerity of +Armitage, which could ever have laid him open to such illusions and +disillusions. + +After some seconds' hesitation Armitage replied: "I do not desire or +intend to go into any details here concerning my past conversations +or relations with Jacob Myers, neither do I consider myself in any way +bound to discuss here the motives which prompted, or which I thought +prompted his actions, and the requests he made of me. As Anarchists +we have not the right to judge him, and all we can do is to refuse +to associate ourselves any further with him, which I, for one, shall +henceforth do. The knowledge of his own abominable meanness should be +punishment enough for Myers." + +The doctor's words were received with very general approval. + +"Armitage is perfectly right," said Carter. "We Anarchists cannot +pretend to judge our fellows, but we can form our own opinions and act +accordingly. Myers' conduct proves him to be no better than a spy; we of +the _Bomb_ can have no further relations with him." + +"Damn about judging and not judging," exclaimed a sturdy-looking docker. +"All I know is that if Myers does not quickly clear out of the _Bomb_ +I'll kick him out. He ought to be shot. I don't pretend to understand +none of these nice distinctions. I call a spade a spade, and if...." + +"'Ear,'ear! Down with ..." commenced Elliot again, and Jacob opened his +mouth to speak, but he was saved from any further need of self-defence +or explanation, for at this moment the door of the office was broken +rudely open and there entered like a hurricane a veritable fury in +female form--a whirlwind, a tornado, a ravening wolf into a fold of +lambs. This formidable apparition, which proved to be none other than +the wife of the suspected Myers, amid a volley of abuse and oaths +delivered in the choicest Billingsgate, pounced down on her ill-used +husband, denounced Anarchy and the Anarchists--their morals, their +creeds, their hellish machinations; she called on Jehovah to chastise, +nay, utterly to destroy them, and soundly rated her consort for ever +having associated with such scoundrels. And thus this formidable +preacher of dynamite and disaster was borne off in mingled triumph and +disgrace by his indignant spouse. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A POLICE SCARE + + +I left the office of the _Bomb_ towards 1 A.M., undecided whether +to weep or to laugh at what I had witnessed there. This, my first +introduction into an English Anarchist circle had certainly not been +very encouraging, but I was too deeply persuaded of the truth and +justice of the Anarchist doctrines to be deterred by such a beginning, +and I did not for one instant waver from my resolve to enter and take +part in the "movement." That some insincere and dishonest men and some +fools should also play their part in it I from the first recognised +as inevitable, but I could not see that this affected the Anarchist +principles or rendered it less necessary for those believing in them +to advocate and spread them. Dr. Armitage accompanied me part of my way +home and we talked the matter over _en route_. "Why trouble ourselves," +he exclaimed, "about a few unprincipled men in such a wide, such a +universal movement? Our objects and ideals are too far above such +considerations to allow us to be influenced by them. Men like Myers are +but the outcome of unnatural and vitiated conditions; they are produced +by the very society which it is our object to abolish--as all manner +of disease is produced by vitiated air. With better conditions such men +will disappear; nay, the very possibility of their existence will be +gone." + +"But in the meantime," I rejoined, "they are surely damaging our Cause, +and scenes like the one we have just witnessed would, if known to the +public, bring our party into ridicule and discredit." + +"The Cause is too great and too high to be influenced by such men or +such scenes," answered the doctor with conviction. "Moreover it is our +duty to bring fresh blood and life into the party, so that no place will +be left to renegades of the Myers type." + +And in face of Armitage's unswerving faith and optimism my moment of +disgust and perplexity passed, and I felt more than ever determined to +bring my quota of time and strength to the propagation of the Anarchist +ideals. "I have only seen a very limited and narrow circle," I said +to myself; "the field is wide, and I only know one obscure and unclean +corner of it. I cannot judge from this night's experience." + +As far as the squalor of the men and their surroundings was concerned, +although it was at first something of a shock to me, I did not allow +myself to be disconcerted on its account. I had no desire or ambition to +be a mere dilettante Socialist, and as dirt and squalor had to be faced, +well, I was ready to face them. A famous Russian writer has described +a strange phase through which the Russian youth passed not many years +since, the "V. Narod" ("To the People!") movement, when young men +and girls by the thousands, some belonging to the highest classes +in society, fled from their families, tore themselves free from all +domestic and conventional yokes, persuaded that it was their duty to +serve the cause of the masses, and that in no way could they better +accomplish this object than by settling in the people's midst, living +their life, taking part in their work. I was passing through a similar +phase of mental evolution. + +I felt a strong desire to free myself from all the ideas, customs, and +prejudices which usually influence my class, to throw myself into the +life and the work of the masses. Thus it was that I worked hard to learn +how to compose and print, that I might be of use to the Cause in the +most practical manner of all--the actual production of its literature. +Thus it was also that I resolutely hardened myself against any +instinctive sentiments of repulsion which the unclean and squalid +surroundings of the people might raise in me. I remember reading an +article by Tolstoi which appeared in the English press, dealing with +the conditions of the Russian _moujik_, in which he clearly and +uncompromisingly stated that in order to tackle the social problem, it +is necessary to tackle dirt and vermin with it. If you desire to reach +your _moujik_ you must reach him _a travers_ his dirt and his parasites: +if you are disinclined to face these, then leave your _moujik_ alone. It +was in fact a case of "take me, take my squalor." I determined to take +both. + +Dr. Armitage left me at the corner of Oxford Circus, but before I had +taken many steps farther, I heard him suddenly turn round, and in an +instant he had come up with me again. + +"By the way, Isabel," he exclaimed, "I was quite forgetting to mention +something I had done, to which I trust you will not object. You know +how full up my place is just now with hard-up comrades. Well I took the +liberty to send on to you a young Scotchman, I forget his name, who +has just tramped up from the North; a most interesting fellow, rather +taciturn, but with doubtless a good deal in him. He had nowhere to pass +the night, poor chap, and no money, so I told him that if he waited on +your doorstep some time after midnight you would be certain to give him +a night's lodgings when you returned. Did I do right?" and the doctor's +kindly face beamed with the look of a man who expected approbation. + +"Ye--es," I gasped out, somewhat taken aback, "quite right, of course;" +for I felt that any hesitation would be feeble, a mere relic of +bourgeois prejudice. + +And, sure enough, on reaching my domicile, I found installed on the +doorstep a most uncouth and villainous-looking tramp. Taciturn he +certainly was, for he scarcely opened his mouth to say "Good-evening," +and indeed during the three days of his residence with me he hardly +ever articulated a sound. As I was getting out my latch-key the local +policeman chanced to pass: "That fellow has been hanging about for the +last hours, miss," he said to me. "Shall I remove him for you?" + +"Certainly not," I replied firmly, and opening the door, I requested +my unknown comrade to enter. I can still see in my mind's eye that +constable's face. It looked unutterable things. + +After conducting the tramp to the pantry, and letting him loose on a +cold pigeon-pie and other viands, and finally installing him on the +study sofa, I retired to my own apartment, well prepared to enjoy a good +night's rest. + +This was destined, however, to be of short duration. Towards 6.30 I was +roused from sleep by a loud rat-tat at the front door and, the servants +not being up at such an hour, and suspecting that this early visit +was in some way connected with the Anarchists, I hastily slipped on a +wrapper and ran downstairs. + +On opening the door I found one of the members of the previous night's +meeting, the taciturn hero of the potato tragedy. + +"It's rather early to disturb you," he began, "but I came to let you +know that last night, after you had all gone, Comrades Banter and +O'Flynn were arrested." + +"Arrested!" I exclaimed, as yet unused to such incidents; "why, what on +earth are they charged with?" + +"Well," answered Carter, "the charge is not yet very clear, but so +far as we can understand, it is in some way connected with the Myers +business. They are charged with manufacturing explosives, or something +of the sort. The fact is, the police and Jacob Myers are at the bottom +of the whole matter, and Banter, O'Flynn, and Augustin have all played +into their hands." + +"Come in here," I interrupted, leading the way to the dining-room. "Let +us sit down and talk the matter over together;" and we entered, Carter +casting a distinctly disapprobatory glance at the "bourgeois luxury" of +this apartment. + +As soon as we were seated my companion returned to the question of the +moment. "I fear," he said, "that it is rather a serious affair for the +comrades. That Myers is a police emissary there can no longer be any +reasonable doubt, and the death of his brother is clear proof that he +has not been wasting his time lately. And it is only too likely that +the same hand which provided Augustin with explosives may have placed +similar material in the possession of Banter and O'Flynn." + +"How abominable!" I exclaimed indignantly. + +"Yes, but Anarchists should not be stupid enough to take any one into +their confidence in such matters," returned Carter. "It is merely +encouraging _mouchards_ and police plots. However, the question now +is--What can be done to help the comrades out of the mess?" + +"I am willing to do my best," I answered; "only tell me how I can be of +use." + +"You can be of great use, if you care to be," answered Carter. "A +barrister must be procured to defend them, witnesses must be found, +money procured (and here he cast a side-glance at my plate), and some +one ought to interview the comrades in Holloway, and take some food to +the poor fellows." + +"I am quite willing to do my best in all these matters," I answered +enthusiastically. + +Carter stayed some little while longer instructing me in the various +things I was to do, and then left me, retiring presumably to his double +bed again, for I saw no more of him till long after the trial was over. +He had handed the work over to me, and doubtless felt that so far as he +was personally concerned his responsibilities were at an end. + +As soon as the morning papers arrived I scanned them eagerly and from +them learned further particulars of the arrest. A widespread conspiracy +was suspected, the object of which was to blow up the West End of +London, and leaders were devoted to the denunciation of the Anarchists +and their infamous teachings. Explosives, it was alleged, had been found +in the possession of the arrested men, "evidently destined to carry +into effect the deadly work which was only stopped by the hand of God in +Queen's Park three weeks ago." + +Having disposed of a hasty breakfast, I left the house, and my morning +was spent in places which were new and strange to me--Holloway Jail, +the Old Jewry, and the Middle Temple. Holloway Prison was my first +destination, for before any other steps could be taken it was necessary +to ascertain what views the prisoners themselves held as to the course +to be adopted in their defence. + +I awaited my turn in the prison waiting-room along with a motley crowd +of other visitors--burglars' and forgers' wives, pickpockets' mates, and +the mother of a notorious murderer among others. Their language was not +very choice when addressing the jailers, but sympathetic enough when +talking among themselves and inquiring of one another, "What's your man +up for?" or, "How did your mate get copped?" I felt painfully conscious +of the tameness of my reply: "It's a friend: incitement to murder." How +far more respectable murder itself would have sounded in the midst of +such superior crime! + +One burglar's spouse confided to me that her husband had been "at it +for years, but this was the first time he'd been copped:" which latter +incident she seemed to consider an unpardonable infringement of the +privileges and rights of citizenship. She was a bright buxom little +woman and had evidently flourished on his plunder. + +In striking contrast to the burglar's wife, I noticed the daughter of a +would-be suicide, a tall, beautiful girl, who formed a pathetic +contrast to her surroundings. Her unfortunate father--an unsuccessful +musician--had succumbed in the struggle for an honest life, and the +cares of a large family had driven him to desperation. As I gazed at the +poor girl with her tear-swollen eyes and noted her extreme thinness +and the shabbiness of her well-worn clothes, and as, from her, my eyes +turned to the cheerful burglar's wife, I meditated on the superiority of +virtue over dishonesty--especially in the reward accorded to it. + +At last, having stated my name, the name of my prisoner, the +relationship or lack of relationship between us, and declared my +non-connection with the case, and having received a tin number in +return for this information, I was ushered through various passages and +apartments into a kind of dark cage, separated by a narrow passage from +a still darker one, in the depths of which I perceived my Anarchist, +O'Flynn, as soon as my eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness. I had +several questions to ask him during the few minutes at our disposal, +and conversation was anything but easy; for on all sides of me other +prisoners and their relatives were talking, weeping, arguing, disputing, +and shouting one another down with all their might and lungs. + +Two things struck me in Holloway Prison on this my first visit to such +a place. Firstly, the outward cleanliness, and I might almost say +pleasantness, of the place; and secondly, the illogical nature of the +law which treats the unconvicted men, who in its eyes are consequently +innocent, like convicted criminals. Nothing could be more uncomfortable +and unattractive than the conditions under which the detained men are +allowed to see their relatives; no privacy of any sort is allowed them, +the time allotted is of the briefest, and only one visitor a day is +permitted to pass. The censorship over books allowed is very strict and +hopelessly stupid, and altogether everything is made as uncomfortable as +possible for those under detention. + +Later in the course of my Anarchist career I had occasion to visit +Newgate on a similar errand, and was struck by the same incongruity in +the system. The external impression made by Newgate was very different, +however. + +There is no suggestion of pleasantness about Newgate. It strikes you +indeed as the threshold of the gallows, and is calculated to arouse +qualms in the most strenuous upholder of capital punishment. A constant +sense of gloom is settled like a pall over the whole building, blacker +even than the soot and grime which encrust it. Inside, the dreary +atmosphere is ominous of the constant vicinity of the hangman's drop, +doors seem for ever to be swinging heavily and locking, keys and chains +clanking, and over all the uncompromising flagstaff looms like an +embodied threat. + +After my many dreary wanderings round London, the clambering in and +out of omnibuses and other vehicles, and prison interviews, I found the +old-world tranquillity of the Temple quite a relief. + +Here began a new order of search. I had to find a barrister, and that +without delay. But how, whom, and in what court or lane did the right +man dwell? During one brief moment indeed my thoughts turned towards our +family solicitor as a possible counsellor in this matter, but only to be +promptly diverted into other channels. That worthy gentleman's feelings +would certainly not have withstood so rude a shock. I could picture him, +in my mind's eye, slowly removing his gold pince-nez and looking at me +in blank but indulgent surprise, as at one who had suddenly taken leave +of her senses. No, this would never do. Barristers by the score must +surely reside in the labyrinths of the Temple, and I determined to seek +one first hand. + +And thus it was that, after some little hesitation, I finally ascended +the stairs of a house in Fig Tree Court in the hope that J. B. +Armstrong, Esq., selected at random, might answer my purpose. + +The clerk who opened the door looked politely surprised at my appearance +and inquired my business, into which I promptly plunged headfirst. His +eyebrows gradually ascended higher and higher into the regions of his +hair, and his face grew stern and sad as I proceeded. "Allow me to +inquire," he interrupted, "the name of the solicitor who is instructing +the case." + +"I have not got a solicitor," I replied, somewhat taken aback. + +Then he re-opened the door. "I feel confident, madam, that Mr. Armstrong +would not care to undertake such a case. Good morning." + +I retired from this gentleman's presence neither bent nor broken, though +slightly disappointed. "So it is usual to engage a solicitor first," I +reflected, "and to communicate through him with the barrister, is it? +Well, a solicitor can't be afforded here and we must do without him." +The Anarchist in me revolted at such red-tapeism. "Well, here's for +another plunge," I said to myself; "let us try a B this time. C. +Bardolph sounds promising." And I ascended another staircase and knocked +at another inhospitable door. + +Mr. Bardolph I saw in person, a very pompous gentleman with manners the +reverse of polite. He could scarcely contain his outraged feelings when +it came to the question of the solicitor. "I can have no connection +with such a case," he said firmly, and I again retired, feeling quite +disreputable. + +My next defeat occurred in the chambers of Mr. Anthony C. Frazer. No +sooner did my eyes fall on that gentleman than I regretted my entry, and +the utter hopelessness of my mission was borne in upon my mind, for I +was beginning to realise the difficulties of the situation and to scent +failure in the very air. Mr. Frazer requested me to be seated and eyed +me curiously, as though I were some queer zoological specimen recently +escaped from captivity, and listened with an incredulous smile to my +narrative. He did not even wait for the missing solicitor. "This is +scarcely in my line, madam," he said, rising. "You have certainly made +some mistake." And he left his clerk to accompany me to the door. + +I descended the stairs from this gentleman's chambers feeling distinctly +crestfallen and tired, and at my wits' ends as to where next to go, +when, turning the corner into another court, I became aware of rapid +footsteps in my pursuit, and next moment I was overtaken by the youth +who had ushered me out from the scene of my last defeat. + +"I think, miss," he began, "that I can direct you to a--er--barrister +who would just do for your business. On no account say that I +recommended you to him, or you will get me into trouble. But you try +Mr. Curtis in Brick Court. He undertakes the defence of burglars +and swindlers and all sorts of people, and you'll find him cheap and +satisfactory." + +I thanked the youth, and although this did not strike me as altogether +the most promising introduction, I thought it best to try my luck +in this new direction, and, having at length discovered the house, I +ascended the three rickety flights of stairs which led to Mr. Curtis's +apartment and entered. + +This Curtis was a small, wizened old man, of obsolete cut, but +with remarkably up-to-date manners, and a pair of keen little eyes, +penetrating as Roentgen rays. His hair was weedy, and his clothes snuffy +and ill-fitting; but spite of this there was something uncommonly +brisk and wide awake about the little man, and a certain business-like +directness in his manner which impressed me favourably. I felt hopeful +at once. + +One of the first remarks he addressed to me--for we primarily discussed +the financial aspect of his services--struck me by reason of its +uncompromising common sense. "Five guineas down and another three next +Tuesday, miss, and I make no inquiry where the money comes from," he +said, "not so long as it is the current coin of the realm and paid +punctually. Without this, however, I cannot undertake or proceed with +the case." + +On my immediately producing the required sum he requested me to be +seated, and sitting down opposite me himself, he asked me for full +particulars of the case. These I gave him to the best of my ability and +he took notes. + +The question of witnesses he tackled with the same uncompromising lack +of veneer which had characterised his remarks on the money question. +"Witnesses to character and so forth must be found," he said, "the +more authentic and reputable the better, but at all costs they must be +procured. Whom can you suggest?" + +I confessed that I could for the moment think of nobody. + +"You will think of somebody," he replied persuasively, "you _must_ +remember somebody," and there was that in his voice which did not brook +or encourage contradiction, "some one in a respectable position, of +course," he continued, "a man pursuing one of the liberal professions, +or a business man of means. Plenty of doctors and professional men +among your people, are there not? The evidence of such a man would +carry weight. The court's belief in a witness's veracity is, generally +speaking, proportionate to his means. Doubtless you will be able to +think of a desirable man ... who knows the prisoners," he added, rapidly +turning over his notes, and speaking in such a manner as to convey to +me the idea that the exact extent of the witness's knowledge of the +prisoners was not of any very great consequence, so long as he was +prepared to swear to their respectability, and that his banking account +and general appearance were satisfactory. + +"I will look round and let you know the result to-morrow," I answered. + +"Good," replied Curtis, "two witnesses at least, and men of position and +education at all costs. Good afternoon." + +I had enough to do during the remainder of the day in finding those +witnesses, but found they were at last, though not without a tremendous +effort on my part and some considerable degree of ingenuity. When +attired in some of my brother Raymond's discarded clothes, and +produced for Curtis's inspection the following day, they really made +a respectable couple, and I felt proud of them--one a physician of +superior accomplishments and aristocratic appearance, the other a +master-tailor, of prosperous if not very _distingue_ presence. I +likewise discovered a cabman who had been present in Hyde Park at an +allegedly incriminating speech made by Banter; and on jogging his memory +with a little whisky he distinctly recalled several points valuable to +the defence. + +Up till the very day of the trial my time was kept well occupied with +such errands. Indeed, remarkable as the fact may appear, practically the +whole labour of preparing the defence devolved upon me. + +It was neither an easy nor a very encouraging task. The greater number +of the English Anarchists mysteriously disappeared at this approach of +danger. Mindful of the truth of the axiom that discretion is the better +part of valour, A thought it well to suddenly recollect his duties +towards his family; B discovered that he had a capacious stomach, which +required feeding; C, that the Anarchist policy was in discord with his +own true principles. At such a moment, therefore, and surrounded, or +rather unsurrounded by such men, the task in front of me was not easy, +and in the actual state of public opinion it was not very hopeful +either. + +Public feeling was against the Anarchists. So long as violence and +outrage had been reserved entirely for the benefit of foreign climes, +the British public had regarded the Anarchists with tolerance and +equanimity. But the mysterious death of Myers had alarmed and disquieted +it, and heavy sentences were generally invoked against the prisoners. + +That the whole conspiracy was a got-up affair between Jacob Myers and +the police was evident. Neither Banter nor O'Flynn was a dangerous +man; a little loud and exaggerated talk was the utmost extent of their +harmfulness. Neither of them was any better capable of making a bomb +than of constructing a flying-machine, and they were less capable of +throwing it than of flying. But political detectives would have a slow +time of it in this country unless they occasionally made a vigorous +effort on their own behalf, and an unscrupulous and impecunious man like +Myers proved a valuable tool to help such gentlemen along, and fools of +the Banter type suitable victims. + +And thus it was that these two men now found themselves in the dock with +twelve serious-minded tradesmen sitting in solemn conclave to consider +their crimes. + +The trial itself was a ridiculous farce. Jacob Myers, who would have +been the one witness of any importance, was not subpoenaed; he had in +fact discreetly quitted the country under his wife's escort. The police, +with imperturbable gravity, brought ginger-beer bottles into court which +had been found in O'Flynn's apartment, and which, they averred, could be +converted into very formidable weapons of offence. Many gaseous speeches +made by the prisoners, or attributed to them, were solemnly brought up +against them, and a shudder ran through the court at the mention of such +phrases as "wholesale assassination" and "war to the death." + +The evidence, however, sufficed to impress the jury with the extreme +gravity of the case and to alarm the public, and the prisoners were +found guilty. + +I well recollect the last day of the trial, which I attended +throughout in more or less remote regions of the Old Bailey, recruiting +recalcitrant witnesses, sending food in to the defendants, &c. Two other +cases were being tried at the same time, one of which was a particularly +revolting murder, for which three persons were on trial. The prisoners' +relatives were waiting below in a state of painful excitement. "Guilty +or not guilty," was on all their lips, "release or penal servitude, life +or death, which was it to be?" Friends were constantly running in and +out of the court giving the women news of the progress of the trials. +"It is looking black for the prisoners!" "There is more hope!" "There is +no hope!" and finally "guilty" in all the cases was reported. The wife +of a horrible German murderer who had strangled his employer's wife, +while a female accomplice played the piano to divert her children's +attention from her cries, swooned away at the news. O'Flynn's old mother +went into hysterics and became quite uncontrollable in her grief when, +a few minutes later the news, "Five years' penal servitude," was brought +down. + + + +CHAPTER V + +TO THE RESCUE + + +The first weeks of my experience in the Anarchist camp had flown by with +astounding rapidity. The chapter of my experiences had opened with the +expulsion of an alleged spy and _agent provocateur_, and had closed with +a sentence of penal servitude passed on two of my new-found comrades. +Between these two terminal events I seemed to have lived ages, and so I +had, if, as I hold, experience counts for more than mere years. Holloway +and Newgate, Slater's Mews and the Middle Temple, barristers and +solicitors, judges and juries and detectives; appointments in queer +places to meet queer people--all this had passed before me with the +rapidity of a landscape viewed from the window of an express train; and +now that the chapter had closed, I found that it was but the preface to +the real business I had set my shoulder to. + +The morning after the conclusion of the trial I met Armitage by +appointment, and together we wended our way towards Slater's Mews. The +doctor was preoccupied, and for some minutes we proceeded in silence; +the problem of what to do with the _Bomb_ was evidently weighing on +his mind. At last he spoke: "It is our duty," he said, "to see that +the movement be not unduly crippled by the loss of these two men. Poor +fellows, they are doing their duty by the Cause, and we must not shirk +ours. The _Bomb_ must be kept going at all costs; we can ill afford to +lose two workers just now, but the loss of the paper would be a yet more +severe blow to our movement. How thankful I am that you are with us! +It is always so. The governments think to crush us by imprisoning or +murdering our comrades, and for one whom they take from us ten come to +the fore. I am sure you must agree with me as to the paper." + +"I quite agree with you in the main," I replied, "but I fear that the +_Bomb_ itself is past hope. It strikes me it had got into somewhat +bad hands, and I fear it would be useless to try to set it on its feet +again. It is hardly fair to a paper to give it a Jacob Myers for editor. +Really it seems to me to have died a natural death. The entire staff +has disappeared--Myers, the editor; Banter, the publisher; O'Flynn, the +printer--who remains? where are the others? It seems to me they have all +vanished and left no trace behind." + +"Oh, that is hardly the case, I think," said the doctor in a tone +of deprecation. "I went up to the office last night and found Short +sleeping on the premises." + +"Short? Is not he the man whom I first saw wrapped in the red flag of +glory?" + +"Yes, that is the man; perhaps his appearance is somewhat +disadvantageous, but he is constant to the Cause, anyhow." + +"Well, I should not have thought him much of a staff to lean on; still, +appearances are often deceptive. But, anyhow, do you not think it would +be advisable to start a new paper, rather than to attempt to galvanise a +corpse?" + +"The idea would not be a bad one; in fact I think you are right, quite +right," returned Armitage. "It is not wise to put new wine into old +skins. Anyhow, here we are, I dare say other comrades have mustered in +the office who will have something to say in the matter." + +We had now reached our destination, and passing the curious scrutiny of +several cabmen and scavengers assembled at the entrance of the mews, we +prepared to ascend the break-neck ladder leading to the office. I had +but put my foot on the first step when I heard the loud yelping of a dog +followed by a string of oaths, and the office door opened, emitting a +tall brawny man in shirt-sleeves with a very red face and close-cropped +hair, who appeared holding out at arm's length a pair of tongs which +gripped some repulsive-looking fronts and collars. On seeing me, he +exclaimed, "Take care," and proceeded to drop the objects on a heap of +rubbish below. We were both somewhat surprised at this apparition, but +realised without difficulty that the office was still in the possession +of the police. They were, in fact, contrary to the doctor's expectation, +the sole occupants of the place. The comrades had not seen fit so far to +muster round the paper. To say there was none, however, is an injustice, +for there on the sofa, still huddled in the red flag, lay Short, +apparently little affected by what had taken place since I last saw him. +He had been aroused from his slumbers by the yelping of his dog, whose +tail had been trodden on by one of the detectives, and he had raised +himself on his elbow, and was looking round, uttering curses volubly. +He nodded slightly on seeing us enter, but did not change his position. +There he lay, quite heroic in his immovable sloth; of all the many +fighters he alone remained staunch at his post; and that because he was +positively too lazy to move away from it. + +Dr. Armitage on entering had gone up to one of the three detectives and +spoken to him, and the man now turned to me. + +"We are just having a final look round before leaving, miss," he +remarked. "It is not at all pleasant work, I assure you, to be put in to +search such a filthy place. Look there," he exclaimed, pointing at the +recumbent Short with his outstretched tongs. "I shall have to burn every +rag I have on when it is over, and I'd advise you to be careful," and he +resumed his occupation, which consisted in raking out some old papers, +while his two companions, having contrived to resume an official +appearance, prepared to leave. + +The police once gone Dr. Armitage and I found ourselves in sole +possession of the office and the lethargic Short. It was no sinecure, to +be sure. Heaps of "pie," some due to the police and some to Banter, who +previous to his arrest had put his foot through several "forms" which it +was inadvisable to let fall into the hands of the police, encumbered the +floor. Everything was intensely chaotic and intensely dirty, from the +type cases and the other scanty belongings to the dormant compositor. +Armitage understood nothing of printing and I very little, and there we +stood in the midst of a disorganised printing-office whence all had fled +save only the unsavoury youth on the couch. I looked at Armitage and +Armitage looked at me, and such was the helpless dismay depicted in our +faces that we both broke into a laugh. + +"Well," I said at last, "what shall we do? Suggest something. We cannot +stay on here." + +"The only thing I can think of," he rejoined after a pause, "is that +I should go around and look up some of the comrades at their addresses +whilst you remain here and get Short to help you put up the type, &c., +as best you can, so that we may remove it all elsewhere. Here certainly +nothing can be done and we must start our new paper amidst new +surroundings." + +"So you are thinking of starting a new paper?" + +We looked round, surprised at this interruption, for Short had +apparently returned to his slumbers, but we now saw that he had emerged +from the banner and was standing behind us, fully dressed (I discovered +later on that he had discarded dressing and undressing as frivolous +waste of time), a queer uncouth figure with his long touzled black hair +and sallow, unhealthy face. He had a short clay pipe firmly set between +his teeth, and his large lips were parted in a smile. He held his head +slightly on one side, and his whole attitude was somewhat deprecatory +and cringing. + +"Well," said the doctor, "Isabel and I think that would be the best +plan. You see the _Bomb_ seems thoroughly disorganised, and we think +it would be easier and better to start afresh. I was just saying that I +would go round and hunt up some of the comrades and get their views on +the subject." + +"Oh," rejoined Short, "you can save yourself that trouble. One half of +them will accuse you of being a police spy, the others will be ill or +occupied--in short, will have some excuse for not seeing you. They +are all frightened out of their lives. Since the arrest of Banter and +O'Flynn I have not seen one of them near the place, though I have been +here all the time." + +This remark confirmed what we both half suspected; and as Short, who by +right of possession seemed authorised to speak on behalf of the _Bomb_, +seemed willingly to fall in with our idea of starting a new paper, +taking it for granted--which I was not exactly prepared for--that he +would install himself in the new premises as compositor, we decided to +take practical steps towards the move. Short informed us that six weeks' +rent was owing, and that the landlord threatened a distraint if his +claims were not immediately satisfied; and in spite of the advice, +"Don't pay rent to robber landlords," which stared us in the face, +inscribed in bright red letters on the wall, I and Armitage between us +sacrificed the requisite sum to the Cause. + +Whilst we were discussing these matters the dog warned us by a prolonged +bark that some one was approaching, and the new-comer soon appeared. He +greeted Short, who introduced him to us as Comrade M'Dermott. He shot a +scrutinising glance at us from his keen grey eyes and proceeded to shake +hands with friendly warmth. + +He was a very small man, certainly not more than five feet high, thin +and wiry, with grey hair and moustache, but otherwise clean-shaven. His +features were unusually expressive and mobile from his somewhat scornful +mouth to his deep-set, observant eyes, and clearly denoted the absence +of the stolid Saxon strain in his blood. His accent too, though not that +of an educated man, was quite free from the hateful Cockney twang. His +dress was spare as his figure, but though well worn there was something +spruce and trim about his whole demeanour which indicated that he was +not totally indifferent to the impression he created on others. He +looked round the "office," took a comprehensive glance at Short, who was +occupying the only available stool and smoking hard with a meditative +air, and then walked over to me, and addressing me in an undertone, with +the same ease as if he had known me all my life, he said, with a twinkle +in his eye, jerking his head in the direction of Short, "There's a +rotten product of a decaying society, eh?" This remark was so unexpected +and yet so forcibly true, that I laughed assent. + +"So you're the only ones up here," he continued. "I expected as much +when I heard of the raid on the office. I was up in the North doing a +little bit of peddling round the country, when I read the news, and +I thought I'd come to London to see what was up. What do you think of +doing with the paper anyway? It seems a pity the old _Bomb_ should die. +It would mean the loss of the only revolutionary organ in England." + +"Oh, it must not die," I replied, "or at least if it cannot be kept up, +another paper must take its place. Comrade Armitage agrees with me in +thinking that that would be the best plan. You see this place looks +altogether hopeless." + +Armitage, who had been engaged in looking over some papers, now joined +us and the conversation became general. + +"Well, how did you get on up North?" inquired Short, who seemed to wake +up to a sense of actuality. "How did you hit it off with young Jackson? +Did you find him of much use?" + +"Use!" retorted M'Dermott with an infinite depth of scorn in his voice. +"A fat lot of use he was. If it was a matter of putting away the grub, +I can tell you he worked for two, but as to anything else, he made me +carry his pack as well as my own, on the pretext that he had sprained +his ankle, and his only contribution to the firm was a frousy old +scrubbing-brush which he sneaked from a poor woman whilst I was selling +her a ha'p'orth of pins. He seemed to think he'd done something mighty +grand--'expropriation' he called it; pah, those are your English +revolutionists!" and he snorted violently. + +Short gave vent to an unpleasing laugh. He always seemed to take +pleasure at any proof of meanness or cowardice given by his fellows. +Armitage looked pained. "Such things make us long for the Revolution," +he said. "This rotten society which breeds such people must be swept +away. We must neglect no means to that end, and our press is one. So now +let's set to work to move the plant and start a new paper, as we seem +all agreed to that plan. Who'll go and look for a suitable workshop?" + +Short volunteered, but M'Dermott scouted the idea, declaring that the +mere sight of him would be enough to frighten any landlord, and this we +all, including Short, felt inclined to agree with. At last we decided +to fall in with M'Dermott's suggestion that he and I should sally forth +together. "You see, my dear," he said with almost paternal benevolence, +"you will be taken for my grand-daughter and we shall soften the heart +of the most obdurate landlord." + +The field of our researches was limited by a few vital considerations. +The rent must not be high. For the present anyhow, the expenses of +the paper would have to be defrayed by Armitage and myself. Short had +proposed himself as printer and compositor, on the tacit understanding +of free board and lodging, and the right to make use of the plant +for his own purposes; I was willing to give my time to the material +production of the paper, and to contribute to its maintenance to the +best of my ability; and Armitage's time and means were being daily more +and more absorbed by the propaganda, to the detriment of his practice; +but he was not of those who can palter with their conscience. The +individual initiative inculcated by Anarchist principles implied +individual sacrifices. Another consideration which limited our choice +was that the office must be fairly central, and