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diff --git a/16283-8.txt b/16283-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..273b01f --- /dev/null +++ b/16283-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9148 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Idolatry, by Julian Hawthorne + +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: Idolatry + A Romance + +Author: Julian Hawthorne + +Release Date: July 13, 2005 [EBook #16283] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IDOLATRY *** + + + + +Produced by Wright American Fiction, J.N. Goslee and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +IDOLATRY: + +_A ROMANCE_. + + +by + +JULIAN HAWTHORNE. + + + + +BOSTON: +JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, +LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO. +1874. + +University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co., +Cambridge. + + +CONTENTS + + +Dedication + +I. The Enchanted Ring + +II. Out of Egypt + +III. A May Morning + +IV. A Brahman + +V. A New Man with an old Face + +VI. The Vagaries of Helwyse + +VII. A Quarrel + +VIII. A Collision Imminent + +IX. The Voice of Darkness + +X. Helwyse Resists the Devil + +XI. A Dead Weight + +XII. More Vagaries + +XIII. Through a Glass + +XIV. The Tower of Babel + +XV. Charon's Ferry + +XVI. Legend and Chronicle + +XVII. Face to Face + +XVIII. The Hoopoe and the Crocodile + +XIX. Before Sundown + +XX. Between Waking and Sleeping + +XXI. We Pick Up Another Thread + +XXII. Heart and Head + +XXIII. Balder Tells an Untruth + +XXIV. Uncle Hiero at Last + +XXV. The Happiness of Man + +XXVI. Music and Madness + +XXVII. Peace and Good-will + +XXVIII. Betrothal + +XXIX. A Chamber of the Heart + +XXX. Dandelions + +XXXI. Married + +XXXII. Shut In + +XXXIII. The Black Cloud + + + + +DEDICATION + +To ROBERT CARTER, ESQ. + + +Not the intrinsic merits of this story embolden me to inscribe it to +you, my dear friend, but the fact that you, more than any other man, +are responsible for its writing. Your advice and encouragement first +led me to book-making; so it is only fair that you should partake of +whatever obloquy (or honor) the practice may bring upon me. + +The ensuing pages may incline you to suspect their author of a +repugnance to unvarnished truth; but,--without prejudice to +Othello,--since varnish brings out in wood veins of beauty invisible +before the application, why not also in the sober facts of life? When +the transparent artifice has been penetrated, the familiar substance +underneath will be greeted none the less kindly; nay, the observer +will perhaps regard the disguise as an oblique compliment to his +powers of insight, and his attention may thus be better secured than +had the subject worn its every-day dress. Seriously, the most +matter-of-fact life has moods when the light of romance seems to gild +its earthen chimney-pots into fairy minarets; and, were the +story-teller but sure of laying his hands upon the true gold, perhaps +the more his story had of it, the better. + +Here, however, comes in the grand difficulty; fact nor fancy is often +reproduced in true colors; and while attempting justly to combine +life's elements, the writer has to beware that they be not mere cheap +imitations thereof. Not seldom does it happen that what he proffers as +genuine arcana of imagination and philosophy affects the reader as a +dose of Hieroglyphics and Balderdash. Nevertheless, the first duty of +the fiction-monger--no less than of the photographic artist doomed to +produce successful portraits of children-in-arms--is, to be amusing; +to shrink at no shifts which shall beguile the patient into +procrastinating escape until the moment be gone by. The gentle reader +will not too sternly set his face against such artifices, but, so they +go not the length of fantastically presenting phenomena inexplicable +upon any common-sense hypothesis, he will rather lend himself to his +own beguilement. The performance once over, let him, if so inclined, +strip the feathers from the flights of imagination, and wash the color +from the incidents; if aught save the driest and most ordinary matters +of fact reward his researches, then let him be offended! + +_De te fabula_ does not apply here, my dear friend; for you will show +me more indulgence than I have skill to demand. And should you find +matter of interest in this book, yours, rather than the author's, will +be the merit. As the beauty of nature is from the eye that looks upon +her, so would the story be dull and barren, save for the life and +color of the reader's sympathy. + +Yours most sincerely, + +JULIAN HAWTHORNE. + + + + +IDOLATRY + + + + +I. + +THE ENCHANTED RING. + + +One of the most imposing buildings in Boston twenty years ago was a +granite hotel, whose western windows looked upon a graveyard. Passing +up a flight of steps, and beneath a portico of dignified granite +columns, and so through an embarrassing pair of swinging-doors to the +roomy vestibule,--you would there pause a moment to spit upon the +black-and-white tessellated pavement. Having thus asserted your title +to Puritan ancestry, and to the best accommodations the house +afforded, you would approach the desk and write your name in the hotel +register. This done, you would be apt to run your eye over the last +dozen arrivals, on the chance of lighting upon the autograph of some +acquaintance, to be shunned or sought according to circumstances. + +Let us suppose, for the story's sake, that such was the gentle +reader's behavior on a certain night during the latter part of May, +in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-three. If now he will turn to +the ninety-ninth page of the register above mentioned, he will remark +that the last name thereon written is, "Doctor Hiero Glyphic. Room +27." The natural inference is that, unless so odd a name be an assumed +one, Doctor Glyphic occupies that room. Passing on to page one +hundred, he will find the first entry reads as follows "Balder +Helwyse, Cosmopolis. Room 29." + +In no trifling mood do we call attention to these two names, and, +above all, to their relative position in the book. Had they both +appeared upon the same page, this romance might never have been +written. On such seemingly frail pegs hang consequences the most +weighty. Because Doctor Glyphic preferred the humble foot of the +ninety-ninth page to the trouble of turning to a leading position on +the one hundredth; because Mr. Helwyse, having begun the one hundredth +page, was too incurious to find out who was his next-door neighbor on +the ninety-ninth, ensued unparalleled adventures, and this account of +them. + +Our present purpose, by the reader's leave, and in his company, is to +violate Doctor Hiero Glyphic's retirement, as he lies asleep in bed. +Nor shall we stop at his bedside; we mean to penetrate deep into the +darksome caves of his memory, and to drag forth thence sundry +odd-looking secrets, which shall blink and look strangely in the +light of discovery;--little thought their keeper that our eyes should +ever behold them! Yet will he not resent our, intrusion; it is twenty +years ago,--and he lies asleep. + +Two o'clock sounds from the neighboring steeple of the Old South +Church, as we noiselessly enter the chamber,--noiselessly, for the +hush of the past is about us. We scarcely distinguish anything at +first; the moon has set on the other side of the hotel, and perhaps, +too, some of the dimness of those twenty intervening years affects our +eyesight. By degrees, however, objects begin to define themselves; the +bed shows doubtfully white, and that dark blot upon the pillow must be +the face of our sleeping man. It is turned towards the window; the +mouth is open; probably the good Doctor is snoring, albeit, across +this distance of time, the sound fails to reach us. + +The room is as bare, square, and characterless as other hotel rooms; +nevertheless, its occupant may have left a hint or two of himself +about, which would be of use to us. There are no trunks or other +luggage; evidently he will be on his way again to-morrow. The window +is shut, although the night is warm and clear. The door is carefully +locked. The Doctor's garments, which appear to be of rather a jaunty +and knowing cut, are lying disorderly about, on chair, table, or +floor. He carries no watch; but under his pillow we see protruding +the corner of a great leathern pocket-book, which might contain a +fortune in bank-notes. + +A couple of chairs are drawn up to the bedside, upon one of which +stands a blown-out candle; the other supports an oblong, coffin-shaped +box, narrower at one end than at the other, and painted black. Too +small for a coffin, however; no human corpse, at least, is contained +in it. But the frame that lies so quiet and motionless here, thrills, +when awaked to life, with a soul only less marvellous than man's. In +short, the coffin is a violin-case, and the mysterious frame the +violin. The Doctor must have been fiddling overnight, after getting +into bed; to the dissatisfaction, perhaps, of his neighbor on the +other side of the partition. + +Little else in the room is worthy notice, unless it be the pocket-comb +which has escaped from the Doctor's waistcoat, and the shaving +materials (also pocketable) upon the wash-stand. Apparently our friend +does not stand upon much toilet ceremony. The room has nothing more of +significance to say to us; so now we come to the room's occupant. Our +eyes have got enough accustomed to the imperfect light to discern what +manner of man he may be. + +Barely middle-aged; or, at a second glance, he might be fifteen to +twenty-five years older. His face retains the form of youth, yet wears +a subtile shadow which we feel might be consistent even with extreme +old age. The forehead is wide and low, supported by regular eyebrows; +the face beneath long and narrow, of a dark and dry complexion. In +sleep, open-mouthed, the expression is rather inane; though we can +readily imagine the waking face to be not devoid of a certain +intensity and comeliness of aspect, marred, however, by an air of +guarded anxiety which is apparent even now. + +We prattle of the dead past, and use to fancy that peace must dwell +there, if nothing else. Only in the past, say we, is security from +jostle, danger, and disturbance; who would live at his ease must +number his days backwards; no charm so potent as the years, if read +from right to left. Living in the past, prophecy and memory are at +one; care for the future can harass no man. Throw overboard that +Jonah, Time, and the winds of fortune shall cease to buffet us. And +more to the same effect. + +And yet it is not so. The past, if more real than the future, is no +less so than the present; the pain of a broken heart or head is never +annihilated, but becomes part and parcel of eternity. This uneasy +snorer here, for instance: his earthly troubles have been over years +ago, yet, as our fancy sees him, he is none the calmer or the happier +for that. Observe him, how he mumbles inarticulately, and makes +strengthless clutchings at the blanket with his long, slender fingers. + +But we delay too long over the external man, seeing that our avowed +business is with the internal. A sleeping man is truly a helpless +creature. They say that, if you take his hand in yours and ask him +questions, he has no other choice than to answer--or to awake. The +Doctor--as we know by virtue of the prophetic advantages just remarked +upon--will stay asleep for some hours yet. Or, if you are clairvoyant, +you have but to fall in a trance, and lay a hand on his forehead, and +you may read off his thoughts,--provided he does his thinking in his +head. But the world is growing too wise, nowadays, to put faith in old +woman's nonsense like this. Again, there is--or used to be--an odd +theory that all matter is a sort of photographic plate, whereon is +registered, had we but eyes to read it, the complete history of +itself. What an invaluable pair of eyes were that! In vain, arraigned +before them, would the criminal deny his guilt, the lover the soft +impeachment. The whole scene would stand forth, photographed in fatal +minuteness and indelibility upon face, hands, coat-sleeve, +shirt-bosom. Mankind would be its own book of life, written in the +primal hieroglyphic character,--the language understood by all. Vocal +conversation would become obsolete, unless among a few superior +persons able to discuss abstract ideas. + +We speak of these things only to smile at them; far be it from us to +insult the reader's understanding by asking him to regard them +seriously. But story-tellers labor under one disadvantage which is +peculiar to their profession,--the necessity of omniscience. This +tends to make them top arbitrary, leads them to disregard the modesty +of nature and the harmonies of reason in their methods. They will +pretend to know things which they never could have seen or heard of, +and for the truth of which they bring forward no evidence; thus +forcing the reader to reject, as lacking proper confirmation, what he +would else, from its inherent grace or sprightliness, be happy to +accept. + +That we shall be free from this reproach is rather our good fortune +than our merit. It is by favor of our stars, not by virtue of our own, +that we turn not aside from the plain path of truth to the by-ways of +supernaturalism and improbability. Yet we refrain with difficulty from +a breath of self-praise; there is a proud and solid satisfaction in +holding an unassailable position could we but catch the world's eye, +we would meet it calmly! + +Let us hasten to introduce our talisman. You may see it at this very +moment, encircling the third finger of Doctor Glyphic's left hand; in +fact, it is neither more nor less than a quaint diamond ring. The +stone, though not surprisingly large, is surpassingly pure and +brilliant; as its keen, delicate ray sparkles on the eye, one marvels +whence, in the dead of night, it got together so much celestial fire. +Observe the setting; the design is unique. Two fairy serpents--one +golden, the other fashioned from black meteoric iron--are intertwined +along their entire length, forming the hoop of the ring. Their heads +approach the diamond from opposite sides, and each makes a mighty bite +at it with his tiny jaws, studded with sharp little teeth. Thus their +contest holds the stone firmly in place. The whole forms a pretty +symbol of the human soul, battled for by the good and the evil +principles. But the diamond seems, in its entirety, to be an awkward +mouthful for either. The snakes are wrought with marvellous dexterity +and finish; each separate scale is distinguishable upon their +glistening bodies, the wrinkling of the skin in the coils, the +sparkling points of eyes, and the minute nostrils. Such works of art +are not made nowadays; the ring is an antique,--a relic of an age when +skill was out of all proportion to liberty,--a very distant time +indeed. To deserve such a setting, the stone must have exceptional +qualities. Let us take a closer look at it. + +Fortunately, its own lustre makes it visible in every part; the +minuteness of our scrutiny need be limited only by our power of eye. +It is cut with many facets,--twenty-seven, if you choose to count +them; perhaps (though we little credit such fantasies) some mystic +significance may be intended in this number. Concentrating now our +attention upon any single facet, we see--either inscribed upon its +surface, or showing through from the interior of the stone--a sort of +monogram, or intricately designed character, not unlike the mysterious +Chinese letters on tea-chests. Every facet has a similar figure, +though no two are identical. But the central, the twenty-seventh +facet, which is larger than the others, has an important peculiarity. +Looking upon it, we find therein, concentrated and commingled, the +other twenty-six characters; which, separately unintelligible, form, +when thus united, a simple and consistent narrative, equivalent in +extent to many hundred printed pages, and having for subject nothing +less than the complete history of the ring itself. + +Some small portion of this narrative--that, namely, which relates more +particularly to the present wearer of the ring--we will glance at; the +rest must be silence, although, going back as it does to the earliest +records of the human race, many an interesting page must be skipped +perforce. + +The advantages to a historian of a medium such as this are too patent +to need pointing out. Pretension and conjecture will be avoided, +because unnecessary. The most trifling thought or deed of any person +connected with the history of the ring is laid open to direct +inspection. Were there more such talismans as this, the profession of +authorship would become no less easy than delightful, and criticism +would sting itself to death, in despair of better prey. So far as is +known, however, the enchanted ring is unique of its kind, and, such as +it is, is not likely to become common property. + + + + +II. + +OUT OF EGYPT. + + +But the small hours of the morning are slipping away; we must construe +our hieroglyphics without further palaver. The sleeper lies upon his +side, his left hand resting near his face upon the pillow. Were he to +move it ever so little during our examination, the history of years +might be thrown into confusion. Nevertheless, we shall hope to touch +upon all the more important points, and in some cases to go into +details. + +Concentrating our attention upon the central facet, its clear ray +strikes the imagination, and forthwith transports us to a distant age +and climate. The air is full of lazy warmth. A full-fed river, +glassing the hot blue sky, slides in long curves through a low-lying, +illimitable plain. The rich earth, green with mighty crops, everywhere +exhales upward the quivering heat of her breath. An indolent, +dark-skinned race, turbaned and scantly clothed, move through the +meadows, splash