not too far from my +home, as, spite of my enthusiasm for Anarchy, I could not wholly neglect +household duties. We talked over these points as we walked along, and +M'Dermott suggested Lisson Grove, where a recent epidemic of smallpox +had been raging, as likely to be a fairly cheap neighbourhood, but after +tramping about and getting thoroughly weary, we had to acknowledge that +there was nothing for us in that quarter. We were both hungry and tired, +and M'Dermott suggested a retreat to a neighbouring Lockhart's. Seated +before a more than doubtful cup of tea, in a grimy room, where texts +stared at us from the walls, we discussed the situation, and decided +to inquire about a workshop which we saw advertised, and which seemed +promising. Our destination led us out of the slummy wilderness into +which we had strayed, into cleaner and more wholesome quarters, and at +last we stopped before some quite imposing-looking premises. "We seem +destined to consort with the cabbing trade," I remarked; "the +last office was over a mews, this place seems to belong to a +carriage-builder." There was, however, no other connection between the +unsavoury mews and the aristocratic carriage-yard, whose proprietor, +resplendent in side-whiskers and a shiny chimney-pot hat, advanced +to meet us, a condescending smile diffusing his smug countenance. I +explained to him our object, and he showed us over the shop, which +consisted in a large loft, well lighted and fairly suitable, at the back +of the premises. + +In answer to Mr. White's inquiries, I informed him that I needed it as a +printing-office, for a small business I had, and he quite beamed on me, +evidently considering me a deserving young person, and expressed the +opinion that he had no doubt I should get on in that neighbourhood. + +M'Dermott, who was greatly enjoying the fun of the situation, here +broke in: "Yes, sir, my grand-daughter deserves success, sir; she's a +hardworking girl, is my poor Emily," and here he feigned to wipe away a +tear, whilst casting a most mischievous side-glance at me. + +"Dear, dear, very affecting, I'm sure," muttered the prosperous +carriage-builder. + +Everything was soon satisfactorily settled. I gave him my name and +address, and that of my brother's Socialist friend as a reference, and +we agreed that I should move in on the following Monday morning. + +Great was the amusement at Slater's Mews at the account of our +adventures, given with a few enlargements by M'Dermott. He had an +artist's soul, and would never consent to destroy the effect of a tale +by slavish subservience to facts. + +"Well, I fear he will find he has taken in wolves in sheep's clothing," +Armitage remarked; "anyhow, I am thankful that matter is settled and +that we can get to work without further delay. I met Kosinski, and he +has promised to give us a hand with the move. I shall not be able to be +here all the time as I have to attend an operation on Monday, but I will +put in an hour or two's work in the morning. I suppose I can get in if +I come here at five on Monday morning?" he said turning to Short who was +"dissing pie," his inseparable clay pipe still firmly set between his +yellow and decayed teeth. + +"Oh, yes. I shan't be up, but you can get in," the latter surlily +remarked. He was evidently no devotee of early hours. + +On Monday a hard day's work awaited me. At Slater's Mews I found the +poor doctor, who had already been there some two hours, packing up +the literature, tying up forms, and occasionally turning to Short for +instruction or advice. + +The latter, seated on a packing-case, was regaling himself on a bloater +and cheesecakes, having disposed of which he took up a flute and played +some snatches of music-hall melodies. He seemed quite unconcerned at +what took place around him, contenting himself with answering Armitage's +questions. Soon after I arrived on the scene Kosinski appeared. It was +the first time I had seen him since the memorable evening at Chiswick, +and I felt a little nervous in his presence, overcome by a half-guilty +fear lest he should think I was merely dallying, not working in true +earnest. I was conscious of my own sincerity of purpose, yet feared his +mental verdict on my actions, for I now realised that his uncompromising +words and scathing denunciation of dilettanteism had had much to do with +my recent conduct; more than all Armitage's enthusiastic propagandising, +much as I liked, and, indeed, admired the latter. Kosinski shook hands +with Armitage and Short. The latter had stepped forward and assumed an +air of unwonted activity, having pulled off his coat and rolled up his +shirt sleeves, and there he stood hammering up a form and whistling +"It ain't all Lavender"--very appropriate verses, considering the +surroundings. The Russian merely recognised my presence with a slight +bow, not discourteous, but characterised by none of the doctor's +encouraging benevolence; I, however, felt more honoured than snubbed, +and worked away with a will. + +"Well, I must be going," said Armitage; "it is nearly ten, and at +half-past eleven I have an appointment at a patient's house. You will +stay, won't you, Kosinski, and help our comrades to move the plant?" + +"I will do what I can," replied the Russian. "I do not understand +printing, but I will wheel the barrow, and do anything I may be told." + +"That's right. Well, good luck to you, comrades. I will try and get +round about five. I suppose you will then be at the new place?" + +"Oh, yes," I replied, "you will be in time to help us get things +ship-shape." + +"Well, good-bye, Isabel; good-bye, comrades," and he was off. + +For some time we all worked with a will. Kosinski was set to stowing +away the literature in packing-cases. Short "locked up" forms and +"dissed" pie, and I busied myself over various jobs. M'Dermott had +come round, and he stood at my elbow discussing the propaganda and +the situation generally. He was much rejoiced at the turn matters +were taking on the Continent, and deplored the lukewarmness of English +Anarchists. "You cannot have a revolution without revolutionists," was a +favourite phrase of his, and he was at no trouble to conceal his opinion +of most of the comrades. I was as yet too new to the movement and too +enthusiastic to endorse all his expressions, but the little man was +congenial to me; his Irish wit made him good company, and there was an +air of independent self-reliance about him that appealed to me. + +"That Kosinski's a good fellow," he continued. "He knows what Revolution +means. Not but what there is good material in England too, but it is +_raw_ material, ignorant and apathetic, hoodwinked and bamboozled by the +political humbugs." + +"Have you known Kosinski long?" I inquired, interrupting him, for I saw +he was fairly started on a long tirade. + +"Oh, some seven years," he replied. "He was over here in '87 at the time +of the unemployed riots; he and I were at the bottom of a lot of that +movement, and we should have had all London in revolt had it not been +for the palaver and soft-soap of the official labour-leaders. After that +he went to America, and has only been back in England some six months." + +Our preparations were now well advanced, and M'Dermott and I set out to +procure a barrow whereon to transport our belongings. + +I had expected on my return to find everything in readiness. Short had +spoken as if he would work wonders, and I had hoped that within an hour +we should be off. What was my surprise, then, to find that during the +half-hour of my absence a change had come o'er the scene. Instead of +the noise of the mallet locking up forms, the melodious notes of a flute +greeted my ear as I approached the office, and I must confess that my +heart sank, though I was not yet prepared for the truth. On entering +I found things just as I had left them, not a whit more advanced, but +Short was again seated, and opposite him lounged the weak-kneed youth +whom I had noted on the occasion of my first group-meeting, Simpkins by +name, as I had since found out; between them stood the small hand-press +which Short had promised to take to pieces for removal, on the "bed" of +which now stood three bottles of ginger-beer, a parcel of repulsive and +indigestible-looking pastry, and a packet of tobacco. My look of dismay +and surprise was answered by Short, who explained that his friend had +come up, bringing with him the wherewithal for this carouse; which +statement Simpkins supplemented by the information that he had been +occupied that week in "planting" an aunt and possessing himself of his +share of the good lady's property. + +"My married sister got in first, but father waited his opportunity, and +whilst they went out to 'ave a 'alf-pint at the pub round the corner, he +got in. They thought themselves mighty clever, for they had locked the +door and taken the key, but father got in by the scullery window +which they had forgotten to latch, and when they came back they found +themselves sold. The guv'nor's a sharp one, 'e is, but I was fly too; 'e +always keeps me short, grumbles 'cause I won't let myself be exploited +by the capitalists; but I did 'im this time. I 'ad a good old-fashioned +nose round whilst the guv'nor left me in charge whilst 'e went for a +drink, and I found ten bob the old girl 'ad 'idden away in a broken +teapot, so I just pocketed 'em. We planted 'er the day before yesterday; +she was insured for twelve quid, an' everything was done 'ansome. +Yesterday I felt awful bad, but to-day I thought I'd come an' see 'ow +the paiper was getting on." + +"Well, you see we're moving," I said. "If you care to give us a hand +you'll be welcome. Come, Short, the barrow's here; let's get the things +down." + +"Oh, I'm going to have a half-day off," was his cool reply; "I'm tired. +Armitage woke me up at five this morning, and I couldn't get any sleep +after he came, he made such a damned noise." + +"But surely you're going to help us get this move over; to-morrow you +can sleep all day if you like." + +"You can do as you like; I'm not going to move," was his only reply, +and he calmly filled his pipe and puffed luxuriously. Simpkins giggled +feebly; he evidently was wavering as to his proper course, but Short's +calm insolence won the day. + +I confess that at the moment I was blind to the humour of the situation. +I fancy people with a keen sense of humour are rarely enthusiasts; +certainly when I began to see the ludicrous side of much of what I had +taken to be the hard earnest of life, my revolutionary ardour cooled. +My indignation was ready to boil over; I could have wept or stamped with +annoyance. "Oh, but you _must_ help!" I exclaimed. "You promised. How +are we ever to do anything if you go on like this?" + +Short merely puffed at his pipe complacently. + +For the first time since his arrival Kosinski spoke. I had almost +forgotten his presence; he was working quietly, getting things ready, +and now he stepped forward. + +"The comrade is right," he said; "he does not want to work; leave him +alone; we can do very well without him. Let us get off at once. There is +enough ready to make a first load, anyhow." + +The calm indifference of Kosinski seemed to take some of the starch out +of Short, who looked more than foolish as he sat over his ginger-beer, +trying to feign interest in the flagging conversation with Simpkins. I +was relieved at the turn matters had taken, which threw the ridicule on +the other side, and before long we were ready, little M'Dermott having +made himself very useful, running actively up and down the ladder laden +with parcels. We must have looked a queer procession as we set off. The +long stooping figure of Kosinksi, wrapped in his inseparable dark-blue +overcoat, his fair hair showing from under his billycock hat, pushing +the barrow, heavily laden with type-cases and iron forms, packets of +literature and reams of printing paper; I in my shabby black dress and +sailor hat, bearing the furled-up banner, and M'Dermott following on +behind, carrying with gingerly care a locked-up form of type, the work +of poor Armitage, which was in imminent danger of falling to pieces in +the middle of the street. We found that quite a crowd of loafers of both +sexes, the habitues of the "Myrtle Grove Tavern," had assembled outside +to witness our departure, and, as I never missed an opportunity to +spread the light, I distributed among them some hand-bills entitled +"What is Anarchy?" regardless of their decidedly hostile attitude. The +London loafer has little wit or imagination, and their comments did +not rise above the stale inquiry as to where we kept our bombs, and the +equally original advice bestowed upon Kosinksi to get 'is 'air cut. A +half-hour's walk brought us to our destination, but our Odyssey was not +so soon to end. The man who accompanied the carriage-builder when he +showed us over the shop was waiting at the entrance to the yard, and, +recognising me, he asked me to step into the office. He had a rather +scared appearance, but I did not notice this particularly at the moment, +and supposing that Mr. White wanted to give me the keys I told my +friends I should be back in a minute. The carriage-builder was awaiting +me in the little office where he usually received his fashionable +clients. He was still the self-same consequential figure, resplendent +in broadcloth and fine linen, but the benevolent smile had vanished from +his unctuous features, and he looked nervous and ill at ease. + +"I am sorry to say, Miss Meredith," he began, "that I find I am unable +to let you the shop. I much regret having caused you inconvenience, but +it is quite impossible." + +This was a staggerer for me. Everything had been settled. What could +have happened? + +"What on earth does this mean?" I exclaimed. "Why, Saturday evening you +called at my house and told me you were satisfied with the references, +and that I could move in to-day." + +The poor man looked quite scared at my indignation. + +"I am very sorry, I assure you, but I cannot let you the shop," was all +he replied. + +"But surely you will give me some explanation of this extraordinary +behaviour. I am not to be trifled with in this way, and if you will not +answer me I will get some of my friends to speak to you." + +This last threat seemed quite to overcome him. He looked despairingly at +me, and then determined to throw himself on my mercy. + +"Well, you see, the fact is I did not quite understand the nature of +your business--that is to say, I thought it was a printing business just +like any other." + +Light dawned upon me. The police had evidently been at work here. I +was too new to the revolutionary movement to have foreseen all the +difficulties which beset the path of the propagandist. + +"And since Saturday night you have come to the conclusion that it is +an _un_usual printing office?" I inquired somewhat derisively. I +could still see in my mind's eye the benevolent smile and patronising +condescension with which he had beamed on M'Dermott and me on the +occasion of our first meeting. + +"You are a sensible person, Miss Meredith," he said, with an almost +appealing accent, "and you will, I am sure, agree with me that it +would be impossible for me to have revolutionary papers printed on my +premises. It would not be fair to my clients; it would interfere with my +business success. Of course every one has a right to their opinions, but +I had no idea that you were connected with any such party. In fact I +had gone out of town, and intended staying away two or three days when +yesterday afternoon I received this telegram," and he handed me the +document. It was from Scotland Yard, and warned him to return at once as +the police had something of importance to communicate. + +"Of course I came back," continued the tremulous White. "At first I +thought it must be all a mistake, but I was shown a copy of the _Bomb_, +and told that that was what you intended printing. Now you must agree +that this is not a suitable place for such an office." + +"I cannot see," I replied with some warmth, "that it can make any +difference to you what I print. I pay you your rent, and we are quits. +Of course if you refuse to give me the keys of the shop I cannot +force myself in, but I have reason to think that you will regret your +extraordinary conduct." + +"Is that a threat?" inquired White, growing visibly paler, and glancing +nervously towards the door. + +"No, it is only the expression of a personal opinion," I replied. At +this moment the door opened, and M'Dermott appeared. + +"Well, are you coming with the keys? We are getting tired of waiting," +he inquired. + +"This man," said I, pointing with scorn at the abject carriage-builder, +"now refuses to let me the shop on the ground that he disapproves of +revolutionary literature." + +M'Dermott gave a low whistle, "Oh, that's how the wind blows, is it?" +he remarked; "I thought I saw some 'narks' hanging round. So this is the +turn your benevolent interest in my grand-daughter has taken? Well, +come along, Isabel, we have no time to waste, and I am sure this good +gentleman will not feel comfortable till we are off the premises. He is +afraid we might waste some dynamite on him, I do believe." + +At the word dynamite White seized a bell-pull and rang it violently, +and we could not help laughing heartily, as we left the office, at +his evident terror. Whilst crossing the yard we saw two well-known +detectives lurking on the premises. White had evidently thought it +necessary to take precautions against possible outrage. + +We found Kosinski patiently waiting. He did not seem much surprised at +our news, and in answer to my inquiry as to what on earth we were to do, +he suggested that we should take the barrow back to Slater's Mews, and +then resume our search for a shop. This advice was so obvious and tame +that it almost surprised me coming from him, still there was nothing for +it, and back we went, looking somewhat more bedraggled (it had now come +on to rain) and decidedly crestfallen. We found Short as we had left +him, but I was still too indignant at his conduct to deign to answer +his inquiries. I was tired and worried, and could almost have wept with +annoyance. Kosinski at last came to the rescue. When he had brought the +last parcel up the stairs and deposited it on the floor he came up to +me. + +"If you like we might go and look at a workshop I have heard of and +which might suit. Some German comrades rented it for some time; I +believe they used it as a club-room, but I dare say it would answer your +purpose, and I believe it is still unoccupied." + +Of course I readily assented; it was indeed a relief to hear of some +definite proposal, and together we set off. Little M'Dermott, who +evidently did not much relish Short's company, armed himself with +leaflets and set off on a propagandising expedition, and Kosinski and I +wended our way in search of the office. At last we stopped in front of a +little green-grocer's shop in a side street off the Hampstead Road. "The +place I mean is behind here," explained Kosinski; "the woman in the shop +lets it; we will go in and speak with her." + +Kosinski stepped inside and addressed a voluminous lady who emerged from +the back shop. + +"Oh, good day, Mr. Cusins," she exclaimed, a broad smile overspreading +her face; "what can I do for you?" + +Kosinksi explained our errand, and the good lady preceded us up a narrow +yard which led to the workshop in question. She turned out to be as +loquacious as she was bulky, a fair specimen of the good-natured cockney +gossip, evidently fond of the convivial glass, not over-choice in +her language, the creature of her surroundings, which were not of the +sweetest, but withal warm-hearted and sympathetic, with that inner +hatred of the police common to all who belong to the coster class, and +able to stand up for her rights, if necessary, both with her tongue and +her fists. She showed us over a damp, ill-lighted basement shop, in +a corner of which was a ladder leading to a large, light shop, which +seemed well suited to our purpose, meanwhile expatiating on its +excellencies. I was satisfied with it, and would have settled everything +in a few minutes, but Mrs. Wattles was not to be done out of her jaw. + +"I'm sure you'll like this place, my dear, and I'm glad to let it to +you, for I've known your 'usband some time. I used to see 'im come when +those others Germans was 'ere, and----" + +"Kosinski is not my husband," I interrupted. "I'm not married." + +"Oh, I see, my dear; just keeping company, that's all. Well, I don't +blame yer; of course, 'e is a furriner; but I'm not one to say as +furriners ain't no class. I was in love with an I-talian organ-grinder +myself, when I was a girl, and I might 'ave married 'im for all I know, +ef 'e 'adn't got run in for knifin' a slop what was always a aggravatin' +'im, poor chap. And I don't say but what I shouldn't be as well off as +what I am now, for Wattles, 'e ain't much class." + +I ventured some sympathetic interjection and tried to get away, but her +eye was fixed on me and I could not escape. + +"It was a long time before I forgot 'im, and when my girl was born I +called 'er Ave Maria, which was a name I used to 'ear 'im say, and a +very pretty one too, though Wattles does say it's a 'eathen-sounding +name for the girl. I was just like you in those days, my dear," she +said, surveying my slim figure with a critical eye. "No one thought I +should make old bones, I was that thin and white, and nothin' seemed to +do me no good; I took physic enough to kill a 'orse, and as for heggs +an' such like I eat 'undreds. But, lor', they just went through me like +jollop. It was an old neighbour of ours as cured me; she said, says she, +'What you want, Liza, is stimilant; stout 'ud soon set you right.' +An' sure enough it did. I took 'er advice, an' I've never 'ad a day's +illness since, though Wattles's been mighty troublesome at times, and +would 'av driven me to my grave long ago if it 'adn't been for stout. +You should take it, miss; you'd soon be as like me, and as 'arty too. +Two glasses at dinner and two at supper is my allowance, and if I chance +to miss it, why I jest seems to fall all of a 'eap like, an' I 'ears my +in'ards a gnawin' and a gnawin' and a cryin' out for stout." + +I felt quite overcome at this charming picture of my future self, if +only I followed Mrs. Wattles's advice. I expressed my intention of +thinking the matter over, and, after shaking hands, paying a deposit +on the rent--which she informed me she should expend in drinking my +health--and settling to move in on the morrow, I made good my escape. + +Cheered and elated by our success, I returned with Kosinksi to the +office of the _Bomb_. He was naturally very nervous and reticent with +women, but the events of this long day had broken down some of the +barriers between us, and I found it less difficult to talk to him as we +trudged on our way. + +"I hope you will help us with the new paper," I said. "I feel really +very unfit for the responsibility of such a task, but Armitage thinks +I shall manage all right, and I do not wish to be a mere amateur, and +shirk the hard work entailed by our propaganda. You see, I remember your +words that night at Chiswick. I hope you do not still think that I am +merely playing." + +He positively blushed at my words, and stammered out: "Oh no, I do not +in the least doubt your sincerity. I am sure you do your best, only I +have seen so much harm done by women that I am always on my guard when +they propose to share in our work. But you are not a woman: you are a +Comrade, and I shall take much interest in your paper." + +We met Armitage coming up Red Lion Street. He greeted us with a look +of relief. "Where on earth have you been?" he exclaimed; "I went to the +address you gave me, but when I inquired for you the fellow looked as +scared as if he had seen a ghost, and said he knew nothing about you, +that I must have made a mistake; and when I insisted and showed him the +address you had written, seemed to lose his head, and rang a bell and +called for help as if I were going to murder him. I thought he must +be mad or drunk, and so turned on my heel and came away. In the yard I +recognised some of our friends the detectives, and I felt quite anxious +about you. At Slater's Mews the door is locked; there is no light, and +nobody answered when I knocked. I am quite relieved to see you. I was +beginning to fear you had all got run in." + +"Well, you see we are still alive and in fighting form. As you say the +_Bomb_ has closed, I suppose Short has gone off to the music-hall with +Simpkins, as he hinted at doing. Anyhow, come home with me; you too, +Kosinksi, if you don't mind; there is a lot to say, and many things +to settle, and we can settle everything better there than here in the +street." + +My proposal was agreed to, and we all three repaired to Fitzroy Square, +where over a cup of tea we settled the last details of the move, +including the name of our new paper, which was to be known as the +_Tocsin_. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A FOREIGN INVASION + + +Thus was the question of the new paper and its quarters settled. The +shop, as I had hoped, did well enough for our purposes. True, the +district in which it lay was neither salubrious nor beautiful, and the +constant and inevitable encounters with loquacious Mrs. Wattles and +her satellites something of a trial; but we were absorbed in our work, +absorbed in our enthusiasms, utterly engrossed in the thought of the +coming revolution which by our efforts we were speeding on. + +During the first months, besides writing and editing the _Tocsin_, I +was very busily employed in learning how to set type, and print, and the +various arts connected with printing--and as I grew more proficient at +the work my share of it grew in proportion. + +The original staff of the _Tocsin_ consisted of Armitage, Kosinksi, and +myself, with Short occupying the well-nigh honorary post of printer, +aided by occasional assistance or hindrance from his hangers-on. But our +staff gradually increased in number if not in efficiency; old M'Dermott +was a frequent and not unwelcome visitor, and as time went on he +gradually settled down into an inmate of the office, helping where he +could with the work, stirring up lagging enthusiasms, doing odd cobbling +jobs whenever he had the chance, and varying the proceedings with +occasional outbursts of Shakespearian recitation. These recitations were +remarkable performances, and made up in vigour for what they perhaps +lacked in elegance and _finesse_. Carter would at times put in an +appearance, mostly with a view to leaning up against a type-rack or +other suitable article of furniture, and there between one puff and +another at his pipe would grumble at the constitution of the universe +and the impertinent exactions of landlords. Another Englishman who in +the earlier days frequented the _Tocsin_ was a tall, thoughtful man +named Wainwright, belonging to the working-classes, who by the force of +his own intelligence and will had escaped from the brutishness of the +lowest depths of society in which he had been born. + +Thus with little real outside assistance we worked through the spring +and early summer months. Besides bringing out our paper we printed +various booklets and pamphlets, organised Anarchist meetings, and during +some six weeks housed a French Anarchist paper and its staff, all of +whom had fled precipitately from Paris in consequence of a trial. + +The lively French staff caused a considerable revolution in Lysander +Grove, which during several weeks rang with Parisian argot and Parisian +fun. Many of these Frenchmen were a queer lot. They seemed the very +reincarnation of Murger's Bohemians, and evidently took all the +discomforts and privations of their situation as a first-class joke. +Kosinksi detested them most cordially, though, spite of himself, he was +a tremendous favourite in their ranks, and the unwilling victim of the +most affectionate demonstrations on their part: and when, with a shrug +of his shoulders and uncompromising gait, he turned his back on his +admirers, they would turn round to me, exclaiming fondly-- + +_"Comme il est drole, le pauvre diable!"_ + +They could not understand his wrath, and were obstinately charmed at his +least charming traits. When he was singularly disagreeable towards them, +they summed him up cheerfully in two words, _Quel original!_ They soon +learned, however, not to take liberties with Kosinski, for when one +sprightly little man of their number, who affected pretty things in the +way of cravats and garters, presumed to dance him round the office, the +Russian, for once almost beside himself, seized his persecutor by the +shoulders and dropped him over the balustrade below, amid the cheers of +all present. + +He appeared, however, to be their natural prey, and his quaint habit of +stumbling innocently into all manner of blunders was a perpetual fount +of amusement to the humour-loving Gauls. His timidity with women, too, +was a perennial joy, and innumerable adventures in which he figured as +hero were set afloat. + +One little escapade of Kosinski's came somehow to the knowledge of the +French Comrades, and he suffered accordingly. Although careless and +shaggy enough in appearance in all conscience, Kosinski happened to be +fastidiously clean about his person. I doubt whether he was ever without +a certain small manicure set in his pocket, and an old joke among his +Russian friends was that he had failed to put in an appearance on +some important occasion--the rescue of a Nihilist from prison, I +believe--because he had forgotten his tooth-brush. This was of course a +libel and gross exaggeration, but his extreme personal cleanliness was +none the less a fact. Now when he first reached London he had scarcely +left the station, besooted and begrimed after his long journey, when his +eye was arrested by the appearance of a horse-trough. "Most opportune!" +mused Kosinski, "how public-spirited and hygienic this London County +Council really is!" and straightway divesting himself of his hat and +collar and similar encumbrances, and spreading out on the rim of the +trough his faithful manicure set and a few primitive toilette requisites +secreted about his person, he commenced his ablutions, sublimely +unconscious of the attention and surprise he was attracting. Before +long, however, a riotously amused crowd collected round, and the Russian +had finally to be removed under police escort, while attempting to +explain to the indignant officer of the law that he had merely taken +the horse-trough as a convenient form of public bath for encouraging +cleanliness among the submerged tenth. + +With the departure of the _Ca-Ira_ the office resumed once more, during +a brief interval, the even tenor of its ways. Kosinski who, in a +spirit of self-preservation, had practically effaced himself during its +sojourn, made himself once more apparent, bringing with him a peculiar +Swede--a man argumentative to the verge of cantankerousness--who for +hours and days together would argue on obscure questions of metaphysics. +He had argued himself out of employment, out of his country, almost out +of the society and the tolerance of his fellows. Life altogether was one +long argument to this man, no act or word, however insignificant, could +he be induced to pass over without discussing and dissecting, proving or +disproving it. Free-love was his particular hobby, though this, too, he +regarded from a metaphysical rather than a practical point of view. Like +everything else in his life it was a matter for reason and argument, not +for emotion; and he and Kosinski would frequently dispute the question +warmly. + +One day, not long before Christmas, and after I had been nearly a year +in the movement, when all London was lost in a heavy fog and the air +seemed solid as a brick wall, there landed at the _Tocsin_ a small batch +of three Italians fresh from their native country. It was the year of +the coercion laws in Italy, of the "domicilio coatto" (forced domicile), +and the Anarchists and Socialists were fleeing in large numbers from the +clutches of the law. + +None of these Southerners had ever been in England before, and having +heard grim tales of the lack of sunshine and light in London, they took +this fog to be the normal condition of the atmosphere. Stumbling into +the lighted office from the blind stifling darkness outside, the +leader of the party, a remarkably tall handsome man well known to me by +reputation and correspondence, gave vent to a tremendous sigh of relief +and exclaimed in his native tongue: + +"Thank Heaven, friends, we have overcome the greatest danger of all and +we are here at last, and still alive!" + +They then advanced towards me and Avvocato Guglielmo Gnecco held out his +hand. "You are Isabel Meredith?" he said in a sonorous voice, and I gave +an affirmative nod. "I am very glad to meet you at last, Comrade," and +we all shook hands. "So this is London! I had heard grim enough tales of +your climate, but never had I conceived anything like this. It is truly +terrible! But how do you live here? How do you get through your work?... +How do you find your way about the streets? Why, we've been wandering +about the streets ever since eleven o'clock this morning, walking round +and round ourselves, stumbling over kerb-stones, appealing to policemen +and passers-by, getting half run over by carts and omnibuses and cabs. +Giannoli here sees badly enough at all times, but to-day he has only +escaped by the skin of his teeth from the most horrid series of deaths. +Is it not so, Giacomo?" Giannoli, who had been engaged in enthusiastic +greetings with Kosinski, who was evidently an old friend, looked up at +this. + +"Oh, I've had too much of London already," he exclaimed fervently. "We +must leave here for some other country to-night or to-morrow at the +latest. We should be better off in prison in Italy than at liberty here. +You see, Comrade," he said, turning to me with a smile, "we Anarchists +all belong to one nationality, so I have no fear of wounding your +patriotic sentiments." + +"But London is not always like this, I assure you," I began. + +"Oh, make no attempt to palliate it," Gnecco interrupted. "I have heard +English people before now defending your climate. But I see now only too +well that my compatriots were right in calling it impossible, and saying +that you never saw the sun here," and all attempts to argue them out of +this conviction proved futile. + +The avvocato, as above mentioned, was an exceptionally good-looking man. +Fully six feet two inches in height, erect and slim without being in +the least weedy, he carried his head with an air of pride and +self-confidence, and was altogether a very fine figure of a man. His +features were regular and well cut, his abundant hair and complexion +dark, and his eyes bright with the vivacity of the perennial youth of +the enthusiast. The delicacy of his features, the easy grace of his +walk, and the freedom and confidence of his manners, all suggested +his semi-aristocratic origin and upbringing. He was evidently a man of +romantic tastes and inclinations, governed by sentiment rather than by +reason; a lover of adventure, who had found in Anarchism an outlet for +his activities. His eloquence had made him a considerable reputation all +over Italy as an advocate, but the comparative monotony of the life of +a prosperous barrister was distasteful to him, and he had willingly +sacrificed his prospects in order to throw in his lot with the +revolutionary party. + +Giannoli, in his way, was an equally interesting figure. Between Gnecco +and himself it was evident that there existed the warmest bonds of +fraternal affection--a sentiment whose fount, as I discovered later, +lay in a mutual attachment for a certain Milanese lady, who on her side +fully reciprocated their joint affection. Both these Italians were warm +exponents of the doctrine of free-love, and, unlike their more theoretic +Northern confreres, they carried their theories into practice with +considerable gusto. Many Anarchists of Teutonic and Scandinavian race +evidently regarded free-love as an unpleasant duty rather than as a +natural and agreeable condition of life--the chaff which had to be +swallowed along with the wheat of the Anarchist doctrines. I remember +the distress of one poor old Norwegian professor on the occasion of +his deserting his wife for a younger and, to him, far less attractive +woman--a young French studentess of medicine who practised her +emancipated theories in a very wholesale fashion. + +"I felt that as an Anarchist it would have been almost wrong to repel +her advances," the distressed old gentleman confided to me. "Moreover, +it was ten years that I had lived with Rosalie, uninterruptedly.... +_Cela devenait tout-a-fait scandaleux, Mademoiselle_.... I no longer +dared show myself among my comrades." + +I felt quite sorry for the poor old fellow, a humble slave to +duty, which he performed with evident disgust, but the most heroic +determination. + +Giannoli, when seen apart from Gnecco, was a tall man. But at the time +of his arrival in London he was already falling a victim to ill-health; +there was a bent, tired look about his figure, and his features +were drawn and thin. A glance at him sufficed to reveal a nervous, +highly-strung temperament; his movements were jerky, and altogether, +about his entire person, there was a noticeable lack of repose. He +was about thirty-five years of age, though he gave the impression of +a rather older man. The fact that he was very short-sighted gave a +peculiar look to his face, which was kindly enough in expression; his +features were pronounced, with a prominent nose and full, well-cut mouth +hidden by a heavy moustache. There was a look of considerable strength +about the man, and fanatical determination strangely blended with +diffidence--a vigorous nature battling against the inroads of some +mortal disease. + +The third member of the trio was a shortish, thickset man of +extraordinary vigour. He somehow put me in mind of a strongly-built, +one-storey, stone blockhouse, and looked impregnable in every direction; +evidently a man of firm character, buoyed up by vigorous physique. He +was a man rather of character than of intellect, of great moral strength +rather than of intellectual brilliancy--a fighter and an idealist, not +a theoriser. I knew him very well by renown, for he was of European +fame in the Anarchist party, and the _bete noire_ of the international +police. Enrico Bonafede was a man born out of his time--long after it +and long before--whose tremendous energy was wasted in the too strait +limits of modern civilised society. In a heroic age he would undoubtedly +have made a hero; in nineteenth-century Europe his life was wasted and +his sacrifices useless. These men, born out of their generation, are +tragic figures; they have in them the power and the will to scale the +heights of Mount Olympus and to stem the ocean, while they are forced to +spend their life climbing mole-hills and stumbling into puddles. + +Such, briefly, were the three men who suddenly emerged from the fog into +the office of the _Tocsin_, and who formed the vanguard of our foreign +invasion. All three were at once sympathetic to me, and I viewed their +advent with pleasure. We celebrated it by an unusually lavish banquet +of fried fish and potatoes, for they were wretchedly cold and hungry +and exhausted after a long journey and almost equally long fast, for of +course they all arrived in a perfectly penniless condition. + +Seated round a blazing fire in M'Dermott's _eleutheromania_ stove (the +old fellow had a passion for sonorous words which he did not always +apply quite appositely) the Italians related the adventures of their +journey and discussed future projects. As the fog grew denser with the +advance of evening, and it became evident that lodging-searching was +quite out of the question for the time being, it was agreed that we +should all spend the night in the office, where heaps of old papers +and sacking made up into not altogether despicable couches. Moreover, +publication date was approaching, and at such times we were in the habit +of getting later and later in the office, the necessity for Short's +assistance rendering it impossible to get the work done in an +expeditious and business-like way. + +We worked on far into the night, the Italians helping us as best they +could with the printing, one or other occasionally breaking off for a +brief respite of slumber. We talked much of the actual conditions in +Italy, and of the situation of the Anarchist party there; of how to keep +the revolutionary standard afloat and the Anarchist ideas circulating, +despite coercion laws and the imprisonment and banishment of its most +prominent advocates. Kosinksi joined enthusiastically in the discussion, +and the hours passed rapidly and very agreeably. I succeeded at length +in dissuading Giannoli and Gnecco from their original intention of +precipitate flight, partly by repeatedly assuring them that the state of +the atmosphere was not normal and would mend, partly by bringing their +minds to bear on the knotty question of finance. + +The three Italians settled