in the river, and rest beneath the palm-trees, which +meet in graceful clusters here and there, as if striving to get +beneath one another's shadow. Dirty villages swarm and babble on the +river's brink. + +Were there leisure to listen, the diamond could readily relate the +whole history of this famous valley. For the stone was fashioned to +its present shape while the thought that formed the Pyramids was yet +unborn, and while the limestone and granite whereof they are built lay +in their silent beds, dreaming, perchance, of airy days before the +deluge, long ere the heated vapors stiffened into stone. Some great +patriarch of early days, founder of a race called by his name, picked +up this diamond in the southern desert, and gave it its present form; +perhaps, also, breathed into it the marvellous historical gift which +it retains to this day. Who was that primal man? how sounded his +voice? were his eyes terrible, or mild? Seems, as we speak, we glimpse +his majestic figure, and the grandeur of his face and cloudy beard. + +He passed away, but the enchanted stone remained, and has sparkled +along the splendid march of successive dynasties, and has reflected +men and cities which to us are nameless, or but a half-deciphered +name. It has seen the mystic ceremonies of Egyptian priests, and +counts their boasted wisdom as a twice-told tale. It has watched the +unceasing toil of innumerable slaves, piling up through many ardent +years the idle tombs of kings. It has beheld vast winding lengths of +processions darken and glitter across the plain, slowly devoured by +the shining city, or issuing from her gates like a monstrous birth. + +But whither wander we? Standing in this hotel of modern Boston, we +must confine our inquiries to a far later epoch than the Pharaohs'. +Step aside, and let the old history sweep past, like the turbid and +eddying current of the mysterious Nile; forbearing to launch our skiff +earlier than at the beginning of the present century. + +The middle of June, eighteen hundred and sixteen: the river is just +beginning to rise, and the thirsty land spreads wide her lap to +receive him. Some miles to the north slumbers Cairo in white heat, its +outline jagged with minarets and bulbous domes. Southward, the shaded +Pyramids print their everlasting outlines against the tremulous +distance; old as they are, it seems as though a puff of the Khamsin +might dissolve them away. Near at hand is a noisy, naked crowd of men +and boys, plunging and swimming in the water, or sitting and standing +along the bank. They are watching and discussing the slow approach up +stream of a large boat with a broad lateen-sail, and a strange flag +fluttering from the mast-head. Rumor says that this boat contains a +company of strangers from beyond the sea; men who do not wear turbans, +whose dress is close-fitting, and covers them from head to +foot,--even the legs. They come to learn wisdom and civilization from +the Pyramids, and among the ruins of Memphis. + +A hundred yards below this shouting, curious crowd, stands, waist-deep +in the Nile, a slender-limbed boy, about ten years old. He belongs to +a superior caste, and holds himself above the common rabble. Being +perfectly naked, a careless eye might, however, rank him with the +rest, were it not for the talisman which he wears suspended to a fine +gold chain round his neck; a curiously designed diamond ring, the +inheritance of a long line of priestly ancestors. The boy's face is +certainly full of intelligence, and the features are finely moulded +for so young a lad. + +He also is watching the upward progress of the lateen-sail; has heard, +moreover, the report concerning those on board. He wonders where is +the country from which they come. Is it the land the storks fly to, of +which mother (before the plague carried both her and father to a +stranger land still) used to tell such wonderful stories? Does the +world really extend far beyond the valley? Is the world all valley and +river, with now and then some hills, like those away up beyond +Memphis? Are there other cities beside Cairo, and that one which he +has heard of but never seen,--Alexandria? Wonders why the strangers +dress in tight-fitting clothes, with leg-coverings, and without +turbans! Would like to find out about all these things,--about all +things knowable beside these, if any there be. Would like to go back +with the strangers to their country, when they return, and so become +the wisest and most powerful of his race; wiser even than those +fabulously learned priestly instructors of his, who are so strict with +him. Perhaps he might find all his forefathers there, and his kind +mother, who used to tell him stories. + +Bah! how the sun blisters down on head and shoulders: will take a dive +and a swim,--a short swim only, not far from shore; for was not the +priest telling of a boy caught by a great crocodile, only, a few days +ago, and never seen since? But there is no crocodile near to-day; and, +besides, will not his precious talisman keep him from all harm? + +The subtile Nile catches him softly in his cool arms, dandles him, +kisses Him, flatters him, wooes him imperceptibly onwards. Now he is +far from shore, and the multitudinous feet of the current are hurrying +him away. The slow-moving boat is much nearer than it was a minute +ago,--seems to be rasping towards him, in spite of the laziness of the +impelling breeze. The boy, as yet unconscious of his peril, now +glances shorewards, and sees the banks wheel past. The crowd of +bathers is already far beyond hearing yet, frightened and tired, he +wastes his remaining strength in fruitless shouts. Now the deceitful +eddies, once so soft and friendly, whirl him down in ruthless +exultation. He will never reach the shore, good swimmer though he be! + +Hark! what plunged from the bank,--what black thing moves towards him +across the water? The crocodile! coming with tears in his eyes, and a +long grin of serried teeth. Coming!--the ugly scaly head is always +nearer and nearer. The boy screams; but who should hear him? He feels +whether the talisman be yet round his neck. He screams again, calling, +in half-delirium, upon his dead mother. Meanwhile the scaly snout is +close upon him. + +A many-voiced shout, close at hand; a splashing of poles in the water; +a rippling of eddies against a boat's bows! As the boy drifts by, a +blue-eyed, yellow-bearded viking swings himself from the halyard, +catches him, pulls him aboard with a jerk and a shout, safe! The long +grin snaps emptily together behind him. The boy lies on the deck, a +vision of people with leg-coverings and other oddities of costume +swimming in his eyes; one of them supports his head on his knee, and +bends over him a round, good-natured, spectacled face. Above, a +beautiful flag, striped and starred with white, blue, and red, flaps +indolently against the mast.-- + +Precisely at this point the sleeper stirs his hand slightly, but +enough to throw the record of several succeeding years into +uncertainty and confusion. Here and there, however, we catch imperfect +glimpses of the Egyptian lad, steadily growing up to be a tall young +man. He is dressed in European clothes, and lives and moves amid +civilized surroundings: Egypt, with her pyramids, palms, and river, we +see no more. The priest's son seems now to be immersed in studies; he +shows a genius for music and painting, and is diligently storing his +mind with other than Egyptian lore. With him, or never far away, we +meet a man considerably older than the student,--good-natured, +whimsical, round of head and face and insignificant of feature. +Towards him does the student observe the profoundest deference, bowing +before him, and addressing him as "Master Hiero," or "Master Glyphic." +Master Hiero, for his part, calls the Egyptian "Manetho"; from which +we might infer his descent from the celebrated historian of that name, +but will not insist upon this genealogy. As for the studies, from +certain signs we fancy them tending towards theology; the descendant +of Egyptian priests is to become a Christian clergyman! Nevertheless, +he still wears his talismanic ring. Does he believe it saved him from +the crocodile? Does his Christian enlightenment not set him free from +such superstition? + +So much we piece together from detached glimpses; but now, as the +magic ray steadies once more, things become again distinct. Judging +from the style and appointments of Master Hiero Glyphic's house, he is +a wealthy man, and eccentric as well. It is full of strange +incongruities and discords; beauties in abundance, but ill harmonized. +One half the house is built like an Egyptian temple, and is enriched +with many spoils from the valley of the Nile; and here a secret +chamber is set apart for Manetho; its very existence is known to no +one save himself and Master Hiero. He spends much of his time here, +meditating and working amidst his books and papers, playing on his +violin, or leaning idly back in his chair, watching the sunlight, +through the horizontal aperture high above, his head, creep stealthily +across the opposite wall. + +But these saintly and scholarly reveries are disturbed anon. Master +Hiero, though a bachelor, has a half-sister, a pale, handsome, +indolent young woman, with dark hair and eyes, and a rather haughty +manner. Helen appears, and thenceforth the household lives and +breathes according to her languid bidding. Manetho comes out of his +retirement, and dances reverential attendance upon her. He is +twenty-five years old, now; tall, slender, and far from ill-looking, +with his dark, narrow eyes, wide brows, and tapering face. His manners +are gentle, subdued, insinuating, and altogether he seems to please +Helen; she condescends to him,--more than condescends, perhaps. +Meantime, alas! there is a secret opposition in progress, embodied in +the shapely person of that bright-eyed gypsy of a girl whom her +mistress Helen calls Salome. There is no question as to Salome's +complete subjection to the attractions of the young embryo clergyman; +she pursues him with eyes and heart, and seeing him by Helen's side, +she is miserably but dumbly jealous. + +How is this matter to end? Manetho's devotion to Helen seems +unwavering; yet sometimes it is hard not to suspect a secret +understanding between him and Salome. He has ceased to wear his ring, +and once we caught a diamond-sparkle from beneath the thick folds of +lace which cover Helen's bosom; but, on the other hand, we fear his +arm has been round the gypsy's graceful waist, and that she has learnt +the secret of the private chamber. Is demure Manetho a flirt, or do +his affections and his ambition run counter to each other? Helen would +bring him the riches of this world,--but what should a clergyman care +for such vanities?--while Salome, to our thinking, is far the +prettier, livelier, and more attractive woman of the two. Brother +Hiero, whimsical and preoccupied, sees nothing of what is going on. He +is an antiquary,--an Egyptologist, and thereto his soul is wedded. He +has no eyes nor ears for the loves of other people for one another.-- + +Provoking! The uneasy sleeper has moved again, and disorganized, +beyond remedy, the events of a whole year. Judging from such fragments +as reach us, it must have been a momentous epoch in our history. From +the beginning, a handsome, stalwart, blue-eyed man, with a great beard +like a sheaf of straw, shoulders upon the scene, and thenceforth +becomes inextricably mixed up with dark-eyed Helen. We recognize in +him an old acquaintance; he was on the lateen-sailed boat that went up +the Nile; it was he who swung himself from the vessel's side, and +pulled Manetho out of the jaws of death,--a fact, by the way, of which +Manetho remained ignorant until his dying day. With this new arrival, +Helen's supremacy in the household ends. Thor--so they call +him--involuntarily commands her, and so her subjects. Against him, the +Reverend Manetho has not the ghost of a chance. To his credit is it +that he conceals whatever emotions of disappointment or jealousy he +might be supposed to feel, and is no less winning towards Thor than +towards the rest of the world. But is it possible that the talisman +still hides in Helen's bosom? Does the conflict which it symbolizes +beset her heart? + +The enchanted mirror is still again, and a curious scene is reflected +from it. A large and lofty room, windowless, lit by flaring lamps hung +at intervals round the walls; the panels contain carvings in +bas-relief of Egyptian emblems and devices; columns surround the +central space, their capitals carved with the lotos-flower, their +bases planted amidst papyrus leaves. A border of hieroglyphic +inscription encircles the walls, just beneath the ceiling. In each +corner of the room rests a red granite sarcophagus, and between each +pair of pillars stands a mummy in its wooden case. At that end +farthest from the low-browed doorway--which is guarded by two great +figures of Isis and Osiris, sitting impassive, with hands on knees--is +raised an altar of black marble, on which burns some incense. The +perfumed smoke, wavering upwards, mingles with that of the lamps +beneath the high ceiling. The prevailing color is ruddy Indian-red, +relieved by deep blue and black, while brighter tints show here and +there. Blocks of polished stone pave the floor, and dimly reflect the +lights. + +In front of the altar stands a ministerial figure,--none other than +Manetho, who must have taken orders,--and joins together, in holy +matrimony, the yellow-bearded Thor and the dark-haired Helen. Master +Hiero, his round, snub-nosed face red with fussy emotion, gives the +bride away; while Salome, dressed in white and looking very pretty and +lady-like, does service as bridesmaid,--such is her mistress's whim. +She seems in even better spirits than the pale bride, and her black +eyes scarcely wander from the minister's rapt countenance. + +But a few hours later, when bride and groom are gone, Salome,--who, +on some plausible pretext of, her own, has been allowed to remain with +brother Hiero until her mistress returns from the wedding-tour,--- +Salome appears in the secret chamber, where the Reverend Manetho sits +with his head between his hands. We will not look too closely at this +interview. There are words fierce and tender, tears and pleadings, +feverish caresses, incoherent promises, distrustful bargains; and it +is late before they part. Salome passes out through the great +tomb-like hall, where all the lamps save one are burnt out; and the +young minister remains to pursue his holy meditations alone. + +We are too discreet to meddle with the honeymoon; but, passing over +some eight months, behold the husband and wife returned, to plume +their wings ere taking the final flight. Another strange scene +attracts us here. + +The dusk of a summer evening. Helen, with a more languid step and air +than before marriage, saunters along a path through the trees, some +distance from the house. She is clad in loose-flowing drapery, and has +thrown a white shawl over her head and shoulders. Reaching a bench of +rustic woodwork, she drops weariedly down upon it. + +Manetho comes out all at once, and stands before her; he seems to have +darkened together from the shadow of the surrounding trees. Perhaps a +little startled at his so abrupt appearance, she opens her eyes with a +wondering haughtiness; but, at the same time, the light pressure of +the enchanted ring against her bosom feels like a dull sting, and her +heart beats uncomfortably. He begins to speak in his usual tone of +softest deference; he sits down by her, and now she is paler, glances +anxiously up the path for her delaying husband, and the hand that +lifts her handkerchief to her lips trembles a little. Is it at his +words? or at their tone? or at what she sees lurking behind his dusky +eyes, curdling beneath his thin, dark skin, quivering down to the tips +of his long, slender fingers? + +All in a moment he bursts forth, without warning, without restraint, +the fire of the Egyptian sun boiling in his blood and blazing in his +passion. He seizes her soft white wrist,--then her waist; he presses +against his, her bosom,--what a throbbing!