in London; Gnecco and Bonafede locating +themselves in the Italian quarter amid most squalid surroundings; while +for Giannoli I found a suitable lodging in the shape of a garret in the +Wattles's house which overlooked the courtyard of the _Tocsin_. They +were frequently in the office, much to the indignation of Short, who +could not see what good all "those ---- Foreigners did loafing about." +Short, in fact, viewed with the utmost suspicion any new-comers at the +_Tocsin_. + +"These foreigners are such a d----d lazy lot," he would say; "I hate +them!" and there was all the righteous indignation in his tones of the +hard-worked proletariat whose feelings are harrowed by the spectacle of +unrighteous ease. Short had a habit of making himself offensive to every +one, but for some mysterious reason no one ever took him to task over +it. It was impossible to take Short seriously, or to treat him as you +would any other human being. When he was insolent people shrugged +their shoulders and laughed, when he told lies they did not deign +to investigate the truth, and thus in a despised and unostentatious +way--for he was not ambitious of _reclame_--he was able to do as much +mischief and set as many falsehoods afloat as a viciously-inclined +person with much time on his hands well can. His physical and mental +inferiority was his stock-in-trade, and he relied on it as a safeguard +against reprisals. + +After a prolonged period of fog the real severity of the winter set in +towards the end of January. One February morning, after all manner +of mishaps and discomfort, and several falls along the slippery icy +pavement, I arrived at the office of the _Tocsin_. The first thing that +struck my eye on approaching was the unusual appearance of the Wattles's +greengrocery shop. The shutters were closed, the doors still unopened. +"What has happened?" I inquired of a crony standing outside the +neighbouring pub. "Surely no one is dead?" + +"Lor' bless yer, no, lydy," answered the old lady, quite unperturbed, +"yesterday was the hanniversary of old Wattles's wedding-day, and +they've been keepin' it up as usual. That's all." + +I was about to pass on without further comment when my attention was +again arrested by the sound of blows and scuffling inside the shop, +mingled with loud oaths in the familiar voice of my landlady, and hoarse +protests and entreaties in a masculine voice. + +"But surely," I urged, turning once more to my previous informant, +"there is something wrong. What is all that noise?" as cries of "Murder! +murder!" greeted my ear. + +"Why, I only just told you, my dear," she responded, still quite +unmoved, "they've been celebratin' their silver weddin' or somethin' of +the sort. It's the same every year. They both gets roarin' drunk, and +then Mrs. Wattles closes the shop next mornin' so as to give 'im a jolly +good 'idin'. You see, these hanniversaries make 'er think of all she's +'ad to put up with since she married, and that makes things a bit rough +on poor old Jim." + +Perceiving my sympathy to be wasted I proceeded, and on entering the +office of the _Tocsin_ I found that here, too, something unusual was +going on. + +A perfect Babel of voices from the room above greeted my ear, while +the printing-room was bedecked with a most unsightly litter of tattered +garments of nondescript shape and purpose laid out to dry. I was not +surprised at this, however, as I had long grown used to unannounced +invasions. Unexpected persons would arrive at the office, of whom nobody +perhaps knew anything; they would stroll in, seat themselves round the +fire, enter into discussion, and, if hungry, occasionally partake of +the _plat du jour_. The most rudimentary notions of Anarchist etiquette +forbade any of us from inquiring the name, address, or intentions +of such intruders. They were allowed to stay on or to disappear as +inexplicitly as they came. They were known, if by any name at all, as +Jack or Jim, Giovanni or Jacques, and this was allowed to suffice. Every +Anarchist learns in time to spot a detective at first sight, and we +relied on this instinct as a safeguard against spies. + +But on reaching the composing-room on this particular morning an +extraordinary sight presented itself. Accustomed as I was to the +unaccustomed, I was scarcely prepared for the wild confusion of the +scene. What at first sight appeared to be a surging mass of unwashed and +unkempt humanity filled it with their persons, their voices, and their +gestures. No number of Englishmen, however considerable, could have +created such a din. All present were speaking simultaneously at the top +of their voices; greetings and embraces mingled with tales of adventure +and woe. The first object which I managed to distinguish was the figure +of Giannoli struggling feebly in the embrace of a tall brawny, one-eyed +man with thick curling black hair, who appeared to be in a state of +demi-deshabille. By degrees a few other familiar figures became one by +one discernible to me as I stood mute and unobserved at the head of the +stairs. Bonafede and Gnecco were there; they, too, surrounded by the +invading mob, exchanging greetings and experiences. Old M'Dermott, +standing up against his stove, was striking a most impressive attitude, +for the old fellow had to live up to the reputation he had established +among foreigners of being the greatest orator in the English +revolutionary party. Two cloddish-looking _contadini_ stood gazing +at him, rapt in awe. Kosinksi stood little apart from the rest, not a +little bewildered by the enthusiastic reception which had been accorded +him by old friends. In one corner, too, I recognised my old friend +Short, fully dressed, as usual, in his frowsy clothes, as though +eternally awaiting the call-to-arms, the long-delayed bugles of the +social revolution; there he lay, much as when I first set eyes on him, +wrapped up in old banners and rugs, blinking his eyes and muttering +curses at the hubbub which had thus rudely interrupted his slumbers. + +The others were quite new to me. They were evidently all of them +Italians--some ten or twelve in number--though at the first glance, +scattered as they were pell-mell among the printing plant of the +overcrowded work-room, they gave an impression of much greater number. +They appeared mostly to belong to the working-classes. Their clothes, +or what remained of them, were woefully tattered--and they were few and +rudimentary indeed, for most of what had been spared by the hazards +of travel were drying down below. Their hair was uncut, and beards +of several days' growth ornamented their cheeks. Their hats were of +incredible size and shape and all the colours of the rainbow seemed to +be reproduced in them. Littered around on divers objects of furniture, +they suggested to me a strange growth of fungi. + +My advent, as soon as it was perceived amid the confusion and noise +of the scene, created something of a sensation, for by now my name +had become well known in the International Anarchist party. "Isabel +Meredith" was exclaimed in all manner of new and strange intonations, +and a host of hands were extended towards me from all directions. + +At last Gnecco managed to make his voice heard above the din of his +compatriots. "All these comrades," he explained in Italian, "have +escaped like ourselves from the savage reaction which actually holds +Italy in its sway. They arrived this morning after a fearful journey +which lack of money compelled them to make mostly on foot." + +Before he could get any further an outburst of song interrupted his +words as the whole band broke into an Anarchist war-whoop. This over, +my attention was arrested by the groans of a dark young man of +extraordinarily alert physiognomy who had shed his boots and was gazing +dolefully at his wounded feet. "What would I not give," he exclaimed, +"to be back in prison in Lugano! Oh for the rest and comfort of those +good old times!" He was utterly worn out, poor fellow, nipped up with +the cold, and seemed on the verge of tears. + +"Well," exclaimed M'Dermott at last, "propaganda implies propagandists, +and propagandists entail bellies! All these fellows seem pretty well +starving. What would they say to a little grub?" + +On my interpreting the old fellow's suggestion he and it were received +with universal acclaim. Bonafede produced from the innermost depths of +his pockets a huge quantity of macaroni which was put on to boil, and +several bottles of wine; one of the new arrivals, a sober-looking young +fellow with a remarkably long nose, contributed an enormous lobster +which he had acquired _en route_, while Kosinski volunteered to fetch +bread and other provender. A Homeric repast ensued, for all these +Anarchists had cultivated the digestions of camels; they prepared for +inevitable fasts by laying in tremendous stores when chance and good +fortune permitted. While they were eating a noticeable silence fell on +the scene, and I had leisure to observe the immigrants more in detail. + +Beppe, the tall, one-eyed man, already referred to, seemed to be the +life and spirit of the band. He was a rollicking good-natured fellow, +an unpolished _homme du peuple_, but not inadmirable in his qualities of +courage and cheerfulness--the kind of man who would have cracked a +joke on his death-bed and sung lustily _en route_ to the gallows. He +possessed, too, a heroic appetite, and as he made away with enormous +heaps of macaroni his spirits rose higher and higher and his voice rose +with them. + +The long-nosed youth was something of an enigma. From the scraps of +conversation which, during the repast, fell principally on the subject +of food, or the lack of food, during the tramp, I gathered that they had +relied principally on his skill and daring in the matter of foraging +to keep themselves from actually dying of hunger on their journey. Yet +there was about him such a prudent and circumspect air that he might +well have hesitated to pick up a pin that "wasn't his'n." He was +evidently of an acquisitive turn, however, for over his shoulder +was slung a bag which appeared to contain a collection of the most +heterogeneous and unserviceable rubbish conceivable. "_Eh!... possono +servire!_" ... was all he would volunteer on the subject when I once +chaffed him on the subject of his findings. "They may serve yet!..." + +Somehow this youth struck me at once as a man who had made a mistake. +At home as he appeared to be among his comrades, there was yet something +about him which suggested that he was out of his proper sphere in the +midst of the Anarchists, that he was _desoriente_. He was cut out for an +industrious working-man, one that would rise and thrive in his business +by hard work and thrift; he was destined by nature to rear a large +family and to shine in the ranks of excellent family men. He was moulded +for the threshold, poor boy, neither for the revolutionary camp nor for +the scaffold, and it was thwarted domestic instinct which led him to +steal. There was good nature in his face and weakness; it was the +face of a youth easily led, easily influenced for good or bad. As a +revolutioniser of his species he was predestined to failure, for years +would certainly show him the error of his ways. Old age seemed to be his +proper state, and youth in him was altogether a blunder and a mistake. +I found myself vainly speculating what on earth could have led him among +the Anarchists. + +The others comprised a silent young artisan who was evidently +desperately in earnest with his ideas, a red-haired, red-bearded Tuscan +of clever and astute aspect, a singularly alert and excitable-looking +young man of asymmetrical features, who looked half fanatic, half +criminal, and others of the labouring and peasant class. One other of +their number arrested my attention, a stupid, sleepy young man, who +seemed quite unaffected by the many vicissitudes of his journey. His +features were undefined and his complexion undefinable, very greasy +and suggestive of an unwholesome fungus. He was better dressed than his +companions, and from this fact, combined with his intonation, I gathered +that he belonged to the leisured classes. There was something highly +repellent about his smooth yellow face, his greasiness and limp, fat +figure. M'Dermott christened him the "Buttered muffin." + +Dinner over, the one-eyed baker, Beppe, proceeded to give us their news, +and to recount the vicissitudes of their travels. Gnecco and Giannoli +were anxious for news of comrades left behind in Italy. So-and-so was in +prison, another had remained behind in Switzerland, a third had turned +his coat, and was enjoying ill-gotten ease and home, others were either +dead or lost to sight. + +The present party, who were mostly Northern Italians, had left Italy +shortly after Giannoli and Gnecco, and had since spent several weeks +in Italian Switzerland, whence at last they had been expelled in +consequence of the circulation of an Anarchist manifesto. Beppe gave +a glowing account of their stay in Lugano, and consequent flight to +London. "You know," he said, "that I reached Lugano with two hundred +francs in my pocket in company with all these comrades who hadn't got +five francs among them. It is not every one who could have housed them +all, but I did. I could not hire a Palazzo or a barrack for them, but +we managed very comfortably in one large room. There were fourteen of +us besides la Antonietta. There was only one bed, but what a size! We +managed well enough by sleeping in two relays. However, even in two +relays it took some organisation to get us all in. It was a fine double +bed, you know, evidently intended for three or four ... even for five +it was suitable enough, but when it came to seven!... there was not much +room for exercise, I can tell you.... But with four at the top and three +at the bottom, we managed, and Antonietta slept on a rug in a cupboard. +We did our best to make her comfortable by sacrificing half our clothes +to keep her warm, but we might have saved ourselves the trouble, for she +deserted us for the first bourgeois who came along. She was not a true +comrade, but I will tell you all about her later on. + +"We had some trouble with the landlord, a thick-headed bourgeois who got +some stupid idea into his head about overcrowding. I have no patience +with these bourgeois prejudices. One day he came round to complain about +our numbers, and at not receiving his rent. But we were prepared for +him. We assembled in full force, and sang the _Marseillaise_ and the +_Inno dei Lavoratori_, and danced the _Carmagnole_. I took out my eye +and looked very threatening--one glance at us was enough for the old +fellow. He made the sign of the cross and fled before we had time to +tear him to pieces. + +"Well, my two hundred francs was a very large sum, and not paying the +rent was economical, but it dwindled, and I had to look round again for +ways and means to feed us all. The money came to an end at last and +then the real struggle began. Old Castellani, the landlord, kept a large +stock of sacks of potatoes in a cellar, and every day he used to go in +and take a few out for his own use, and then lock the cellar up again, +mean old brute! But once again I was one too many for him. I collected +large quantities of stones in the day-time, and then at night with a +skeleton key I had acquired--it came out of Meneghino's bag which +we always jeered at--I let myself in and from the farthest sacks I +abstracted potatoes and refilled them with stones. I calculated that at +the slow rate he used them he would not notice his loss till March. What +a scene there will be then, _Misericordia_! During the last fortnight of +our stay we lived almost entirely on my potatoes. I don't know how the +devil they would all have got on without me. It is true that a waitress +at the Panetteria Viennese fell in love with Meneghino, and used to pass +him on stale bread; but then you all know his appetite! He ate it +nearly all himself on the way home. One day I sent Bonatelli out +to reconnoitre. He returned with _one mushroom_!" It would be quite +impossible to convey an idea of the intense contempt contained in +these last words. It was a most eloquent denunciation of impotence and +irresolution. + +"All the same we had a grand time in Lugano. And the week I and +Migliassi spent in prison was a great treat. Why, they treated us like +popes, I can tell you--as much food as you like, and the best quality +at that; no work, a comfortable cell, and a bed all to yourself! And the +bread! I never tasted anything like it in my life: they sent to Como for +it all. Lugano bread was not good enough. Ah, Swiss prisons are a grand +institution, and I hope to spend a happy old age in such a place yet. + +"Then came Bonafede's manifesto, and that scoundrel Costanzi betrayed +us all to the police. Then the real trouble began. We had not ten +francs among the lot of us, and we twelve had orders to clear out of the +country within forty-eight hours! Once again they were all at a loss but +for me!" and here he tapped his forehead in token of deference to his +superior wits. "I had noticed the fat letters Mori received from home +the first day of every month, and how jolly quiet he kept about them. +I also noticed that he used to disappear for a day or two after their +receipt, and return very sleepy and replete, with but scant appetite for +dry bread and potatoes." + +At this point Mori, the greasy Neapolitan youth, blinked his eyes and +laughed foolishly. He seemed neither ashamed of himself nor indignant at +his companions, merely sluggishly amused. + +"Well," continued Meneghino, "that letter was just due, and I +intercepted it. It contained one hundred and eighty francs; would you +believe me? and that went some way to get us over here. Altogether we +managed to collect sufficient money to carry us to the Belgian frontier, +and for our passage across from Ostend. But that tramp across Belgium, +_dio boia_!" + +Here a clamour of voices interrupted Beppe, as each one of the +travellers chimed in with a separate account of the horrors of that +ghastly tramp across country in mid-winter. + +For many years Europe had not experienced such an inclement season. +Everywhere the cold counted innumerable victims. Along the country +highways and byways people dropped down frozen to death, and the paths +were strewn with the carcasses of dead birds and other animals who had +succumbed to the inclemency of the elements. All the great rivers +were frozen over, and traffic had to be suspended along them. Unwonted +numbers of starving sea-gulls and other sea-birds flocked to London in +search of human charity, for the very fishes could not withstand the +cold, and the inhospitable ocean afforded food no longer to its winged +hosts. All Europe was under snow; the railways were blocked in many +places, and ordinary work had to be suspended in the great cities; +business was at a stand-still. + +Neither the temperaments nor the clothes of these Italians had been +equal to the exigencies of their march in the cruel Northern winter. As +they tramped, a dismal, silent band across Belgium, the snow was several +feet deep under foot, and on all sides it stretched hopelessly to the +horizon, falling mercilessly the while. Their light clothing was ill +adapted to the rigours of the season; boots gave out, food was scanty +or non-existent, and they had to rely entirely on the fickle chances of +fortune to keep body and soul together. By night, when chance allowed, +they had crept unobserved into barns and stables, and, lying close up +against the dormant cattle, they had striven to restore animation to +their frozen limbs by means of the beasts' warm breath. Once an +old farm-woman had found them, and, taking pity on their woebegone +condition, had regaled the whole party on hot milk and bread; and this +was now looked back on as a gala day, for not every day had afforded +such fare. At times in the course of their weary tramp the Anarchists +had made an effort to keep up their flagging spirits by means of song, +revolutionary and erotic, but such attempts had usually fallen flat, +and the little band of exiles had relapsed into gloomy silence as they +tramped on noiselessly through the snow. One of their number had quite +broken down on the road and they had been compelled to leave him behind. +"Lucky fellow, that Morelli," exclaimed Meneghino, "enjoying good broth +in a hospital while we were still trudging on through that infernal +snow!" + +"And Antonietta?" inquired Giannoli, when the relation of these +adventures had terminated. "You have not yet told us her end, nor how +she incurred your displeasure." + +"Oh, Antonietta!" exclaimed Beppe. "I was forgetting. You who believed +her to be such a sincere comrade will scarcely credit her baseness. She +ran away with a horrible bourgeois; she was lured away from the Cause by +a bicycle! Yes, Antonietta weighed a bicycle in the scales against the +Social Revolution, and found the Social Revolution wanting! So much for +the idealism of women! Never speak to me of them again. The last we +saw of her she was cycling away in a pair of breeches with a disgusting +banker. She laughed and waved her hand to us mockingly, and before we +had time to utter a word she was gone. I never shall believe in a woman +again!" + +His indignation choked him at this point, and only the expression of his +mouth and eye told of the depth of scorn and disgust which he felt for +the young lady who had thus unblushingly cycled away from the Social +Revolution. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE OFFICE OF THE _TOCSIN_ + + +To the ordinary citizen whose walk in life lies along the beaten track +there is a suggestion of Bohemianism about the office of any literary or +propagandist organ; but I doubt whether the most imaginative among them +in their wildest moments have ever conceived any region so far removed +from the conventions of civilised society, so arbitrary in its hours and +customs, so cosmopolitan and so utterly irrational as the office of the +_Tocsin_. + +In other chapters I attempt to describe the most noticeable among the +genuine Anarchists who belonged to it, but I wish here to convey some +faint idea of the strange medley of outside cranks and _declasses_ whose +resort it in time became. There appeared to be a magnetic attraction +about the place to tramps, _desoeuvres_ cranks, argumentative people +with time on their hands, and even downright lunatics. Foreigners of all +tongues assembled in the office--Russians, Italians, French, Spaniards, +Dutch, Swedes, and before very long they practically swamped the English +element. The Anarchist and revolutionary party has always been more +serious on the Continent than in England, and what genuine Anarchists +there are here are mostly foreigners. + +Trades and industries of the most heterogeneous kinds were carried on +at the _Tocsin_ by unemployed persons who could find no other refuge for +their tools nor outlet for their energies. In one corner old M'Dermott +settled down with his lasts and leather, and there industriously +hammered away at his boots, alternating his work with occasional +outbursts of Shakespearian recitation. In winter the old fellow was +positively snowed up in the office, where he crouched shivering over the +fire until the advent of spring revived him. On the first warm sunny +day he suddenly flung down his tools, and rushing out into the courtyard +amazed and terrified Mrs. Wattles and her colleagues by shouting at the +top of his voice, "Let me shout, let me shout, Richard's himself again!" +"'E gave me such a turn, Miss, with 'is carryin's on that I got the +spasims again, an' I don't know what ever I shall do if I can't find +the price of a 'alf-quartern o' gin." And I took the hint, for Mrs. +Wattles's alliance was no despicable possession among the savages of +Lysander Grove. + +A shed was erected in the corner of the composing-room, which served by +night as a dormitory for numbers of otherwise roofless waifs, and here +during the daytime a young Belgian and his wife set up a small factory +of monkeys up sticks, which when completed they proceeded to sell in the +streets. In another corner two Italians settled down to manufacture a +remarkable new kind of artificial flower with which they traded when +opportunity permitted. Small plaster-casts of Queen Victoria and Marat +were also manufactured here. When the influx of starving Italians +necessitated it, a kind of soup-kitchen was inaugurated over which Beppe +presided, and very busy he was kept too, manufacturing _minestras_ +and _polenta_, a welcome innovation to me, I may mention, after a long +regime of small and nauseous tarts, bread and jam, and cheese. In +short, the headquarters of the _Tocsin_, besides being a printing and +publishing office, rapidly became a factory, a debating club, a school, +a hospital, a mad-house, a soup-kitchen and a sort of Rowton House, all +in one. + +When I look back on the scene now, and recall all the noise and hubbub, +the singing, the discussions and disputes, the readings, the hammerings +on this side, the hangings on that, the feeding, and M'Dermott's +Shakespearian recitations, I find it very difficult to realise the +amount of hard work which I and the other few serious and earnest +comrades got through. + +The chief impediment to the progress of the work, however, was Short, +the compositor. On close acquaintance with this creature, I found that +he did not belie my first impression of him as the laziest and most +slovenly of men; and I soon realised the two dominant characteristics +which had made of him a Socialist--envy and sloth. So deeply was he +imbued with envy that he was quite unable to rest so long as anyone else +was better off than himself; and although he did not care one jot +for "humanity" of which he prated so freely, and was incapable of +regenerating a flea, he found in a certain section of the Socialist and +Anarchist party that degree of dissatisfaction and covetousness which +appealed to his degraded soul. Besides which the movement afforded him +grand opportunities for living in sloth and sponging on other people. + +Short was not without his humorous side, however, when only you were in +the right mood to appreciate it. His envy of the superiority which he +noted in others was only equalled by his intense contempt for himself. + +I can still picture the poor brute lying with his dog in a corner of +the office amid a heap of rubbish, unwashed, unkempt (he never divested +himself of his clothes), and verminous in the extreme. There he would +blow discordant notes on a mouth-organ, or smoke his rank old pipe, eat +jam tarts, and scowl his wrath and envy on the world. If he could get +hold of some unoccupied person to whom he could retail all the latest +bits of Anarchist scandal, or from whom he could ferret out some little +private secrets, he was contented enough, or, leaning out of the +office window he would deliver a short autobiographical sketch to the +interested denizens of the surrounding courts. A small bill, posted +outside the office door, announced that Short was prepared to undertake +extraneous jobs of printing on his own account; and this was responsible +for many of the queer customers who found their way to the office of the +_Tocsin_. + +One of the queerest of all the queer oddities who haunted it was a small +man of hunted aspect, known to every one as the "Bleeding Lamb." He had +acquired this peculiar name from the title of a booklet which he had +written under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, a sort +of interpretation of the Apocalypse, wherein was foretold a rapid +termination of the universe. The printing of the "Bleeding Lamb" was +undertaken by Short, whose dilatoriness in executing his work doubtless +prolonged by a few years the existence of the terrestrial globe. + +There was all the fervour of a prophet in the eye of the "Bleeding +Lamb," but inspiration ceased here, and even what there was of inspired +and prophetic in his eye was overcast by a certain diffident and +deprecating look. He was the victim, poor man, of a twofold persecution +in which heaven and earth joined hands to torment him--the archangel +Michael and the Metropolitan police being the arch offenders. + +One of the first things that struck you about the Bleeding Lamb was the +helpless look of his feet. They were for ever shuffling and stumbling, +getting in the way, and tripping up himself and others. His hands too +had a flabby and inefficient expression, and his knees were set at a +wrong angle. His stature was insignificant, his colouring vague; longish +hair and beard of a colourless grey matched the grey of his prophetic +and persecuted eye. + +He would enter the office furtively, and cast a rapid glance round as +though he almost expected to find the archangel Michael or an inspector +of the Metropolitan police lurking in a corner, and it would take +him some few seconds before he could muster up sufficient courage to +inquire, as was his invariable custom, whether anyone had been round to +ask after him. On being assured that no one had called for that +purpose he appeared relieved, and gradually, as he became more and more +reassured, he would warm to his subject of the coming cataclysm, and +launch out into prophecy. "Ah," he exclaimed to me one day after a long +discourse on the universal destruction at hand, "won't Queen Victoria +just shiver in her shoes when she receives the revised edition of the +'Bleeding Lamb.' Little does she dream at this moment of what is in +store for her." I recollect also that Nelson was in some way connected +with his prophecies and his perplexities, but in what particular +connection is not quite clear to my mind. The sympathy which he +apparently felt for the Anarchists was, I suppose, due to the fact that +they too were engaged--on a somewhat smaller scale it is true--on a +policy of destruction, and also to their avowed antagonism to the law +and the police, whether metropolitan or otherwise. + +The Bleeding Lamb had a formidable rival in the field of prophecy in +the person of another strange frequenter of our office--a demure-looking +gentleman named Atkinson who professed to be the reincarnation of +Christ, and who preached the millennium. He was a less depressed-looking +person than the Bleeding Lamb--whom he treated with undisguised +contempt--and affected a tall hat and Wellington boots. The Lamb, on his +side, denounced the Messiah as a fraud, and went so far as to suggest +that he had only taken to prophecy when the alteration in the fashion of +ladies' pockets compelled him to abandon his original profession. "That +Lamb is not quite right in the upper storey," whispered Atkinson to +me one day; "he may even become dangerous, poor creature!" Shortly +afterwards I was taken aside by the gentleman in question who warned me +to keep my purse in safety as "that Messiah is no better than a common +thief." + +The approach of either of these prophets was invariably the signal for a +stampede on Short's part, who, never having completed his work, dreaded +encountering the mournful scrutiny and reproachful bleating of the Lamb +no less than the sad, stern rebukes and potential Wellington boots of +the Messiah. Into no single item of the day's programme did he put +so much zest as into the grand dive he would make into any available +hiding-place, and he would lie for hours flat on his stomach under +M'Dermott's bed sooner than "face the music." + +One day the perspiring Lamb entered the office red in the face and +considerably out of breath, rapidly followed by a lugubrious individual, +talking volubly in an argumentative monotone. This person seemed to be +very indignant about something. + +"Marcus Aurelius was a just ruler and a philosopher," he was saying, +"and he saw the necessity for suppressing the Christian factions. He was +among the severest persecutors of the early Christians.--What does that +argue, you fool?" + +"Nothing against my contention with regard to the seven-headed beast in +the Apocalypse," replied the Bleeding Lamb with a defiant snort. + +"The seven-headed beast has nothing to do with the case," retorted his +interlocutor, putting all the warmth into his monotonous drawl of which +he appeared capable. "The seven-headed beast can't alter history, and +my case is conclusively proved in the course of this little work, to +the production of which I have devoted the best years of my life. +The seven-headed beast indeed! Pshaw for your seven-headed beast, you +dunder-headed dreamer!" + +Whilst I gazed on dumbfounded at this little scene, making futile +efforts to grasp the vexed point under discussion, the strange +new-comer, whom the Lamb addressed as Gresham, deposited on the floor +a huge and shapeless brown-paper parcel, under whose weight he was +staggering, and sitting down by its side he carefully untied the string, +and dragged triumphantly forth tome after tome of carefully-written +MSS., which he proceeded to read out without further preamble. + +"'Atheism _v._ Christianity,'" he drawled, commencing at the title, +"'being a short treatise on the Persecutions of the Early Christians, +the object of which is to prove that they were persecuted by the just +emperors and protected by the unjust; that, consequently, they were +wrong; that Christianity is wrong, and the Deity a palpable fraud; +by Tobias Jonathan Gresham,'--and let the seven-headed beast in the +Apocalypse put that in his pipe and smoke it!" casting a defiant glance +at the Bleeding Lamb. + +As this concluding remark was made in the same monotone as the foregoing +sentence, I was at some loss to determine whether or not it formed part +of the title of that momentous work. + +The Bleeding Lamb here cast me a knowing glance, which said as plainly +as words that his unfortunate acquaintance was mad, but that it was as +well to humour him, and so he magnanimously sat down on a stool facing +his rival, while the latter proceeded to read out his book, which was +destined soon to mount up the long list of Short's sins of typographical +omissions. This was but the herald of a long series of readings from +the "short treatise," which were carried on at intervals for some weeks. +Minute after minute and hour after hour Gresham drawled on from one +tedious reiteration to another, never raising his voice nor altering +its key, till a sense of dizziness overcame his audience, and his voice +became as the singing in one's ears which accompanies high fever or +heralds a faint. Indeed I have never suffered from fever or faintness +since that date without my sensations recalling Gresham's dreary, +argumentative drawl; then gradually his voice would grow fainter and +somewhat spasmodic, until at length it gave way to snores, as the weary +Lamb and the atheist Lion, like the kid and the leopard of Isaiah, sank +down together in a confused heap on the floor, and there slept out a +miniature fulfilment of the word of the prophet. + +Then there was a Polish count who found his way to the _Tocsin_--a most +deplorable aristocratic debris, who might have stepped straight out of +the pages of Dostoievsky. I never set eyes on a more depressed-looking +mortal than Count Voblinsky. He looked as though he bore on his bent +shoulders the weight of all the ill-spent lives in Christendom. He was +a damp, unwholesome-looking man, whose appearance suggested long +confinement in a cellar. He was pale and hollow-eyed, and almost mouldy; +altogether a most cadaverous-looking person. He was always attired, even +at eleven A.M., in an old dress suit, green and threadbare with age, and +a furry tall hat, into which garments he seemed to have grown and taken +root. But despite the decay of his person and his attire, there was a +certain degree of aristocratic refinement about Voblinsky's features, +last ghastly traces of his ancient nobility. He vaguely recalled to my +mind a long-ago Continental trip of my childhood, and an unfortunate +elephant in the Marseilles Jardin des Plantes who, from long inactivity +in the corner of his cage, had become overgrown with moss. There was the +same incongruous touch of erstwhile nobility, the same decay, the same +earthy smell. By what shady and circuitous paths had the unfortunate +count reached this unhappy pass? Perhaps his wife was responsible; +for if ever woman was calculated not to lead her mate on to higher and +better things it was the Countess Voblinska. The countess was worse +than slovenly: she was downright dirty. Her tumbled, frowsy hair, with +patches of golden dye in it, was surmounted by an appalling hat of +incongruous dimensions and shape, trimmed with what appeared to be +archaeological relics, thick in dust. To approach it brought on a +perfect paroxysm of sneezing. Her clothes, which were very greasy and +never brushed, hung together by strings, tatters, and safety-pins. Her +hands and face were begrimed with several coats of dirt, and a top coat +of _poudre de riz_. No ordinary imagination dared speculate on what lay +hidden beneath those tattered rags she wore. She gesticulated much, +and discoursed on the subject of some lecture she was to give, in the +intervals of volleying forth abuse and swearing in Parisian argot at +her long-suffering husband, who received it all with most ludicrous +courtesy. Often a strong smell of gin mingled with the eloquent flow of +the countess's language. + +On the whole, however, the Anarchists and their queer associates might +be regarded as a fairly temperate set. One of the most potent causes of +drink is the monotony of the existences led by most people, the hopeless +dreariness of their confined, narrow lives, the total lack of interest +and excitement. This is not the case in revolutionary circles, where not +only are there plenty of ideas afloat to occupy men's minds and distract +them from the narrow circle of their dreary domestic lives, but where +also the modern craving for excitement, factitious or otherwise, finds +plenty of nourishment. + +The office of the _Tocsin_, however, did not lack the occasional +presence of the habitual drunkard. There was one queer fellow who +frequently put in a dissipated appearance for the purpose of complaining +of the ill-usage to which his wife's tongue subjected him. He looked +forward to the Social Revolution as the only escape from this thraldom, +and certainly no man ever made more strenuous, albeit ill-directed +efforts, on its behalf. + +Then there was a bibulous Welshman who at times would startle the +unwashed denizens of the neighbouring slums by appearing in a tall +hat and irreproachable shirt front. He was a doctor by profession, who +succeeded in maintaining a certain reputation in polite circles, but an +alcoholic soaker by inclination, one of those men who somehow contrive +to keep ahead of ruin by sleeping out periods of financial distress in +friends' houses. + +Our proof-reader was a benevolent old gentleman of obsolete customs, who +in an age of open-air cures still wore a mouth and nose respirator. +He was such an eminently respectable person that I never could quite +understand why he associated himself with anything so disreputable as +the _Tocsin_. I always half suspected that he came there principally +on my account, chivalrously determined that I should not be surrounded +_solely_ by scum. But besides this motive he had some pretensions +to being a man of advanced views, and was a purchaser of "advanced" +literature. The introduction of this into the precincts of his home was +a great trial to his better half, who had no kind of sympathy with such +leanings. New-fangled ideas of any description were tabooed by her, +and all preachers and holders of such she unconditionally consigned to +hell-fires. Her husband she regarded as a brand to be snatched from the +burning, and she and a few select female relatives worked hard to snatch +him. But although new-fangled ideas on social organisation and political +economy were bad enough, one thing alone was beyond all human endurance +to the mind of Mrs. Crawley, and that one thing was free-love. + +One day Mr. Crawley brought home "The Woman Who Did," and neglected to +conceal it. It was found by his wife lying on the dining-room sofa. + +"My fingers itched to seize and burn the impudent huzzy, lying there as +unconcerned as though she had been the 'Private Meditations and Prayers +of the Rev. Bagge,'" Mrs. Crawley confided to her Aunt Elizabeth, "but +it was a six-shilling book, and I knew how Crawley valued it, and for +the life of me I did not dare touch it." + +It was a sore trial indeed to Mrs. Crawley to live under the same roof +with such a person, but she dared not so far outrage the feelings of +one whom she had sworn to love, honour, and obey, as to execute the +offending lady. She long meditated some revenge, some outlet for her +outraged feelings; it was long in coming, but come it did at last. The +"Man Who Didn't" followed in the footsteps of his irregular mate, and +in a fourpenny-halfpenny edition. This was more than the worthy matron +could stand, and either he or she herself must leave the house. She +summoned Aunt Elizabeth, a lady of irreproachable moral standard, the +whites of whose eyes had a habit of turning up spasmodically, and the +corners of whose mouth down, and to her she unburdened her feelings. + +"My dear Eliza," she said, "I have too long tolerated 'The Woman Who +Did,' but when it comes to the 'Man Who Didn't,' that--er--well, that +disgusting 'Man Who Didn't'--and how am I to know that he didn't, the +brazen creature!--it is time I asserted my authority. I cannot and I +will not stand him." + +The offending and irresolute gentleman was then seized upon with a +pair of tongs, carried in solemn procession to the remotest room in the +house, and burnt. The sanctity of matrimony had reasserted its rights. + +A young bank clerk who accompanied Crawley to the office was a type of +what I might call the conscientiously unprincipled man. It being wrong +to steal, he made a point of annexing small objects. Cleanliness is next +to godliness, and he devoted himself heroically to dirt; it was not at +all his natural tendency, and the more disagreeable he found it the more +strenuous was he in its pursuit. Being by nature punctual, he made it an +absolute point of honour never to keep an appointment; and, as a lover +of domestic peace, he was for ever working his way into scrapes and +rows. He was a comical object, with his limp yellow hair brushed +ferociously on end, and his mild yellow eyes scowling defiance at +mankind. + +When the Cuban revolution broke out a wave of sympathy for the oppressed +islanders passed over the whole civilised world, and nowhere did this +find a warmer echo than in the Anarchist party and the _Tocsin_ group. +Many Anarchists were in favour of going out to the assistance of the +insurgents. Opinion was divided on the question. Some said: "It is our +duty to remain in Europe to carry on the work of Anarchist propaganda +here. The Cuban revolution is a race struggle, and no concern of ours." +Others said: "We Anarchists are internationalists, and in whatsoever +part of the world there is revolt against oppression, and wherever the +revolutionary forces are at work, there is our opportunity to step in +and direct those forces into the proper course, towards Anarchism." +These Anarchists saw in the uprising of this small and comparatively +insignificant race against the Spanish throne the possible dawn of a +wider, vaster struggle, in which the whole world would join hands to lay +low thrones, altars, and judgment seats. + +A small band of Italian comrades, led by an adventurous Sicilian, got +up a subscription for the purpose, and left the office of the _Tocsin_, +amid great revolutionary enthusiasm, to journey to the assistance of the +insurgent island. Only one of their number ever returned alive to +Europe to tell of the horrors and hardships of the fierce struggle there +endured, of the cruelty of the Spaniards, and the uselessness of the +fight from the Anarchist point of view. + +The Cuban fever was very catching, and after the departure of this first +band there was a regular epidemic of departure at the _Tocsin_. Carter +and Simpkins turned up at the office one afternoon very much in earnest +about it all and persuaded that a little British grit was what was +needed in Cuba, "to keep things humming." Simpkins recalled his old +army days and the valour he had several times displayed when under the +influence of liquor. He waved an old belt appertaining to those times, +and would, I believe, have sung something about the Union Jack and the +beer of old England, had not his friend recalled him to a better sense +of his duty as an Anarchist and Internationalist. It appeared that +Carter had come into a small sum of money consequent on the death of an +uncle, with which he was bent on paying their passage out to Cuba. "What +is an Anarchist to do in this wretched country?" he asked. "I am tired +of lying in bed waiting for the revolution. It's too slow coming." +"Yah!" muttered Short under his breath to me, "the springs are out of +order, and he finds it hard. That's about how much he cares for the +revolution." + +After Carter and Simpkins had taken their leave of the staff of the +_Tocsin_ I watched a very moving scene from the window, when they bade +good Mrs. Wattles farewell. The good lady was very deeply affected, and +with tears in her eyes she begged them to think again before betaking +themselves to "them furrin' parts" where she had heard "the drink was +something awful and not fit for a Christian stomach." She was only half +reassured when told that rum came from somewhere in that direction. + +But Carter and Simpkins never reached Cuba. Some few minutes' walk from +the office of the _Tocsin_, at the corner of Lysander Grove, stood an +inviting house of call, the "Merry Mariners," where the valiant warriors +dropped in on their way, to refresh themselves, perhaps in anticipation +of the dreary prospect which Mrs. Wattles's words had opened before +them. When several hours later Short returned from his accustomed +evening stroll round the neighbourhood, he described with great relish +the pitiable termination of their voyage. He had found Carter just sober +enough to cart his incapacitated disciple home on a wheelbarrow, after +which he painfully betook himself to his bed, there to bemoan the +tardiness of the revolution, and the broken condition of the spring +mattress. + +"And won't his guv'nor just give Simpkins a ragging when he gets home. +He'll give him Cuba," gloated the unsympathetic printer. + +Another relief expedition from the _Tocsin_ met with scarcely more +brilliant success. Beppe and Meneghino set out under the guidance of old +M'Dermott, on tramp to Cardiff, whence they hoped to work their way +out to the insurgent island. They, too, set out full of brave hopes and +generous enthusiasm, but with too confident a trust in the beneficence +of Providence as caterer to their material needs on the journey. Before +a fortnight had elapsed, they also were back at the office, Beppe +bearing the poor old Irishman on his shoulders in a quite crippled and +exhausted condition. He had to be put to bed, and remained there +several weeks, before he was in a fit state to get about again. They +all complained bitterly of the inhospitality of the country-folk to whom +they had appealed for help, and of the uncourteous reception they had +met with in the Cardiff docks. Poor Meneghino reached London barefooted, +his faithful canvas bag hanging disconsolately over his shoulder--and +all with woefully vacant stomachs. They formed a comically dismal group +as they collapsed into the office in an exhausted heap. + + * * * * * + +Amid these many strange and dubious, ludicrous or pathetic characters, +some few heroic figures appeared. From time to time there came into our +midst Vera Marcel, the Red Virgin of the barricades, the heroine of the +Commune of Paris--a woman of blood and smoke and of infinite mercies +towards men and beasts. I can see her still, almost beautiful in +her rugged ugliness, her eyes full of the fire of faith and insane +fanaticism, her hair dishevelled, her clothes uncared for. I can hear +the wonderful ring of her tragic voice as she pleaded the misery of the +poor and suffering, of the oppressed, the outcast, the criminal, the +rejected, and as it rose higher and higher to invoke fire and sword and +bloodshed in expiation. Then I seem to hear its magic and inspired ring +as her wonderful faith conjured up visions of the future when the whole +of humanity shall live in peace and brotherhood, and the knife, which +in time of revolution had shed the blood of the oppressors, shall "cut +nothing deadlier than bread." A strange gaunt figure she was, a woman +who had never hesitated at shedding blood in the good Cause, nor feared +to face death for it; but with her friends, and especially with children +and dumb animals, she was as gentle as the gentlest of her sex; and no +words can describe the extreme sweetness of her voice. + +As publication time approached, all-night sittings became necessary, +when all this heterogeneous assembly met together, and amidst Anarchist +song and Anarchist enthusiasm forwarded or hindered, each in his +degree, the publication of the _Tocsin_. I can see in my mind's eye the +much-littered, overcrowded office in all the confusion of those nights, +with its dark corners hidden in shadow, where slept tired fighters weary +of the fray, and its brightly-lighted patches, under the lamps, where +the work of the night was being carried on. Some dozen voices, more +or less musical, are chanting Anarchist war-songs, and the _Inno di +Caserio_ and the _Marseillaise_ ring out through the open windows to +the dormant or drunken denizens of Lysander Grove. The Reincarnation +is patiently turning the wheel of the printing machine, and rolling out +fresh _Tocsins_, thinking, no doubt, of that tocsin which, at no +distant date, shall ring out from a loftier sphere to rouse the deluded +inhabitants of this globe to a different millennium from that dreamed +of by Anarchists. But, whatever his thoughts, he grinds away with much +Christian endurance and fortitude. Wainwright, who is tired after a long +turn at the wheel, subsequent to a hard day's work in the brick-yard, is +relating to a few interested listeners the strange story of his life, or +discussing points of Anarchist principle and propaganda. + +Then, somehow, the Bleeding Lamb would find his way in, and looking over +at his reincarnated rival at the wheel with undisguised contempt, he +whispers: "I know what sort of a wheel his unhallowed hoof ought to be +turning!" + +Armitage and Kosinski at such times would be busy folding the papers, +both absorbed in their work, happy to think that they were thus +advancing the great Cause. And Short, shivering discontentedly at the +cold, or swearing amid much perspiration at the heat, would smoke his +pipe and eat his unattractive pastry, whilst crawling into his rugs and +banners, until Beppe, in an outburst of indignation, drags him out by +the scruff of the neck and compels him to lock up the forms. + +One night there was a grand banquet, for Beppe had turned in, bearing +under his long cloak a prime conditioned tom-cat, whose disconcerted +mews were rapidly ended by a dexterous twist of the neck, and whose +plump person was before long stewing in wine and vinegar in the _Tocsin_ +stockpot, after his liver had been previously fried for the private +consumption of the ever-hungry Beppe. + +When this succulent repast had been disposed of towards 3 A.M. (all the +_Tocsin_ workers had admirable digestions) a brief respite from work +ensued, during which Beppe sang pieces of Italian opera, accompanied by +Gnecco on his mandolin, and M'Dermott treated us to brief recitations +from Shakespeare. Much stamping and gesticulation accompanied, I +remember, the soliloquy of Hamlet, and our flesh crept at the witches' +incantations from "Macbeth." The old cobbler delighted in Shakespeare +and dictionaries, between the perusal of which he spent most of his +time. "Like Autolycus in the 'Winter's Tale,'" he said to me one day, "I +am a 'snapper-up of unconsidered trifles,' and during the riots of 18--I +snapped up a sufficient number of these to enable me to set myself up +with a small library, and I did no work during eighteen months, devoting +my entire time to Shakespeare and Johnson's Dictionary." + +Sometimes a phrenologist who had strayed into our midst would follow +on with a brief phrenological seance, and nothing afforded the comrades +more satisfaction than to be informed that their bumps showed undoubted +criminal propensities. + +Then again the heavy roll of the machine would drown all lesser noises +with its monotonous grinding, as the most resolute and earnest among us +returned undaunted to the fray, whilst others, less energetic, curled up +on the floor in varying uncomfortable attitudes about the office--inside +the dormitory shed and out, propped against posts and type-racks, or +stretched on stacks of paper--and slumbered in blissful ignorance of the +future fortunes of the _Tocsin_. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DYNAMITARD'S ESCAPE + + +May-Day was at hand, and we had been working all night at the office of +the _Tocsin_ in order to have the paper ready in time to distribute to +the provincial groups. Since Friday morning I had hardly left the +office at all--merely going home for dinner and returning at once to the +fray--and by four o'clock Sunday morning we had rolled off the last of +the five thousand copies of the _Tocsin_, which, along with two thousand +leaflets drawn up by myself and Armitage, were ready for distribution. +The 1st of May fell on the following Wednesday, and we had for once the +satisfaction of knowing that we had taken Time by the forelock. + +Short had retired to his shake-down in the dormitory about midnight, and +the loud creaking of his boots against the boards was the only sign +he gave of life. Kosinski, Armitage, and Giannoli, after making up and +addressing the last parcel, had left for their respective abodes; Beppe +and Meneghino, having turned the wheel the whole evening, had fallen to +sleep exhausted, stretched on a bench in the machine-room; and I, after +having partaken of a cup of tea and some hot buttered toast which old +M'Dermott had provided for me, sat nodding and dozing on one side of +the fire. The old cobbler had fallen fast asleep on the other side while +poring over a dictionary, noting down sonorous and impressive-sounding +words with which to embellish the oration he intended to deliver on +May-day in Hyde Park. + +About half-past five, just as the first cold rays of the chilly spring +dawn cast a ghastly blue light on the dormant figures around me, +deadening the yellow flame of the lamp which was burning itself out, +I was roused from my torpor by a light rap at the outside door. In the +office all was quiet, but for the heavy and rhythmic snores of the weary +comrades, and wondering who could claim admittance at such an unearthly +hour, I rose with a shiver and opened the door. To my surprise I found +myself face to face with Bonafede. + +Since that bitter January day when Bonafede and his companions had +emerged from the London fog and made their unexpected entrance on the +scene of the _Tocsin_, I had not seen very much of him, though we had +never quite lost sight of one another, and I frequently heard his news +through mutual friends. As I have already stated, Gnecco and Bonafede +had retired to lodgings in the Italian quarter in the unsavoury +neighbourhood of Saffron Hill. They had a little money, but only enough +to last for two or three weeks. Gnecco had a few valuables in the shape +of a gold watch and chain, a pearl breast-pin, and a fur-lined coat, and +he soon had recourse to my friendly help to dispose of these articles to +the best advantage with a pawnbroker, and on the proceeds, eked out by +some small help which he received from his family, he managed to rub +along, and he and his mandolin were soon familiar features at the +office. But with Bonafede the case was different. He was a man of too +active and independent a character to be long idle. He was by profession +an engineer, and in Italy, before his career had been interrupted by +his political activity, he had held an important post on the Italian +railways. But for many years his life had been a stirring one, and he +had learned to turn his hand to whatever offered, and had in turn worked +as a dock labourer, a sailor before the mast, a gilder employed +in church decorations, a house-decorator in a lunatic asylum and a +cutter-out of military trousers at Marseilles, a warehouse porter and +a navvy. Whatever job turned up he accepted; if it was work at which +he had no experience he would look up some comrade in that line and get +from him a few hints, and this, supplemented by reading up particulars +in some trade encyclopaedia at a public library, enabled him to +accomplish his task satisfactorily. He had hardly been in London +a fortnight when he looked about him for work, and, nothing better +offering, he engaged himself as washer-up at one of Veglio's many +restaurants. After six weeks he was rescued from the uncongenial +drudgery of scullion by a comrade, a fellow-Calabrian, who earned a +good living as decorator of West-end cafes, and who took on Bonafede to +assist him in frescoing a ceiling at the Trocadero, not, however, before +the latter had laid the foundations of a _lega di resistenza_ between +the Italians employed in restaurant kitchens. At the end of a month the +ceiling was painted, and Bonafede parted company with his compatriot, +pocketing L10, plus his keep whilst the job lasted. One of his first +steps was to visit me at the office of the _Tocsin_ and arrange for the +printing of an Italian pamphlet and of a booklet of revolutionary songs, +the production of Gnecco, which were to be smuggled into Italy for +distribution. The cost of paper and carriage of these works ran into the +better part of L3. With the remaining cash in his pocket, Bonafede went +to look up old friends and comrades in the French and Italian quarters. +A's wife was expecting her confinement, B needed an outfit in order to +enter on a job as waiter which he had secured at a club; C had been out +of work for three months and had five small mites to feed and clothe, +and so forth. At the end of this expedition rather less than 15s. +remained in his pocket, and once more he sought employment. This time +he got taken on by a contractor who asphalted the London streets, a +work done entirely by Italians. Here he remained for nearly two months, +during which time he organised the men into a union and induced them to +strike for better conditions. The men won their point, and returned to +work on the condition that the agitator who had got up the strike should +be dismissed, and Bonafede left of his own accord, unwilling to cause +loss to the men by prolonging the struggle. After a few weeks' enforced +idleness, during which he was lost sight of by the comrades, he +reappeared one evening at a group meeting held at our office, and +informed us that he was taken on as electrician at the Monico. + +Ten days had now passed since I last saw him, and my expression was +eloquent of my amazement at his unexpected appearance. + +"You are surprised at my coming at such an unusual hour, Comrade," he +began with his strong Calabrian accent; "but you will understand when +I tell you that ever since yesterday evening I have been awaiting an +opportunity to get round here without being followed by my guardian +angels of Scotland Yard. Gnecco told me that you were passing the night +in the office, and so I seized on a favourable moment and came." He +stopped, glanced round the room, walked up to the bench on which the +two Italians were sleeping the sleep of the just, and having satisfied +himself that no one could overhear us he explained the motive of his +visit to me. + +"You doubtless know that Jean Matthieu, suspected of complicity in the +P.... bomb explosions, has been hiding in London for some time past." +I nodded assent: he had even been pointed out to me one evening by +Giannoli at a meeting in the East End. + +"Well, since yesterday we have the certainty that the police are on his +track, that they are aware of his whereabouts. It has become absolutely +necessary for him to leave London without further delay--within the next +twenty-four hours. Everything is arranged. The police will be watching +the Continental trains, so he will go for the present to Leicester, and +stay with a comrade who has a French wife, and who will pass him off as +his wife's uncle. From there we hope, within a week or so to get him off +to America; but all this requires money: the least that we can give him +is twenty pounds. I had five by me, left with me to make use of for the +Cause, a few French comrades have handed me over another seven. But we +are still in need of eight pounds to make up the necessary sum. Could +you let us have it?" + +The last days of the month always found me at the end of my resources. +I had but two pounds in my purse. "What a pity," I exclaimed, "that you +could not let me know yesterday! Today is Sunday; it will be impossible +for me to get at any money. Raymond is certain only to have a pound or +two on him, if he has as much; the Bank is closed. I have some jewellery +by me on which I could easily raise ten or twelve pounds, but the +pawn-shops are not open on Sundays. What am I to do? Can you not wait +until tomorrow?" + +Bonafede explained that every minute was of consequence: Matthieu must +leave at once or he would inevitably be arrested. We both remained +silent, hesitating, for a few minutes. At last he spoke: "Madame +Combrisson has the money by her, I am sure, but she will never give it. +You say, however, you have some jewellery that you would be willing to +pledge: perhaps with that as security she would advance us the money. +Anyhow we can but try." + +It was arranged that I should go home for my valuables and repair to the +house of the Combrissons, where, Bonafede informed me, Matthieu was at +that moment concealed. + +"But do you think he is safe there?" I inquired. + +"Oh yes, perfectly. Jules is a good comrade, and both he and his wife +have every reason to wish to remain on good terms with the Anarchists. +They know on which side their bread is buttered. I shall go now and you +will find me at the Combrissons'." + +I knew the French couple well by reputation, though I had never yet +crossed their threshold. Combrisson had come over to England some twelve +years ago; he had been mixed up in the Anarchist propaganda, and +had seen fit to expatriate himself; it was rumoured that he had been +actively mixed up with a gang of coiners, amongst whom were several +Anarchists who thought it good warfare to make the hated bourgeois pay +for the propaganda by falsifying the currency. They had not been long in +London when they took a large house in Grafton Street, letting out +rooms to comrades. They also kept on the ground floor a small _depot_ of +foreign revolutionary literature, and received for a consideration the +correspondence of the refugees. Combrisson, who worked as a carpenter +and joiner, had the reputation of being a good comrade, and always set +down to his wife's account all actions not strictly in accordance with +the principles of solidarity, such as turning out comrades who did not +pay their rent, refusing small loans and subscriptions, and such like. + +By eight o'clock I was in Grafton Street. As I turned down the corner +which leads from the Tottenham Court Road, I became aware that I was +being followed. A young man with a sandy moustache, a celestial nose, +and fishy blue eyes, got up to look like a counter-jumper on a holiday, +whom I had long since learned to know as Detective Limpet, was walking +a few steps behind me on the other side of the road. I stopped at Number +9, my destination, and I saw Limpet likewise stop outside a public-house +which stood opposite, and exchange a few words with a hulking brute +leaning against the wall, characterised by a heavy jaw, lowering brows, +and a strong Irish brogue, in whom I recognised Detective O'Brien. They +both turned their eyes on me as I stood on the door-step pulling the +bell handle, and I saw a stupid grin overspread the countenance of the +Limpet. + +The door was opened by a little maid-of-all-work who seemed doubtful +as to whether she should let me in or no, till a head adorned with +curl-papers appeared above the kitchen steps, calling out in a shrill +voice, "Jane, you fool, show the young lady in." + +Next minute I was in the front kitchen, where Madame Combrisson, her +husband, and Bonafede awaited me. + +The house was a good-sized, solidly-built one, originally intended for +a gentleman's residence, but fallen now on evil days. An odour of fried +onions and sawdust pervaded the establishment, for Madame Combrisson +boarded three or four of her lodgers, regaling them principally on +"_soupe a l'ognon_," and Combrisson carried on in the back kitchen his +carpentry business at which he kept these same lodgers employed, paying +them in kind with food and house-room, and doling out a few shillings +now and again as pocket-money. In this way he succeeded in combining +philanthropy and business, and though, after a few months, his employees +invariably left as soon as they had learned a little of the English +language and English prices, still there were always new-comers willing, +nay anxious, to replace them. + +After a few preliminary words of introduction, I produced the jewellery +for Madame Combrisson's inspection. She was a small wiry woman, with +hard, covetous grey eyes, grizzled hair screwed up in a tight knot on +the top of her head, a nose like the beak of a bird of prey, and thin +blue lips. Her eyes lit up as her hands turned over the little diamond +brooch and finely-chased gold bracelet which I submitted to her +inspection. + +"Of course I am not a judge," she said, "but I should think we could +easily raise a little money on these. I wish I had it myself, I would +willingly give it for the Cause, but, _que voulez vous, mademoiselle_? +we are but poor folk; however, I know some one near here who might +perhaps be able to oblige us; I will go and see." + +Bonafede winked at me and I could see that he considered the matter +settled. He and Combrisson left the kitchen and I remained alone with +madame, who proceeded to take her fringe out of the curl-papers, and to +exchange her petticoat and red flannel jacket for a somewhat rusty black +dress. Whilst performing her toilette she eyed me carefully. I noticed +that since she had inspected the jewellery she had involuntarily assumed +a more respectful tone in addressing me. "I hear from the comrades that +you are very active in the Cause, mademoiselle; have you been long in +the movement?" + +I replied that it was getting on for two years. + +"And your family, are they Anarchists also?" + +I explained that my parents were dead and that I was the only one of +my family who worked in the movement. She seemed surprised at this +information, "But you must be rich," she said: "that jewellery you have +brought is very beautiful; you are young, you could enjoy yourself, +mix with those of your own class; why do you work in a printing-office +instead?" + +"But I am an Anarchist. We must all do what we can to help the Cause, I +do my best; not more, however, than other comrades." + +She seemed by now to have summed me up, though I was evidently still +somewhat of a mystery to her, and she merely said:-- + +"Oh, of course we are all Anarchists; we all do our best for the Cause." + +As she was leaving, Bonafede came down and said that Matthieu would like +to see me if I saw fit, and together we mounted to the back attic where +the dynamitard was concealed. + +Nobody could have guessed on sight that the puny little man before me +could be the dreaded Anarchist for whom the police of Europe had been +searching high and low during the past seven months. Matthieu was a +tailor by trade, and his physique bore traces of the sedentary work +and of the long hours passed in close unhealthy rooms. He was slightly +hunchbacked, his chest narrow and hollow, his legs bowed; his pale blue +eyes with their swollen red lids had the strained expression of one +accustomed to make use of the last rays of daylight before lighting the +lamp. His massive jaw and firm round chin, and high narrow forehead +were the only features which revealed in him the man of action and the +fanatic. Yet this was the man who, by a series of explosions culminating +in the blowing up of a police station, had spread terror in the ranks of +the French bourgeoisie. + +We shook hands, and I told them how I had been followed by Detective +Limpet and how he and O'Brien were stationed opposite the house. + +"Yes," said Bonafede, "it is certain that they suspect Matthieu's +presence here; we must try to get rid of them in some way for a short +while; set them off on some false scent, so as to enable our comrade to +leave the house." + +"If you would only let me do as I wish," broke in Matthieu, "I would +soon be out of this. I have a good revolver and I am not afraid to +use it. I would make a rush for it, and ten to one I should get off +scot-free; and anyhow better be taken fighting than caught like a rat in +a hole." + +We both tried to dissuade him, arguing that there was always time to +take such a step, and that with a little patience and ingenuity it was +almost certain that a means would be found for his safe escape. + +In a few minutes Madame Combrisson entered the room. She handed me over +L10 and a receipt for the pledges, adding that her friend would not be +induced to lend more. I handed the sum over to Bonafede. He had now L22 +in hand, so that the financial side of the difficulty was solved. Madame +Combrisson, however, had news. A neighbour had informed her that Chief +Inspector Deveril had been seen in the street, and that, after giving +instructions to his two subordinates not to move from their post +of observation, he had left, it was supposed, in order to procure a +search-warrant. This news filled us with alarm. Almost any minute now +the police might claim entrance to the house, and then Matthieu would +inevitably be caught. What was to be done? I was told off to look out +of a front window from behind a curtain and report on the situation, but +only to return with the news that Limpet and O'Brien were both leaning +airily on their sticks studying the heavens with imperturbable calm. +Matthieu was growing restless. He walked up and down the small room like +a caged beast, nervously clutching at the revolver which he kept in his +trouser pocket. Madame Combrisson kept bemoaning her fate, saying that +it would be the ruin of her house if the police entered. Bonafede alone +remained calm and collected. At last he exclaimed, looking at his watch, +"It is now past eleven, in another half-hour the public-houses will +open, let us hope that our friends below may turn in to refresh +themselves. In that minute Matthieu must escape; we must have everything +ready; he had better change his clothes and disguise himself as much as +possible. We will leave together; we are both armed, and if the worst +comes to the worst we will sell our lives dearly." + +"Oh, my poor house, my poor house!" moaned madame, "this business will +be the death of us all." + +Bonafede turned on her savagely. "This is no time for recriminations," +he exclaimed. "Sharpen your wits and see if you cannot find some means +of getting rid of those spies. You are clever enough when it is a +question of serving your own interests." + +Madame Combrisson seemed electrified by these words. + +"I will try, Comrade, only give me time to think." Next minute, she +exclaimed, "How would it do to send down two of the comrades to pick a +quarrel in the street? They could start a fight, a crowd will assemble, +the detectives will go to see what is up, and you and Matthieu can avail +yourselves of the confusion to escape." + +"Good!" replied Bonafede, "go and see about it at once. I will help +Matthieu to get ready, and you, Isabel, be on the look-out, and let us +know when the right moment has come." + +I stationed myself behind the curtain at the front parlour window. In +a few minutes I saw a young German who lodged in the house rush up +the area steps into the street, followed by Combrisson. They were both +shouting and gesticulating loudly, and Combrisson seemed to be demanding +money which the other refused. A few passers-by stopped to listen to the +two foreigners, who danced around, growing ever more noisy; but Limpet +and O'Brien stood firm. They looked at the combatants, but seemed to +consider the matter as a joke, and only crossed over to our side of +the way when they saw a crowd begin to assemble. The quarrel between +Combrisson and his lodger began to flag when they saw that their object +had failed, and the German soon walked off in the direction of Tottenham +Court Road. I watched the detectives cross over to their former post of +observation, and was just going to inform the comrades of the negative +result of this manoeuvre when I saw Inspector Deveril coming down the +street. For a second I stood paralysed with apprehension: all was up +with my friends! Next moment I had climbed the four flights, and given +the dreaded news. + +Matthieu rushed to the attic window. It gave on to a wide gutter which +ran along several roofs. "This is my only means of escape. I will get +into one of these other houses by the skylight, and escape at the front +door whilst they are searching here." + +"And if any one tries to stop you?" I exclaimed. + +"So much the worse for them," he replied, clutching his revolver. + +He was already outside the window when Bonafede spoke, advising him to +wait a minute whilst we saw what was going on. As soon as the police +knocked, he could carry out his plan. To be noticed by them on the roof +would be fatal to its success. + +At that moment Combrisson rushed in. "I cannot tell what has happened. +Deveril spoke to those two spies and has walked off. The public-house +has opened, Limpet has gone inside, and only O'Brien remains on guard." + +We all three went downstairs to watch proceedings, leaving Matthieu by +the window, ready at a moment's notice to put his desperate project into +execution. + +Sure enough, all was quiet in the street below; passers-by were hurrying +home to their Sunday dinners, the smell of which pervaded the street +and house, and O'Brien stood at the door of the opposite pub, leaning +gracefully on his stick and gazing at the windows of our house. We stood +watching for about a quarter of an hour, fully expecting to see the +police appear; the room had gradually filled with the lodgers, all on +the _qui vive_, and jabbering fluently in foreign tongues. As nobody +came and all seemed quiet, Bonafede and I returned upstairs to reassure +Matthieu. + +In a few minutes we heard a ring at the door. + +"It is they!" we exclaimed, and Matthieu leapt to the window, whilst +Bonafede rushed to the door, which burst open, giving admittance to a +strange-looking figure. The new-comer had the slight build and nervous +carriage of a Frenchman, but was got up in the most aggressively British +attire. Clean-shaven, with a short bulldog pipe in the corner of +his mouth, a billycock hat set rather jauntily on his head, a short, +drab-coloured overcoat of horsy cut, black and white check trousers, +red-skin riding gloves, square-toed walking shoes, a light cane, and a +rose in his buttonhole; you would have taken him at first sight for +a sporting tipster. Matthieu, who had stopped short at this sudden +apparition, and Bonafede, both stood staring in amazement. The new-comer +looked at them with a wicked twinkle in his eye, and burst out into a +hearty laugh. + +"Why, it is you, Sylvestre," the Italian at last said, whilst Matthieu +jumped down into the room. "But what on earth have you done to yourself? +I should never have recognised you?" + +"Ah! so I look in character, then? If you did not recognise me no wonder +that I was able to take in those gaping clodhoppers, fresh from their +turnip-fields, in the street below. I have news for you. Just listen," +but here he broke off, for, looking round the room, he had caught +sight of me (I had stood speechless in a corner whilst this scene was +enacted). "First though, my dear fellow, I must beg you to introduce +me to the lady. The emotions of the moment seem to have made you and +Matthieu forget all manners." + +Bonafede turned smilingly towards me, and introduced us: "Armand +Sylvestre, a French comrade; Isabel Meredith, editor of the _Tocsin_." + +The Frenchman made me an elegant and profound bow in strange contrast +with his sporting appearance, removing his hat, which he had till then +kept on. + +"But what has happened to you, Sylvestre?" exclaimed Matthieu. "Your +hair has turned purple." + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake don't look at my hair. A most awful fate has +befallen it. Yesterday I heard from Cotteaux that you intended leaving +soon, so I settled to come down here this morning, and thought it would +be as well to disguise myself; one never knows, one can sometimes get +such a lot of fun out of those heavy-witted, pudding-eating police. So +I asked Marie to go into a West End hairdresser's and procure some black +hair-dye, as I know my gold locks are well known to our friends below. +She asked for some, explaining that it was for theatricals, and last +night I tried it. With what result you see!--and mind I only made up my +mind to come out after washing it some dozen times. Now, with a hat on, +it's not very noticeable, but if you could have seen it last night; it +had turned the real imperial shade of purple! It was a sight for the +gods!" + +We all laughed heartily at his adventure, the humour of which was +heightened by the mock pathos and tragedy with which he narrated it. +But Matthieu, who was straining his ears to catch the slightest sound +downstairs, asked him to proceed with his news. + +"_Oh, mais vous saves, mademoiselle, votre pays est tout-a-fait +epatant_," he began, turning to me. "As I came down the street I noticed +Deveril speaking with those two satellites of his outside the 'Cat and +Mouse.' I at once guessed something was up here, and thought I would +try and pump them, so I walked into the bar and asked in my best English +accent for a whisky and soda, throwing down a half-sovereign to pay for +it, and began talking about racing bets with the barman. As I expected, +after a few minutes, Limpet entered, asking for a glass of bitter; he +soon got interested in our talk. I was giving tips with the air of a +Newmarket jockey, and as he had finished his drink I offered to treat +him. He hesitated, saying that he was in a hurry, and I then pumped the +whole tale out of him, how he and his comrade were watching this house, +where they had reason to know that a dangerous French Anarchist was +concealed, and so forth and so on. + +"'But,' I said, 'if this is so, why do you not get a warrant to search +the house?' And he then explained to me that the inspector had wished so +to do, but that the magistrate, spite of his entreaties, had refused to +sign the warrant because it was Sunday!! Yes, this is an extraordinary +country. Society must be saved, but before everything the Sabbath must +not be broken. _C'est delicieux!