--her cheek to his,--how +aghast! He pours hot words in torrents into her ears,--all that his +fretting heart has hoarded up and brooded over these months and years! +all,--sparing her not a thought, not a passionate word. She tries to +repel him, to escape, to scream for help; but he looks down her eyes +with his own, holds her fast, and she gasps for breath. So the serpent +coils about the dove, and stamps his image upon her bewildered brain. + +Verily, the Reverend Manetho has much forgotten himself. The issue +might have been disastrous, had not Helen, in the crisis of the +affair, lost consciousness, and fallen a dead weight in his arms. He +laid her gently on the bench, fumbled for a moment in the bosom of her +dress, and drew out the diamond ring. Just then is heard the solid +step of Thor, striding and whistling along the path. Manetho snaps the +golden chain, and vanishes with his talisman; and he is the first to +appear, full of sympathy and concern, when the distracted husband +shouts for help. + +Next morning, two little struggling human beings are blinking and +crying in a darkened room, and there is no mother to give them milk, +and cherish them in her bosom. There sits the father, almost as still +and cold as what was his wife. She did not speak to him, nor seem to +know him, to the last. He will never know the truth; Manetho comes and +goes, and reads the burial-service, unsuspected and unpunished. But +Salome follows him away from the grave, and some words pass between +them. The man is no longer what he was. He turns suddenly upon her and +strikes out with savage force; the diamond on his finger bites into +the flesh of the gypsy's breast; she will carry the scar of that +brutal blow as long as she lives. So he drove his only lover away, and +looked upon her bright, handsome face no more. + +Here Doctor Glyphic--or whoever this sleeping man may be--turns +heavily upon his face, drawing his hand, with the blood-stained ring, +out of sight. We are glad to leave him to his bad dreams; the air +oppresses us. Come, 't is time we were off. The eastern horizon bows +before the sun, the air colors delicate pink, and the very tombstones +in the graveyard blush for sympathy. The sparrows have been awake for +a half-hour past, and, up aloft, the clouds, which wander ceaselessly +over the face of the earth, alighting only on lonely mountain-tops, +are tinted into rainbow-quarries by the glorious spectacle. + + + + +III. + +A MAY MORNING. + + +King Arthur, in his Bohemian days, carried an adamantine shield, the +gift of some fairy relative. Not only was it impenetrable, but, so +intolerable was its lustre, it overthrew all foes before the lance's +point could reach them. Observing this, the chivalric monarch had a +cover made for it, which he never removed save in the face of +superhuman odds. + +Here is an analogy. The imaginative reader may look upon our enchanted +facet-mirror as too glaringly simple and direct a source of facts to +suit the needs of a professed romance. Be there left, he would say, +some room for fancy, and even for conjecture. Let the author seem +occasionally to consult with his companion, gracefully to defer to his +judgment. Bare statement, the parade of indisputable evidence, is well +enough in law, but appears ungentle in a work of fiction. + +How just is this mild censure! how gladly are its demands conceded! +Let dogmatism retire, and blossom, flowers of fancy, on your yielding +stems! Henceforward the reader is our confidential counsellor. We +will pretend that our means of information are no better than other +writers'. We will uniformly revel in speculation, and dally with +imaginative delights; and only when hard pressed for the true path +will we snatch off the veil, and let forth for a moment a redeeming +ray. + +In this generous mood, we pass through the partition between No. 27 +and No. 29. In the matter of bedchambers--even hotelbedchambers--there +can be great diversity. That we were in just now was close and +unwholesome, and wore an air of feverishness and disorder. Here, on +the contrary, the air is fresh and brisk, for the breeze from Boston +harbor--slightly flavored, it is true, by its journey across the +northern part of the city--has been blowing into the room all night +long. Here are some trunks and carpet-bags, well bepasted with the +names of foreign towns and countries, famous and infamous. One of the +trunks is a bathing-tub, fitted with a cover--an agreeable promise of +refreshment amidst the dust and weariness of travel. A Russia-leather +travelling-bag lies open on the table, disgorging an abundant armament +of brushes and combs and various toilet niceties. Mr. Helwyse must be +a dandy. + +Cheek by jowl with the haversack lies a cylindrical case of the same +kind of leather, with a strap attached, to sling over the shoulder. +This, perhaps, contains a telescope. It would not be worth mentioning, +save that our prophetic vision sees it coming into use by and by. Not +to analyze too closely, everything in this room speaks of life, +health, and movement. In spite of smallness, bareness, and angularity, +it is fit for a May morning to enter, and expand to full-grown day. + +It is now about half past four, and the crisp new sunshine, just above +ground, has clambered over the window-sill, taken a flying leap across +the narrow floor, and is chuckling full in the agreeable face asleep +upon the pillow. The face, feeling the warmth, and conscious, through +its closed eyelids, of the light, presently stretches its eyebrows, +then blinks, and finally yawns,--Ah--h! Thirty-two even, white teeth, +in perfect order; a great, red, healthy tongue, and a round, mellow +roar, the parting remonstrance of the sleepy god, taking flight for +the day. Thereupon a voice, fetched from some profounder source than +the back of the head,-- + +"Steward! bring me my--Oh! A land-lubber again, am I!" + +Mr. Balder Helwyse now sits up in bed, his hair and beard,--which are +extraordinarily luxuriant, and will be treated at greater length +hereafter,--his hair and beard in the wildest confusion. He stares +about him with a pair of well-opened dark eyes, which contrast +strangely with his fair Northern complexion. Next comes a spasmodic +stretching of arms and legs, a whisking of bedclothes, and a solid +thump of two feet upon the floor. Another survey of the room, ending +with a deep breathing in of the fresh air and an appreciative smack of +the lips. + +"O nose, eyes, ears, and all my other godlike senses and faculties! +what a sensation is this of Mother Earth at sunrise! Better, seems to +me, than ocean, beloved of my Scandinavian forefathers. Hear those +birds! look at those divine trees, and the tall moist grass round +them! By my head! living is a glorious business!--What, ho! slave, +empty me here that bath-tub, and then ring the bell." + +The slave--a handsome, handy fellow, unusually docile, inseparable +from his master, whose life-long bondsman he was, and so much like him +in many ways (owing, perhaps, to the intimacy always subsisting +between the two), that he had more than once been confounded with +him,--this obedient menial-- + +No! not even for a moment will we mislead our reader. Are we not sworn +confidants? What is he to think, then, of this abrupt introduction, +unheralded, unexplained? Be it at once confessed that Mr. Helwyse +travelled unattended, that there was no slave or other person of any +kind in the room, and that this high-sounding order of his was a mere +ebullition of his peculiar humor. + +He was a philosopher, and was in the habit of making many of his +tenets minister to his amusement, when in his more sportive and genial +moods. Not to exhaust his characteristics too early in the story, it +need only be observed here that he held body and soul distinct, and so +far antagonistic that one or the other must be master; furthermore, +that the soul's supremacy was the more desirable. Whether it were also +invariable and uncontested, there will be opportunity to find out +later. Meantime, this dual condition was productive of not a little +harmless entertainment to Mr. Helwyse, at times when persons less +happily organized would become victims of ennui. Be the conditions +what they might, he was never without a companion, whose ways he knew, +and whom he was yet never weary of questioning and studying. No +subject so dull that its different aspects, as viewed from soul and +from body, would not give it piquancy. No question so trivial that its +discussion on material and on spiritual grounds would not lend it +importance. Nor was any enjoyment so keen as not to be enhanced by the +contrast of its physical with its psychical phase. + +Waking up, therefore, on this May morning, and being in a charming +humor, he chose to look upon himself as the proprietor of a +body-servant, and to give his orders with patrician imperiousness. The +obedient menial, then,--to resume the thread,--sprang upon the +tub-trunk, whipped off the lid, and discharged the contents upon the +bed in a twinkling. This done, he stepped to the bell-rope, and lent +it a vigorous jerk, soon answered by a brisk tapping at the door. + +"Please, sir, did you ring?" + +"Indeed I did, my dear. Are you the pretty chambermaid?" + +This bold venture is met by silence, only modified by a low delighted +giggle. Presently,--"Did you want anything, sir, please?" + +"Ever so many things, my girl; more than my life is long enough to +tell! First, though, I want to apologize for addressing you from +behind a closed door; but circumstances which I can neither explain +nor overcome forbid my opening it. Next, two pails of the best cold +water at your earliest convenience. Hurry, now, there's a Hebe!" + +"Very good, sir," giggles Hebe, retreating down passage. + +It is to be supposed that it was the plebeian body-servant that +carried on this unideal conversation, and that the patrician soul had +nothing to do with it. The ability to lay the burden of lapses from +good taste, and other goods, upon the shoulders of the flesh, is +sometimes convenient and comforting. + +Balder Helwyse, master and man, turns away from the door, and catches +sight of a white-robed, hairy-headed reflection in the looking-glass, +the phantom face of which at once expands in a genial expression of +mirth; an impalpable arm is outstretched, and the mouth seems thus to +speak:-- + +"Stick to your bath, my good fellow, and the evil things of this life +shall not get hold of you. Water is like truth,--purifying, +transparent; a tonic to those fouled and wearied with the dust and +vanity of this transitional phenomenon called the world. Patronize it! +be thy acquaintance with it constant and familiar! Remember, my dear +Balder, that this slave of thine is the medium through which something +better than he (thyself, namely) is filtered to the world, and the +world to thee. Go to, then! if the filter be foul, shall not that +which is filtered become unclean also?" + +Here the rhetorical phantom was interrupted by the sound of a very +good violin, touched with unusual skill, in the next room. The phantom +vanished, but Mr. Helwyse seated himself softly upon the bed, +listening with full enjoyment to every note; his very toes seeming to +partake of his appreciation. Music is the mysterious power which makes +body and soul--master and man--thrill as one string. The musician +played several bars, beautiful in themselves, but unconnected; and +ever and anon there sounded a discordant note, like a smirch upon a +fair picture. The execution, however, showed a master hand, and the +themes betrayed the soul of a true musician, albeit tainted with some +subtile deformity. + +"Heard him last night, and fell asleep, dreaming of a man with the +brain of a devil and an angel's heart.--Drop in on him presently, and +have him down to breakfast. If young, shall be our brother,--so long +as there's anything in him. If--as I partly suspect--old, and a +father, marry his daughter. But no; such a fiddler as he can't be +married, unless unhappily." Mr. Helwyse runs his hands dreamily +through his tangled mane, and shakes it back. If philosophical, he +seems also to be romantic and imaginative, and impressionable by other +personalities. It is, to be sure, unfair to judge a man from such +unconsidered words as he may let fall during the first half-hour after +waking up in the morning; were it otherwise, we should infer that, +although he might take a genuine interest in whomever he meets, it +would be too analytical to last long, except where the vein was a very +rich one. He would pick the kernel out of the nut, but, that done, +would feel no sentimental interest in the shell. Too much of this! and +yet who can help drawing conclusions (and not always incorrectly) from +the first sight and sound of a new acquaintance? + +There is a knock at the door, and Mr. Helwyse calls out, "Hullo? Ah! +the cold water, emblem of truth. Thank you, Hebe; and scamper away as +fast as you can, for I'm going to open the door!" + +We also will retire, fastidious reader, and employ the leisure +interval in packing an imaginary carpet-bag for a short journey. Our +main business, during the next few days, is with Mr. Helwyse, and +since there will be no telling what becomes of him after that, he must +be followed up pretty closely. A few days does not seem much for the +getting a satisfactory knowledge of a man; nevertheless, an hour, +rightly used, may be ample. If he will continue his habit of thinking +aloud, will affect situations tending to bring out his leading traits +of character; if we may intrude upon him, note-book in hand, in all +his moods and crises,--with all this in addition to discretionary use +of the magic mirror,--it will be our own fault if Mr. Helwyse be not +turned inside out. Properly speaking, there is no mystery about men, +but only a great dulness and lethargy in our perceptions of them. The +secret of the universe is no more a secret than is the answer to a +school-boy's problem. A mathematician will draw you a triangle and a +circle, and show you the trigonometrical science latent therein. But a +profounder mathematician would do as much with the equation man! + +While Mr. Helwyse is still lingering over his toilet, his neighbor the +fiddler, whom he had meant to ask to breakfast, comes out of his room, +violin-box in hand, walks along the passage-way, and is off down +stairs. An odd-looking figure; those stylish clothes become him as +little as they would a long-limbed, angular Egyptian statue. Fashion, +in some men, is an eccentricity, or rather a violence done to their +essential selves. A born fop would have looked as little at home in a +toga and sandals, as did this swarthy musician, doctor, priest, or +whatever he was, in his fashion-plate costume. Then why did he wear +it? + +There are other things to be followed up before attending to that +question. But the man is gone, and Balder Helwyse has missed this +opportunity of making his acquaintance. Had he been an hour +earlier,--had any one of us, for that matter, ever been an hour +earlier or later,--who can tell how the destinies of the world would +be affected! Luckily for our peace of mind, the hypothesis involves an +impossibility. + + + + +IV. + +A BRAHMAN. + + +Whoever has been in Boston remembers, or has seen, the old Beacon Hill +Bank, which stood, not on Beacon Hill, indeed, but in that part of +School Street now occupied by the City Hall. You passed down by the +dirty old church, on the northeast corner of School and Tremont +Streets, which stands trying to hide its ugly face behind a row of +columns like sooty fingers, and whose School-Street side is quite +bare, and has the distracted aspect peculiar to buildings erected on +an inclined plane;--passing this, you came in sight of the bank, a +darksome, respectable edifice of brick, two stories and a half high, +and gambrel-roofed. It stood a little back from the street, much as an +antiquated aristocrat might withdraw from the stream of modern life, +and fancy himself exclusive. The poor old bank! Its respectable brick +walls have contributed a few rubbish-heaps to the new land in the Back +Bay, perhaps; and its floors and gambrel-roof have long since vanished +up somebody's chimney; only its money--its baser part--still survives +and circulates. Aristocracy and exclusivism do not pay. + +The bank, perhaps, took its title from the fact that it owed its chief +support to the Beacon Hill families,--Boston's aristocracy; and +Boston's standard names appeared upon its list of managers. If +business led you that way, you mounted the well-worn steps, and +entered the rather strict and formal door, over which clung the +weather-worn sign,--faded gold lettering upon a rusty black +background. Nothing that met your eyes looked new, although everything +was scrupulously neat. Opposite the doorway, a wooden flight of stairs +mounted to the next floor, where were the offices of some old Puritan +lawyers. Leaving the stairs on your left, you passed down a dusky +passage, and through a glass door, when behold! the banking-room, with +its four grave bald-headed clerks. But you did not come to draw or +deposit, your business was with the President. "Mr. MacGentle in?" +"That way, sir." You opened a door with "Private" painted in black +letters upon its ground-glass panel. Another bald-headed gentleman, +with a grim determination about the mouth, rose up from his table and +barred your way. This was Mr. Dyke, the breakwater against which the +waves of would-be intruders into the inner seclusion often broke +themselves in vain; and unless you had a genuine pass, your expedition +ended there. + +Our pass--for we, too, are to call on Mr. MacGentle--would carry us +through solider obstructions than Mr. Dyke; it is the pass of +imagination. He does not even raise his head as we brush by him. + +But, first, let us inquire who Mr. MacGentle is, besides President of +the Beacon Hill Bank. He is a man of refinement and cultivation, a +scholar and a reader, has travelled, and, it is said, could handle a +pen to better purpose than the signing bank-notes. In his earlier +years he studied law, and gained a certain degree of distinction in +the profession, although (owing, perhaps, to his having entered it +with too ideal and high-strung views as to its nature and scope) he +never met with what is vulgarly called success. Fortunately for the +ideal barrister, an ample private estate made him independent of +professional earnings. Later in life, he trod the confines of +politics, still, however, enveloping himself in that theoretical, +unpractical atmosphere which was his most marked, and, to some people, +least comprehensible characteristic. A certain mild halo of +statesmanship ever after invested him; not that he had at any time +actually borne a share in the government of the nation, but it was +understood that he might have done so, had he so chosen, or had his +political principles been tough and elastic enough to endure the wear +and strain of action. As it was, some of the most renowned men in the +Senate were known to have been his intimates at college, and he still +met and conversed with them on terms of equality. + +Between law, literature, and statesmanship, in all of which pursuits +he had acquired respect and goodwill, without actually accomplishing +anything, Mr. MacGentle fell, no one knew exactly how, into the +presidential chair of the Beacon Hill Bank. As soon as he was there, +everybody saw that there he belonged. His social position, his +culture, his honorable, albeit intangible record, suited the old bank +well. He had an air of subdued wisdom, and people were fond of +appealing to his judgment and asking his advice,--- perhaps because he +never seemed to expect them to follow it when given (as, indeed, they +never did). The Board of Directors looked up to him, deferred to +him,--nay, believed him to be as necessary to the bank's existence as +the entire aggregate of its supporters; but neither the Board nor the +President himself ever dreamed of adopting Mr. MacGentle's financial +theories in the conduct of the banking business. + +Let no one hastily infer that the accomplished gentleman of whom we +speak was in any sense a sham. No one could be more true to himself +and his professions. But--if we may hazard a conjecture--he never +breathed the air that other men breathe; another sun than ours shone +for him; the world that met his senses was not our world. His life, +in short, was not human life, yet so closely like it that the two +might be said to correspond, as a face to its reflection in the +mirror; actual contact being in both cases impossible. No doubt the +world and he knew of the barrier between them, though neither said so. +The former, with its usual happy temperament, was little affected by +the separation, smiled good-naturedly upon the latter, and never +troubled itself about the difficulties in the way of shaking hands. +But Mr. MacGentle, being only a single man, perhaps felt lonely and +sad. Either he was a ghost, or the world was. In youth, he may have +believed himself to be the only real flesh and blood; but in later +years, the terrible weight of the world's majority forced him to the +opposite conclusion. And here, at last, he and the world were at one! + +Suppose, instead of listening to a personal description of this good +old gentleman, we take a look at him with our own eyes. There is no +danger of disturbing him, no matter how busy he may be. The inner +retreat is very small, and as neat as though an old maid lived in it. +The furniture looks as good as new, but is subdued to a tone of sober +maturity, and chimes in so well with the general effect that one +scarcely notices it. The polished table is mounted in dark morocco; +behind the horsehair-covered arm-chair is a gray marble mantel-piece, +overshadowing an open grate with polished bars and fire-utensils in +the English style. During the winter months a lump of cannel-coal is +always burning there; but the flame, even on the coldest days, is too +much on its good behavior to give out very decided heat. Over the +mantel-piece hangs a crayon copy of Correggio's Reading Magdalen,--the +only touch of sentiment in the whole room, and that, perhaps, +accidental. + +The concrete nature of the President's surroundings is at first +perplexing, in view of our theory about his character. But it is +evident that the world could never provide him with furniture +corresponding to the texture of his mind; and hence he would +instinctively lay hold of that which was most commonplace and +non-committal. If he could realize nothing outside himself, he might +at least remove whatever would distract him from inward contemplation. +There is, however, one article in this little room which we must not +omit to notice. It is a looking-glass; and it hangs, of all places in +the world, right over Mr. MacGentle's standing-desk, in the embrasure +of the window. As often as he looks up he beholds the reflection of +his cultured and sad-lined physiognomy, with a glimpse of dusky wall +beyond. Is he a vain man? His worst enemy, had he one, would not call +him that. Nevertheless, Mr. MacGentle finds a pathetic comfort in this +small mirror. No one, not even he, could tell wherefore; but we fancy +it to be like that an exile feels, seeing a picture of his birthplace, +or hearing a strain of his native music. The mirror shows him +something more real, to his sense, than is anything outside of it! + +Well, there stands the old gentleman, writing at this desk in the +window. All men, they say, bear more or less resemblance to some +animal; Mr. MacGentle, rather tall and slender, with his slight stoop, +and his black broadcloth frock-coat buttoned closely about his waist, +brings to mind a cultivated, grandfatherly greyhound, upon his hind +legs. He has thick white hair, with a gentle curl in it, growing all +over his finely moulded head. He is close-shaven; his mouth and nose +are formed with great delicacy; his eyes, now somewhat faded, yet show +an occasional reminiscence of youthful fire. The eyebrows are +habitually lifted,--a result, possibly, of the growing infirmity of +Mr. MacGentle's vision; but it produces an expression of +half-plaintive resignation, which is rendered pathetic by the wrinkles +across his forehead and the dejected lines about his delicate mouth. + +He is dressed with faultless nicety and elegance, though in a fashion +now out of date. Perhaps, in graceful recognition of the advance of +age, he has adhered to the style in vogue when age first began to +weigh upon his shoulders. He gazes mildly out from the embrasure of +an upright collar and tall stock; below spreads a wide expanse of +spotless shirt-front. His trousers are always gray, except in the heat +of summer, when they become snowy white. They are uniformly too long; +yet he never dispenses with his straps, nor with the gaiters that +crown his gentlemanly shoes. + +Although not a stimulating companion, one loves to be where Amos +MacGentle is; to watch his quiet movements, and listen to his +meditative talk. What he says generally bears the stamp of thought and +intellectual capacity, and at first strikes the listener as rare good +sense; yet, if reconsidered afterwards, or applied to the practical +tests of life, his wisdom is apt to fall mysteriously short. Is Mr. +MacGentle aware of this curious fact? There sometimes is a sadly +humorous curving of the lips and glimmering in the eyes after he has +uttered something especially profound, which almost warrants the +suspicion. The lack of accord between the old gentleman and the world +has become to him, at last, a dreary sort of jest. + +But we might go on forever touching the elusive chords of Mr. +MacGentle's being; one cannot help loving him, or, if he be not real +enough to love, bestowing upon him such affection as is inspired by +some gentle symphony. Unfortunately, he figures but little in the +coming pages, and in no active part; such, indeed, were unsuited to +him. But it is pleasant to pass through his retired little office on +our way to scenes less peaceful and subdued; and we would gladly look +forward to seeing him once more, when the heat of the day is over and +the sun has gone down. + + + + +V. + +A NEW MAN WITH AN OLD FACE. + + +About an hour before noon on this same twenty-seventh of May, Mr. Dyke +heard a voice in the outer room. He had held his position in the house +as confidential clerk for nearly or quite twenty-five years, was +blessed with a good memory, and was fond of saying that he never +forgot a face or a voice. So, as this voice from the outer room +reached his ears, he turned one eye up towards the door and muttered, +"Heard that before, somewhere!" + +The ground-glass panel darkened, and the door was thrown wide open. +Upon the threshold stood a young man about six feet in height, of +figure rather graceful and harmonious than massive. A black velveteen +jacket fitted closely to his shape; he had on a Tyrolese hat; his +boots, of thin, pliant leather, reached above the knee. He carried a +stout cane, with a handle of chamois-horn; to a couple of straps, +crossing each shoulder, were attached a travelling-scrip and a +telescope-case. + +But neither his attire nor the unusual size and dark brilliancy of +his eyes was so noticeable as his hair and beard, which outgrew the +bounds of common experience. Beards, to be sure, were far more rare +twenty years ago than they have since become. The hair was yellow, +with the true hyacinthine curl pervading it. Rejoicing in luxuriant +might, it clothed and reclothed the head, and, descending lower, +tumbled itself in bold masses on the young man's shoulders. As for the +beard, it was well in keeping. Of a purer yellow than the hair, it +twisted down in crisp, vigorous waves below the point marked by +mankind's third shirt-stud. It was full half as broad as it was long, +and lay to the right and left from the centre-line of the face. The +owner of this oriflamme looked like a young Scandinavian god. + +There seems to be a deeper significance in hair than meets the eye. +Sons of Esau, whose beards grow high up on their cheek-bones, who are +hairy down to their ankles, and to the second joints of their fingers, +are generally men of a kindly and charitable nature, strong in what we +call the human element. One remembers their stout hand-grip; they look +frankly in one's face, and the heart is apt to go out to them more +spontaneously than to the smooth-faced Jacobs. Such a man was Samson, +whose hair was his strength,--the strength of inborn truth and +goodness, whereby he was enabled to smite the lying Philistines. And +although they once, by their sophistries, managed to get the better +of him for a while, they forgot that good inborn is too vigorous a +matter for any mere razor finally to subdue. See, again, what a great +beard Saint Paul had, and what an outspoken, vigorous heart! Was it +from freak that Greeks and Easterns reverenced beards as symbols of +manhood, dignity, and wisdom? or that Christian Fathers thundered +against the barber, as a violator of divine law? No one, surely, could +accuse that handy, oily, easy little personage of evil intent; but he +symbolized the subtile principle which pares away the natural virtue +of man, and substitutes an artificial polish, which is hypocrisy. It +is to be observed, however, that hair can be representative of natural +evil as well as of good. A tangle-headed bush-ranger does not win our +sympathies. A Mussulman keeps his beard religiously clean. + +Meanwhile the yellow-haired Scandinavian, whom we have already laid +under the imputation of being a dandy, stood on the threshold of Mr. +Dyke's office, and that gentleman confronted him with a singularly +inquisitive stare. The visitor's face was a striking one, but can be +described, for the present, only in general terms. He might not be +called handsome; yet a very handsome man would be apt to appear +insignificant beside him. His features showed strength, and were at +the same time cleanly and finely cut. There was freedom in the arch +of his eyebrows, and plenty of eye-room beneath them. + +He took off his hat to Mr. Dyke, and smiled at him with artless +superiority, insomuch that the elderly clerk's sixty years were +disconcerted, and the Cerberus seemed to dwindle into the bumpkin! +This young fellow, a good deal less than half Mr. Dyke's age, was yet +a far older man of the world than he. Not that his appearance +suggested the kind of maturity which results from abnormal or +distorted development,--on the contrary, he was thoroughly genial and +healthful. But that power and assurance of eye and lip, generally +bought only at the price of many years' buffetings, given and taken, +were here married to the first flush and vigor of young manhood. + +"My name is Helwyse; I have come from Europe to see Mr. Amos +MacGentle," said the visitor, courteously. + +"Helwyse!--Hel--" repeated Mr. Dyke, having seemingly quite forgotten +himself. His customary manner to strangers implied that he knew, +better than they did, who they were and what they wanted; and that +what he knew was not much to their credit. But he could only open his +mouth and stare at this Helwyse. + +"Mr. MacGentle is an old friend; run in and tell him I'm here, and you +will see." The young man put his hand kindly on the elderly clerk's +shoulder, much as though the latter were a gaping school-boy, and +directed him gently towards the inner door. + +Mr. Dyke regained his voice by an effort, though still lacking +complete self-command. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Helwyse, sir,--of +course, of course,--it didn't seem possible,--so long, you know,--but +I remembered the voice and the face and the name,--I never +forget,--but, by George, sir, can you really be--?" + +"I see you have a good memory; you are Dyke, aren't you?" And Mr. +Helwyse threw back his head and laughed, perhaps at the clerk's +bewildered face. At all events, the latter laughed, too, and they both +shook hands very heartily. + +"Beg pardon again, Mr. Helwyse, I'll speak to the President," said Mr. +Dyke, and stepped into the sanctuary of sanctuaries. + +Mr. MacGentle was taking a nap. He was seventy years old, and could +drop asleep easily. When he slept, however lightly and briefly, he was +pretty sure to dream; and if awakened suddenly, his dream would often +prolong itself, and mingle with passing events, which would themselves +put on the semblance of unreality. On the present occasion the sound +of Helwyse's voice had probably crept through the door, and insinuated +itself into his dreaming brain. + +Mr. Dyke was too much excited to remark the President's condition. He +put his mouth close to the old gentleman's ear, and said, in an +emphatic and penetrating undertone,-- + +"Here's your old friend Helwyse, who died in Europe two years ago, +come back again, _younger than ever!_" + +If the confidential clerk expected his superior to echo his own +bewilderment, he was disappointed. Mr. MacGentle unclosed his eyes, +looked up, and answered rather pettishly,-- + +"What nonsense are you talking about his dying in Europe, Mr. Dyke? He +hasn't been in Europe for six years. I was expecting him. Let him come +in at once." + +But he was already there; and Mr. Dyke slipped out again with +consternation written upon his features. Mr. MacGentle found himself +with his thin old hand in the young man's warm grasp. + +"Helwyse, how do you do?--how do you do? Ah! you look as well as ever. +I was just thinking about you. Sit down,--sit down!" + +The old President's voice had a strain of melancholy in it, partly the +result of chronic asthma, and partly, no doubt, of a melancholic +temperament. This strain, being constant, sometimes had a curiously +incongruous effect as contrasted with the subject or circumstances in +hand. Whether hailing the dawn of the millennium; holding playful +converse with a child, making a speech before the Board,--under +whatever rhetorical conditions, Mr. MacGentle's intonation was always +pitched in the same murmurous and somewhat plaintive key. Moreover, a +corresponding immobility of facial expression had grown upon him; so +that altogether, though he was the most sympathetic and sensitive of +men, a superficial observer might take him to be lacking in the common +feelings and impulses of humanity. + +Perhaps the incongruity alluded to had not altogether escaped his own +notice, and since discord of any kind pained him, he had mended the +matter--as best he could--by surrendering himself entirely to his +mournful voice; allowing it to master his gestures, choice of +language, almost his thoughts. The result was a colorlessness of +manner which did great injustice to the gentle and delicate soul +behind. + +This conjecture might explain why Mr. MacGentle, instead of falling +upon his friend's neck and shedding tears of welcome there, only +uttered a few commonplace sentences, and then drooped back into his +chair. But it throws no light upon his remark that he had been +expecting the arrival of a friend who, it would appear, had been dead +two years. Helwyse himself may have been puzzled by this; or, being a +quick-witted young man, he may have divined its explanation. He looked +at his entertainer with critical sympathy not untinged with humor. + +"I hope you are as well as I am," said he. + +"A little tired this morning, I believe; I never was so strong a man +as you, Helwyse. I think I must have passed a bad night. I remember +dreaming I was an old man,--an old man with white hair, Helwyse." + +"Were you glad to wake up again?" asked the young man, meeting the +elder's faded eyes. + +"I hardly know whether I'm quite awake yet. And, after all, Thor, I'm +not sure that I don't wish the dream might have been true. If I were +really an old man, what a long, lonely future I should escape! but as +it is--as it is--" + +He relapsed into reverie. Ah! Mr. MacGentle, are you again the tall +and graceful youth, full of romance and fire, who roamed abroad in +quest of adventures with your trusty friend Thor Helwyse, the +yellow-bearded Scandinavian? Do you fancy this fresh, unwrinkled face +a mate to your own? and is it but the vision of a restless +night,--this long-drawn life of dull routine and gradual +disappointment and decay? Open those dim eyes of yours, good sir! stir +those thin old legs! inflate that sunken chest!--Ha! is that cough +imaginary? those trembling muscles,--are they a delusion is that misty +glance only a momentary weakness There is no youth left in you, Mr. +MacGentle; not so much as would keep a rose in bloom for an hour. + +"Have you seen Doctor Glyphic lately?" inquired Helwyse, after a +pause. + +"Glyphic?--do you know, I was thinking of him just now,--of our first +meeting with him in the African desert. You remember!--a couple of +Bedouins were carrying him off,--they had captured him on his way to +some apocryphal ruin among the sand-heaps. What a grand moment was +that when you caught the Sheik round the throat with your +umbrella-handle, and pulled him off his horse! and then we mounted +poor Glyphic upon it,--mummied cat and all,--and away over the hot +sand! What a day was that! what a day was that!" + +The speaker's eyes had kindled; for a moment one saw the far flat +desert, the struggling knot of men and horses, the stampede of the +three across the plain, and the high sun flaming inextinguishable +laughter-over all!