_ Having gained this information, I +politely wished him good day, and walked over to this house. You should +have seen the faces of those two men. I expect their mouths are open +still." + +We all stared at each other at this information. This, then, was the +secret of the situation. The English Sunday had saved our comrade! +Bonafede went downstairs to summon the Combrissons and relieve their +minds. We had now nearly twenty-four hours before us; it was certain +that till nine o'clock on Monday morning the search-warrant would not be +signed. In this interval Matthieu must leave the house, but how? + +Sylvestre, who evidently looked upon the whole question as a good +joke--_une bonne blague_--suggested that the dynamitard should dress up +in his sporting attire; he urged that the detectives had seen him enter +and could not be surprised at his leaving, and that this would be the +best solution of the difficulty. The idea seemed feasible, and it was +tried on. Matthieu got into the check trousers and horsy overcoat, +but the effect was too ludicrous, and he was the first to laugh at the +figure he cut in the looking-glass. Something else must be found. Madame +Combrisson came to the rescue. She reminded us of a Jewish comrade, +also a tailor by trade, who was not unlike Matthieu, being slightly +hunchbacked. Her idea was to get him round, dress him in the fugitive's +clothes, let Bonafede call a cab in an ostentatious style, into which +the false Matthieu was to jump and drive off; the detectives would +probably follow on their bicycles, and then was our opportunity. Only, +how to get this man on to the scene without his advent being noticed by +them? For if he were seen to enter, the game was up; his exit would not +cause surprise. We were still face to face with the same difficulty, and +Matthieu once more began to pace the room like a wild beast in a cage. + +Sylvestre broke the silence. "The only way out of the difficulty is to +disguise our man. Dress him up as a woman; he will then enter without +causing observation." + +In a few minutes all was settled. I was to leave with the hand-bag in +which I had brought in the jewellery to be pawned; but this time it was +to contain a dress belonging to Madame Combrisson. With this I was to +proceed to the lodging of the Jewish comrade, Yoski, taking care to lose +on the way any detective who might be following me. Yoski was to dress +himself in the woman's clothes, and return with me to Grafton Street, +care being taken that the detectives should notice his entry. He was +then to exchange his female attire for Matthieu's clothes and drive off +in a cab, as previously arranged, and then Matthieu, in his turn donning +the skirt and blouse, was to leave the house on my arm, whilst the +police would be rushing after a red-herring. Sylvestre turned a +somersault to express his joy, and, slapping Matthieu on the shoulder, +said, "Why, before long, _mon vieux_, you will again be treading the +flags of Paris, and, let us hope, frightening the bourgeois out of their +wits." + +By two o'clock I was on my way. When I left the house Deveril was +talking with O'Brien over the way; Limpet had disappeared for the time +being. The inspector at once noticed my presence, and, calling to a +corner-boy lounging at the public-house door, he spoke to him, pointing +me out, and this "copper's nark" followed doggedly in my steps. Yoski +lived in a turning off the Mile-End Road, but anxious to give no inkling +as to my destination, I turned in the opposite direction, and after +a lengthy _detour_ stopped at my own door. I stayed indoors nearly an +hour, hoping that my attendant's patience would give out, but he showed +no signs of moving, time was precious, and I decided to set out once +more. This time I walked down the Euston Road to the beginning of +Marylebone Road, where I jumped on to a bus going towards Maida Vale. +The youth did likewise, and at the beginning of the Kilburn High Street +I descended, making my way up that dreary road. I began to despair of +ridding myself of my pursuer. I was miles out of my way, the hours +were passing, and he still dogged my steps. I trudged along, weary and +worried, weighed down with the responsibility of my position. Suddenly +my eyes caught sight of a solitary hansom coming slowly towards me, I +hurried forward, the youth was some paces behind me on the other side +of the road, and before he had time to realise what I was up to I had +boarded that hansom and shouted to the cabman, "Five shillings, if you +set me down at Baker Street Station in ten minutes," and away we went. +I looked out of the spy window in the back of the cab and saw my "nark" +standing staring in the middle of the road. At Baker Street I took a +ticket for the Edgeware Road and there I jumped into a train for Aldgate +Station. When I once more found myself in the streets I looked carefully +around me and to my relief was able to assure myself that no one was +following me. Taking a circuitous route, for greater precaution, I at +last reached my destination. + +I seemed to be in a foreign country. Dark-eyed comely women and +pretty children, dressed in gay colours, were walking up and down. The +shop-signs and advertisements were mostly written in Hebrew characters, +loud conversation in a foreign language accompanied by vivacious +gesticulation, caught the ear. The narrow, dirty street was swarming +with inhabitants, the front doors were mostly open, and many people had +placed chairs on the doorsteps and pavement and were sitting out, though +it would be an euphemism to speak of enjoying the fresh air in such a +neighbourhood. The house at which I stopped was a six-roomed "cottage," +but whilst I stood on the doorstep, waiting to gain admittance, at +least fourteen persons passed in and out. At last a wizened old woman, +scrutinising me suspiciously, answered my inquiries. + +"Yoski! yes, he live on the tird floor back, vis his vife and schwester. +Yes, you will find him in." + +Yoski was a small, unhealthy-looking man, not much unlike Matthieu, +though darker in colouring, and of a weaker type of face. He was a +serious, silent, earnest man, a model of solidarity, regularly setting +aside his weekly contribution to the Cause out of his meagre earning on +which he had to maintain a wife and four children and a young sister. +They all lived in the one room, but one felt that this did not cause +them any suffering; they were evidently used to it. The three grown-ups +were all at work when I entered, and the children clustered round like +inquisitive little animals. I explained briefly my identity and the +object of my visit, talking English, which was not understood by his +female relatives. He nodded gravely, and said: "But I cannot change +here; it would cause too much curiosity. I will tell my wife that I must +go with you for some work, and I will go into the room of a friend of +mine who is out and dress there." He did as he said and we left the room +together. + +On the landing I handed him the bag. "Is everything here?" he inquired, +"hat and all?" + +The hat! Who had thought of it? And yet without that it was impossible +to go out. + +"Cannot you get at your wife's or your sister's?" I inquired. + +"Impossible," he replied, "they would never give me a moment's peace +till they knew why I wanted it. You might, however, try with Rebecca +Wiesmann; she is a comrade and lives two streets farther down. Do not, +however, tell her all this matter; make up some story and see if you can +manage." + +Much doubting my success, I went round to Rebecca's. I had seen her +sometimes at meetings, but I felt that she would be surprised at my +appearance, and still more at my errand. Still there was nothing for +it, the shops were all shut, and so I went round to her. This girl lived +alone, having separated from her parents, who were strictly orthodox and +intolerant Jews. She was indeed taken aback at seeing me, but did not +like to refuse my request. I told her that I was expected at a comrade's +house, that I had been followed by detectives and wished to lose +sight of them, and she, with the foreign Jews' dread of policemen as +omnipotent beings, swallowed the tale and provided me with a showy best +hat quite unlike my own. This I donned and left with my own in a paper +under my arm, in spite of her pressing offer to keep it for me. + +In a few minutes I was knocking at the door Yoski had pointed out to +me. I found him ready, carefully shaved of his moustache, and quite +transformed in appearance. The hat and veil completed the disguise. +By six o'clock we were in Grafton Street. I was relieved to find that +Deveril had left, and that only Limpet and O'Brien were on guard. They +took a good stare at us as we passed them by. + +Combrisson himself opened to us. "Oh, here you are at last. We began to +fear you would never come. It has been as much as we could do to prevent +Matthieu from spoiling everything by making a rush for it. Come in, +there is not a moment to lose. Deveril may be back any minute, and he's +not so easily gulled as those two mugs." + +We found Matthieu in a state of great nervous excitement. The long, +anxious hours of waiting had told on him. A nervous twitch convulsed his +mouth. He jumped spasmodically to his feet as we entered the room. "At +last," exclaimed Bonafede, with a sigh of relief on seeing us. "Now, +Matthieu," he said, laying a hand encouragingly on the man's shoulder, +"there is no time to be lost. Isabel will go downstairs whilst you two +exchange clothes. As soon as you are ready I will fetch the cabs. Be +courageous, and, above all, calm, and in half-an-hour all will be over." + +I went downstairs with Madame Combrisson, and we paced nervously up and +down the front parlour. Every other minute one of us went to look out of +the window. It was nearly dark. The street lamps were lighting up, and +still the two detectives watched on the other side of the road. + +"Where is Sylvestre?" I at last inquired, to break the tense silence. + +"Who knows? He left about half-an-hour ago, saying he would soon be +back. He is off on some madcap expedition, you may be sure. He is a +dreadful _farceur._" + +At that moment no fewer than three barrel-organs came up the street, +stopped nearly opposite the house, and started playing "The man who +broke the bank at Monte Carlo," and other similar classics. I was at the +window and saw Sylvestre go gravely up to the detectives, bow, say a few +words, and cross over to our door. Madame rushed out to open to him. + +"So here you are, Mademoiselle. All is well, I hope?" he inquired. + +I nodded assent. + +"Oh, what a game it will be to see their faces to-morrow when Deveril +comes round with his warrant! Meanwhile, I was sure those poor devils +were boring themselves to death, so I went down to the Italian quarter +and brought back these musicians. I have just told them that I hope the +music will help them to pass a pleasant half-hour." + +Just then Bonafede came down, followed by the false Matthieu. The lower +part of his face was concealed in a muffler, and the illusion was really +very deceptive. + +"I am going now for the cab," said the Italian. "As soon as I return +Yoski must hurry out, jump in rapidly, and drive off. I shall be waiting +for you, Isabel, and Matthieu with a cab just by Shoolbred's; time +to leave the house five minutes after the departure of Yoski. Here is +Matthieu; you, Madame Combrisson, see if his dress is right; now I am +going." + +"Wait a minute," exclaimed Sylvestre, "give me a bottle of whisky and +two glasses, I will go over and offer some to the 'tecs; it will look +as if I am trying to distract their attention from Bonafede and the cab, +and will lend truth to the scene." + +All passed off to perfection. As the hansom drew up, Sylvestre, with +a polite bow, offered a drink to Limpet and O'Brien. The latter caught +sight of the cab, just as the false Matthieu hurriedly jumped in, and, +pushing the Frenchman roughly aside, he leapt on his bicycle and rushed +off in pursuit just as the cab disappeared round the street corner. +Bonafede had quietly slipped off down the Tottenham Court Road. Limpet +was pacing up and down distractedly, uncertain whether to stick to his +post or join his comrade in pursuit. In five minutes' time I quietly +walked out, arm in arm with Matthieu, turning round on the doorstep to +shake hands with Madame Combrisson. We walked boldly past Limpet, and +were soon at Shoolbred's, where I left the dynamitard with Bonafede, +and, taking a roundabout walk, returned within half-an-hour to Grafton +Street. In an hour's time Bonafede joined us. "All is well!" he +exclaimed; "within a couple of hours our comrade will be safe in +Leicester. It has been an anxious day, but it has ended better than I +had dared hope for." + +"And now let us get some dinner," broke in Sylvestre, "I am just +fainting with hunger. Here is a sovereign, Madame; see if you can get +us something fit to eat, though I fear that, with this hateful English +Sunday, everything will be shut." + +"Do not abuse the English Sunday," rejoined Bonafede, "to its sanctity +we owe our friend's escape." + +We were soon enjoying a supper which Madame Combrisson got in from +the neighbouring Italian restaurant. We were all in high spirits, and +laughed and chatted freely. Limpet, and O'Brien who had returned after +satisfying himself as to the true identity of the false Matthieu, who +had driven straight home, kept pacing up and down in front of the area +railings, evidently half suspecting that we had played them a trick. + +All that night we sat round the kitchen fire, chatting and dozing +alternately. At midnight Deveril came, accompanied by two other +officers, who relieved Limpet and O'Brien. The next morning, as the +clock hands pointed to 9.15, a loud rat-tat resounded through the house. +Deveril, with our two friends of the previous day, accompanied by three +uniformed policemen, were on the doorstep. Combrisson opened to them +with his most engaging smile. He politely read the warrant which the +inspector handed him, and bowed him in, saying that he was happy that +he should persuade himself that Matthieu was not, and never had been, on +the premises. Deveril seemed rather taken aback by this reception, but +was too sure of his case to feel much doubt. + +Never shall I forget that man's face when, after a three hours' hunt in +every hole and corner of the building he had to come down persuaded that +his victim had escaped him. + +He was perfectly green with rage. Turning to Bonafede who, with us +others, was sitting in the front parlour, he said, "Well, Signore, you +have been one too much for me on this occasion, but remember, he laughs +best who laughs last. We shall doubtless meet again soon." + +Bonafede merely shrugged his shoulders and turned aside, whilst the +crestfallen Limpet, who had evidently received a severe wigging from +his superior for allowing his quarry to escape, turned on me a look of +intense hatred and hissed out, + +"Remember, miss, you may not always be in London; you will yet pay +me for this!" and with this melodramatic threat he and his comrades +departed amidst the jeers of the assembled lodgers. + +In the street they were met by deafening shouts of "Vive Deveril! Hurrah +for the detective force!" Sylvestre, who had slipped out a few minutes +before the arrival of the police, had assembled in the road all the +Italian comrades of the _Tocsin_ group, several Frenchmen of his own +acquaintance, and four or five organ-grinders, and amidst the ironic +cheers of their enemies, the dejected guardians of law and order made +their shamefaced exit from the scene. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SOME ANARCHIST PERSONALITIES + + +There has been of late years a remarkable, and, on the whole, a very +futile tendency among certain men of science to dissect and classify +abnormal people and abnormal ideas, to discover that geniuses are mad, +and that all manner of well-intentioned fanatics are born criminals. + +But there were elements in the Anarchist party which defied the science +of the psychological analyst, so strangely and intricately were the most +heterogeneous qualities blended in certain of their number--fanaticism, +heroism, criminality, and not unfrequently a spicing of genius. + +The primary difference between the ordinary normal man and the +fanatic--as between the normal man and the madman or the genius--is the +totally different standpoint whence each views life. This it is which +renders it impossible for the normal man really to understand or judge +fanatics. He cannot grasp their motive, their point of view, and is +therefore morally incapable of judging them. + +Among the Anarchists, who may be said to represent the intellectual +rather than the material side of the Socialist movement--there were many +fanatics. This fanaticism showed itself in different ways--sometimes +in the most admirable self-abnegation, in the sacrifice of wealth, +position, and happiness; frequently in abnormal actions of other kinds, +and most noticeably in deeds of violence. + +Very diverse in nature were the motives which prompted the committal of +these acts of violence--these assassinations and dynamite explosions--in +different men. With some it was an act of personal revolt, the outcome +of personal sufferings and wrongs endured by the rebel himself, by his +family or his class. In others violence was rather the offspring of +ideas, the logical result of speculation upon the social evil and the +causes thereof. These Anarchists referred to their actions as Propaganda +by Deed. + +Emile Henry, the dynamitard of the Cafe Terminus, belonged to the number +of what I may call the theoretical dynamitard. His terrible acts were +the outcome of long and earnest thought; they were born of his mental +analysis of the social canker. He committed them not in moments of +passion, but with all the _sang froid_ of a man governed by reason. +His defence when on trial was a masterpiece of logical deduction and +eloquent reasoning. + +To the average man it is no doubt very difficult to conceive that when +he threw his bomb among the crowd in the Cafe Terminus, maiming and +killing indiscriminately, Emile Henry was performing his duty according +to his own lights just as much as a soldier when he obeys orders and +fires on the enemy, a city man when he embarks on the day's business, or +a parson when he preaches a sermon against prevailing vices. It was his +sermon--however vigorously preached--against the prevailing vices and +injustices of Society, and against the indifference which all classes +displayed towards these. He took upon himself to strike a blow against +this indifference on behalf of all the weaker and more unfortunate +members of society. Being a man of intellect and some culture, he could +not, like his more ignorant _confreres_, imagine that one man or one +small group of men, was responsible for these. Earnest thought and +reflection told him that if any section of society suffered, then +society at large was guilty: all the thoughtless, all the indifferent +members of society were equally responsible for its abuses. Now this may +be true enough theoretically, but no one but a fanatic or a madman would +carry the reasoning farther to the point of saying: "Society at large is +guilty; society at large must suffer. Society is fairly well represented +by the mixed crowd in a cafe. I will attack this crowd indiscriminately, +and kill as many of their number as I can. I will unreluctantly end my +days on the scaffold in order to accomplish this very obvious duty;" and +proceed from words to deeds. + +There is something terribly, if pervertedly logical in this reasoning, +and although nothing could be farther from the attitude of the ordinary +delinquent, it is no doubt more dangerous to the peace and continuance +of society; and such was the attitude and the reasoning which rendered +the Anarchists so formidable, and which led up to many of their most +terrible outrages. Emile Henry was in his own way a well-meaning youth; +kindly in private life, frugal in his habits; studious, industrious, and +free from vice, he lived with his old mother and mixed little with his +fellows, and no one who knew him could have suspected that this quiet, +studious boy would have developed into the terrible assassin whose act +sent a thrill of horror through the world. + +To Anarchists of this order, abstract ideas and opinions replaced all +the ordinary forces of life. Their every action was prompted by some +theory, and they fashioned their lives to fit their peculiar views of +what it ought to be. Emile Henry belonged to this number no less than +Kosinski, Bonafede, and certain so-called Christian Anarchists. For in +some fanatics the Anarchist ideas, instead of leading to violence, led +to the absolute negation and rejection of it. + +Among the many frequenters of our office and of the weekly discussion +meetings held there, was a Christian Anarchist, one of those holding +what was known as the "non-resistance to evil" creed. He, too, was a man +who fitted his life to his ideas, who lived in ideas, whose whole being +centred round his ideas. He was a religious fanatic whose course had +deviated into strange paths. + +Norbery was a pale, anxious-looking Lancashire man, with weak, restless +eyes and a resolute mouth, who did not lack a certain dignity of +bearing. + +Both the organisationists and the individualists united in abusing and +despising the Christian Norbery, but no amount of insults or invective +ruffled his temper or aroused his wrath. "When you preach force or use +force," he said to his opponents, "you imitate the very methods used by +Governments. You will never attain universal peace and brotherhood by +such means. As Anarchists we have no right to use other than passive +resistance, for by using coercion we are defeating our own ends and +justifying the actions of our persecutors." + +The more indignant his Anarchist opponents became in the course of +debate, the calmer and more complacent grew Norbery. "Abuse me," he +would say, "insult me, use violence towards me, if you will; I shall +turn the other cheek." Once a hot-headed Italian Anarchist lost patience +with him and threw him downstairs. He lay where he fell with a sprained +ankle, repeating good words from the Sermon on the Mount, until his +adversary, overcome with shame and remorse, picked him up and bandaged +his injured limb. Once during certain strike riots in the North of +England, Norbery journeyed to the scene of trouble to preach passive +measures and the Anarchist principles to the rioters. He was dragged +from his platform by the police and badly hustled and knocked about. +But Norbery was determined on having his say; he procured a chain and +padlock, chained himself to a lamppost, threw away the key, and resumed +the interrupted course of his harangue. A large crowd gathered round the +persistent orator, attracted partly by his eloquence and partly by the +novelty of his situation. The police hurried to the scene and tried to +drag him down; his coat and shirt, torn to shreds, remained in their +hands, while the semi-naked Anarchist preached away to the constantly +increasing crowd. The officers of the law foamed with rage, and +threatened and pommelled the enchained and defenceless Norbery. Norbery +grew more eloquent and more argumentative under this treatment. Nearly +an hour passed before a file could be procured and the chain severed, +and by that time Norbery had ample opportunity to finish his discourse, +and was conveyed to the police station in a fainting and exhausted +condition. + +Armitage and I engaged in endless discussions with Norbery on the +question of violence, maintaining on our side that violence could only +be overcome by violence, and that, however peaceful our ultimate aims +might be, force must inevitably be used towards their attainment. We +argued and adduced reasons in support of our views, and Norbery argued +and adduced counter-reasons in support of his views, but neither the +one nor the other of us was ever in the least affected by his opponent's +eloquence, and at the end of the discussion we were all, if anything, +more staunchly persuaded of the sense and justice of our own case than +at the start. So much for the profitableness of debate between confirmed +partisans. + +Emile Henry was representative of the theoretical dynamitard; Matthieu, +like Ravachol, of the dynamitard by passion. A----, who belonged rather +to the Ravachol type, and ended by killing one of the crowned heads +of Europe, was during a few weeks a frequenter of the _Tocsin_. He had +turned Anarchist in revolt against the society which had cramped his +life, starved him in childhood, overworked his body, underfed his mind, +where he had found neither place nor welcome. Born into the lowest +depths of society, dragged up amid criminals and drunkards, he had spent +his early years between the streets and the jail-house, at times working +his undeveloped muscles, at other times begging or picking pockets. + +"It is all very well," he said to me one day, "for those on the top +rungs of the ladder to talk of the unrelenting laws of nature and the +survival of the fittest. For my part I have felt very forcibly one great +law of nature, the law of self-preservation: the right to live when you +have once been born, the right to food and to the pleasures of life, and +I determined to survive at all costs. When my stomach is empty and my +boots let in water, the mere sight of a replete and well-clothed man +makes me feel like murder. It may be true that it is natural for the +strongest and the best men to rise above their fellows, but even this +is not the case in our society of to-day. The weakest and the worst have +somehow got to the top, and giants are bolstering up the impotence of +dwarfs. These dwarfs are crushing the life-blood out of us. We must pull +them down, exterminate them; we must turn the whole world upside down +before we can create a new and better order of things." + +His action was not a theoretical protest translated into deeds; it was +an act of vengeance, of personal and class revenge. + +Giannoli was a type apart. His desires and actions were responsible for +his views. They coloured and distorted his opinions and destroyed all +sense of proportion. An incident in his private life would stand up +giant-like in the way of all the doctrines in the world, dwarfing +opinions and creeds. He was a physically active man and his ideas grew +out of his life, whereas men like Kosinski might be said to abandon the +material life in the pursuit of an ideal. + +Giacomo Giannoli was a man of some education, and no ordinary degree of +natural refinement and culture, one whom you would pronounce at first +sight to be a gentleman. He was the son of a fairly well-to-do builder +in a provincial town of Lombardy, and had received a good general +education in boyhood. Early left an orphan by his father's death, he +had inherited his business, and for some years he carried it on +prosperously, living with his mother and sisters. But before he was +two-and-twenty his naturally erratic disposition asserted itself, and he +chafed under the restraints and monotony of life in a small provincial +town. He sold up his business at a great loss, well-nigh ruining his +family, had it not been for his mother's small private means; and with +his share of the proceeds of the sale he travelled about for some years, +leading a roving life, and devoting most of his time and cash to the +Anarchist propaganda, constantly getting into troubles and bothers, at +times in hiding, at others in prison, always in difficulties, growing +harder and harder up as the months went by, and his moderate means +slipped through his untenacious fingers. + +Two convergent factors had led up to this sudden change in his life. +Firstly, an incident of a private nature which revolutionised his +notions of individual morality, and secondly, the discovery of the +Anarchist doctrines which gave form to his new views. The incident which +was primarily responsible for his new views of life, he recounted to me +not long after his arrival in London. + +"It was a woman," he said, "who completely altered my views of life, and +made me see how perverted and unnatural are our ideas of sex and love +and morals, and, in short, of everything. She was an ignorant peasant +girl who lived in a neighbouring village, but a woman of rare mind and +character. I shall never forget her, nor what I owe her. I was a young +fellow of some twenty-one years at the time, and I loved this girl with +all the passion and faith of a youth of those years. Teresina loved me +in return, and for some two years we lived on happily till one day it +was brought to my knowledge that she was unfaithful to me. I was beside +myself with grief and mortification and jealous fury. For some hours I +just raged up and down my room like one demented, crying like a child +one minute, cursing and meditating revenge the next. I felt that I +must have blood at all costs to appease my passion--Teresina's or her +lover's, or somebody's. I was to meet Teresina that evening as usual +towards nine o'clock, and I thought the intervening hours would never go +by. One hope suddenly suggested itself to me, and I clung desperately to +it. 'Perhaps it is false!' I said to myself. 'I will ask Teresina. It is +all a lie,' and then 'Proofs, proofs, I must have proofs!' I cried, and +once more my thoughts turned back to murder. Thus I went through the +long hours, and at last evening came--a beautiful warm May evening, and +long before the appointed hour I was at our rendezvous in a deserted +_podere_ on the mountain-side, overgrown with flags and other spring +flowers, among which the fireflies were flitting noiselessly. I had no +eyes for the beauty of the scene, however. I paced up and down waiting +for my sweetheart, cursing the treachery of women and the blindness +of men. Suddenly she appeared, dark against the clear evening sky, +graceful, gay, and unconscious as ever. Without a word of welcome +I rushed at her, seized her by the arm, and hurled forth all my +accusations and all my reproaches. + +"'Tell me it is not true,' I cried at last, 'tell me it is not true, or +I will kill you where you stand!' + +"I expected the usual routine of tears and protestations of innocence, +all the lies and subterfuges with which women are wont to defend +themselves against the unreasoning savagery of their mates. I was +disappointed. Teresina stood perfectly silent till I had finished +speaking; then without flinching, without one instant's hesitation, she +answered, 'It is true. Every word of it is true.' + +"If the moon and the stars had all dropped simultaneously out of heaven +at my feet I should not have been more astonished. The calmness of her +answer, the steady earnestness of her gaze as she looked back fearlessly +into my eyes, her utter lack of subterfuge, took away my breath. +I dropped her arm and stood staring at her, bereft of speech and +understanding. At last I blurted out stupidly that I did not understand +her, that I must be going mad, and entreated her to explain. + +"'I said it was true; that I love Giordano, and have accepted his love,' +she answered. Still I did not fully grasp her meaning. + +"'But, Teresina, I thought that you loved me; have you lied to me then?' +I exclaimed. + +"'No, I have not lied,' she answered me. 'I have never lied to you,' and +she took my hand in her strong little hand, and led me like one blind +or intoxicated to the projecting root of a tree close by, and there sat +down by my side. + +"'Listen,' she said, still holding my hand in hers, 'I ought to have +told you what I have to say before now. I only hesitated because I +knew it would cause you acute suffering at first ... until you could +understand. Believe me, I do love you as much as ever I did, and I could +not bear even the thought of living without you. I love Giordano too, +in a different way it is true, but still I love him. He has not got +your mind or your heart, or your wonderful knowledge' (she was a very +ignorant girl, so far as learning was concerned, and my small knowledge +of books appeared to her little short of miraculous, poor child!), 'but +then he has some qualities you do not possess. Well, I love him for +these, and I enjoy being with him in a quite different way from what I +experience with you.' + +"I was silent, and she continued after a short pause:-- + +"'Nothing is more brutish or more selfish than jealousy, my friend. If I +thought another woman could give you a moment's happiness, I should +say: "Take it, enjoy it!" We do not grudge our friends every moment of +enjoyment not enjoyed in our company. We wish them other friendships and +other joys. What is there in the love between man and woman which should +make us so selfish and so unreasonable? For my part, I must have freedom +at all costs, absolutely at all costs. It is dearer to me than anything +else in life, and I had sooner sacrifice even love and happiness; +indeed, I cannot love or be happy without it. For God's sake grant me +this liberty as I grant it to you! Take my love as I can give it to you, +but do not ask me to be your slave on its account! Be sure you have my +heart, and little of it remains to be squandered in other directions. +What does the rest matter? I do not grudge you your loves, your +pleasures, your caprices! Do not grudge me mine. Life is necessarily +full of sorrows; do not let us embitter it unnecessarily.' + +"She ceased speaking. She had risen to her feet and stood in front of +me as she spoke, then as she finished she sank down on her knees by my +side. + +"'Do you understand?' she asked me. 'Can you love me on these terms? +liberty--absolute liberty for us both?' + +"I answered 'Yes,' nor did I ever regret the answer. + +"I think that was the most momentous day in my life, for it wrought the +greatest change in me. My eyes were opened by the peasant girl's words, +and from that evening forward I regarded life quite differently. For the +first time I realised the necessity to the individual to enjoy absolute +personal freedom in love as in all else in life. All my previous ideas +and prejudices appeared to me monstrous and iniquitous. I saw the +falseness of all our ideas of morality, the absurdity of placing +conventions before nature and the detestable character of our dealings +with women and of our attitude in such matters. And with this suddenly +awakened vision I looked anew on life, and it seemed to me that till +then I had never lived. All that which I had before taken for granted +I now began to question. I found that instead of thinking out life's +problems for myself I had allowed myself to grow into other peoples' +ideas, that I had tacitly taken for right what they had pronounced +right, and for wrong what they had stigmatised as wrong. My spiritual +world now turned, as it were, a complete somersault, and I was re-born a +new man--an Anarchist. + +"I and Teresina and Giordano lived very happily for some months, much +to the scandal of the narrow-minded, bigoted village folk, until I +was compelled to absent myself from the country owing to some little +disturbances in the neighbourhood in which I had got implicated. + +"Teresina followed me into exile, and with little intermission remained +with me during all those early years of wanderings and adventure. She +cared little about Anarchist doctrines, though herself a born rebel and +an innate Anarchist. She did more for me than all the doctrines in the +world. Poor child! When at last I got through all my money, and life +from day to day grew harder and more precarious, food scantier, clothes +raggeder, and surroundings more dangerous, she still remained faithful +to me in her own way, but the life was too hard for her. We had spent +the summer in Paris, and there I had got seriously implicated in a +little Anarchist venture and found it necessary to flee the country +with all haste. Teresina followed me into Belgium in the bitter winter +weather. She died of consumption in a Brussels hospital shortly after +our arrival." + +Such, in his own words, were the influences and the circumstances which +revolutionised Giannoli's entire life and his outlook on things. +He became one of the leaders of the most advanced section of the +"Individualist Anarchists," who maintain that not only is government of +man by man wrong and objectionable, but that no ties or obligations of +any sort bind men together. The ethics of "humanity" and "brotherhood" +are unknown to these Anarchists. They recognise no laws, social or +moral, no obligations or duties towards their fellows, no organisation +or association of any sort. They claim absolute freedom for the +individual, freedom to live, die, love, enjoy, think, work, or +take--this freedom in each individual only curtailed by others claiming +equal rights. And I am bound to admit that the question whether such +individual freedom would not tend to individual licence and domination +by the stronger and cleverer or more unscrupulous man in the future, met +with little consideration. + +That it led to such licence in the present among themselves was an +indubitable fact. All the individualist Anarchists agreed that, being +at war with existing society, which interfered with, coerced, and used +violence towards them, they were at liberty to use all means against +society in retaliation--force and even fraud if expedient. But the +less intelligent and more ignorant men who came in contact with these +principles considered themselves not only at liberty to use all means +against society, the enemy; but honour or scruples of any sort among +themselves were tabooed. A naturally honourable man like Giannoli was, +of course, free from the danger of falling victim to such perverted +sophistry. But the manner in which these doctrines succeeded in +perverting the minds of fairly intelligent and well-meaning men is +illustrated by the following incident. + +One evening, some months after the advent of Giannoli and his friends, +there arrived at the office of the _Tocsin_ a small party of three men +and one woman--all of them Spaniards. They requested me to help them to +procure lodgings for the night, and, as they knew nothing of the English +language, to assist them the following morning in procuring tickets, +etc., with a view to their immediate re-departure for the States. +Giannoli, who knew the men, having spent some years in Spain, explained +to me that the leader of the party, a handsome, well-spoken young man, +was an engineer belonging to a good Barcelona family. The second one, +a good-natured giant, was his brother and an engineer like himself. The +third male member of the party was a lanky, scrofulous journalist, a +man of many words and few wits. The lady, a pretty brunette, was their +"compagna." She had escaped from her family and eloped with Fernandez, +the engineer, but was apparently shared on communistic principles. + +I settled the party for the night in a small hotel and procured their +tickets for the morrow's journey, after which they proceeded to hand +over to Giannoli, with many cautions and precautions, a mysterious linen +bag which, it was whispered, contained some twelve thousand lire in +bank-notes (about five hundred pounds sterling). Then, having been +assured by Giannoli that I was to be trusted, they told me their story. + +The two brothers, the engineers, had till quite recently been employed +by a large electrical engineering firm in Barcelona, of which an elder +brother, some years their senior, was the manager. For some time the +two younger men had been engaged, unknown to their family, in Anarchist +propaganda, and had fallen in with the section of the _individualisti_. +Fernandez was in love with Adolfa, the daughter of a well-to-do +merchant, and had secretly talked her over to his own ideas. The girl's +parents objected to the match on account of the extreme youth of +the couple--the girl was not quite eighteen and the young man still +considerably under age. Therefore they settled to elope, and Fernandez's +brother and Vanni, their journalist friend, expressed a desire to form +an addition to the elopement. This Fernandez had at first objected to, +but the girl, who had made rapid strides into the Giannolian free-love +theories, insisted. Lack of money formed the only obstacle to this +scheme, but an unforeseen circumstance enabled them to remove it. + +The eldest brother, who had charge of the finances of the establishment, +and whose business it was to pay the men their wages, wished to absent +himself from the works for a few days, and, without the knowledge of his +employers, he broke rules to the extent of handing over to his brother +Fernandez, as to one beyond suspicion, the men's wages--the five hundred +pounds now contained in the mysterious linen bag. + +"Now," argued Fernandez to himself, "I, as an Anarchist, do not +recognise private property, nor any set moral laws. The company's money +is the result of plunder; they can afford to lose it and have no right +to it; I stand desperately in need of it--and it is in my hands.... My +brother?... oh, my brother, he is after all nothing but a bourgeois, and +I, as an Anarchist, admit of no family ties." + +Thus when, two days later, the unfortunate manager returned, he found +his brothers gone, the money nowhere to be found, and disgrace and ruin +ahead. Driven to despair, and not knowing in what direction to turn +for the necessary sum, the wretched man ended his perplexities with +a bullet. This was the first news which greeted the runaways on their +arrival in the States. + +Now the younger brothers who had perpetrated this cruel thing were not +hardened criminals. From what little I saw of them, they appeared to +be kindly, courteous, and, by nature, fairly honourable men. What they +lacked was moral strength. Under ordinarily good influences they would +have acted in an ordinarily proper way. They had not the force of +character necessary for handling the Anarchist individualist doctrines, +which, excellently as they may work with men of character, are fatal +to weaker men. The man who recognises no law outside himself must be +capable of governing himself. + +The office of the _Tocsin_ was the constant scene of debate and dispute +between the two rival camps in the Anarchist party--the organisationists +and the individualists. Bonafede and Gnecco belonged to the former, +while most of the active staff of the _Tocsin_--myself among +others--adhered to the latter section. A curious feature of the +matter--and I fancy it is not exclusively characteristic of the +Anarchist party--was the amount of invective and hatred, which both +factions ought properly to have expended on the common enemy, but which +instead they spent most of their time in levelling at one another. A +casual witness of these internal strifes might have imagined that the +two parties were at the antipodes in their ideas and objects, rather +than comrades and participators in a common belief. Their dissensions +were alone forgotten in a common hatred of government and existing +society. And even in their efforts to upraise the social revolution--the +great upheaval to which all Anarchists aspired--I doubt whether there +lurked not some secret hope that the detested rival faction might +be demolished in the fray. Bonafede and Giannoli were warm friends +personally, and held one another in great esteem. Yet I can clearly +recollect Giannoli one evening, with tears in his eyes, assuring me that +his first duty when the Revolution broke out would be to disembowel his +dear friend. + +"He is my friend," Giannoli said to me, "and I love him as such, and as +a man I admire him. But his doctrines are noxious; in time of Revolution +they would prove fatal to our Cause; they would be the undoing of all +the work for which we have suffered and fought. Organise a Revolution, +indeed! You might as well attempt to organise a tempest and to marshal +the elements into order! I know Bonafede to be above personal ambition, +but, take my word for it, most of these organisationists hope to +organise themselves into comfortable places when their time comes! It is +our duty to destroy them." + + + +CHAPTER X + +A FLIGHT + + +No man, having once thrown himself into an idea, was ever more sincerely +convinced of the truth of his beliefs or more strenuous in his efforts +to propagandise them than Giannoli. To destroy utterly the fabric +of existing society by all possible means, by acts of violence and +terrorism, by expropriation, by undermining the prevailing ideas of +morality, by breaking up the organisations of those Anarchists and +Socialists who believed in association, by denouncing such persons +and such attempts, by preaching revolution wherever and whenever an +opportunity occurred or could be improvised, to these objects he +had blindly devoted the best years of his life. His was a gospel of +destruction and negation, and he was occupied rather in the undoing of +what he had come to regard as bad than with any constructive doctrines. + +All existing and established things were alike under his ban: art no +less than morals and religion. He nourished a peculiar hatred for all +those links which bind the present to the past, for ancient customs and +superstitions, for all tradition. Had it been in his power he would have +destroyed history itself. "We shall never be free," he used to say, "so +long as one prejudice, one single ingrained belief, remains with us. We +are the slaves of heredity, and of all manner of notions of duties, of +the licit and the illicit." + +One day I took him to the National Gallery. I was quite unprepared +for the effect of this step. He walked about nervously for some time, +looking from one picture to another with evident displeasure. At last +he stopped in front of Leonardo's "Madonna delle Roccie," and remained +gazing at it for some minutes in silence, while a heavy frown gathered +round his brows. "I hate art," he exclaimed at last. "I consider it +one of the most noxious influences in the world. It is enervating +and deteriorating. Art has always been the slave of religion and +superstition, from the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians to our own times. +You see something beautiful, perhaps, in these pictures, in these saints +and Madonnas and Immaculate Conceptions? Well, when I look at them, all +the darkest pages of history seem to open before me, and generations +upon generations of superstitious slaves, toiling on and suffering with +the ever-present terror of hell-fires and chastisement, pass before +my mental vision. I should love to burn them all, to raze all these +galleries and museums to the ground, and libraries with them. For what +are libraries but storehouses of human superstition and error? We must +free ourselves from the past, free ourselves utterly from its toils, +if the future is to be ours. And we shall never free ourselves from the +past until we have forgotten it. Let us leave here. I cannot stand it +any longer! I do not know which is most repugnant to me, the asceticism +of these early Christians or the senseless fantasies of the Greeks," and +without further ado he fled. + +Fired by this gospel of destruction, he spent his life wandering about +Europe, never resting for a month together, wrenching himself free from +all those ties which might curtail the freedom of his actions. Although +not fashioned by nature for enduring hardships, he alternately suffered +cold, hunger, heat, fatigue, privations, and dirt. In Paris one week, +making a brief sojourn in Spain the next, fleeing thence under warrant +of arrest to find himself some days later in hiding in Italy; at times +in prison, always in danger and uncertainty; starving one day, in fairly +flourishing conditions the next, never certain what fortune the morrow +might bring: thus the years went by, until, escaping from _domicilio +coatto_, or worse, in Italy, he had at length made his way to London and +the office of the _Tocsin_, quite broken down in health after the long +winter tramp. As I knew him, among his few personal friends, Giannoli +was loyal and honourable in the extreme, independent and proud. Like +many other Anarchists he entertained an almost maniacal prejudice +against plots and conspiracies of any kind, maintaining that such +organisations were merely police traps and death-gins. "Propaganda by +deed"--outrage, in short--they maintained should, and could, be the +outcome only of entirely individual activity. Never, indeed, did police +or press make a greater blunder than when they attributed deeds of +violence to associations and large conspiracies, and sought for or +denounced accomplices. Every one of those outrages and assassinations +which startled Europe was the act of a single man, unaided by, and +frequently unknown to other Anarchists. + +This horror of plots and associations was, when I first met him, one of +the most noticeable traits about Giannoli. He was beginning to lose +his earlier assurance, worn out by the roving life he had led, and was +growing suspicious in the extreme. "Such-a-one is a police emissary," or +"So-and-so is not to be trusted" were words constantly on his lips. + +To me he took a great liking, and he always showed implicit faith in me +both as an Anarchist and an individual. "You are a true Anarchist," he +said to me one day, "and I would trust you with anything, _even_" and +he emphasised the word so as to give greater weight to the compliment, +"_even_ with _explosives_!" + +His suspiciousness, however, grew by leaps and bounds during his sojourn +in London. Every day he threw out hints against some new person or some +fresh imaginary conspiracy. There was a plot brewing, he informed +me, among various false comrades to ruin him. He was the victim of a +conspiracy to deprive him of his liberty and perhaps even of his life. +Not a day passed but some covert threat was made against him; men whom +he had believed his comrades, and to whom he--fool that he was!