--and it had happened nigh forty years ago. + +"He never forgot that service," resumed Mr. MacGentle, his customary +plaintive manner returning. "To that, and to your saving the Egyptian +lad,--. Manetho,--you owe your wife Helen: ah! forgive me,--I had +forgotten; she is dead,--she is dead." + +"I never could understand," remarked Helwyse, aiming to lead the +conversation away from gloomy topics, "why the Doctor made so much of +Manetho." "That was only a part of the Egyptian mania that possessed +him, and began, you know, with his changing his name from Henry to +Hiero; and has gone on, until now, I suppose, he actually believes +himself to be some old inscription, containing precious secrets, not +to be found elsewhere. Before the adventure with the boy, I remember, +he had formed the idea of building a miniature Egypt in New Jersey; +and Manetho served well as the living human element in it. 'Though I +take him to America,' you know he said, 'he shall live in Egypt still. +He shall have a temple, and an altar, and Isis and Osiris, and papyri +and palm-trees and a crocodile; and when he dies I will embalm him +like a Pharaoh.' 'But suppose you die first?' said one of us. 'Then he +shall embalm me!' cried Hiero, and I will be the first American +mummy.'" + +Mr. MacGentle seemed to find a dreamy enjoyment in working this vein +of reminiscence. He sat back in his low arm-chair, his unsubstantial +face turned meditatively towards the Magdalen, his hands brought +together to support his delicate chin. Helwyse, apprehending that the +vein might at last bring the dreamer down to the present day, +encouraged him to follow it. + +"It must have been a disappointment to the Doctor that his protégé +took up the Christian religion, instead of following the faith and +observances of his Egyptian ancestors, for the last five thousand +years!" + +"Why, perhaps it was, Thor, perhaps it was," murmured Mr. MacGentle. +"But Manetho never entered the pulpit, you know; it would not have +been to his interest to do so; besides that, I believe he is really +devoted to Glyphic, believing that it was he who saved him from the +crocodile. People are all the time making such absurd mistakes. +Manetho is a man who would be unalterable either in gratitude or +enmity, although his external manner is so mild. And as to his taking +orders, why, as long as he wore an Egyptian robe, and said his prayers +in an Egyptian temple, it would be all the same to Glyphic what +religion the man professed!" + +"Doctor Glyphic is still alive, then?" + +The old man looked at the young one with an air half apprehensive, +half perplexed, as if scenting the far approach of some undefined +difficulty. He passed his white hand over his forehead. "Everything +seems out of joint-to-day, Helwyse. Nothing looks or seems natural, +except you! What is the matter with me?--what is the matter with me?" + +Helwyse sat with both hands twisted in his mighty beard, and one +booted leg thrown over the other. He was full of sympathy at the +spectacle of poor Amos MacGentle, blindly groping after the phantom of +a flower whose bloom and fragrance had vanished so terribly long ago; +and yet, for some reason or other he could hardly forbear a smile. +When anything is utterly out of place, it is no more pathetic than +absurd; moreover, young men are always secretly inclined to laugh at +old ones! + +"Why should not Glyphic be alive?" resumed Mr. MacGentle. "Why not he, +as well as you or I? Aren't we all about of an age?" + +Helwyse drew his chair close to his companion's, and took his hand, as +if it had been a young girl's. "My dear friend," said he, "you said +you felt tired this morning, but you forget how far you've travelled +since we last met. Doctor Glyphic, if he be living now, must be more +than sixty years old. Your dream of old age was such as many have +dreamed before, and not awakened from in this world!" + +"Let me think!--let me think!" said the old man; and, Helwyse drawing +back, there ensued a silence, varied only by a long and tremulous sigh +from his companion; whether of relief or dejection, the visitor could +not decide. But when Mr. MacGentle spoke, it was with more assurance. +Either from mortification at his illusion, or more probably from +imperfect perception of it, he made no reference to what had passed. +Old age possesses a kind of composure, arising from dulled +sensibilities, which the most self-possessed youth can never rival. + +"We heard, through the London branch of our house, that Thor Helwyse +died some two years ago." + +"He was drowned in the Baltic Sea. I am his son Balder." + +"He was my friend," observed the old man, simply; but the tone he used +was a magnet to attract the son's heart. "You look very much like him, +only his eyes were blue, and yours, as I now see, are dark; but you +might be mistaken for him." + +"I sometimes have been," rejoined Balder, with a half-smile. + +"And you are his son! You are most welcome!" said Mr. MacGentle, with +old-fashioned courtesy. + +"Forgive me if I have--if anything has occurred to annoy you. I am a +very old man, Mr. Balder; so old that sometimes I believe I forget how +old I am! And Thor is dead,--drowned,--you say?" + +"The Baltic, you know, has been the grave of many of our forefathers; +I think my father was glad to follow them. I never saw him in better +spirits than during that gale. We were bound to England from Denmark." + +"Helen's death saddened him,--I know,--I know; he was never gay after +that. But how--how did--?" + +"He would keep the deck, though the helmsman had to be lashed to the +wheel. I think he never cared to see land again, but he was full of +spirits and life. He said this was weather fit for a Viking. + +"We were standing by the foremast, holding on by a belaying-pin. The +sea came over the side, and struck him overboard. I went after him. +Another wave brought me back; but not my father! I was knocked +senseless, and when I came to, it was too late." + +Helwyse's voice, towards the end of this story, became husky, and Mr. +MacGentle's eyes, as he listened, grew dimmer than ever. + +"Ah!" said he, "I shall not die so. I shall die away gradually, like a +breeze that has been blowing this way and that all day, and falls at +sunset, no one knows how. Thor died as became him; and I shall die as +becomes me,--as becomes me!" And so, indeed, he did, a few years +later; but not unknown nor uncared for. + +Balder Helwyse was a philosopher, no doubt; but it was no part of his +wisdom to be indifferent to unstrained sympathy. He went on to speak +further of his own concerns,--a thing he was little used to do. + +It appeared that, from the time he first crossed the Atlantic, being +then about four years old, up to the time he had recrossed it, a few +weeks ago, he had been journeying to and fro over the Eastern +Hemisphere. His father, who, as well as himself, was American by +birth, was the descendant of a Danish family of high station and +antiquity, and inherited the restless spirit of his ancestors. In the +course of his early wanderings he had fallen in with MacGentle, who, +though somewhat older than Helwyse, was still a young man; and later +these two had encountered Hiero Glyphic. About fifteen years after +this it was that Thor appeared at Glyphic's house in New Jersey, and +was welcomed by that singular man as a brother; and here he fell in +love with Glyphic's sister Helen, and married her. With her he +received a large fortune, which the addition of his own made great; +and at Glyphic's death Thor or his heirs would inherit the bulk of the +estate left by him. + +So Thor, being then in the first prime of life, was prepared to settle +down and become domestic. But the sudden death of his wife, and the +subsequent loss of one of the children she had borne him, drove him +once more abroad, with his baby son, never again to take root, or to +return. And here Balder's story, as told by him, began. He seemed to +have matured very early, and to have taken hold of knowledge in all +its branches like a Titan. The precise age at which he had learned all +that European schools could teach him, it is not necessary to specify; +since it is rather with the nature of his mind than with the list of +his accomplishments that we shall have to do. It might be possible, by +tracing his-connection with French, or German, or English +philosophers, to make shrewd guesses at the qualities of his own! +creed; but these will perhaps reveal themselves less diffidently under +other tests. + +The last four or five years of his life Balder had spent in acquiring +such culture as schools could not give him. Where he went, what he did +and saw, we shall not exercise our power categorically to reveal; +remarking only that his means and his social rank left him free to go +as high as well as low as he pleased,--to dine with English dukes or +with Russian serfs. But a fine chastity inherent in his Northern blood +had, whatever were his moral convictions, kept him from the mire; and +the sudden death of his father had given him a graver turn than was +normal to his years. Meanwhile, the financial crash, which at this +time so largely affected Europe, swallowed up the greater part of +Balder's fortune; and with the remnant (about a thousand pounds +sterling), and a potential independence (in the shape of a learned +profession) in his head, he sailed for Boston. + +"I knew you were my uncle Hiero's bankers," he added, "and I supposed +you would be able to tell me about him. He is my only living +relative." + +"Why, as to that, I believe it is a long time since the house has had +anything to do with his concerns," returned the venerable President, +abstractedly gazing at Balder's high boots; "but I'll ask Mr. Dyke. He +remembers everything." + +That gentleman (who had not passed an easy moment since Mr. Helwyse's +arrival) was now called in, and his suspense regarding the mysterious +visitor soon relieved. In respect to Doctor Glyphic's affair he was +ready and explicit. + +"No dollar of his money has been through our hands since winter of +Eighteen thirty-five--six, Mr. Helwyse, sir,--winter following your +and your respected father's departure for foreign parts," stated Mr. +Dyke, straightening his mouth, and planting his fist on his hip. + +"Hm--hm!" murmured the President, standing thin and bent before the +empty fireplace, a coat-tail over each arm. + +"You have heard nothing of him since then?" + +"Nothing, Mr. Helwyse, sir! Reverend Manetho Glyphic--understood to be +the Doctor's adopted son--came here and effected the transfer, under +authority, of course, of his foster-father's signature. Where the +property is at this moment, how invested with what returns, neither +the President nor I can inform you, sir." + +"Hm--hm!" remarked Mr. MacGentle again. It was a favorite comment of +his upon business topics. + +"It is possible I may be a very wealthy man," said Balder, when Mr. +Dyke had made his resolute bow and withdrawn. "But I hope my uncle is +alive. It would be a loss not to have known so eccentric a man. I have +a miniature of him which I have often studied, so that I shall know +him when we meet. Can he be married, do you think?" + +"Why no, Balder; no, I should hardly think so," answered Mr. +MacGentle, who, at the departure of his confidential clerk, had +relapsed into his unofficial position and manner. "By the way, do +_you_ contemplate that step?" + +"It is said to be an impediment to great enterprises. I could learn +little by domestic life that I could not learn better otherwise." + +"Hm,--we could not do without woman, you know." + +"If I could marry Woman, I would do it," said the young man, +unblushingly. "But a single crumb from that great loaf would be of no +use to me." + +"Ah, you haven't learned to appreciate women! You never knew your +mother, Balder; and your sister was lost before she was old enough to +be anything to you. By the way, I have always cherished a hope that +she might yet be found. Perhaps she may,--perhaps she may." + +Balder looked perplexed, till, thinking the old gentleman might be +referring to a reunion in a future state, he said,-- + +"You believe that people recognize one another in the next world, Mr. +MacGentle?" + +"Perhaps,--perhaps; but why not here as well?" murmured the other, in +reply; and Balder, suspecting a return of absent-mindedness, yielded +the point. He had grown up in the belief that his twin-sister had died +in her infancy; but his venerable friend appeared to be under a +different impression. + +"I shall go to New York, and try to find my uncle, or some trace of +him," said he. "If I'm unsuccessful, I mean to come back here, and +settle as a physician." + +"What is your specialty?" + +"I'm an eye-doctor. The Boston people are not all clear-eyed, I hope." + +"Not all,--I should say not all; perhaps you may be able to help me, +to begin with," said Mr. MacGentle, with a gleam of melancholy humor. +"I will ask Mr. Dyke about the chances for a practice he knows +everything. And, Balder," he added, when the young man rose to go, +"let me hear from you, and see you again sometimes, whatever may +happen to you in the way of fortune. I'm rather a lonely old man,--a +lonely old man, Balder." + +"I'll be here again very soon, unless I get married, or commit a +murder or some such enormity," rejoined Helwyse, his long mustache +curling to, his smile. They shook hands,--the vigorous young god of +the sun and the faded old wraith of Brahmanism,--with a friendly look +into each other's eyes. + + + + +VI. + +THE VAGARIES OF HELWYSE. + + +Balder Helwyse was a man full of natural and healthy instincts: he was +not afraid to laugh uproariously when so inclined; nor apt to +counterfeit so much as a smile, only because a smile would look well. +What showed a rarer audacity,--he had more than once dared to weep! To +crush down real emotions formed, in short, no part of his ideal of a +man. Not belonging to the Little-pot-soon-hot family, he had, perhaps, +never found occasion to go beyond the control of his temper, and blind +rage he would in no wise allow himself; but he delighted in +antagonisms, and though it came not within his rules to hate any man, +he was inclined to cultivate an enemy, as more likely to be +instructive than some friends. His love of actual battle was intense: +he had punched heads with many a hard-fisted school-boy in England; he +bore the scar of a German _schläger_ high up on his forehead; and +later, in Paris, he had deliberately invaded the susceptibilities of a +French journalist, had followed him to the field of honor, and been +there run through the body with a small-sword, to the satisfaction of +both parties. He was confined to his bed for a while; but his +overflowing spirits healed the wound to the admiration of his doctors. + +These examples of self-indulgence have been touched upon only by way +of preparing the gentle reader for a shock yet more serious. Helwyse +was a disciple of Brillat-Savarin,--in one word, a gourmand! His +appetite never failed him, and, he knew how wisely to direct it. He +never ate a careless or thoughtless meal, be its elements simple as +they might. He knew and was loved by the foremost cooks all over +Europe. Never did he allow coarseness or intemperance to mar the +refinement of his palate. + +"Man," he was accustomed to say, "is but a stomach, and the cook is +the pope of stomachs, in whose church are no respectable heretics. Our +happiness lies in his saucepan,--at the mercy of his spit. Eating is +the appropriation to our needs of the good and truth of life, as +existing in material manifestation: the cook is the high-priest of +that symbolic ceremony! I, and kings with me, bow before him! But his +is a responsibility beneath which Atlas might stagger; he, of all men, +must be honest, warm-hearted, quick of sympathy, full of compassion +towards his race. Let him rejoice, for the world extols him for its +well-being;--yet tremble! lest upon his head fall the curse of its +misery!" + +This speech was always received with applause; the peroration being +delivered with a vast controlled emphasis of eye and voice; and it was +followed by the drinking of the cook's health. "The generous virtues," +Mr. Helwyse would then go on to say, "arise from the cultivation of +the stomach. From man's very earthliness springs the flower of his +spiritual virtue. We affect to despise the flesh, as vile and +unworthy. What, then, is flesh made of? of nothing?