--had +confided the deadliest secrets in the past, had given him to understand +the power they held over him, and had made it clear that they would +avail themselves of it should it serve their purpose. "What fools +we Anarchists are," he exclaimed to me one day, "ever to feel any +confidence in any one! We are no longer free men when we have done this. +We are slaves." + +I watched the progress of this monomania with painful interest, for +among all the Anarchists there was no individual for whom I entertained +a more genuine regard than for Giannoli. One of the worst aspects of +the matter, moreover, was that I was really unable to judge how far +Giannoli's suspicions were true and how far imaginary. As to his +sincerity there was no possibility of doubt, and this lent to all he +said an air of verisimilitude which was most convincing. I did not know +the majority of the other Italians well enough to feel positive as to +their honesty, and many of them were uncertain and somewhat suspicious +characters. Mori, for instance--the youthful Neapolitan already referred +to, the enigmatic "buttered muffin"--was quite incomprehensible. He was +a youth of no particular intelligence, and certainly of no ideality or +genuine political or anti-political convictions, and I was quite at a +loss to conjecture why he had followed the Anarchists into exile--his +only apparent reason being a disinclination to study and a desire to +escape from school. When Giannoli informed me that he was a police-spy I +really did not know whether to believe him or not. + +And as the weeks passed on, Giannoli's condition grew worse and worse, +and I could see that a crisis must inevitably follow. Nor was I mistaken +in this conviction. + +Late one afternoon, towards the end of September, I was busy in the +printing-room "making up" the pages of the forthcoming number of the +_Tocsin_, when, looking up from my work on which I was very intent, I +saw Giannoli walk in hurriedly with his usual restless step, and look +about the place in a nervous short-sighted way, evidently in search of +somebody. He was just about to leave again, not having noticed me, when +I called to him. "Oh, Isabel," he replied, evidently much relieved, "are +you here then!" and he came up to me. "I did not see you!" and then, +casting a glance round the room, he inquired, "Are we quite alone?" + +"There are others upstairs," I answered. "If you wish to speak to me +alone I will come to your room a little later, when I have finished this +work." + +"Oh, thank you, thank you," he exclaimed; "I _must_ speak to you; +I shall wait for you till you come;" and he hurried away, once more +looking furtively round the office as though fearing he were watched. + +From his manner it was evident to me that he was terribly perturbed +about something and that his fears and suspicions were reaching a +climax. "Whatever can be the matter?" I asked myself as I hammered away +at my form. "Has anything serious really happened?" + +Towards seven o'clock I left the printing-office and the work to the +tender mercies of Short, who was just writhing out of a peaceful sleep +of some hours' duration on the "bed" of the machine, and made my way +towards Giannoli's room, which though quite close was by no means easy +of access. Turning to my right, half-way down the court-yard, I passed +into Mrs. Wattles's house, at the summit of which my friend was located; +and here at once my progress was arrested by that lady herself, only +half sober and in a mood evidently requiring sympathy. + +"Oh, my dear," she exclaimed, "are you going up to see that pore young +man? I don't know what's gone wrong with 'im of late, but for all the +world 'e looks as if 'e were sickening for something. To look at 'im's +enough. It just sets my inn'ards all of a 'eave and a rumble, and I 'ave +to take a little drop o' something warm to settle 'em again." + +"Damnation!" I muttered inwardly at finding myself trapped at such a +moment; but there was nothing for it; I had to wait and hear out the +long and weary recital of the sickness and agony of her deceased son, to +whom she had suddenly discovered a resemblance in Giannoli. At the end +of a long discourse, full of those "sickening details" in which women +of her class delight, she summed up her case with a brief but telling +epitome of his career, to the effect that he never smoked, nor drank, +nor swore, but that he "only gave one sniff and died;" and I, determined +to escape from the inevitable sequel, when Wattles senior's vices would +be declaimed in contrast to the son's virtues, beat a hasty retreat. +A few scraps of this anticlimax, mingled with hiccups and sobs, wafted +after me as I wended my way up the uneven wooden stairs. At the top +of these a perilous-looking ladder gave access to a trap-door, through +which I dexterously made my way into Giannoli's room. + +The interior was familiar to me--a squalid little den, some ten feet +square, whose dirty, brown-paper-patched window looked out over the +chimneys and yards of the "Little Hell" district. In one corner of the +room was a mysterious cupboard, through which a neighbouring chimney +contrived to let in a constant supply of filthy black smoke. The bare +unwashed boards were rotting away, and at one spot the leg of the bed +had gone through the floor, to the considerable alarm of its dormant +occupant. The wall-paper, which had once been a gorgeous combination of +pink and cobalt and silver, was tattered and discoloured, and so greasy +that one might imagine that generations of squalid lodgers had made +their meals off it. The furniture consisted of a small table, now +covered with a perpetual litter of papers; a ramshackle wash-hand stand, +on which a broken vegetable dish served as a receptacle for soap and +such objects; a bed, which bred remarkable crops of fleas, and to which +clung an old patchwork quilt, but which was otherwise poor in adornment; +a chair, and an old travelling-box. As I have already mentioned, a +trap-door in the floor gave access to this apartment. There was no other +door. + +When I entered Giannoli was sitting at his table with his face buried +in his hands, so deeply absorbed in his own reflections that for some +seconds he did not notice my advent. When at last I made my presence +known to him he gave a violent start, and, holding out both his hands, +he wrung mine for some moments in silence. Then he motioned me to the +box; I seated myself; once more he became silent; then, suddenly raising +his head, he looked me full in the face. + +"Do you know why I wished to speak to you?" he asked; "can you guess? +Oh, it is no light matter, Isabel, which has led me to trouble you, +no pleasant matter either. I am on the brink of ruin, threatened and +betrayed by my most trusted friends. I must leave here at once, go right +away from London and England. My life is not safe here for another day." +He spoke in Italian, and as he grew more excited his voice rose higher +and higher, though every now and again he was minded to control it, as +though fearing he might be overheard. "Yes," he continued, "those men +whom I have most trusted, whom I have treated as my own brothers, with +whom I have often shared my last shilling and the very clothes off my +back, have turned against me. They are in league to destroy me. They are +plotting against my liberty and my life!" For some minutes he raved on +in this style, every now and again breaking off into curses, while I +listened half horrified, half incredulous. + +"For goodness' sake," I exclaimed at last, "do try and be calmer, +Giannoli, and tell me what has happened and what you wish me to do." + +"You are right," he answered, making an effort to control himself; "I +must explain the matter or you cannot understand.... I will talk to you +frankly, for you at any rate are above suspicion. You may perhaps be +aware that I have been connected with many serious Anarchist ventures +in the past. The explosions at St. ----, the affair in V---- three years +ago, the sacking of the bank in Barcelona. All of these were, of course, +very dangerous matters, in which I risked my life; but it all tended +towards the destruction of society, and I readily took the risk. As far +as possible I avoided taking other comrades into my confidence--partly +out of regard for my own safety, partly with a view to theirs. To one or +two well-trusted men, however, I confided my projects, so that in case +of my arrest all proper measures might be taken." (Gnecco was one of +these "trusted comrades," B---- and Mori were others.) "I was mistaken +in my estimate of these men, mistaken in my confidence in them. From +their lips my secret has been wormed or bought by others, until now it +has become a byword, and every indiscreet fool and paid spy in our midst +knows the tale of my past better than I do myself. I no longer +dare attend our meetings, for all around me I hear whisperings and +insinuations, and my name being passed from one mouth to another along +with references to my past actions. The torture is becoming unendurable. +Some of these cowards even descend to taunting me with their knowledge; +and when I, in any way, cross their purposes in our discussions, they +threaten me covertly with exposure. That disgusting young fool, Mori, +only to-day, being jealous of me in some trivial matter, tried to +intimidate me by hinting at the V---- affair. I felt that I could have +struck him down where he stood; and then a sense of my own impotence +overtook me, and I stood there, silent and confused, trying to laugh +the matter off, as though I had not grasped his meaning. But I can stand +this state of things no longer: it is driving me mad. When I am alone +now I suddenly start with the feeling that some one is coming on me +unawares. This afternoon, wishing to be alone and to think matters over, +I took a walk about the Park, but the very trees seemed to be whispering +about me, and before long I perceived that I was followed, that my +movements were being dogged step by step. When I am alone in my room +they do not even leave me in peace. They obtain entrance here by means +of that Wattles woman, who is evidently in their pay. B---- cannot +forgive me for not having appropriated to our private use the money +expropriated in Barcelona for the propaganda; and this indeed is one +of their principal grievances against me. Would you believe it, Isabel, +last night he actually got into this house and woke me from sleep by +shouting the name of the bank through that hole? When I rushed down to +find him, determined to teach him a sound lesson, he was gone. But what +use is there in my enlarging on this subject? You cannot fail to see +the danger I am in, and the absolute imperative necessity for flight. +Another day's procrastination may be my undoing. Who knows what signal +they are awaiting to denounce me, and how many others may be implicated +in my ruin? I must get away from here; I must flee in absolute secrecy, +and none of them must be allowed to suspect where I am gone. You and +Kosinski alone I can trust. You alone must be in the secret of my +flight. Will you help me, Isabel?" and at this point Giannoli seized my +hand, and then, overcome and unnerved by excitement, he allowed his head +to sink on to the table and sobbed convulsively. + +My head was fairly swimming by this time. How far was all this true? how +far the imaginings of an over-wrought, over-excited brain? However, the +immediate urgencies of the situation gave me no time to carefully weigh +the matter. I must either act or refuse to act, thereby leaving my +friend alone to his despair and possible ruin. I decided on the former +course. + +"I think that you exaggerate, Giannoli," I answered him. "You are ill +and over-wrought, and require rest and change. Get away from here by all +means if there is any danger in remaining, but do not take too gloomy a +view of the situation. I am at your disposal and willing to help you in +every way in my power. Tell me where you think of going, and what I can +do. But in the meantime, had we not better get supper somewhere, and +discuss the situation over a little reassuring food?" + +This unheroic but practical suggestion met with poor Giannoli's +approbation, and he confessed to not having broken his fast all day. +He also seemed relieved at the prospect of leaving the vicinity of the +office where he was convinced that spies surrounded him, and having +thanked and re-thanked me over and over again for my proffered +assistance, he led the way down the ladder, and together we gained +the street. I was horribly shocked at the haggard strained look of the +unfortunate Italian which the clearer light down here revealed. He +had aged ten years since his arrival. We made our way towards a +small restaurant in Soho frequented principally by the lower order of +_cocotte_, and here over a savoury but inexpensive meal we discussed our +plans. + +"I can scarcely dare believe that this hell is coming to an end!" +exclaimed Giannoli. "The assurance of your sympathy is already +lightening my burden. I am beginning once more to take hope and courage! +Oh, to have at last left that awful den where night and day I have felt +myself watched by unseen treacherous eyes, and my every breath noted by +my enemies! I shall never put foot there again. You and Kosinski must +get my things away from there to-night, and to-morrow I leave London by +the first continental train." + +"Where do you purpose going?" I inquired. + +"To South America, as soon as the arrival of funds will allow it, but, +this not being practicable for the moment, I propose going first to +Lisbon. There I will hide for a few weeks until I restart for Buenos +Ayres, and I trust that this will have the advantage of putting my +'friends' off the track. Even for this little voyage I do not at the +present moment possess the necessary funds, but in this you can no +doubt assist me, for in a few days I expect some thirty pounds from my +relations in Italy. If you will return to my room to-night you might +rescue my guitar and what few little objects of value I possess and pawn +them, and burn all papers and documents of any kind." + +"You have left everything till rather late!" I could not help +exclaiming, not a little taken aback at the amount to be done, and at +the rapidly advancing hour. + +Supper over, I left Giannoli in Oxford Street, and made tracks for his +lodging, which by great good luck I reached without any obstruction. I +locked myself in, rescued a few papers of importance, burnt the rest, +put his scanty personal belongings together in a box which it had been +agreed I was subsequently to send Kosinski to fetch, and having secured +his guitar, a silver-handled umbrella, and two or three other articles +of small value, I proceeded with these to a neighbouring pawnbroker. I +may mention here that since my connection with the Anarchist movement, +and its consequent demands on my pocket, I had become quite familiar +with the ins and outs, and more especially the ins, of these most +invaluable relatives. + +I reached the side door of Mr. Isaac Jacob's establishment on the stroke +of eleven, but as Providence and would-be drunkards had mercifully +ordained that pawnbrokers should remain open later than usual on +Saturday, I was still able to effect an entrance. I laid my goods down +on the counter, and politely requested the temporary loan of 3 pounds. +"Three pounds for this damned lot of old rubbish," exclaimed the +indignant Jew. "Do you take this for a public charity? It's not worth +fifteen shillings to me, the whole lot!" and he turned the things over +with his greasy hands, as though they were objectionable offal. We +finally compromised for thirty-two shillings, with which sum in my +pocket I triumphantly sallied forth. + +My next move was to disinter Kosinski, whom I felt pretty certain of +finding at a certain coffee-stall where, at that advanced hour, he was +in the habit of making his one and only diurnal, or rather nocturnal +repast. This coffee-stall was situated at the corner of Tottenham Court +Road and a side street, and there, sure enough, stood Kosinski, munching +sardines on toast, and buns, and drinking coffee, surrounded by a motley +group of cabmen and loose women. These had evidently grown used to his +regular attendance and treated him with marked respect and friendliness, +many of the unfortunate women having often had to thank him for a meal +and the price of a night's lodging when luck had failed them in other +directions. + +Kosinski was somewhat taken aback at my sudden appearance. "You, +Isabel!" he exclaimed in some confusion, "what can have brought you +here? But may I offer you a little supper? These buns are excellent!" + +Tired and worried as I was, I could not help smiling at the awkward +manner in which he made this offer. "No, thank you," I answered, "I +am not hungry. I have come to fetch you in connection with a rather +important matter. Can you come with me when you have finished your +supper?" + +"Yes, certainly," answered Kosinski, "if there is anything I can do. +Just let me finish these few mouthfuls and I will follow you. In the +meantime will you explain what is the matter?" + +Without further ado I explained to him the whole Giannoli affair as I +understood it. It was a relief to me to do so, and I was anxious to +hear his opinion. He was silent for some minutes after I had finished +speaking, and munched reflectively the last relics of his supper. + +"I am afraid," he said at last, "that Giannoli is not quite well--not +quite well, mentally, I mean," he added after a slight pause. "At the +same time, it is quite possible that there is some truth in what he +suspects. Spies have always been abundant in our party and Giannoli is a +very likely victim. He has been imprudent in the past, too believing and +too foolhardy. I do not know very much about the men whom he primarily +suspects, but Gnecco certainly I believe to be above suspicion. In any +case it will be safer for him to leave.... I am ready now.... What can I +do? Where are you going?" + +"Home, and to bed," I answered. "I have been on my feet all day and I am +very tired. Moreover, there is nothing that I can do till to-morrow." + +I then explained to him what he was to do, where we were to meet on +the following morning, and where he could find Giannoli that night. He +acquiesced and we parted. + +Early the following morning I found Giannoli and Kosinski, as +prearranged, awaiting my arrival under the bridge of Waterloo Station. +Both looked very washed out, with the fagged and pasty look of people +who have been up all night. They were strolling up and down, carrying +Giannoli's box between them, and making a fine but very obvious show of +indifference towards a policeman who eyed them suspiciously. "Here, move +on, you fellows," he was saying gruffly as I came up with them, and on +perceiving me they seemed glad enough to be able to do so. + +"That stupid policeman wanted to arrest us as rogues and vagabonds," +Kosinski explained to me as we made our way towards a neighbouring +coffee-shop for breakfast. "A pretty fix that would have been just +now! We had scarcely settled down for a quiet sleep on the box when the +meddlesome fool came up and asked our names and addresses, what we had +there, what we were doing at that hour, and threatened to take us in +charge unless we moved on. When I explained that we were simply waiting +for our train he laughed, and said that was a likely tale! If you had +not come along and thus confirmed our assertion that we expected a +friend, I really believe he would have arrested us." + +"Well, is everything arranged?" I inquired as we settled down to our +breakfast. "How did you get on last night?" + +"Oh, we have had nothing but mishaps and adventures all night," returned +Kosinski. "What a night! Thank goodness it is over at last. After you +left, towards one o'clock, I went off to Giannoli's room to fetch his +box. I confess that I felt a little nervous about this, for I dreaded an +encounter with that horrible Mrs. Wattles. She talks and talks and talks +to me whenever she sees me, and insists upon asking the most indelicate +questions. She is a perfect savage. But no matter; let me get on. As I +crawled upstairs, I heard her in her room abusing her poor husband in +the most disgusting terms. I held my breath and crept up. I found the +trunk right enough in the corner, though it was none too easy to find, +as there was no light in the room, and I was afraid of lighting even a +match for fear of attracting attention. But on the way down a terrible +accident occurred. My foot caught in a scrap of oilcloth at the top of +the stairs, just outside Mrs. Wattles's room, and I fell. Crash down +the stairs went the box, and I rattled after it. The noise, of course, +brought Mrs. Wattles screaming and swearing to the door. Then, bruised +and bewildered as I was, I seized on the box and fled. Down the +remaining stairs, out through the door, and into the street, I ran as +for dear life. Oh I have never run like that before, Isabel! I remember +years ago, when escaping from prison in Russia, my life depended on the +efficiency of my legs. But I did not run with such fervour as I ran last +night from that woman. I still feel unspeakably grateful when I think +that I escaped without being recognised. She raced down after me, but +being half-drunk she fell in the passage, and it was that which saved +me.... I found Giannoli in Trafalgar Square." + +The remainder of the night they had spent peacefully enough, wandering +about the streets, occasionally being "moved on" by a policeman, until +the sceptical officer already referred to had evinced an intention of +arresting them both as rogues and vagabonds. I could not help smiling +at the peremptory manner in which poor Giannoli's adventures had almost +been brought to a conclusion. + +I gave Giannoli the proceeds of the previous night's pawnings, and I and +Kosinski turned out on the table what money we had about us. It was +just sufficient to cover the expenses of the first stage of Giannoli's +journey. + +We proceeded--a quaint procession--to the station. Kosinski led the way +with head bent forward and even resolute tread, apparently untired and +unaffected by his night's vicissitudes, with the much battered box +on his shoulders. Behind him followed Giannoli and myself, the former +nervous and unstrung, constantly turning from right to left with the +idea that we were being followed. In the station, half deserted this +Sunday morning, we had another long wait. We talked of many things +together, and I had never found Kosinski so friendly and communicative +before. There existed between Giannoli and himself the keen sympathy and +understanding of two men equally devoted to an idea, equally willing to +sacrifice everything to it. The Russian was more of a philosopher than +the Italian, more engrossed in abstractions, more oblivious of his own +personality, and this it was that had saved him from the possibility of +Giannoli's terrible malady. At the same time he was by no means inclined +to make light of Giannoli's fears, and together they talked them over, +Kosinski promising to investigate them after his friend's departure, and +to see if it was possible to discover who was really at fault. + +"No man can ever hold such threats over me," said Kosinski, "for I have +never taken any one into my confidence. I have always acted alone. Some +day it may fall to my lot to pay with my life for some action on +behalf of our ideas. When that moment comes I shall be ready for the +sacrifice." + +"I too," exclaimed Giannoli with fervour--"I too would not hesitate +to make the sacrifice if I felt the right moment had arrived. If +to-morrow--if at this very moment--I saw the means of advancing the +Anarchist cause by the sacrifice of my life, I would give it without +regret or hesitation. But to lose it for no purpose, before I have +finished my work, to fall a victim to the envy and treachery of my own +comrades, and to involve others in my own ruin, I cannot bear. When my +time comes to die I wish to feel that my death is at any rate of some +use. There are moments when an Anarchist can help his ideas on better by +dying than by living. But for me the moment is not yet quite ripe." + +He then relapsed into silence, and the two friends sat together, +engrossed in their own reflections, without saying a word. + +After a time Giannoli turned to me: "I will write to you as soon as I +reach Lisbon, Isabel, and let you know how I am getting on. There +at least I am little known, and I will stay with an old friend whose +sincerity is above suspicion--Avvocato Martini. You and Kosinski are the +only two persons whom I regret in leaving London. You have done more for +me than I can ever thank you for. You have saved my life, and although +I do not value life for itself, it may be of value to our Cause, and +I hope yet to give it for some good purpose. Give what explanation you +think fit of my disappearance. Above all, let no one suspect where I am +gone." + +The train left at ten o'clock. Giannoli was deeply affected at parting +from us, and as the train was about to leave he seized our hands and +embraced us. "Something tells me," he exclaimed, "that I shall never see +either of you again. Write to me sometimes and bear me in mind. Do not +believe any lies you may be told about me. I have only our principles at +heart. Good-bye," and the train steamed out of the station. + +I remained alone with Kosinski. The hour was still quite early, and +there was much to be talked over together. "Let us go to some picture +gallery," I suggested, "so as to talk things over and to settle what we +are to give out concerning Giannoli's disappearance." + +"No, please, don't," answered the Russian in genuine alarm; "you know +how I hate art, Isabel. It goads me to madness. We must think of some +other place." + +We strolled out of the station together and wended our way across the +bridge and along the Strand, up by St. Martin's Church, and eventually +found ourselves close to old St. Giles's Churchyard. "Let us sit down +here," I said, indicating a seat; "I am tired of walking." + +"It is little better than a picture gallery," murmured Kosinski, "but it +will do if you are tired," and we sat down. Kosinski advised me to feign +absolute ignorance of Giannoli's whereabouts and to set afloat the idea +of his having committed suicide. He asked me to let him know as soon +as I received news from the fugitive, and he, in the meantime, would +investigate the matter of the "conspiracy." As we parted he said to me: + +"I am very glad, Isabel, that I have had to deal with you in this +matter. You may sometimes have thought me unduly harsh in my estimate of +your sex. I am not without reason in this. Women are rarely of much +use in a movement like ours. They so rarely seem able to forget +_themselves_, to detach themselves from the narrow interests of their +own lives. They are still the slaves of their past, of their passions, +and of all manner of prejudices. But you are different.... There have +even been moments when I felt that I had other things to say to you, +things which it is better to leave unsaid. I must not be guilty of the +weakness which I condemn in women. An Anarchist's life, you see, is +scarcely his own. He has no time to indulge in personal sentiment. +Good-bye," and before I had time to answer he was gone. + +I returned home and spent the remainder of the day locked in my room, +absorbed in many conflicting thoughts. I was grieved beyond words at +Giannoli's trouble, at the possibility of foul play, at the almost more +grievous possibility of mental disorder in him. Then again and again +Kosinski's last words recurred to me, and I could not help reflecting +that, slight as they were, he had probably never said so much to any +other woman. I was compelled to admit to myself that the Russian, for +all his strange ideas and brusque manners, had grown to be a great deal +to me. But I felt that he was a hopeless case--the kind of man to whom +personal happiness was unknown, and who would succeed in rendering +unhappy any one rash enough to care for him. "How easy happiness might +be," I reflected, "with our ideas, with our freedom from prejudice. And +yet it is these very ideas which will ruin his life, which----" Half +unconsciously I found that my thoughts had been drifting from abstract +ideas and abstract enthusiasms to persons, and with this divorce from +abstractions began a feeling of weariness, of nausea. I thought of +Kosinski's words again, of his contempt for personal sentiment in an +Anarchist, of what he had said about women; and I struggled hard within +myself to turn my thoughts into other channels. It was useless, and at +last, weary of the effort, I retired to bed and took refuge in slumber. + +During the following weeks I worked on fairly regularly at the _Tocsin_ +and saw Kosinski not unfrequently, on which occasions he most carefully +avoided any recurrence of personalities, however vague these might be. +Giannoli's disappearance created considerable commotion, and every one +was at a loss to imagine what could have become of him. My relations +with those Italians whom he had suspected were naturally very strained +and uncomfortable, for I did not know what to think of them, how far to +trust or mistrust them. Kosinski, as promised, investigated the +matter as carefully as he could, but the exact truth was difficult to +ascertain. Gnecco we neither of us for one instant suspected, but we +felt some degree of uncertainty about the others. Whether or no there +had been some amount of unclean work going on, it was anyway quite +certain that a great part of Giannoli's suspicions were the outcome of +his overwrought and exhausted mental condition. + +About a fortnight after his departure I received at last a letter from +Giannoli. This consisted of a few words, written evidently in much +hurry and perturbation of spirit. He thanked me for the money from his +relatives, which I had forwarded, which would, he said, enable him to +leave at once for Argentina. "It has arrived in the very nick of time," +he wrote, "for here I am no longer safe. Avvocato Martini, of whom I +spoke to you in such high terms, is not to be trusted. He intercepts +my letters, and has, I believe, communicated with my enemies in London. +Thank Heaven! I am now able to get away. In South America I shall once +more settle down to the propaganda work, and I shall be out of the power +of these informers. My old friend, Giovanni Barelli, awaits me there. +We shall live together and life will once more become endurable. I am +anxious to hear from Kosinski. What is the result of his inquiries? My +best love to him and to you, dear friend, and again a thousand thanks to +you both. I will write at greater length from America." + +I showed the letter to Kosinski. He read it through with a serious +expression. "I fear," he said, "that it is a case of hallucination, and +that there is but very slight foundation of truth to his suspicions. +I have looked into the matter and can see no adequate grounds for +suspecting the men whom he regarded as his enemies over here. Giannoli +exaggerates and distorts everything. I must write to him and try to +reassure him about this. I will tell him that he is mistaken. We cannot +afford to lose such a comrade." + +"Beware," I returned half in jest--"beware, lest you too fall under his +ban." + +"Oh, there is no fear of that," answered Kosinski with assurance. "He +knows me too well. I am the oldest friend he has. I can and must tell +him the truth." + +Kosinski wrote, and the weeks passed on. A month after Giannoli's +arrival in Buenos Ayres I received another letter from him. Once again +he declared that he was not safe, that he must take flight. Barelli, of +whom he had always spoken with the most brotherly affection, had turned +against him. He and other false comrades had entered into a plot to +murder him, and at the time of writing he had fled from their ken and +was in hiding in some remote and populous district, awaiting the arrival +of money which would enable him to return to Europe. Then, later on, +there arrived another letter from Lisbon, disconnected in matter, shaky +in writing, full of the wildest and most improbable statements. + +"I feel like a hunted animal," he wrote; "I have been driven about from +pillar to post, from one end of the civilised world to another. I am +growing very weary of all this, and am trying to devise how to terminate +a situation which is growing intolerable. Here I am again in hiding, and +dare not venture from my lair till the dead of night. What money I had +is almost at an end. My clothes are falling off my back. I have not +changed my linen for weeks, having forgotten my old valise in my hurried +departure from Buenos Ayres. My health is failing, and I feel utterly +helpless and wretched. You would be horrified if you could see me now. +I am ill, and at night I can get no sleep. Every moment I expect them to +break in, murder me, and seize my papers. Those devils from Buenos Ayres +are already on my track. I have not heard from Kosinski. His letter +has no doubt been intercepted. As soon as possible I shall proceed +to Gibraltar. I am thinking out a plan to end all this. _Do you +understand?