--let who can, +prove that! No, it is made of spirit,--of the divine, everlasting +substance; it is the wall which holds Heaven in place! If there be +anything vile in it, it is of the Devil's infusion, and enters not +into the argument." + +A man who had expressed such views as these at the most renowned +tables of France and England was not likely to forget his principles +in the United States. Accordingly, he arose early, as we have seen, on +the morning after his arrival, and forced an astonished waiter to +marshal him to the kitchen, and introduce him to the cook. The cook of +the Granite Hotel at that time was a round, red-lipped Italian, an +artist and enthusiast, but whose temper had been much tried by lack of +appreciation; and, although his salary was good, he contemplated +throwing it over, abandoning the Yankee nation to its fate, and +seeking some more congenial field. Balder, who, when the mood was on +him, could wield a tongue persuasive as Richard the Third's, talked +to this man, and in seven minutes had won his whole heart. The +immediate result was a delectable breakfast, but the sequel was a +triumph indeed. It seems that the æsthetic Italian had for several +days been watching over a brace of plump, truffled partridges. This +day they had reached perfection, and were to have been eaten by no +less a person than the cook himself. These cherished birds did he now +actually offer to make over to his eloquent and sympathetic +acquaintance. Balder was deeply moved, and accepted the gift on one +condition,--that the donor should share the feast! "When a man serves +me up his own heart,--truffled, too,--he must help me eat it," he +said, with emotion. The condition imposed was, after faint resistance, +agreed to; the other episodes of the bill of fare were decided upon, +and the Italian and the Scandinavian were to dine together that +afternoon. + +It still lacked something of the dinner-hour when Mr. Helwyse came out +through the dark passage-way of the Beacon Hill Bank, and paused for a +few moments on the threshold, looking up and down the street. Against +the dark background he made a handsome picture,--tall, gallant, +unique. The May sunshine, falling, athwart the face of the gloomy old +building, was glad to light up the waves of his beard and hair, and +to cast the shadow of his hat-brim over his forehead and eyes. The +picture stays just long enough to fix itself in the memory, and then +the young man goes lightly down the worn steps, and is lost along the +crowded street. Such as he is now, we shall not see him standing in +that dark frame again! + +Wherever he went, Balder Helwyse was sure to be stared at; but to this +he was admirably indifferent. He never thought of speculating about +what people thought of Mr. Helwyse; but to his own approval--something +not lightly to be had--he was by no means indifferent. Towards mankind +at large he showed a kindly but irreverent charity, which excused +imperfection, not so much from a divine principle of love as from +scepticism as to man's sufficient motive and faculty to do well. Of +himself he was a blunt and sarcastic critic, perhaps because he +expected more of himself than of the rest of the world, and fancied +that that person only had the ability to be his censor! + +If the Christian reader regards this mental attitude as unsound, far +be it from us to defend it! It must, nevertheless, be admitted that +whoever feels the strong stirring of power in his head and hands will +learn its limits from no purely subjective source. The lesson must +begin from without, and the only argument will be a deadly struggle. +Until then, self-esteem, however veiled beneath self-criticism, cannot +but increase. And if the man has had wisdom and strength to abstain +from vulgar self-pollution, Satan must intrust his spear to no +half-fledged devil, but grasp it in his own hand, and join battle in +his own person. + +Undismayed by this fact, Helwyse reached Washington Street, and +followed its westerly meanderings, meaning to spend part of the +interval before dinner in exploring Boston. He walked with an easy +sideways-swaying of the shoulders, whisking his cane, and smiling to +himself as he recalled the points of his interview with the President. + +"Just the thing, to make MacGentle tutelary divinity of so elusive a +matter as money! Wonder whether the Directors ever thought of that? +For all his unreality, though, he has something more real in him than +the heaviest Director on the Board! + +"How composedly he took me for my father! and when he discovered his +mistake, how composedly he welcomed me in my own person! Was that the +extreme of senility? or was it a subtile assertion of the fact, that +he who keeps in the vanguard of the age in a certain sense contains +his father--the past--within himself, and is a distinct person chiefly +by virtue of that containing power? + +"Why didn't I ask him more about my foster-cousin Manetho? Egyptians +are more astute than affectionate. Would he cleave to my poor uncle +for these last eighteen years merely for love? Why did he transfer +that money so soon after we sailed? Ten to one, he has in his own +hands the future as well as the present disposal of Doctor Hiero +Glyphic's fortune! The old gentleman has had time to make a hundred +wills since the one he showed my father, twenty years ago! + +"Well, and what is that to you? Ah, Balder Helwyse, you lazy impostor, +you are pining for Egyptian flesh-pots! Don't tell me about civility +to relatives, and the study of human nature! You are as bad as you +accuse your poor cousin of being,--who may be dead, or pastor of a +small parish, for all you know. And yet every school-girl can prattle +of the educational uses of poverty, and of having to make one's own +living! I have a good mind to take your thousand pounds sterling out +of your pocket and throw them into Charles River,--and then begin at +the beginning! By the time I'd learnt what poverty can teach, it would +be over,--or I am no true man! Only they who are ashamed of +themselves, or afraid of other people, need to start rich." + +Nevertheless, he could not do otherwise than hunt up the only relative +he had in America. Subsequent events did not convict him of being a +mere egotist, swayed only by the current of base success. He did not +despise prosperity, but he cared yet more to find out truths about +things and men. This is not the story of a fortune-hunter; not, at all +events, of a hunter of such fortunes as are made and lost nowadays. +But, when one half of a man detects unworthy motives in the other +half, it is embarrassing. He acts most wisely, perhaps, who drops +discussion, and lets the balance of good and bad, at the given moment, +decide. Our compound life makes many compromises, whereby our +progress, whether heavenward or hellward, is made slow--and sure! + +Here, or hereabouts, Balder lost his way. When thinking hard, he was +beside himself; he strode, and tossed his beard, and shouldered +inoffensive people aside, and drew his eyebrows together, or smiled. +Then, by and by, he would awake to realities, and find himself he knew +not where. + +This time, it was in an unsavory back-street; some dirty children were +playing in the gutters, and a tall, rather flashily dressed man was +walking along some distance ahead, carrying something in one hand. +Helwyse at first mended his pace to overtake the fellow, and ask the +way to the hotel. But he presently changed his purpose, his attention +being drawn to the oddity of the other's behavior. + +The man was evidently one of those who live much alone, and so +contract unconscious habits, against which society offers the only +safeguard. He was absorbed in some imaginary dialogue; and so +imperfectly could his fleshly veil conceal his mental processes, that +he gesticulated everything that passed through his mind. These +gestures, though perfectly apparent to a steady observer, were so far +kept within bounds as not to get more than momentary notice from the +passers-by, who, indeed, found metal more attractive to their gaze in +Helwyse. + +Now did the man draw his head back and spread out his arms, as in +surprise and repudiation; now his shoulders rose high, in deprecation +or disclaimer. Now his forefinger cunningly sought the side of his +nose; now his fist shook in an imaginary face. At times he would +stretch out a pleading arm and neck; the next moment he was an +inflexible tyrant, spurning a suppliant. Again he would break into a +soundless chuckle; then, raising his hand to his forehead, seem +overwhelmed with despair and anguish. Occasionally he would walk some +distance quite passively, only glancing furtively about him; but +erelong he would forget himself again, and the dialogue would begin +anew. + +Balder watched the man curiously, but without seeming to perceive the +rather grisly similitude between the latter's vagaries and his own. + +"What an ugly thing the inside of this person seems to be!" he said. +"But then, whose thoughts and emotions would not render him a +laughing-stock if they could be seen? If everybody looked, to his +fellow, as he really is, or even as he looks to himself, mankind would +fly asunder, and think the stars hiding-places not remote enough! How +many men in the world could walk from one end of the street they live +in to the other, talking and acting their inmost thoughts all the way, +and retain a bit of anybody's respect or love afterwards? No wonder +Heaven is pure, if, our spiritual bodies are only thoughts and +feelings! and a Hell where every devil saw his fellow's deformity +outwardly manifested would be Hell indeed! + +"But that can't be. Angels behold their own loveliness, because doing +so makes them lovelier; but no devil could know his own vileness and +live. They think their hideousness charming, and, when the darkness is +thickest about them, most firmly believe themselves in Heaven. But the +light of Heaven would be real darkness to them, for a ray of it would +strike them blind!" + +Helwyse was too prone to moralizing. It shall not be our cue to quote +him, save when to do so may seem to serve an ulterior purpose. + +"I would like to hear the story that fellow is so exercised about," +muttered his pursuer. "How do I know it doesn't concern me? That +violin-box he carries is very much in his way; shall I offer to carry +it for him, and, in return, hear his story? If the music soothes his +soul as much as the box moderates his gestures--" + +Here the man abruptly turned into a doorway, and was gone. On coming +up, Helwyse found that the doorway led in through a pair of green +folding-doors to some place unseen. The house had an air of villanous +respectability,--a gambling-house air, or worse. Did the musician live +there? Helwyse paused but a moment, and then walked on; and thus, +sagacious reader, the meeting was for the second time put off. + +When he reached his hotel, he had only half an hour to dress for +dinner in; but he prepared himself faultlessly, chanting a sort of +hymn to Appetite the while. "Hunger," quoth he, "is mightiest of +magicians; breeds hope, energy, brains; prompts to love and +friendship. Hunger gives day and night their meaning, and makes the +pulse of time beat; creates society, industry, and rank. Hunger moves +man to join in the work of creation,--to harmonize himself with the +music of the universe,--to feel ambition, joy, and sorrow. Hunger +unites man to nature in the ever-recurring inspiration to food, +followed by the ever-alternating ecstasy of digestion. Morning tunes +his heart to joy, for the benison of breakfast awaits him. The sun +scales heaven to light him to his noonday meal. Evening wooes him +supperwards, and night brings timeless sleep, to waft him to another +dawn. Eating is earth's first law, and heaven itself could not subsist +without it!" + +So Balder Helwyse and the cook feasted gloriously that afternoon, in +the back pantry, and they solemnly installed the partridges among the +constellations! + + + + +VII. + +A QUARREL. + + +That same afternoon Mr. MacGentle put his head into the outer office +and said, "Mr. Dyke, could I speak with you a moment?" + +Mr. Dyke scraped back his chair and went in, with his polished bald +head, and square face and figure,--a block of common-sense. He was +more common-sensible than usual, that afternoon, because he had so +strangely forgotten himself in the morning. Mr. MacGentle was in his +usual position for talking with his confidential clerk,--standing up +with his back to the fireplace, and his coat-tails over his arms. +Experience had taught him that this attitude was better adapted than +any other to sustain the crushing weight of Mr. Dyke's sense. To have +conversed with him in a sitting position would have been to lose +breath and vitality before the end of five minutes. + +"Mr. Helwyse has thoughts of settling in Boston to practise his +profession," began the President, gently. "I told him you would be +likely to know what the chances are." + +"Profession is--what?" demanded Mr. Dyke, settling his fist on his +hip. + +"O--doctor--physician; eye-doctor, he said, I think." + +"Eye-doctor? Well, Dr. Schlemm won't last the winter; may drop any +day. Just the thing for Mr. Helwyse,--Dr. Helwyse." And the subject, +being discussed at some length between the two gentlemen, took on a +promising aspect. His house was picked out for the new incumbent, his +earnings calculated, his success foretold. Two characters so diverse +as were the President and his clerk united, it seems, in liking the +young physician. + +"Married?" asked Mr. Dyke, after a pause. + +"Why, no,--no; and he doesn't seem inclined to marry. But he is quite +young; perhaps he may, later on in life, Mr. Dyke." + +The elderly clerk straightened his mouth. "Matter of taste--and +policy. Gives solidity,--position;--and is an expense and a +responsibility." Mr. Dyke himself was well known to be the husband of +an idolized wife, and the father of a despotic family. + +"He never had the advantage of woman's influence in his childhood, you +know. His poor mother died in giving him and his sister birth; and the +sister was lost,--stolen away, two or three years later. He does not +appreciate woman at her true value," murmured MacGentle. + +"Stolen away? His sister died in infancy,--so I understood, sir," +said the clerk, whose versions of past events were apt to differ from +the President's. + +But the President--perhaps because he was conscious that his memory +regarding things of recent occurrence was treacherous--was abnormally +sensitive as to the correctness of his more distant reminiscences. + +"O no, she was stolen,--stolen by her nurse, just before Thor Helwyse +went to Europe, I think," said he. + +"Beg your pardon, sir," said Mr. Dyke, with an iron smile; +"died,--burnt to death in her first year,--yes, sir!" + +"Mr. Dyke," rejoined MacGentle, dignifiedly, lifting his chin high +above his stock, "I have myself seen the little girl, then in her +third year, pulling her brother's hair on the nursery floor. She was +dark-eyed,--a very lovely child. As to the burning, I now recollect +that when the house in Brooklyn took fire, the child was in danger, +but was rescued by her nurse, who herself received very severe +injuries." + +Mr. Dyke heaved a long, deliberate sigh, and allowed his eyes to +wander slowly round the room, before replying. + +"You are not a family man, Mr. MacGentle, sir! Don't blame you, sir! +Your memory, perhaps--But no matter! The nurse who stole the child +was, I presume, the same who rescued her from the fire?" + +Mr. Dyke perhaps intended to give a delicately ironical emphasis to +this question, but his irony was apt to be a rather unwieldy and +unmistakable affair. The truth was, he was a little staggered by the +President's circumstantial statement; whence his deliberation, and his +not entirely pertinent rejoinder about "a family man." + +"And why not the same, sir? I ask you, why not the same?" demanded Mr. +MacGentle, with slender imperiousness. + +But, by this time, Mr. Dyke had thought of a new argument. + +"The little girl, I understood you to say, was dark? Since she was the +twin-sister of one of Mr. Balder Helwyse's complexion, that is odd, +Mr. MacGentle,--odd, sir." And the solid family man fixed his sharp +brown eyes full upon the unsubstantial bachelor. The latter's delicate +nostrils expanded, and a pink flush rose to his faded cheeks. He was +now as haughty and superb as a paladin. + +"I will discuss business subjects with my subordinates, Mr. Dyke; not +other subjects, if you please! This dispute was not begun by me. Let +it be carried no further, sir! Twins are not necessarily, nor +invariably, of the same complexion. Let nothing more be said, Mr. +Dyke. I trust the little girl may yet be found and restored to her +family--to--to her brother! I trust she may yet be found, sir!" And he +glared at Mr. Dyke aggressively. + +"I trust you may live to see it, Mr. MacGentle, sir!" said the +confidential clerk, shifting his ground in a truly masterly manner; +and before the President could recover, he had bowed and gone out. Ten +minutes afterwards MacGentle opened the door, and lo! Dyke himself on +the threshold. + +"Mr. Dyke!" + +"Mr. MacGentle!" in the same breath. + +"I--Mr. Dyke, let me apologize for my asperity,--for my rudeness," +says MacGentle, stepping forward and holding out his thin white hand, +his eyebrows more raised than ever, the corners of his mouth more +depressed. "I am sincerely sorry that--that--" + +"O sir!" cries the square clerk, grasping the thin hand in both his +square palms; "O sir! O sir! No, no!--no, no! I was just coming to beg +you--My fault,--my fault, Mr. MacGentle, sir! No, no!" + +Thus incoherently ended the quarrel between these two old friends, the +dispute being left undecided. But the important point was established +that Balder Helwyse was insured a practice in Boston, in case his +uncle Glyphic's fortune failed to enrich him. + + + + +VIII. + +A COLLISION IMMINENT. + + +A large, handsome steamer was the "Empire State," of the line which +ran between Newport and New York. She was painted white, had +walking-beam engines, and ornamented paddle-boxes, and had been known +to run nearly twenty knots in an hour. On the evening of the +twenty-seventh of May, in the year of which we write, she left her +Newport dock as usual, with a full list of passengers. On getting out +of the harbor, she steamed into a bank of solid fog, and only got out +of it the next morning, just before passing Hellgate, at the head of +East River, New York. On the passage down Long Island Sound she met +with an accident. She ran into the schooner Resurrection, which was +lying becalmed across her course, carrying away most of the schooner's +bowsprit, but doing no serious damage. This, however, was not the +worst. On arriving in New York, it was found that one of the +passengers was missing! He had fallen overboard during the night, +possibly at the time of the collision. + +Balder Halwyse was on board. After dining with the cook, and smoking +a real Havana cigar (probably the first real one that he had ever been +blessed with), he put a package of the same brand in his +travelling-bag, bade his entertainer,--who had solemnly engaged to +remain in Boston for Mr. Helwyse's sole sake,--bade his +fellow-convivialist good by, and took the train to Newport, and from +there the "Empire State" for New York. + +The darkness was the most impenetrable that the young man had ever +seen; Long Island Sound was like a pocket. The passengers--those who +did not go to their state-rooms at once--sat in the cabin reading, or +dozing on the chairs and sofas. A few men stayed out on deck for an +hour or two, smoking; but at last they too went in. The darkness was +appalling. The officer on the bridge blew his steam fog-whistle every +few minutes, and kept his lanterns hung out; but they must have been +invisible at sixty yards. + +Helwyse kept the deck alone. Apparently he meant to smoke his whole +bundle of cigars before turning in. He paced up and down, +Napoleon-like in his high boots, until finally he was brought to a +stand by the blind night-wall, which no man can either scale or +circumvent. Then he leaned on the railing and looked against the +darkness. Not a light to be seen in heaven or on earth! The water +below whispered and swirled past, torn to soft fragments by the +gigantic paddle-wheel. Helwyse's beard was wet and his hands sticky +with the salt mist. + +Ever and anon sounded the fog-whistle, hoarsely, as though the fog had +got in its throat; and the pale glare of a lantern, fastened aloft +somewhere, lighted up the white issuing steam for a moment. There was +no wind; one was conscious of motion, but all sense of direction and +position--save to the steersman--was lost. Helwyse could see the red +end of his cigar, and very cosey and friendly it looked; but he could +see nothing else. + +It is said that staid and respectable people, when thoroughly steeped +in night, will sometimes break out in wild grimaces and outlandish +gesticulations. It is certainly the time when unlawful thoughts and +words come to men most readily and naturally. Night brings forth many +things that daylight starts from. The real power of darkness lies not +in merely baffling the eyesight, but in creating the feeling of +darkness in the soul. The chains of light are broken, and we can +almost believe our internal night to be as impenetrable to God's eyes +as that external, to our own! + +By and by Helwyse thought he would find some snug place and sit down. +The cabin of the "Empire State" was built on the main deck, abaft the +funnel, like a long, low house. Between the stern end of this house +and the taffrail was a small space, thickly grown with camp-stools. +Helwyse groped his way thither, got hold of a couple of the +camp-stools, and arranged himself comfortably with his back against +the cabin wall. The waves bubbled invisibly in the wake beneath. After +sitting for a while in the dense blackness, Helwyse began to feel as +though his whole physical self were shrivelled into a single atom, +careering blindly through infinite space! + +After all, and really, was he anything more? If he chose to think not, +what logic could convince him of the contrary? Visible creation, as +any child could tell him, was an illusion,--was not what it seemed to +be. But this darkness was no illusion! Why, then, was it not the only +reality? and he but an atom, charged with a vital power of so-called +senses, that generally deceived him, but sometimes--as now--let him +glimpse the truth? The fancy, absurd as it was, had its attraction for +the time being. This great living, staring world of men and things is +a terrible weight to lug upon one's back. But if man be an invisible +atom, what a vast, wild, boundless freedom is his! Infinite space is +wide enough to cut any caper in, and no one the wiser. + +One would like to converse with a man who had been born and had lived +in solitude and darkness. What original views he would have about +himself and life! Would he think himself an abstract intelligence, +out of space and time? What a riddle his physical sensations would be +to him! Or, suppose him to meet with another being brought up in the +same way; how they would mystify each other! Would they learn to feel +shame, love, hate? or do the passions only grow in sunshine? Would +they ever laugh? Would they hatch plots against each other, lie, +deceive? Would they have secrets from each other? + +But, fancy aside, take a supposable case. Suppose two sinners of our +daylight world to meet for the first time, mutually unknown, on a +night like this. Invisible, only audible, how might they plunge +profound into most naked intimacy,--read aloud to each other the +secrets of their deepest hearts! Would the confession lighten their +souls, or make them twice as heavy as before? Then, the next morning, +they might meet and pass, unrecognizing and unrecognized. But would +the knot binding them to each other be any the less real, because +neither knew to whom he was tied? Some day, in the midst of friends, +in the brightest glare of the sunshine, the tone of a voice would +strike them pale and cold. + +Somewhat after this fashion, perhaps, did Helwyse commune with +himself. He liked to follow the whim of the moment, whither it would +lead him. He was romantic; it was one of his agreeablest traits, +because spontaneous; and he indulged it the more, as being confident +that he had too much solid ballast in the hold to be in danger of +upsetting. To-night, at this point of his mental ramble, he found that +his cigar had gone out. Had he been thinking aloud? He believed not, +and yet there was no telling; he often did so, unconsciously. Were it +so, and were any one listening, that person had him decidedly at +advantage! + +What put it into his head that some one might be listening? It may +have come by pure accident,--if there be such a thing. The idea +returned, stealing over his mind like a chilling breath. What if some +one had all along been close beside him, with eyes fixed upon him! +Helwyse found himself sitting perfectly still, holding his breath to +listen. There was no disguising it,--he felt uneasy. He wished his +cigar had not gone out. On second thoughts, he wished there had not +been any cigar at all, because, if any one were near, the cigar must +have pointed out the smoker's precise position. The uneasiness did not +lessen, but grew more defined. + +It was like the sensation felt when pointed at by a human finger, or +stared at persistently. Was there indeed any one near? No sound or +movement gave answer, but the odd sensation continued. Helwyse fancied +he could now tell whence it came;--from the left, and not far away. He +peered earnestly thitherward, but his eyes only swallowed blackness. + +Was not this carrying a whim to a foolish length? If he thought he +had a companion, why not speak, and end the doubt? But the dense +silence, darkness, uncertainty, made common-sense seem out of place. +The whole black fog, the sea, the earth itself, seemed to be pressing +down his will! The longer he delayed, the weaker he grew. + +A slight shifting of his position caused him all at once to encounter +the eyes of the unseen presence with his own! The stout-nerved young +fellow was startled to the very heart. Was the unseen presence +startled also? At all events, the shock found Balder Helwyse his +tongue, seldom before tied up without his consent. + +"I hope I'm not disturbing your solitude. You are not a noisy +neighbor, sir." + +So flat fell the words on the blank darkness, it seemed as if there +could never be a reply. Nevertheless, a reply came. + +"You must come much nearer me than you are, to disturb my solitude. It +does not consist in being without a companion." + +The quality of this voice of darkness was peculiar. It sounded old, +yet of an age that had not outlived the devil of youth. Probably the +invisibility of the speaker enhanced its effect. With most of the +elements of pleasing, it was nevertheless repulsive. It was soft, +fluent, polished, but savage license was not far off, hard held by a +slender leash; an underlying suggestion of harsh discordance. The +utterance, though somewhat rapid, was carefully distinct. + +Helwyse had the gift of familiarity,--of that rare kind of familiarity +which does not degenerate into contempt. But there was an incongruity +about this person, hard to assimilate. In a couple of not very +original sentences, he had wrought upon his listener an effect of +depraved intellectual power, strangely combined with artless +simplicity,--an unspeakably distasteful conjunction! Imagination, +freed from the check of the senses, easily becomes grotesque; and +Helwyse, unable to see his companion, had no difficulty in picturing +him as a grisly monster, having a satanic head set upon the ingenuous +shoulders of a child. And what was Helwyse himself? No longer, surely, +the gravely humorous moralizer? The laws of harmony forbid! He is a +monster likewise; say--since grotesqueness is in vogue--the heart of +Lucifer burning beneath the cool brain of a Grecian sage. The +symbolism is not inapt, since Helwyse, while afflicted with pride and +ambition as abstract as boundless, had, at the same time, a logical, +fearless brain, and keen delight in beauty. + +"I was just thinking," remarked the latter monster, "that this was a +good place for confidential conversation." + +"You believe, then, that talking relieves the mind?" rejoined the +former, softly. + +"I believe a thief or a murderer would be glad of an hour--such as now +passes--to impart the story of what is dragging him to Hell. And even +the best houses are better for an airing!" + +"A pregnant idea! There are certainly some topics one would like to +discuss, free from the restraint that responsibility imposes. Have you +ever reflected on the subject of omnipotence?" + +Somewhat confounded at this bold question, Helwyse hesitated a moment. + +"I can't see you, remember, any more than you can see me," insinuated +the voice, demurely. + +"I believe I have sometimes asked myself whether it were +obtainable,--how it might best be approximated," admitted Helwyse, +cautiously; for he began to feel that even darkness might be too +transparent for the utterance of some thoughts. + +"But you never got a satisfactory answer, and are not therefore +omnipotent? Well, the reason probably is, that you started wrongly. +Did it ever occur to you to try the method of sin?" + +"To obtain omnipotence? No!" + +"It wouldn't be right,--eh?" chuckled the voice. "But then one must +lay aside prejudice if one wants to be all-powerful! Now, sin denotes +separation; the very etymology of the word should have attracted the +attention of an ambitious man, such as you seem to be. It is a path +separate from all other paths, and therefore worth exploring." + +"It leads to weakness, not to power!" + +"If followed in the wrong spirit, very true. But the wise man sins and +is strong! See how frank I am!--But don't let me monopolize the +conversation." + +"I should like to hear your argument, if you have one. You are a +prophet of new things." + +"Sin is an old force, though it may be applied in new ways. Well, you +will admit that the true sinner is the only true reformer and +philosopher among men? No? I will explain, then. The world is full of +discordances, for which man is not to blame. His endeavor to meet and +harmonize this discordance is called sin. His indignation at disorder, +rebellion against it, attempts to right it, are crimes! That is the +vulgar argument which wise men smile at." + +"I may be very dull; but I think your explanations need explaining." + +"We'll take some examples. What is the liar, but one who sees the +false relations of things, and seeks to put them in the true? The +mission of the thief, again, is to equalize the notoriously unjust +distribution of wealth. A fundamental defect in the principles of +human association gave birth to the murderer; and as for the +adulterer, he is an immortal protest against the absurd laws which +interfere between the sexes. Are not these men, and others of similar +stamp, the bulwarks of true society,--our leaders towards justice and +freedom?" + +Whether this were satire, madness, or earnest, Helwyse could not +determine. The night-fog had got into his brain. He made shift, +however, to say that the criminal class were not, as a mere matter of +fact, the most powerful. + +"Again you misapprehend me," rejoined the voice, with perfect suavity. +"No doubt there are many weak and foolish persons who commit +crimes,--nay, I will admit that the vast majority of criminals are +weak and foolish; but that does not affect the dignity of the true +sinner,--he who sins from exalted motives. Ignorance is the only real +crime, polluting deeds that, wisely done, are sublime. Sin is +culture!" + +"Were I, then, from motives of self-culture, to kill you, I should be +taking a long step towards rising in your estimation?" put in Helwyse. + +"Admirable!" softly exclaimed the voice, in a tone as of an approving +pat on the back. "Certainly, I should be the last to deny it! But +would it not be more for the general good, were I, who have long been +a student of these things, to kill a seeming novice like you? It +would assure me of having had one sincere disciple." + +"I wonder whether he's really mad?" mused Balder Helwyse, shuddering a +little in the dampness. + +"But, badinage aside," resumed this loquacious voice, "although there +is so much talk and dispute about evil, very few people know what evil +essentially is. Now, there are some things, the mere doing of which by +the most involuntary agent would at once stamp his soul with the +conviction of ineffable sin. He would have touched the essence of +evil. And if a wise man has done that, he has had in his hand the key +to omnipotence!" + +"It is easily had, then. A man need but take his Leviticus and +Deuteronomy, and run through the catalogue of crimes. He would be sure +of finding the key hidden beneath some of them." + +"No; you do Moses scant justice. He--shrewd soul!--was too cunning to +fall into such an error as that. He forbade a few insignificant and +harmless acts, which every one is liable to commit. His policy was no +less simple than sagacious. By amusing mankind with such trumpery, he +lured them off the scent of true sin. Believe me, the artifice was no +idle one. Should mankind learn the secret, a generation would not pass +before the world would be turned upside down, and its present Ruler +buried in the ruins!" + +At this point, surely, Helwyse got up and went to his state-room +without listening to another word?--Not so. The Lucifer in him was +getting the better of the sage. He wanted to hear all that the voice +of darkness had to say. There might be something new, something +instructive in it. He might hear a word that would unbar the door he +had striven so long to open. He aimed at knowledge and power beyond +recognized human reach. He had taken thought with himself keenly and +deeply, but was still uncertain and unsatisfied. Here opened a new +avenue, so untried as to transcend common criticism. The temptation to +omnipotence is a grand thing, and may have shaken greater men than +Helwyse; and he had trained himself to regard it--not exactly as a +temptation. As for good or bad methods,--at a certain intellectual +height such distinctions vanish. Vulgar immorality he would turn from +as from anything vulgar; but refined, philosophic immorality, as a +weapon of power,--there was fascination in it. + +--Folly and delusion!-- + +But Helwyse was only Helwyse, careering through pitchy darkness, on a +viewless sea, with a plausible voice at his ear insinuating villanous +thoughts with an air of devilish good-fellowship! + +The "Empire State" was at this moment four and a half miles northeast +of the schooner whose bowsprit she was destined to carry away. The +steamer was making about ten knots an hour: the schooner was slowly +drifting with the tide into the line of the steamer's course. The +catastrophe was therefore about twenty-seven minutes distant. + + + + +IX. + +THE VOICE OF DARKNESS. + + +The fog-whistle screeched dismally. Helwyse took his feet off the +camp-stool in front of him, and sat upright. + +"Do you know this secret of sin?" he asked. + +"It must, of course, be an object of speculation to a thoughtful man," +answered the voice, modestly parrying the question. "But I assure you +that only a man of intellect--of genius--has in him the intelligence, +the sublime reach of soul, which could attain the full solution of the +problem; they who merely blunder into it would fail to grasp the grand +significance of the idea." + +"But you affirm that whoever fairly masters the problem of absolute +sin would have God and His kingdom at his mercy?" + +"I am loath to appear boastful; but I apprehend the fact to be not +unlike what you suggest," the voice replied, with a subdued gusto. "It +would depend upon our hypothetical person's discretion, and his views +as to the claims of the august Being who has so long controlled the +destinies of the human race, how much the existing order of things +might have to fear from him. I should imagine that the august Being, +if He be as wise as they say He is, would be careful how He treated +this hypothetical person!" + +"You are a liar," said Helwyse, unceremoniously. "Why is not Satan, +who must possess this all-powerful knowledge, supreme over the +universe?" + +Instead of taking offence (as Helwyse, to do him justice, hoped it +would; for his Berserker blood, which boiled only at heaven-and-hell +temperature, was beginning to stir in him),--so far from being +offended, the voice only uttered its peculiar quiet chuckle. + +"Your frankness charms me! it proves you worthy to learn. +Satan--supposing there be such a personage--divides, with the other +august Being, the sovereignty of the spiritual world. Were I a cynic, +I should say he owned at least half of the physical world into the +bargain! But Satan is only a spirit, and his power over men is but as +the power of a dream. Were a Satan to arise in the flesh, so that men +could see and touch him, and hear his voice with their fleshy +ears,--there were a Satan! Already has the Incarnation of goodness +appeared to mankind, and, though the world be moved to virtue only +slowly and with reluctance, mark how mighty has been his influence! +What think you, then, would be the power of a Christ of evil, showing +to men the path they already grope for? I tell you, the human race +would be his only; Hell, full to bursting with their hurrying souls, +would outweigh Heaven in the balance; the teller of the secret would +be king above all,--forever!" + +The sinuous voice twined round the listener's mind, swaddling the +vigorous limbs into imbecile inertia. But when before now did a sane +human brain let itself be duped by sophistry? This case were worth +marking, if only because it is unparalleled. + +"And the only punishable sin is ignorance!" muttered Helwyse. + +"Well, I have thought so, too. And I have questioned whether a man +might have power over himself, to put his hand to evil or to good +alike, and to remain impartial and impassive; and so make evil and +good alike minister to his culture and raise him upwards!" + +"The question does credit to your wit," chimed in the voice of +darkness. "Whoever has in him the making of a deity must learn the +nature of opposites. The soldier will not join battle without studying +the tactics of the enemy. Without experimental knowledge of both evil +and good, none but a fool would believe that man can become +all-powerful." + +"From the care with which you avoid speaking the name of God, if from +no other cause, I should suppose you to be the Devil himself!" +observed Helwyse, bluntly. + +"Well, profanity is vulgar! As to my being the Devil, it is too dark +here for either denial or acknowledgment to be of practical use. But +(to be serious)--about this secret--" + +The voice paused interrogatively. Lucifer, speaking through Helwyse's +lips, demanded sullenly,-- + +"Well, what is the secret?" + +What, indeed! Why, there is no such secret;--it is a bugbear! But the +moral perversion of the person who could soberly ask the question that +Helwyse asked is not so easily disposed of. It met, indeed, with full +recognition. As for the subtile voice, having accomplished its main +purpose, it began now to evade the point and to run into digressions; +until the collision came, and ended the conversation forever. + +"Unfortunately," said the voice, "the secret is not such as may be +told in a word. Like all profound knowledge, it can only be +communicated by leading the learner, step by step, over the ground +traversed by the original discoverer. Let me, as a sort of +preliminary, suppose a case." + +Hereupon ensued a considerable silence, and Helwyse seemed once more a +detached atom, flying through infinite darkness without guide or +control. Where was he?