_" + +Some weeks later I received from Gibraltar a letter in which Giannoli +informed me that yet once more he was compelled to abscond himself, +further plottings against him rendering this necessary. He had been +seriously ill, he wrote, and his strength was quite giving out. He was, +at the time of writing, on the eve of departure for Barcelona, where +he was determined "to end it all." He had at last received Kosinski's +letter, and would write at greater length from Barcelona. He warned me +to beware of false friends. + +These last sentences troubled me very much. What could it all mean? What +was impending? And Kosinski; did he doubt _him_ too? + +But this state of uncertainty as to his meaning was destined to be but +of short duration. Barely a week had elapsed since my receipt of the +above letter when, as I stood alone in the composing-room one morning, +I was surprised to see the figure of an unknown man appear above the +balustrade leading from below. He was evidently a foreigner and a +Southerner, and walking straight up to me he asked in Italian, but with +a distinct Spanish accent, "Are you Isabel Meredith?" + +On my answering in the affirmative, he handed me a sealed note on which +was written my name in Giannoli's familiar hand. + +"This is for you," he said, "I bring it direct from Barcelona. It is +strictly private. Good morning," and as mysteriously as he had appeared +he was gone. + +Even before opening it, the shaky writing on the envelope told me only +too eloquently that matters were no better with Giannoli at the time he +penned it. Moreover, I felt certain, from the extraordinary nature of +its delivery, that it must contain news of exceptional moment. A dull, +sick feeling of dread overcame me as I stood irresolute, holding the +unopened letter in my hand. I was tempted to put it aside and postpone +the knowledge of any unpleasant news it might contain. I knew this, +however, to be a weakness, and so with an effort I tore it open. It read +as follows:-- + +"DEAREST FRIEND,--This is a letter which it would be unsafe to consign +to the post. Therefore I send it to you by hand, by means of an old +friend who can be trusted. He is not a comrade, and has no knowledge of +its contents. A few days back I wrote to you from Gibraltar, telling you +of the serious break-down in my health, and of the circumstances which +had compelled me once again to leave Lisbon. Now, at last, I feel in a +measure more composed, for my resolution is taken, and I mean to end my +life--not without benefit to our Cause, I hope. You are the only person +with whom I am communicating. Even Kosinski has been bought over by my +enemies. A letter from him was forwarded to me in Lisbon, in which +he sided with the spies who have been trying to ruin me, and which +contained covert threats which I understood only too well. Thus another +illusion is shattered! The burden of all these disillusions, all these +disgusts and disappointments, is too heavy to bear any longer. I must +get away from it all before my health and intellect are completely +shattered. I have always thought suicide a cowardly death for an +Anarchist. Before taking leave of life it is his duty to strike a final +blow at Society and I, at least, mean to strike it. Here the moment is +in every way ripe. Ever since the explosion in Madrid, eight months ago, +the Anarchists have been the victims of the most savage persecutions. I +have seen one man with his nails torn off, and another raving mad with +thirst, after having been kept without water, and fed on salt cod during +sixty hours. Others have been tortured in prison in other ways--some +tortures so vile and filthy that I would not tell you of them. I write +this in order to show you that the moment is ripe here for some vigorous +act of reprisal. It is impossible to strike a blow at all those who are +responsible, for the whole of Society is to blame: but those most guilty +must suffer for it. I am prepared to strike my final blow before I take +my leave, and you will learn from the papers in a few days' time the +exact nature of the act I contemplate. + +"And now I must beg you to pardon me for all the trouble and disturbance +I have occasioned you, dear friend; I can never thank you enough. You, +and you alone, have been true to me. For your own sake, I entreat you +also to beware of false friends--especially avoid Kosinski.----Yours +ever, + +"GIACOMO GIANNOLI." + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A CRISIS + + +The flight of Giannoli, and all the worry and turmoil occasioned +thereby, told on my health. I did not admit as much to myself, and I +still kept on at the paper as usual through the very thick of it all. +For one thing, this was necessary in order not to arouse the curiosity +of many of the comrades, and moreover there is no doubt that whatever +line of life we may adopt we gradually become the creatures of our +habits, however much we may scoff at such a notion. Thus, though I had +grown out of the first stage of youthful enthusiasm when I revelled in +squalor and discomfort, and sincerely believed myself to be one of the +hubs round which the future Revolution and the redemption of mankind +circled, and though experience had opened my eyes to much that was +unlovely, and not a little which was despicable, in my associates, still +I stuck at my post and continued my work on the paper. + +On arriving at the office towards nine every morning, my first task +was to get Short out of pawn in the neighbouring coffee-shop, where +he retired--regardless of the fact that his pockets were but capacious +vacuums--in order to regale himself on shop eggs and fly-blown pastry, +and where his person was detained as a pledge till my purse redeemed +him. + +I would then work away, "dissing" or "comping," "locking up forms," or +writing a "leader," till some of the Italians, keenly alive to their +ownership of stomachs, would call me off to partake of a Milanese +_minestra_, or to pronounce on the excellencies of a mess of _polenta_. +Then would follow an hour devoted to digestion and talk, when Short, if +in a bad temper, would smoke abominable shag, and raise the bowl of +his clay pipe into quite perilous proximity with his eyebrows, and if +genially inclined, would entertain some one member of the company to +dark tales and fearsome hints as to the depraved habits and questionable +sincerity of his or her dearest friend. + +He had of late developed a great interest in my welfare, and Kosinski +had been his special butt. He had always hated the latter on account of +his vast moral superiority to himself, and seemed specially desirous of +discrediting him in my eyes. The Russian came pretty frequently to the +office during the months following on Giannoli's disappearance. He was +always singularly uncommunicative about his own concerns; his intimate +friends were not aware of his address; how he lived or what his home +life was none seemed to know; and, indeed, he was one of those men who, +without ever saying a word to that effect, make one feel that their +private life is no concern of any one but themselves. Short, however, +hinted at things he _could_ say if he _would_, spoke in general terms of +the disgracefulness of exploiting the affections of women, referred in +an undertone to "that Kosinski's" luck, adding that, of course, one had +a right to act according to one's inclination, still Anarchists should +set an example, &c., &c. I, of course, took such observations at their +true value; I knew Short and Kosinski too well to give two thoughts to +the matter. Still when, on top of all this mysterious talk, I received +Giannoli's letter, in which he spoke of his folly in trusting his +supposed friend, and accused him of being neither more nor less than an +agent in the hands of the International police, I felt my brain whirl, +and really wondered whether I was the sole sane person in a mad world, +or whether the reverse were not the case. + +It was now some weeks since I had last seen Dr. Armitage. He had written +to explain his absence, alleging stress of work, in which I readily +believed; for though I knew his regular practice had been much neglected +during the preceding year, I also knew that there was not an Anarchist +within twenty miles who did not expect him to attend on himself and +family when in illness or trouble, an obligation with which the doctor +willingly complied, though not only did he take no fees, but generally +had to provide the patients with all their creature comforts. No sort +of change had occurred in our relations to each other, but lately he +had seemed more than ever preoccupied, absorbed in the propaganda, ever +devising new plans for spreading the "movement." He seemed less and less +inclined to keep up his West End connection, and confessed that he +had but scant patience wherewith to listen to the polite ailments and +sentimental troubles of fashionable ladies. He had given much time to +the _Tocsin,_ writing many really remarkable papers for it, but lately, +since Kosinski had come more to the front, and I had been so much taken +up with Giannoli's affairs, he had, perhaps intentionally, kept more +away from the office. + +It was with a feeling of real pleasure that I saw him enter at last one +Saturday evening early in April. I had been feeling tired and depressed, +and only by an effort of will had I kept myself at my work. I was struck +at the change that a few weeks had wrought in the doctor's appearance. +His hair had grown unusually long, quite noticeably so, his tall figure +was somewhat bent, and there was an unusual appearance about his dress. +He had not yet cast aside the garb of civilisation, but his trousers +evinced a tendency to shrink, and he appeared to contemplate affecting +low necks in the matter of shirts. His feet were shod in sandals of a +peculiar make, and there was a feverish look in his eyes. As he came +towards me his characteristic kindly smile lit up his drawn features, +and he grasped my hand with friendly warmth. I was delighted to see him, +but somewhat shocked at the alteration in his looks. In answer to my +inquiries as to his prolonged absence, he explained that he had been +very busy for one thing, and that he had also been much preoccupied with +his own thoughts on questions of principle and propaganda. + +"You know, Isabel," he said, "my habit of silence when confronted +by mental problems. I think I must belong to the race of ruminating +animals, and it is only by quietly chewing the cud of my ideas that +I can digest and assimilate them. It used to be just the same in my +student days, and doubtless the habit will stick to me through life. +When I have once thought out a point, and settled in my own mind on the +right course of action, I am not as a rule troubled by hesitation or +doubts, and then I like to talk and discuss, but the initial stage seems +to need solitude. Besides, I know you have been very much taken up of +late months. I have seen Kosinski sometimes, and had your news from him. +You are not looking well; you must have been overtaxing your strength, +and need a rest." + +"Doctor, cure yourself, I might well say," I rejoined. "There is nothing +much amiss with me. I am a little fagged perhaps, nothing more. But you +look very much run down. I am sure you have been neglecting yourself +very much of late." + +"Oh, no, on the contrary," replied the doctor, "I have been giving much +thought lately to food and dress reform in their bearings on the social +question, and I have been putting some of my ideas into practice in my +own person. I have never felt in better health. All superfluous fat has +been got rid of, and my mind feels singularly lucid and clear. I have +been going on quite long rounds propagandising, often walking as much as +twenty and thirty miles a day, and, thanks to my somewhat more rational +dress and to my diet of raw oatmeal and fresh fruit, I have found no +difficulty in so doing. But will you not come for a walk with me? It is +a beautiful evening, and here the atmosphere is so close and stuffy. Do +come, I should so enjoy a quiet talk with you. I have much I want to say +to you, and I have come this evening in the hope of an opportunity to +say it." + +I agreed, and we sallied forth. At the entrance to the courtyard we +encountered Mrs. Wattles holding forth to a group of gossips amongst +whom stood Short (for no scandal-mongering was too trivial to +interest him), on the disappearance of Giannoli from her house and +her suppositions as to his fate--a theme of which she never wearied. I +managed to slip by without attracting her attention, so absorbed was she +with the enthralling mystery, only to find myself in for another almost +worse danger. For there at the corner of P. Street and the Euston Road +stood the Bleeding Lamb, surrounded by a hooting and uproarious crowd. +He had, it appeared, interrupted the Gospel-preaching of the Rev. +Melchisedek Hicks with some inappropriate inquiry as to the probable +whereabouts of Nelson on the resurrection day. This was considered +irreverent by the admirers of the Rev. Hicks, who forthwith began to +jibe and jeer at the Bleeding Lamb, who, in his turn, exchanging the +meekness of the traditional victim for the righteous indignation of +a prophet misjudged, had volleyed a torrent of abuse on all present, +consigning them unconditionally to hell-fire. As Armitage and I +neared the scene a constable was taking the names and addresses of all +concerned, and was manifesting his intention of marching off the poor +Lamb to durance vile. + +Armitage took in the situation at a glance, and, hurrying up, addressed +the man in blue. "I know this man very well, officer," he said in an +authoritative voice. "I can answer that he gives his name and address +correctly; there is no need to arrest him." + +"And who are _you?_ I should like to know," inquired the irate +policeman; "I think I can answer for your address, Colney Hatch ain't +far off the mark." + +"This is my card," answered the doctor, handing one over to the +constable with a dignified gesture. The latter seemed somewhat impressed +and taken aback, and after grumbling some remarks in an undertone and +eyeing the Lamb in a suspicious and unconvinced manner, he told him to +be off sharp if he did not wish to find himself in the cells, and +then vented his spleen and unappeased zeal on behalf of his country +by cuffing, shoving and abusing the corner-boys who had assembled to +witness the fun. We availed ourselves of the consequent confusion to +make good our escape, dodging the Lamb, who manifested an intention of +coming along with us; and soon we found ourselves, thanks to a penny +tram fare, in fresher, cleaner quarters. We got down at the corner of +Parliament Hill. The sun had just set and the clear spring twilight lent +a wonderful charm of serene peace to the scene. The undulating expanse +of Heath was growing darker and darker; in the west still lingered the +last sunset hues of pink and saffron and green; and overhead in the deep +blackening blue of night the stars were just becoming visible. We had +strolled on in silence for some time, hushed by the solemn stillness +of the evening. At last Dr. Armitage exclaimed, "Ah, Isabel, how I +sometimes long for rest and peace, and sweet wholesome surroundings! How +beautiful life might be passed with a companion such as you. The earth +is beautiful, man is naturally good; why cannot we all be happy?" + +I was a little taken aback at the doctor's remark, though I had half +expected something of the sort. During the early months of my Anarchist +career, when battling with the first difficulties of starting the +_Tocsin_, we had been so constantly together that we had got into a way +of divining each other's thoughts and feelings almost without the need +of words. We never thought or talked of anything but abstract questions +of principle or the immediate needs of the propaganda, yet, as was only +natural, an undercurrent of personal sympathy had sprung up between us +which I had felt to be somewhat more pronounced on the doctor's side +than on my own. However, with him, excess of emotion always manifested +itself in renewed and redoubled zeal for the propaganda, leading him to +elaborate some quite extraordinary schemes for advancing the Cause, such +as, for instance, supplementing his daily work by keeping a coffee-stall +at night, as he considered that such a plan would afford an excellent +opportunity for quiet personal argument and for the distribution +of literature to probable converts; so that he had never broached +personalities in any definite style. Then events had followed on one +another with surprising rapidity; the advent of the Italian refugees +had contributed to change the _personnel_ if not the principles of the +_Tocsin_; a common friendship for Giannoli had brought Kosinski and +myself more together and I had, always had a decided sympathy for the +Russian, increased perhaps by the instinctive feeling that if there were +one man who would refuse to budge one inch from his principles for a +woman that man was he. I seemed to have lived ages, my character was +developing, a sense of humour was gradually modifying my views of many +matters, and during these last few months Armitage and I had drifted +somewhat apart. + +There was something pathetic in his voice that night as he spoke. His +whole appearance told me that he had been passing through an acute +mental and moral crisis, and a queer feeling came over me which seemed +to warn me that something irreparable was about to take place between +us. I felt deep sympathy for this noble nature struggling for the ideal +in a world all out of gear; so thoroughly unselfish and self-sacrificing +as hardly to grasp clearly the personal side of its sufferings, and +slowly and unconsciously, in its very effort to free itself from +material trammels, falling a victim to monomania--striving too high only +to fall in a world where the sublime is divided by but a step from the +ridiculous, and where all are capable of laughing and sneering, but few +indeed of appreciating qualities such as Armitage possessed. + +"We might well ask 'what is happiness?'" I rejoined in answer to his +remark, anxious to steer the conversation clear of personalities. "How +vain and trivial all our struggles seem whenever we find ourselves face +to face with the serene indifference of Nature. What are we, after all, +but fretful midges whizzing out our brief hour?" + +"Ah, one is often tempted to think so," answered Armitage--and I confess +that I gave vent to a sigh of relief as I realised that he was now +started on a discussion--"but as long as injustice prevails we must +continue the struggle. I often long for rest, silence, oblivion; but the +mood passes and I awake more keenly alive than ever to the greatness of +our Cause, and our duty toward the propaganda. Nothing must be allowed +to interfere with our devotion to it, and, what is more, Isabel, we +must strive to live in such a way as to free ourselves from all +considerations that might hamper our action on its behalf. We must +simplify our lives; we must not neglect to set an example even in small +matters. The material claims of life absorb far too much of our time. +We are constantly selling our birthright for a mess of pottage. We shall +never be truly devoted propagandists till we have freed ourselves from +all care for the morrow." + +"You are right," said I, "but such ideas may be carried to an excess. +We must live our lives; and as that is so we must attend more or less to +our personal wants." + +"That I do not deny, Isabel," answered the doctor; "what I aim at is to +simplify them as much as possible. Thanks to my new diet I shall never +have to waste time to procure the wherewithal to fill my stomach. +Nuts and raw fruit are easily procured, and contain all the elements +essential to physical health. I am sure you will agree with me on this +point when you have considered it at length. Then again in the matter of +dress, what could be more hateful or harmful than our modern costume? +It is awful to think of the lives wasted in useless toil to produce +the means by which a so-called man of fashion contrives to make himself +hideous and ridiculous in the eyes of all sensible people. Besides there +is no doubt that we are all the creatures of our surroundings, and so +the influence of food and dress on character must be inestimable." + +"Oh, doctor, do not harp so on this dress and food question!" I could +not help exclaiming. "Really, seriously, I think you have let your mind +run somewhat too much in a groove lately. Talk of vegetarianism and +dress reform! why, what you need, it seems to me, is a steak at the +Holborn and a starched shirt collar! Seriously, it grieves me to think +that you should be giving yourself up so entirely to such notions. I +consider you could do far more good to the Cause by keeping up your +practice, pursuing your studies, and working on the lines you used to be +so successful in." + +Hardly had I spoken than I regretted the hastiness of my remark. I could +see at a glance that my friend was pained, more at feeling that I was +out of sympathy with him than at my actual words. He suggested that +we should turn homewards. We were nearing Fitzroy Square when he +exclaimed-- + +"You know, Isabel, that I have always had a great admiration for you. +I have thought you would prove one of the great figures of the coming +Revolution; I still think so, but I see that our ways are parting. You +laugh at me; yet I feel sure that my position is right. I am sorry I +have not your sympathy in my work. I had counted on it; I had come this +evening to tell you so. Perhaps some day you will understand my views +and agree with them. Till then, good-bye. I am due at a comrade's +house at Willesden; he is going in for the No Rent Campaign, and I have +promised to help him move to-night, but first I must go home and get +out of these cumbersome clothes into a more rational dress; coats and +trousers impede one's every thought and movement. Good-bye," and he +grasped my hand and was off, walking with a rapid, almost feverish +stride. + +On reaching home the servant informed me that a gentleman had called +for me, and that on hearing I was out he had expressed his intention of +returning. The girl could not remember his name, but I gathered from her +description that he was a foreigner. + +Just then a ring at the door interrupted her remarks, and I was +surprised to see Kosinski enter the room. He walked straight up to me +with an unwonted look of perturbation about him. + +"Could you come with me at once?" he said in low, hurried tones. + +"Where?" said I, feeling quite alarmed. "What is the matter?" + +"With me, to my room. I need the help of some woman, but there is no +time to waste. I will explain _en route_. Will you come?" + +"Certainly, at once," and I walked out with him. + + + + + + + + +I had not chanced to see him since Giannoli's last letter in which he +was denounced as belonging to the ranks of the Italian's false friends, +since when I had only heard the insinuations of Short, which, as can +easily be imagined, had not deeply impressed me, coming from such a +quarter. Still I should not have been surprised had I felt a momentary +embarrassment at finding myself suddenly in his company, and under such +decidedly unusual circumstances, but such was not the case. No one could +look into Kosinski's steady grey eyes and earnest face, pale with the +inward fire of enthusiasm, and not feel conscious of standing face to +face with one of those rare natures who have dedicated themselves, body +and soul, to the service of an ideal. I walked on hurriedly, keeping up +with his swinging stride, wondering where we were going, but not liking +to break in on his reserve by probing questions. Suddenly he seemed to +wake to a sense of reality, and turned sharply round to me. + +"We are going to my room in Hammersmith," he said. "I want your +assistance, if you care to come; there is a woman there dying, a friend +of mine. You are the only person of whom I should care to ask such a +favour. Will you come? I hardly think it will be for many hours." + +So then Short was right; there was a woman at the bottom of Kosinski's +life; and simultaneously with this idea there flashed across my brain a +feeling of shame at having for one instant entertained a mean thought +of my friend. "I will come," I answered; "you did well to count on my +friendship." We hurried on for several minutes in silence. Then again +Kosinski spoke: + +"I had best tell you a little how matters stand," he said. "I am not +fond of talking about private concerns, but you have a right to know. +Eudoxia has lived with me for the past two years. I brought her over +with me from America. She has been suffering with consumption all this +while, and I do not think she will last the night." + +"Is she a comrade?" I ventured to inquire. + +"Oh, no. She hates Anarchists; she hates me. It will be a blessing to +herself when she is laid to rest at last. She was the wife of my dearest +friend, perhaps my only friend outside the Cause. Vassili had a great +intellect, but his character was weak in some respects. He was full of +noble ambitions; he had one of the most powerful minds I have known, +a quite extraordinary faculty for grasping abstract ideas. I was first +drawn towards him by hearing him argue at a students' meeting. He was +maintaining a fatalistic paradox: the total uselessness of effort, and +the vanity of all our distinctions between good and bad. All our acts, +he argued, are the outcome of circumstances over which we have no +control; consequently the man who betrays his best friend for interested +motives, and the patriot who sacrifices happiness and life for an idea +are morally on the same footing--both seek their own satisfaction, +aiming at that goal by different paths; both by so doing obey a blind +impulse. I joined in the argument, opposing him, and we kept the ball +going till 4 A.M. He walked with me to my lodgings and slept on a rug on +the floor, and we became fast friends. But though his mind was strong, +he was swayed by sensual passions. He married young, burdening himself +with the responsibility of a woman and family, and went the way of all +who do so. He would have lost himself entirely in the meshes of a +merely animal life; he seemed even to contemplate with satisfaction the +prospect of begetting children! But I could not stand by and witness the +moral degradation of my poor friend. I kept him intellectually alive, +and when once stimulated to mental activity, no one was ever more +logical, more uncompromising than he. Soon after my imprisonment he got +implicated in a conspiracy and had to flee to America. When I arrived +there after my escape I found him in the most abject condition. His +wife, Eudoxia, was ill with the germs of the disease which is now +killing her, and was constantly railing at him as the cause of their +misfortune, urging him to make a full confession and throw himself on +the mercy of the Russian authorities. Poor thing! she was ill; she had +had to leave behind her only child, and news had come of its death. +Vassili would never have done anything base, but he had not sufficient +strength of character to rise superior to circumstances. Another weak +trait in him was his keen sensibility to beauty. It was not so much the +discomfort as the ugliness of poverty which irked him. I have always +noted the deteriorating effect art has on the character in such +respects. He was grieved at his wife's illness, goaded to desperation by +her reproaches, sickened by the squalor of his surroundings, and +instead of turning his thoughts inwards and drawing renewed strength +and resolution from the spectacle of the sufferings caused by our false +morality and false society, he gave way completely and took to drink. +When I found him in New York he was indeed a wreck. He and his wife were +living in a filthy garret in the Bowery; he had nothing to do, and had +retired permanently on to a rotten old paillasse which lay in a corner; +his clothes were in pawn; he could not go out. Eudoxia earned a few +cents daily by slaving at the wash-tub, and most of this he spent in +getting drunk on vile, cheap spirits. When he saw me arrive he railed at +me as the cause of all his woes; blamed me for having dragged him on to +actions he should never have done if left to himself; and pointing to +his wife and to the squalid room, he exclaimed, 'See the results +of struggling for a higher life.' Eudoxia, for her part, hated me, +declaring that I was responsible for her husband's ruin, and that, not +content with making his life a hell on earth, I was consigning his soul +to eternal perdition. Then Vassili would burst into maudlin tears and +weep over his own degeneracy, saying that I was his only true friend. +I grieved at the decay of a fine mind; there was no hope now for him; I +could only wish that his body might soon too dissolve. I gave him what +little help I could, and he soon drank himself to death. I was with him +at the last. He seemed overcome by a great wave of pity for himself, +spoke tearfully of the might-have-beens, blamed me for having urged him +to deeds beyond his strength, and ended by exclaiming that he could +not even die in peace, as he did not know what would become of his poor +wife, whose strength was already rapidly failing. 'I am leaving her +friendless and penniless. I dragged her away from a comfortable home, +promising her happiness. She has had to sacrifice her only child to my +safety, and now, prematurely old, soured by misfortune and illness, I +am abandoning her to fight for herself. She is my victim and yours, the +victim of our ideas; it is your duty to look after her.' I promised him +so to do, and she has been with me ever since." + +I had walked on, absorbed in the interest of his tale, heedless of +the distance we were covering, and now I noticed that we were already +skirting Hyde Park, and reflected that our destination must still be far +ahead. + +"As your friend is so ill had we not better take the 'bus? You said we +were going to Hammersmith, and there is still quite a long walk ahead of +us," I suggested after a few minutes. + +"Oh, are you tired?" he inquired; "I ought to have thought of it. I +always walk." I noticed that his hand strayed into the obviously empty +pocket of his inseparable blue overcoat, and a worried look came into +his face. I at once realised that he had not a penny on him, and deeply +regretted my remark. Not for worlds would I have suggested to him paying +the fares myself, which I should have thought nothing of doing with most +of the others. + +"Oh, it was not for me," I hastened to rejoin, "I am not in the least +tired; I only thought it would be quicker, but after all we must now be +near," and I brisked up my pace, though I felt, I confess, more than a +little fagged. + +Again we trudged on, absorbed in our thoughts. At last, to break the +silence I inquired of him if he had seen Armitage lately. + +"It must be quite ten days now since I last saw him at a group-meeting +of the Jewish Comrades. I fear he is developing a failing common to +many of you English Anarchists; he is becoming something of a crank. He +talked to me a lot about vegetarianism and such matters. It would be a +thousand pities were he to lose himself on such a track, for he has both +intellect and character. He is unswerving where principle is at stake; +let's trust he will not lose sight of large aims to strive at minor +details." + +Again a silence fell on us. My companion was evidently reviewing his +past; my brain was occupied in blindly searching the future; what would +become of us all? Kosinski, Armitage, myself? Vassili's words, "This is +the result of struggling for a higher life," haunted me. Should we after +all only succeed in making our own unhappiness, in sacrificing the weak +to our uncompromising theories, and all this without advancing the cause +of humanity one jot? The vague doubts and hesitations of the past few +weeks seemed crystallising. I was beginning to mount the Calvary of +doubt. + +After a quarter of an hour Kosinski exclaimed: "Here we are. You +must not be taken aback, Isabel, if you get but scant thanks for your +kindness. Eudoxia is not well disposed towards our ideas; she looks upon +her life with me as the last and bitterest act in the tragedy of +her existence. Poor thing, I have done what I could for her, but I +understand her point of view." + +Without further ado we proceeded along the passage and up the mean +wooden staircase of a third-rate suburban house, pushing past a litter +of nondescript infancy, till we stopped before a back room on the top +floor. As Kosinski turned the door handle a woman stepped forward with +her finger to her lips. "Oh, thank Gawd, you're here at last," she said +in a whisper, "your sister's been awful bad, but she's just dozed off +now. I'll go to my husband; he'll be in soon now." + +"Thanks, Mrs. Day. I need not trouble you further. My friend has come to +help me." + +The landlady eyed me with scant favour and walked off, bidding us +good-night. + +The room was of a fair size for the style of dwelling and was divided in +two by a long paper screen. The first half was evidently Kosinski's, and +as far as I could see by the dim light, was one litter of papers, with +a mattress on the floor in a corner. We walked past the screen; and the +guttering candle, stuck in an old ginger-beer bottle, allowed me to +see a bed in which lay the dying woman. There was also a table on which +stood some medicine bottles, a jug of milk, and a glass; an armchair of +frowsy aspect, and two cane chairs. The unwashed boards were bare, the +room unattractive to a degree, still an awkward attempt at order was +noticeable. I stepped over to the bed and gazed on its occupant. Eudoxia +was a thin gaunt woman of some thirty-five years of age. Her clustering +golden hair streaked with grey; small, plaintive mouth, and clear skin +showed that she might have been pretty; but the drawn features and +closed eyelids bore the stamp of unutterable weariness, and a querulous +expression hovered round her mouth. The rigid folds of the scanty +bedclothes told of her woeful thinness, and the frail transparent hands +grasped convulsively at the coverlet. As I gazed at her, tears welled +into my eyes. She looked so small, so transient, yet bore the traces +of such mental and physical anguish. After a moment or two she slowly +opened her eyes, gazed vacantly at me without apparently realising my +presence, and in a feeble, plaintive voice made some remark in Russian. +Kosinski was at her side immediately and answered her in soothing tones, +evidently pointing out my presence. The woman fixed on me her large +eyes, luminous with fever. I stepped nearer. "Is there anything I can +do for you?" I inquired in French. "No one can do anything for me +except God and the blessed Virgin," she replied peevishly, "and they are +punishing me for my sins. Yes, for my sins," she went on, raising +her voice and speaking in a rambling delirious way, "because I have +consorted with infidels and blasphemers. Vassili was good to me; we +were happy with our little Ivan, till that devil came along. He ruined +Vassili, body and soul; he killed our child; he has lost me. I have sold +myself to the devil, for have I not lived for the past two years on his +charity? And you," she continued, turning her glittering eyes on me, +"beware, he will ruin you too; he has no heart, no religion; he cares +for nothing, for nobody, except his cruel principles. You love him, I +see you do; it is in your every movement, but beware; he will trample on +your heart, he will sacrifice you, throw you aside as worthless, as he +did with Vassili, who looked upon him as his dearest friend. Beware!" +and she sank back exhausted on the pillows, her eyes turned up under her +eyelids, a slight froth tinged with blood trickling down the corners of +her mouth. + +I was transfixed with horror; I knew not what to say, what to do. I put +my hand soothingly on her poor fevered brow, and held a little water to +her lips. Then my eyes sought Kosinski. He was standing in the shadow, +a look of intense pain in his eyes and on his brow, and I knew what he +must be suffering at that moment. I walked up to him and grasped his +hand in silent sympathy; he returned the pressure, and for a moment I +felt almost happy in sharing his sorrow. We stood watching in silence; +at regular intervals the church chimes told us that the hours were +passing and the long night gradually drawing to its close. Half-past +three, a quarter to four, four; still the heavy rattling breath told us +that the struggle between life and death had not yet ceased. At last the +dying woman heaved a deep sigh, she opened her wide, staring eyes and +raised her hand as if to summon some one. Kosinski stepped forward, but +she waved him off and looked at me. "I have not a friend in the world," +she gasped; "you shall be my friend. Hold my hand and pray for me." I +knelt by her side and did as I was bid. Never had I prayed since I +could remember, but at that supreme moment a Latin prayer learned in my +infancy at my mother's knee came back to me; Kosinski turned his face to +the wall and stood with bowed shoulders. As the words fell from my lips +the dying woman clutched my hand convulsively and murmured some words in +Russian. Then her grasp loosened. I raised my eyes to her face, and +saw that all was over. My strained nerves gave way, and I sobbed +convulsively. Kosinski was at my side. + +"Poor thing, poor thing!" I heard him murmur. He laid his hand +caressingly on my shoulder. The candle was flaring itself out, and +everything assumed a ghastly blue tint as the first chill light of dawn, +previous to sunrise, stole into the room. I rose to my feet and went +over to the window. How cold and unsympathetic everything looked! I +felt chilly, and a cold shudder ran down my limbs. Absolute silence +prevailed, in the street, in the house, in the room, where lay the dead +woman staring fixedly before her. Kosinski had sunk into a chair, his +head between his hands. I looked at him in silence and bit my lip. An +unaccustomed feeling of revolt was springing up in me. I could not and +did not attempt to analyse my feelings, only I felt a blind unreasoning +anger with existence. How stupid, how objectless it all seemed! The +church clock rung out the hour, five o'clock. Kosinski rose, he walked +to the bedside, and closed poor Eudoxia's staring eyes, and drew the +sheet over her face. Then he came over to me. + +"I shall never forget your kindness, Isabel. There is yet one thing I +will ask of you; I know that Eudoxia wanted a mass to be said for her +and Vassili; will you see about carrying out this wish of hers? I cannot +give you the money to pay for it; I have not got it." + +I nodded in silent consent. + +He paused a few minutes. He seemed anxious to speak, yet hesitated; at +last he said, "I am leaving London, Isabel, I can do nothing here, and +I have received letters from comrades in Austria telling me that there +things are ripe for the Revolution." + +I started violently: "You are leaving! Leaving London?" I stammered. + +"Yes, I shall be able to do better work elsewhere." + +I turned suddenly on him. + + +"And so you mean to say that we are to part? Thus? now? for ever?" A +pained look came into his eyes. He seemed to shrink from personalities. +"No," I continued rapidly, "I will, I must speak. Why should we ruin +our lives? To what idol of our own creation are we sacrificing our +happiness? We Anarchists are always talking of the rights of the +individual, why are you deliberately sacrificing your personal +happiness, and mine? The dead woman was right; I love you, and I know +that you love me. Our future shall not be ruined by a misunderstanding. +Now I have spoken, you must answer, and your answer must be final." + +I looked at him whilst the words involuntarily rushed from my lips, and +even before I had finished speaking, I knew what his answer would be. + +"An Anarchist's life is not his own. Friendship, comradeship may be +helpful, but family ties are fatal; you have seen what they did for my +poor friend. Ever since I was fifteen I have lived solely for the Cause; +you are mistaken in thinking that I love you in the way you imply. I +thought of you as a comrade, and loved you as such." + +I had quite regained my self-possession. "Enough," I said, interrupting +him. "I do not regret my words; they have made everything clear to me. +You are of the invincibles, Kosinski; you are strong with the strength +of the fanatic; and I think you will be happy too. You will never turn +to contemplate regretfully the ashes of your existence and say as did +your friend, 'See the result of struggling for a higher life!' You do +not, you cannot see that you are a slave to your conception of freedom, +more prejudiced in your lack of prejudice than the veriest bourgeois; +that is your strength, and it is well. Good-bye." + +He grasped my proffered hand with warmth. + +"Good-bye, Isabel. I knew you were not like other women; that _you_ +could understand." + +"I can understand," I replied, "and admire, even if I deplore. +Good-bye." + +Slowly I moved towards the door, my eyes fascinated by the rigid lines +of the sheet covering the dead woman; slowly I turned the handle and +walked down the mean wooden staircase into the mean suburban street. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE _TOCSIN'S_ LAST TOLL + + +As I walked home from Kosinski's in the early morning I felt profoundly +depressed. The weather had turned quite chilly and a fine drizzling +rain began to fall, promising one of those dull, wet days of which we +experience so many in the English spring. The streets were deserted +but for the milkmen going their rounds, and the tired-looking policemen +waiting to be relieved on their beats. I felt that feeling of physical +exhaustion which one experiences after being up all night, when one +has not had the opportunity for a wash and change of clothes. I was not +sleepy, but my eyes were hot and dry under their heavy eyelids, my bones +ached, my muscles felt stiff; I had the uncomfortable consciousness that +my hair was disordered and whispy, my hat awry, my skin shiny; and this +sub-consciousness of physical unattractiveness heightened the sense of +moral degradation. + +I felt weary and disgusted, and it was not only, nor even principally, +the knowledge that Kosinski had gone out of my life which accounted for +this. I felt strangely numbed and dull, curiously able to look back +on that incident as if it had occurred to some one else. Every detail, +every word, was vividly stamped on my brain: I kept recurring to them as +I trudged along, but in a critical spirit, smiling every now and again +as the humour of some strangely incongruous detail flashed across my +brain. + +What really weighed me down was a sense of the futility, not only of +Anarchist propaganda but of things in general. What were we striving +for? Happiness, justice? And the history of the world shows that man has +striven for these since the dawn of humanity without ever getting much +nearer the goal. The few crumbs of personal happiness which one might +hope for in life were despised and rejected by men like Armitage, +Kosinski, and Bonafede, yet all three were alike powerless to bring +about the larger happiness they dreamed of. + +I had acquired a keener sense of proportion since the days when I had +first climbed the breakneck ladder of Slater's Mews, and I now realised +that the great mass of toiling humanity ignored our existence, and that +the slow, patient work of the ages was hardly likely to be helped or +hindered by our efforts. I did not depreciate the value of thought, of +the effort made by the human mind to free itself from the shackles of +superstition and slavery; of that glorious unrest which spurs men on +to scrutinise the inscrutable, ever baffled yet ever returning to the +struggle, which alone raises him above the brute creation and which, +after all, constitutes the value of all philosophy quite apart from the +special creed each school may teach; and I doubted not for a moment that +the yeast of Anarchist thought was leavening the social conceptions of +our day. + +But I had come to see the almost ludicrous side of the Anarchist party, +especially in England, considered as a practical force in politics. +Short and Simpkins were typical figures--M'Dermott, an exceptionally +good one--of the rank and file of the English party. They used long +words they barely understood, considered that equality justified +presumption, and contempt or envy of everything they felt to be superior +to themselves. Communism, as they conceived it, amounted pretty nearly +to living at other people's expense, and they believed in revenging the +wrongs of their classes by exploiting and expropriating the bourgeois +whenever such action was possible without incurring personal risk. Of +course I was not blind to the fact that there were a few earnest and +noble men among them, men who had educated themselves, curtailing their +food and sleep to do so, men of original ideas and fine independent +character, but I had found that with the Anarchist, as with the +Socialist party, and indeed all parties, such were not those who came +to the surface, or who gave the _ton_ to the movement. Then, of course, +there were noble dreamers, incorrigible idealists, like Armitage, men +whom experience could not teach nor disappointment sour. Men gifted +with eternal youth, victimised and sacrificed by others, yet sifting +and purifying the vilest waste in the crucible of their imaginations, +so that no meanness, nor the sorrow born of the knowledge of meanness +in others, ever darkens their path. Men who live in a pure atmosphere of +their own creation, whom the worldly-wise pity as deluded fools, but who +are perhaps the only really enviable people in the world. Notable, too, +were the fanatics of the Kosinski type, stern heroic figures who seem +strangely out of place in our humdrum world, whose practical work often +strikes us as useless when it is not harmful, yet without whom the world +would settle down into deadly lethargy and stagnation. Then in England +came a whole host of cranks who, without being Anarchists in any real +sense of the word, seemed drawn towards our ranks, which they swelled +and not infrequently brought into ridicule. The "Bleeding Lamb" and his +atheist opponent Gresham, the Polish Countess Vera Voblinska with her +unhappy husband who looked like an out-at-elbows mute attached to a +third-rate undertaker's business, a dress-reforming lady disciple of +Armitage, a queer figure, not more than four feet in height, who looked +like a little boy in her knickers and jersey, till you caught sight of +the short grizzled hair and wrinkled face, who confided to me that she +was "quite in love with the doctor, he was so _quaint_;" and numerous +others belonged to that class; and finally a considerable sprinkling of +the really criminal classes who seemed to find in the Anarchist doctrine +of "Fais ce que veux" that salve to their conscience for which even the +worst scoundrels seem to crave, and which, at worst, permitted them to +justify their existences in their own eyes as being the "rotten products +of a decaying society." Such were the heterogeneous elements composing +the Anarchist party with which I had set out to reform the world. + +The neighbouring church chimes rang out half-past six as I approached +home, and on reaching the doorstep of the Fitzroy Square house I found +my brother Raymond just letting himself in. On seeing me he exclaimed, +"Oh, Isabel, where have you been so early?--though really your +appearance suggests the idea that you have never been to bed rather than +that you have just risen!" I confirmed his suspicion and together we +entered his study. + +"Well, where have you been? Is there something new on with the +Anarchists? I have seen so little of you for the past six months that I +feel quite out of the world--your world at least." + +It was a great relief to me to find my brother so conversable. We had +both been so occupied of late in our respective ways that we had had +but scant opportunity for talk or companionship. Raymond had now started +practising on his own account; he was popular with his poor patients in +the crowded slums round King's Cross, amongst whom his work chiefly lay, +and day and night he toiled in their midst. Certainly the sights he saw +there were not calculated to destroy his revolutionary longings, though +they were often such as might well have made him doubt of the ultimate +perfectibility of the human race. + +"Oh, I am so glad to find you, Raymond, and I should enjoy a nice long +talk together; but you must be tired; you have, I suppose, only just +come in after working all night?" + +He explained to me that he had been summoned after midnight to attend a +poor woman's confinement, and had stayed with her till past four, when, +feeling more inclined for a walk than for his bed, he had wandered off +in the direction of Highgate and had only just got home. + +"By the way, Isabel," he said, "as I was coming down the Caledonian +Road I met your friend Armitage. He is a good fellow whom I have always +liked, so I stopped him and we had a chat. He explained to me that he +was attired in his new pedestrian costume, which indeed struck me as +almost pre-Adamite in its simplicity. He had been helping some of +his friends to move--to shoot the moon, I fancy, would describe the +situation. He inquired of me what I was doing, and we got talking on all +sorts of scientific and philosophic problems. It is extraordinary what +an intellect that man has. Only he lives too much in a world of his own +creation; he seems absolutely oblivious of self, and I feel sure his +hygiene and vegetarianism are simply the outcome of his desire to free +himself from all worldly cares which might impede his absolute devotion +to his Cause. He seems to have practically abandoned his practice. As we +were wandering on rather aimlessly, I suggested accompanying him home, +but he did not appear to jump at the idea, and as I know that it is not +considered etiquette amongst you folk to press inquiries as to address +and so on, I was going to drop the subject; but Armitage, after a short +silence, explained that the fact was he had not exactly got a home to go +to. I concluded that he was in for the bother of changing diggings, and +made some sympathetic remark to that effect; but he said that was not +exactly the case--that, in fact, he had given up having a fixed abode +altogether. As you can imagine, Isabel," continued my brother, "this +information somewhat staggered me. I knew through you that he had +long ago given up his Harley Street establishment and moved into more +populous quarters, where I quite supposed him still to be residing. But +he calmly went on to explain, as though it were the most natural thing +in the world, that he had been in need of a rather considerable sum of +money some weeks back for purposes of propaganda, and that, not knowing +where else to obtain the money, he had sold up all his belongings and +cleared out of his lodgings without paying his rent, 'by way of an +example.' All this he explained with the air of a man adducing an +unanswerable argument, and as his manner did not admit of remonstrance, +I simply asked him what he thought of doing now, which started him off +on a long account of the opportunities for propaganda afforded by such +establishments as Rowton House, the casual wards, and the Salvation Army +Shelters. 'We want to get at the oppressed, to rouse them from their +lethargy of ages, to show them that they too have rights, and that it +is cowardly and wicked to starve in the midst of plenty; we want to come +amongst them, not as preachers and dilettantists, but as workers like +themselves, and how can this be done better than by going in their midst +and sharing their life?' I could not but feel amazement and admiration +at the enthusiasm and sincerity of this man, mingled with sorrow at the +thought that such an intellect as his should be thus wasted. He is a man +who might have done almost anything in the scientific world, and now he +seems destined to waste his life, a dreamer of dreams, a sort of modern +St. Francis in a world lacking in idealism, and where he will be looked +upon as a wandering lunatic rather than a saint." + +I sat silent for a few minutes. I had not quite realised that poor +Armitage had come to this--a frequenter of casual wards, a homeless and +wandering lunatic; my brother was right, the world would judge him as +such. I was not, however, in the least surprised at the news. + +The servants had by now come down and we had breakfast brought to the +study, and I gave Raymond an account of my night's proceedings. When I +concluded my brother said, + +"Well, Isabel, you will remain almost alone at the _Tocsin_. Kosinski is +leaving, Giannoli is gone, Armitage is otherwise occupied. Will you be +able to keep it going?" + +"Oh, I could keep it going," I replied. "There are still a lot of +comrades hanging on to it; new ones are constantly turning up. The +work can be done between us, there is no doubt of that. It is rather +of myself that I doubt. I begin to feel isolated in the midst of the +others; I cannot believe that people like Short and Simpkins can change +Society; they would have to begin reforming themselves, and that they +are incapable of. I can admire a man like Kosinski: I cannot exactly +sympathise with him. As to Armitage, I can only grieve that he should +thus waste his life and talents. Probably, had he thought a little more +of his personal happiness, he would have avoided falling a victim to +monomania, for such he is in part. And then--and then--it is not only +of others that I doubt, but of myself. Am I really doing any good? Can +I sincerely believe that the _Tocsin_ will help towards the regeneration +of mankind? Can mankind be regenerated? When such questions never +occurred to me, or, if they did, were answered by my brain with an +unhesitating affirmative, then it was easy to work. No difficulties +could daunt me; everything seemed easy, straightforward. But now--but +now...." + +"Well, then, why don't you give it up, Isabel?" + +"Give it up? Oh, how could I? I have never really thought of that. Oh +no; the paper must come out. I have undertaken it. I must go on with +it." + +"And you an Anarchist! Why, I always thought you believed in the +absolute freedom of the individual, and here you are saying that +you must go on with a work in which you no longer feel the +requisite confidence, for the mere reason that you once, under other +circumstances, started it." + +"You are right, Raymond, logically right, but life is not ruled by +logic, whether we be Anarchists or Reactionaries. I feel that I could +not give up the _Tocsin_, my interests centre round it; besides, I do +not say that I have altered my ideas; I am still an Anarchist, I can +honestly work for the Cause; I only said that I doubt. I feel depressed. +Who has not had at times periods of depression and doubt?" + +"Well, we shall see," replied Raymond. "I got a letter from Caroline +last night which I wanted to show you. She says she will be home in +another three months, as she has accepted a further engagement for the +States now that her tour is nearly over. When she comes home it will be +a little company for you in the house. She has friends, and she is sure +to be much sought after now, as she seems fairly on the road to becoming +a celebrity in the musical world." + +I read the long letter, written in the brilliant style which +characterised everything about Caroline. She described her triumphs in +the various cities of the Argentine and Brazil, the receptions given +in her honour, the life and society of these faraway countries, with a +brightness and humour which brought home to me the whole atmosphere of +the places and people she described. Caroline had always been fond of +society, and even before leaving England had become quite a favourite +in musical circles; but her quick, bright intelligence had never +allowed her to be blind to much that was vulgar and ludicrous in her +surroundings. I was truly glad to think that we should meet again before +long. The common memories and affections of our childhood formed a solid +basis for our mutual friendship, but I could not help smiling as I read +the last paragraph of her long epistle: "I expect by now Isabel has had +time to grow out of her enthusiasm for revolutions and economics, and +will feel less drawn towards baggy-trousered democrats and unwashed +philosophers than when I left. Perhaps she may even have come round to +my view of life, _i.e._, that it is really not worth while taking things +too tragically, and that it is best to take the few good things life +brings us without worrying one's brains about humanity. Selfish, is it +not? But I have generally noticed that it is your stern moralists and +humanitarians who cause the most unhappiness in the world. Anyhow, if +Isabel is less wrapped up in Socialism and Anarchy we shall be able +to have a good time when I come home. I am sure to be asked out a good +deal, and if the fashionable people who patronise musical celebrities +are not free from their foibles and ridicules we shall anyhow be able to +amuse ourselves and laugh at them up our sleeves." + +So Caroline already counted on my having outgrown Anarchy and unwashed +philosophy, as she phrased it, and grown into drawing-room etiquette! +But she was wrong! I should go on with the _Tocsin_. I should still +work in the Cause; I had done so till then, and what had happened +since yesterday to alter my intentions? Nothing, or at least nothing of +outward importance. Only, since my last interview with Armitage and my +parting with Kosinski, I had begun to formulate to myself many questions +which till then I had only vaguely felt. Still I repeated to myself that +I should go on with the paper, that I should continue to lead the same +life. Of course I should! How could I do otherwise? And even if I had +changed somewhat in my ideas and my outlook on life, I certainly did +not feel even remotely attracted towards the sort of society Caroline +referred to. I had a vivid recollection of once accompanying her to an +_at home_, given in a crowded drawing-room, where the heavily-gilded +Louis XV. mirrors and Sevres vases and ornaments, with their scrolls +and flourishes, all seemed to have developed the flowing wigs which +characterised the Roi Soleil, and where the armchairs and divans were +upholstered in yellow and pink satin, and decked out with ribbon bows to +resemble Watteau sheep. Oh no; certainly I should not exchange the low +living and high thinking of my Anarchist days for such artificiality +and vulgar display. Sunday was generally a very busy day with me, almost +more so than week-days, for there were meetings to be held, literature +to be sold and distributed, and lectures and discussions to be attended. +I was in the habit of rising rather late, as very often Saturday night +was an all-night sitting at the office of the _Tocsin_, and Sunday +morning was the only time I found it convenient to pay a little +attention to the toilet. But I used generally to manage to be by twelve +in some public place, and help Short and M'Dermott to start a meeting. +Short, influenced by his inherent laziness, had succeeded in persuading +the Italians that he was a great orator, and that they could not better +forward the Cause in their new country than by carrying for him the +movable platform from which he delivered his spirited harangues; so that +one or two of them were generally present helping to form the nucleus +of an audience, and ready to lend their valid support should any drunken +loafer or top-hatted bourgeois, outraged in his feelings, attempt to +disturb the proceedings. Hyde Park was generally my destination in the +afternoon, and in the evening we used to repair in force to the hall +of the Social Democrats, there to take part in the discussion which +followed the lectures, or else some meeting in Deptford, Canning Town, +or Stratford would claim my attendance. But on this particular Sunday I +felt too tired and despondent to think of rushing out in my usual style. + +I shut myself in my room and tried to rest, but I could not free myself +from the sights and thoughts which had beset me during the night. The +words of Kosinski's friend, "And this is what comes of struggling for +the higher life," still haunted me; the dead woman, staring blindly into +space rose before me, an image of the suffering forced on the weak by +the strong. Then my thoughts reverted to Giannoli. What was he doing? +I had not heard from him for over a month, and his last letter had +been far from reassuring. He hinted at some desperate enterprise he +was engaged on, and as I had no further news of him from any quarter I +thought it not unlikely that he had been arrested, and was, even then +perhaps, suffering unknown tortures in one of those dreaded Spanish +prisons, where the old systems of the Inquisition still prevail, though +modern hypocrisy requires that all should pass in silence and darkness, +content on these conditions never to push too closely its inquiries, +even though some crippled victim who may escape should rouse for a +moment a spasmodic outburst of indignation in the civilised world. And +even were this not his fate, it was a sad enough one in all conscience: +to rush all over the world, wrecked in health, driven from place to +place by his wild suspicions, the offspring of a diseased imagination; +deprived of friends, for his mania of persecution drove them off; +deprived of means, for he had sacrificed his all to the propaganda, and +his health and mode of life did not permit of any settled occupation. +I felt strangely anxious about him, and this led my thoughts back once +more to Kosinski, with whom I had been brought so closely into contact +through our relations with Giannoli. I should never see him again in all +probability. He had told me he was going to Austria. He too belonged +to the _knights of death_, as an Italian comrade had named a certain +section of the Anarchists; and he was working out his inevitable +destiny. I wondered now how I had ever allowed myself to conceive of him +otherwise. I had always known it was impossible, and I felt that it was +only an impulse of rebellion against fate which had led me to speak. + +Finding sleep out of the question, I got up and attempted to write an +article which I had promised to bring down to the _Tocsin_ the following +morning. The subject I had chosen was "The Right to Happiness," and I +argued that man has a right not only to daily bread, as the Socialists +maintain, but also to happiness, consisting in the fullest development +and exercise of all his faculties, a condition only possible when the +individual shall be perfectly free, living in a harmonious society +of free men, untrammelled by artificial economic difficulties, and by +superstitions inherited from the past. Some days previously we had had +a discussion on the subject at the office of the _Tocsin_, and I had +maintained my views victoriously against the pessimistic dogmatism of +a German comrade. But now my arguments seemed hollow to myself, mere +rhetoric, and even that of third-rate quality. Happiness! Did not the +mere fact of attaining our desires deprive them of their charm? Life was +an alternating of longing and regret. I pushed paper and pen aside, and +began roaming aimlessly about the house. The large old-fashioned rooms +impressed me as strangely silent and forlorn. I wandered up to the attic +which our father had used as a laboratory, and which had always struck +us children as a mysterious apartment, where he did wonderful things +with strange-shaped instruments and bottles which we were told contained +deadly poison. His apparatus was still ranged on the shelves, thick in +dust, and the air was heavy with the pungent smell of acids. The large +drawing-rooms with their heavy hangings looked shabbier and dingier than +of old; I could not help noticing the neglected look of everything. I +had hardly entered them during the past year, and now I vaguely wondered +whether Caroline on her return would wish to have them renovated. Then I +remembered how I had received there for the first time, some four years +ago, my brother's Socialist friend, and I could not help smiling as I +recollected my excitement on that occasion. I was indeed young in those +days! I picked up a book which was lying on a table thick in dust, and +sat down listlessly in the roomy arm-chair by the fireside, which had +been my father's favourite seat. I began turning the pages of a volume, +"The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius," and gradually I became absorbed in +its contents. Here was a man who had known how to create for himself in +his own soul an oasis of rest, not by practising a selfish indifference +to, and isolation from, public matters--not by placing his hopes in +some future paradise, the compensation of terrestrial suffering, but by +rising superior to external events, and, whilst fulfilling his duty as +emperor and man, not allowing himself to be flustered or perturbed by +the inevitable. "Abolish opinion, you have abolished this complaint, +'Some one has harmed me.' Suppress the complaint, 'Some one has harmed +me,' and the harm itself is suppressed." What wisdom in these words! + +It was a long while since I had thus enjoyed a quiet read. For several +months past my life had been a ceaseless round of feverish activity. +Looking back, it seemed to me that I had allowed myself to be strangely +preoccupied and flustered by trifles. What were these important duties +which had so absorbed me as to leave me no time for thought, for +study, no time to live my own life? How had I come to give such undue +importance to the publication of a paper which, after all, was read by a +very few, and those few for the most part already blind believers in the +ideas it advocated? Yet I told myself that the _Tocsin_ had done good +work, and could yet do much. Besides, I had undertaken it, I must go +on with it; life without an object would be intolerable. The slow hours +passed, and when night came I felt thoroughly worn out and exhausted, +and soon got to sleep. + +I awoke on Monday morning with a sense of impending misfortune hovering +over me. I had taken refuge in sleep the previous night from a host of +troublesome thoughts and perplexing doubts, and I now experienced the +hateful sensation of returning consciousness, when one does not yet +recollect fully the past, yet realises vaguely the re-awakening to +suffering and action. I wanted to get to the office early that morning, +for publishing day was near at hand and there was a lot of work to be +finished. I felt that the drudgery of composing would be a relief to my +over-strained nerves; so, without waiting for breakfast and the morning +paper which I generally scanned before leaving home, I dressed rapidly +and set out for the _Tocsin_. I had not gone many yards when my +attention was attracted by the large placards pasted on the boards +outside a newspaper shop:-- + +"Shocking outrage in Madrid. Attempt on the life of Spanish +Prime-Minister--Many victims. Arrest of Anarchist Assassin. London +Police on scent." + +Giannoli! The name flashed across my brain as I rushed into the shop and +purchased the paper. My heart thumped with excitement as, standing in +the shadow of some houses at the corner of the street, I hastily opened +and folded the sheet and ran my eyes down the long column, freely +interspersed with headlines. + +"On Sunday evening, at half-past six, when the fashionable crowd +which throngs the Prado at Madrid was at its thickest, and just as the +Minister Fernandez was driving by in his carriage, a man pushed his way +through the crowd, and shouting 'Long live Anarchy,' discharged at him +three shots from a revolver; the aim, however, was not precise, and +one of the bullets wounded, it is feared mortally, the secretary, Senor +Esperandez, who was seated beside his chief, whilst the Minister was +shot in the arm. Several people rushed forward to seize the miscreant, +who defended himself desperately, discharging the remaining chambers of +the revolver amidst his assailants, two of whom have sustained serious +injuries. He was, however, overcome and taken, handcuffed and bound, to +the nearest police station. On being interrogated he refused his name +and all particulars as to himself, only declaring that he attempted the +life of the Minister Fernandez on his own individual responsibility, +that he had no accomplices, and that his object was to revenge his +comrades who had been persecuted by order of the Minister. When informed +that he had missed his aim, and that Fernandez had escaped with a broken +arm, whilst his secretary was in danger of death, he expressed his +regret at not having succeeded in his object, saying that this was due +to his wretched health, which rendered his aim unsteady; but as to +Senor Esperandez, he declared that he considered him also responsible, +inasmuch as he was willing to associate himself with the oppressor of +the people. Neither threats nor persuasion could induce him to say more. +The police, however, are making active inquiries, and have ascertained +so far (midnight of Sunday) that the prisoner is an Italian Anarchist +recently landed at Barcelona from America, passing under the name of +Paolo Costa. This name, however, is considered to be false. He is a tall +man, of rather distinguished appearance. The police do not credit +the idea that he has no accomplices, and during the evening extensive +arrests have been made in Madrid and Barcelona. Over a hundred of the +most noted Anarchists and Socialists in these cities are now in prison." + +Such was the brief outline of facts as given by the _Morning Post._ Of +course I had not the slightest doubt as to the identity of the prisoner; +the state of weakness and ill-health which had caused him to miss his +aim was conclusive, added to the many other reasons I had for supposing +him to be Giannoli. This, then, was the deed he had been contemplating! +Only the day before I had been wondering why I had no news of him; but a +few hours previously he went forth to his death. For it meant death, of +course; of that I had no doubt. He would be garotted; I only hoped +that he might not be tortured first. I gave a hasty glance at the other +details given by the paper. A column was dedicated to the virtues of the +prime-minister. He was upheld as a model of the domestic virtues (a few +months back Continental papers had been full of a scandalous trial in +which Fernandez had been involved), and was represented as the man who +had saved Spain from ruin and disaster by his firm repression of the +revolutionary parties: by which euphonious phrase the papers referred +to the massacres of strikers which had taken place at Barcelona and +Valladolid, and the wholesale arrest and imprisonment of Anarchists and +Socialists in connection with a recent anti-clerical movement which had +convulsed the Peninsula. + +These arrests had given rise to a great political trial for conspiracy +before a court-martial, which had ended in a sentence of death passed +on five of the prisoners, whilst the others were sentenced to terms of +imprisonment varying from thirty to five years. It was to revenge the +injustice and the sufferings caused by this policy that Giannoli had +attempted the life of the Spanish minister. Another paragraph caught my +eye:-- + +"London police hot on scent: raids and arrests." + +"Our correspondent has interviewed a leading detective at Scotland +Yard who for some years past has been charged with the surveillance +of suspicious foreign Anarchists. This clever officer informs our +correspondent that he has no doubt the plot was hatched in London, and +thinks that he could name the author, an Italian Anarchist of desperate +antecedents who disappeared from London under mysterious circumstances +nearly seven months ago. London is a centre of Anarchist propaganda, +and foreign desperadoes of all nationalities flock hither to abuse the +hospitality and freedom which this government too rashly concedes them. +Englishmen will one day be roused from their fool's paradise to find +that too long have they nursed a viper in their bosom. We trust that +this lesson will not be wasted, and that the police will see to closing +without delay certain self-styled clubs and 'printing-offices' which are +in reality nothing but hotbeds of conspiracy and murder." + +I hurried along as I read these last words. We were evidently once +more in for troublous times. The office of the _Tocsin_ was clearly +designated in the paragraph I have quoted; perhaps the office would be +raided; perhaps the Italian comrades who were staying there would be +arrested. I rapidly reviewed in my mind's eye the papers and letters +which were in the office, wondering whether anything incriminating would +be found; but I did not feel much perturbed on that score, as it was my +invariable custom to burn all papers of importance, and I felt certain +that nothing more compromising would be found than the Bleeding Lamb's +tract on the Seven-headed Beast, which, according to its author, +would "make the old Queen sit up a bit," and Gresham's treatise on the +persecutions of the Early Christians. I was glad to think that Kosinski +had settled to leave the country. I knew that Giannoli had left with him +much of his correspondence, and I trusted that this would not fall into +the hands of the police. + +I had now nearly reached my destination and, as I turned up the corner +of Lysander Grove, I at once realised that something unusual had taken +place at the office. The shutters were still up at Mrs. Wattles's +green-grocer's shop, and that lady herself loomed large at the entrance +to the courtyard leading to the _Tocsin_, surrounded by her chief +gossips and by a dozen or two of dirty matrons. Several windows were up +in the houses opposite and slatternly-looking women were craning out +and exchanging observations. I hurried on and, pushing my way past Mrs. +Wattles, who I could see at a glance was in liquor, and heedless of +her remarks, I ran down the narrow courtyard to the office door which I +found shut. I knocked impatiently and loudly; the door opened and I was +confronted by a detective. + +What I had expected had happened. The office had been raided, and was +now in the hands of the police. In answer to my inquiring look, the +detective requested me to come in and speak to the inspector. In the +ground-floor room three or four Italian comrades were gathered together. +The one-eyed baker, Beppe, was addressing the others in a loud voice; as +far as I could gather from the few words I caught, he was relating some +prison experiences. The group looked unusually animated and jolly; the +incident evidently reminded them of their own country. As soon as they +saw me enter they interrupted their talk, and Beppe stepped forward to +shake hands, but the officer of the law interposed: "Now, you fellows, +stay there; the young lady is going to speak to the inspector." I told +Beppe I should soon be down, and he retired, pulling a wry face at the +detective, and making some observation to his friends which made them +all roar with laughter. Upstairs a scene of wild disorder greeted my +eye. Four or five policemen were turning over heaps of old papers, +searching through dusty cupboards and shelves; heaps of pie lay about +the floor--evidently some one had put a foot through the form of type +ready set for the forthcoming issue of the _Tocsin_; on the "composing +surface" stood a formidable array of pint pots, with the contents of +which the men in blue had been refreshing themselves. On a packing-case +in the middle of the room sat Short, his billycock hat set far back +on his long, greasy hair, smoking a clay pipe with imperturbable calm; +whilst little M'Dermott, spry as ever, watched the proceedings, pulling +faces at the policemen behind their backs, and "kidding" them with +extraordinary tales as to the fearful explosive qualities of certain +ginger-beer bottles which were ranged on a shelf. At the editorial +table, which was generally covered with a litter of proofs and +manuscript, more or less greasy and jammy, owing to our habit of feeding +in the office, sat the inspector, going through the heaps of papers, +pamphlets, and manuscript articles which were submitted to his scrutiny +by his satellites. I took in all this at a glance, and walking +straight up to the inspector, I demanded of him an explanation of this +unwarranted invasion of the office. + +His first answer was an interrogation. + +"You are Isabel Meredith, are you not?" + +This opened up an explanation which was brief and conclusive. The +inspector showed me a search-warrant, duly signed by a magistrate, and +another warrant for the arrest of Kosinski, and informed me that the +office had been opened to him by Short, who had represented himself as +one of the proprietors. The primary object of the search was to see if +Kosinski, who was wanted by the police in connection with the Madrid +outrage, were not on the premises, and also to see if there were no +incriminating documents or explosive materials concealed there. + +"And have you found anything very alarming?" I inquired sarcastically. + +"No, miss," the inspector replied in the same tone; "the most dangerous +object in this place seems to be your printer" (he pointed at Short), +"and we have kept at a fairly safe distance from _him_. Still, of +course, I have to go through all these papers; they may yet give us a +clue to the whereabouts of Kosinski or your friend Giannoli;" and here +he looked me straight in the face. + +"Maybe," I simply replied with a shrug. I felt perfectly tranquil on +that score, and had but small doubt that Kosinski was by now already on +his way out of the country, as he would judge from the papers that the +police would be on his track. + +"And when will this search be over?" I inquired. + +"Oh, I cannot exactly tell you. It will take me some days to go all +through these papers. We shall probably be here for two or three days." + +I looked around me. Everything was disorganised. The type cases had +all been emptied into a heap in the middle of the room, the forms ready +locked up had been pied, the MSS. and papers sequestered. It was utterly +hopeless to think of bringing out the _Tocsin_. The scene reminded me +of my first experience of an Anarchist printing-office after the police +raid on the _Bomb_; but now I no longer had Armitage to encourage me +with his unswerving optimism and untiring energy, nor Kosinski to urge +me on with his contempt of dilettantism and half-hearted enthusiasm. +True, Short was there, much the same as in the old days; even his dog +could be heard snarling and growling when the policemen administered to +him some sly kick; but as I looked at the squalid and lethargic figure +with its sallow, unhealthy, repulsive face, I was overcome by a feeling +of almost physical nausea. I realised fully how loathsome this gutter +Iago had become to me during the past few months, during which I had had +ample opportunity to note his pettifogging envy and jealousy, his almost +simian inquisitiveness and prying curiosity. I felt I could not work +with him; his presence had become intolerable to me. I realised that +this was the _finale_, the destined end of the _Tocsin_ and of my active +revolutionary propaganda. I had changed. Why not let the dead bury their +dead? + +At this moment the policeman who had opened the office door to me came +up bringing a letter, which he handed to the inspector. + +"It is for you, miss," that functionary said, reading the address, "but +I have orders to open all correspondence. You will excuse my complying +with them." + +My heart stood still. Could it be from Kosinski or Giannoli? After a +moment the inspector handed the note to me. It was from the landlord--a +notice to quit. I walked up and showed it to Short. + +"Well, what will you do?" he inquired. They were the first words we had +exchanged that morning. + +"I shall leave," I replied. + +"And how about the paper? Do you think of starting it again?" + +"No, I do not think so; not for the present at any rate." + +"And the 'plant'?" + +"I shall leave that too. You can look after it, you and the comrades!" + +"Oh, the comrades!" sneered Short, and returned to his pipe. + +I turned once more to the inspector. "I am free to leave, I suppose?" I +inquired. "I cannot see that my presence here serves any purpose." + +"Oh yes, miss, you can go if you like. The presence of the printer is +sufficient for us. I understand he is one of the proprietors?" + +"Oh yes, he is a proprietor," I replied, and turned on my heel. +M'Dermott came up to me. + +"Well, my dear," he said, "so you are leaving. Well, I don't blame you, +nor wish you to remain. After all, it is no use trying to tinker up our +rotten system, or to prop up society with such wretched supports as our +friend here," and he pointed at Short. "What we need is to get +round them by our insidious means, and then go in for wholesale +assassination!" + +I could not help smiling as the little man gave vent to this +bloodthirsty sentiment in an undertone; he wrung my hand warmly, and we +parted. + +"What do you intend doing with those Italians who stay here?" I inquired +of the inspector as the sound of a guitar proceeding from downstairs +recalled my thoughts to them. + +"I think it best to detain them here until I have finished searching the +place thoroughly; then if I find nothing to incriminate them, they will +be free. You need not worry about them, miss, they do not seem likely to +suffer from depression." + +The twanging of the guitar was now accompanied by Beppe's powerful +baritone voice, whilst the others joined in the chorus: + + "_Noi, profughi D'Italia...._" + +I walked down the stairs. + +"Good-bye, Comrades!" + +"Good-bye, a rivederci!" and after giving one last look at the familiar +scene, I walked out. + +As I made my way down the yard leading to the street, I encountered Mrs. +Wattles at the back door of her shop. She had now reached the maudlin +stage of intoxication. Her eyes were bleary, her mouth tremulous, her +complexion bloated and inflamed. There was something indefinite in her +appearance, suggesting the idea that her face had been boiled, and that +the features had run, losing all sharpness of outline and expression. +She fixed me with her fishy eye, and dabbing her face with the corner of +her apron began to blubber. + +"S'elp me Gawd, miss," she began, "I never thought as I should come to +this! To have them narks under my very roof, abrazenin' it out! I always +knew as there was something wrong abart pore Mr. Janly, and many's the +time I've said to 'im, 'Mr. Janly, sir,' I've said, 'do take a little +something, yer look so pale.' But 'e always answered, 'No, Mrs. Wattles, +no; you've been a mother to me, Mrs. Wattles, and I know you're right, +but I can't do it. 'Ere's for 'alf a pint to drink my health, but I +can't do it.' And I dare say as it were them temp'rance scrupils like as +brought 'im to 'is end." + +At these tender recollections of Giannoli the good lady quite broke +down. + +"To think that it was I as let you that very shop two years last +Christmas, and that pore Mr. Cusings, as was sweet on you then--I've not +seen 'im lately--and now the coppers are under my very roof! It seems +a judgment on us, it really does. But I always told Wattles that if he +went on treatin' of 'is wedded wife more like a 'eathen than a Christian +woman, as a judgment would come on 'im, an' now my words is proved." + +She seemed by now quite oblivious of my presence: a quivering shapeless +mass of gin-drenched humanity she collapsed on to the doorstep. And with +this for my last sight and recollection of the place which had witnessed +so much enthusiasm, so many generous hopes and aspirations, and where +so many illusions lay buried, I walked forth into the London street a +sadder if a wiser woman. + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Girl Among the Anarchists, by Isabel Meredith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GIRL AMONG THE ANARCHISTS *** + +***** This file should be named 7084.txt or 7084.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/8/7084/ + +Produced by Nathan Harris, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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