--what was he? Did the world exist,--the broad +earth, the sunny sky, the beauty, the sound, the order and sweet +succession of nature? Was he a shadow that had dreamed for a moment a +strange dream, and would anon be quenched, and know what had seemed +Self no more? Strangely, through the doubt and uncertainty, Helwyse +felt the pressure of his shoulders against the cabin wall, and the +touch of the dead cigar between his fingers. + +The voice, resuming, restored him to a reality that seemed less +trustworthy than the doubt. The tone was not quite the same as +heretofore. The smooth mocking had given place to a hurried +excitement, alien to the philosophic temperament. + +"A man kidnaps the child of his enemy, through the child to revenge +himself. Kill it?--no! he is no short-sighted bungler; he has +refinement, foresight, understanding. She is but an infant,--open and +impressible, warm and sanguine! He isolates her from sight and reach. +He pries into her nature with keenest delicacy,--no leaf is unread. +Being learnt, he works upon it; touches each budding trait with +gentlest impulse. No violence! he seems to leave her to her own +development; yet nothing goes against his will. More than half is left +to nature, but his scarce perceptible touches bias nature. Ah! the +idealization of education!" + +"This sounds more real than hypothetical!" thought Helwyse. + +"So cunning was he, he reversed in her mind the universal law. Evil +was good; good, evil. She grew fast and strong, for evil is the +sweeter food; it is rich earth to the plant. She never knew that evil +existed, yet evil was all she knew! For whatever is forced reacts; he +never taught her positive sin, lest she perversely turn to good." + +"Did he mean insensibly to initiate her into the knowledge of absolute +sin?" + +"Such would be his purpose,--such would be his purpose. To make her a +devil, without the chance of knowing it possible to be anything else!" + +"He was a fool," growled Helwyse. "The plan is folly,--impracticable +in twenty ways. A soul cannot be so influenced. Devils are not made by +education. The only devil would be the educator!" + +But the voice had forgotten his presence. It ceased not to mutter to +itself while he was speaking, and now it broke forth again. + +"Years have passed,--she is a woman now. She knows not that the world +exists. All is yet latent within her. But the time is at hand when the +hidden forces shall flower! Plunged into life, with nothing to hold +by, no truth, no divine help; her marvellous powers and passions in +full strength,--all trained to drag her down,--not one aspiring, +maddened by new thoughts, limitless opportunities opening before +her,--she will plunge into such an abyss of sin as has been undreamt +of since the Deluge!" + +"Well,--what of it? what is the upshot?" questioned Helwyse with +sullen impatience. The emotion now apparent in the voice, uncanny +though it was, counteracted the spell wrought by its purely +intellectual depravity. Helwyse was perhaps beginning to understand +that he had ventured his stock of virgin gold for a handful of unclean +waste-paper! + +"He will come back,--her father,--my enemy! I have waited for him from +youth to age. I have seen him in my dreams, and in visions. I am with +him continually,--we talk together. At first, cringingly and softly, I +lead him to recall the past, to speak of the dead wife,--the lost +child,--her baby ways and words. I lure him on till imagination has +fired his love and given life and vividness to his memory. Then I +whisper,--She lives! she is near! in a moment he shall behold her! And +while his heart beats and he trembles, I bring her forth in her +beauty. Take her! your daughter! the one devil on earth; but devils +shall spring like grass in the track of her footsteps!" + +The voice had worked itself into a frenzy, and, forgetting caution, +had crazily exposed itself. Its owner was probably some poor lunatic, +subject to fits of madness. But Helwyse was full of scorn and anger, +born of that bitterest disappointment which admits not even the poor +consolation of having worthily aspired. He had been duped,--and by the +cobwebs of a madman's brain! He broke into a short laugh, harsh to the +ear, and answering to no mirthful impulse. + +"So! you are the hero of your story? You have brooded all your life +over a crazy scheme of stabbing a father through his child, until you +have become as blind as you are vicious! As for the girl, you may have +made her ignorant and stupid, or even idiotic; but that she should +become queen of Hell or anything of that kind--" + +He stopped, for his unseen companion was evidently beyond hearing him. +The man seemed to be actually struggling in a fit,--gasping and +choking. It was a piteous business,--not less piteous than revolting. +But Helwyse felt no pity,--only ugly, hateful, unrelenting anger, +needing not much stirring to blaze forth in fearful passion. Where now +were his wise saws,--his philosophic indifference? Self-respect is the +pith of such supports; which being gone, the supports fail. + +"My music,--my music!" gasped the voice; "my music, or I shall die!" + +"Die? Yes, it were well you should die. You cumber the earth! Shall I +do it?" Helwyse muttered to his heart,--"merely as a means of +culture!" + +Perhaps it was said only in a mood of sardonic jesting. The next +moment, no doubt, Balder Helwyse would have retired to his cabin, +leaving the voice of darkness forever. But at that moment the hurried +flash of a lantern on the captain's bridge fell full on the young +man's face and shoulders, gleaming in his eyes, and lighting up the +masses of yellow hair and mighty beard. He was standing with one hand +resting on the taffrail. The dim halo of the fog, folding him about, +made him look like a spirit. + + + + +X. + +HELWYSE RESISTS THE DEVIL. + + +As the light so fell, hoarse voices shouted, and then a concussion +shivered through the steamer, and her headway was slackened. But of +this Helwyse knew nothing; for the voice had burst forth in a cry of +fear, amazement, and hate; and in another breath he found himself +clutched tightly in long, wiry arms, and felt panting breath hot +against his face. + +He struggled at first to free himself,--but he was held in the grip of +a madman! Then did the turbid current of his blood begin to leap and +tingle, and strange half-thoughts darted through his mind like +deformed spectres, capering as they flew! The bulwark of his will was +overthrown; he could not poise himself long enough to recover his +self-sway. He was sliding headlong down a steep, the velocity momently +increasing. + +Was it Balder Helwyse that was struggling thus furiously, his body +full of fire, his brain of madness, his heart quick-beating with +savage, wicked, thirsty joy? His soul--his own no longer--was +bestridden by a frantic demon, who, brimming over with hot glee, +drove him whirling blindly on, with an ever-growing purpose that +surcharged each smallest artery, and furnished a condensed dart of +malice wherewith to stab and stab again the opposing soul. He waxed +every instant madder, wickeder, more devilishly exultant; and now, +although panting, breathless, pricking at every pore from the agony of +the strain, he could scarce forbear screaming with delight! for he +felt he was gaining, and--O ecstasy!--knew that his adversary felt it +also, and that his heart was as full of black despair and terror as +was his conqueror's of intolerable triumph! Gaining still! + +Strange, that all through this wild frenzy in which body and soul were +rapt, the essential part of Balder Helwyse seemed to be looking on, +with a curious, repellent twist of feature, commenting on what was +going forward, and noting, with quiet interest and precision, each +varying phase of the struggle,--noting, as of significance, that the +sway of the demon of murder made the idea of other crimes seem beyond +words congenial, enticing, delicious! + +Steadily through this storm of lawless fury has the predestined +victory been drawing near! The throbbing of his enemy's +heart,--Helwyse feels it; did ever lover so rejoice in the +palpitations of his mistress? O the wine of life! drunk from the cup +of murder! Hear how the wretch's voice breaks choking from his +throat!--he would beg for mercy, but cannot, shall not! Keep your +fingers in his throat; the other hand creeps warily downwards. Now +hurl him up,--over!-- + + * * * * * + +But with what an ugly gulp the black water swallowed his body! + + + + +XI. + +A DEAD WEIGHT. + + +Was it not well done? Tempted to covet imaginary wickedness, Helwyse +was ripe for real crime,--and who so worthy to suffer as the tempter? + +He leaned panting against taffrail. His predominant feeling was that +he had been ensnared. His judgment had been drugged, and he had been +lured on to evil. An infamous conspiracy! + +His breath regained, he stood upright and in a mechanical manner +arranged his disordered dress. His haversack was gone,--had been torn +from his shoulders and carried overboard. An awkward loss! for it +contained, among other things, valuable letters and papers given him +by his father; not to mention a note-book of his own, and Uncle +Glyphic's miniature. His dead enemy had carried off the proofs of his +murderer's identity! + +Not till now did Helwyse become aware of an unusual tumult on the +steamer. Had they seen the deed?--He stood with set teeth, one hand on +the taffrail. Rather than be taken alive, he would leap over! + +But it soon became evident that the nucleus of excitement was +elsewhere. The "Empire State" was at a stand-still. Captain and mates +were shouting to one another and at the sailors. By the flying light +of the lanterns Helwyse caught glimpses of the sails and tall masts of +a schooner. He began to comprehend what had happened. + +"Thank God! that saves me," he said with a sense of relaxation. Then +he turned and peered fearfully into the black abyss beyond the stern. +Nothing there! nothing save the heavy breathing of remorseless waves. + +The statistics of things God has been thanked for,--what piquant +instances would such a collection afford! Any unusual stir of emotion +seems to impel a reference to something higher than the world. Only a +bloodless calm appears to be secure from God's interference. It is +worthy of remark that this was the first time in Helwyse's career--at +least since his arrival at years of discretion--that he had thanked +God for anything. This was not owing to his being of a specially +ungrateful disposition, but to peculiar ideas upon the subject of a +Supreme Being. God, he believed, was no more than the highest phase of +man; and in any man of sufficient natural endowment, he saw a possible +God; just as every American citizen is a possible President! What is +of moment at present, however, is the fact that the young man's first +inconsistency of word with creed dates at the time his self-control +forsook him on board the midnight steamer. + +In that thanksgiving prayer his passion passed away. After unnaturally +distending every sense and faculty, it suddenly ebbed, leaving the +consciousness of an irritating vacuum. Something must be done to fill +it. One drawback to crime seems to be its insufficiency to itself. It +creates a craving which needs must be fed. The demon returns, +demanding a fresh task; and he returns again forever! + +Helwyse, therefore, plunged into the midst of the uproar consequent on +the collision, and tried to absorb the common excitement,--to identify +himself with other men; no longer to be apart from them and above +them. But he did not succeed. It seemed as though he would never feel +excitement or warmth in the blood again! His deed was a dead weight +that steadied him spite of his best efforts. His aim has hitherto +been, not to forget himself;--let him forget himself now if he can! + +The uproar was over all too soon, and the steamer once more under way. + +"No serious harm done, sir!--no harm done!" observed a spruce steward. + +"No; no harm." + +"By the way, sir,--thought I heard some one sing out aft just afore we +struck. You heard it, sir? Thought some fellow'd gone overboard, may +be!" + +"I saw no one," answered Helwyse; nor had he. But he turned away, +fearing that the brisk steward might read prevarication in his face. +No, he had seen no one; but he had heard a plunge! He revolted from +the memory of it, but it would not be banished. Had there been a soul +in the body before it made that dive? even for a few minutes +afterwards? He would have given much to know! In theorizing about +crime, he had always maintained the motive to be all in all. But now, +though unable to controvert the logic of his assertion, he felt it +told less than the whole truth. He recognised a divine conservative +virtue in straws, and grasped at the smallest! Through the long +torture of self-questioning and indecision, let us not follow him. +Uncertainty is a ghastly element in such a matter. + +He groped his way back to the taffrail. Why, he knew not; but there he +was at last. He might safely soliloquize now; there was no listener. +He might light a cigar and smoke; no one would see him. Yet, no; for, +on second thoughts, his cigars had gone with the haversack! + +He bent over the slender iron railing. Where was--it now? Miles away +by this time, swinging, swaying down--down--down to the bottom of the +Sound! Slowly turning over as it sinks, its arms now thrown out, now +doubled underneath; the legs sprawling helplessly; the head wagging +loosely on the dead neck. Down--down, pitching slowly head forwards; +righting, and going down standing, the hair floating straight on end. +Down! O, would it never be done sinking--sinking--sinking? Was the sea +deep as Hell? + +But when it reached the bottom, would it rest there? No, not even +there. It would drift uneasily about for a while on the dark sand, the +green gloom of the water above it. Every hour it would grow less and +less heavy; by and by it would begin slowly to rise--rise! Horrible it +looked now; not like itself, that had been horrible enough before. +Rising,--rising. O fearful thing! why come to tell dead men's tales +here? You are done with the world. What wants mankind with you? +Begone! sink, and rise no more! It will not sink; still it rises, and +the green gloom lightens as it slowly buoys upwards. The light rests +shrinkingly on it, revealing the dreadful features. The limbs are no +longer pliant, but stiff,--terribly stiff and unyielding. Still it +rises, nearer and nearer to the surface. See where the throat was +gripped! Up it comes at last in the morning sun, among the sparkling, +laughing, pure blue waves,--the swollen, dead thing!--dead in the +midst of the world's life, hideous amidst the world's beauty. It bobs +and floats, and will sink no more; would rise to heaven if it could! +No need for that. The tide takes it and creeps stealthily with it +towards the shore, and casts it, with shudder and recoil, upon the +beach. There it lies. + +Such visions haunted Helwyse as he leaned over the taffrail. He had +not suspected, at starting, upon how long a voyage he was bound. How +many hours might it be since he and the cook had so merrily dined +together? Was such a contrast possible? Surely no more monstrous +delusion than this of Time ever imposed upon mankind! For months and +years he jogs on with us, a dull and sober-paced pedestrian. Then +comes a sudden eternity! But Time thrusts a clock in our faces, and +shows us that the hands have marked a minute only. Shall we put faith +in him? + +Helwyse suffered from a vivid imagination. He went not to his room +that night. He kept the deck, and tried to talk with the men, +following them about and asking aimless questions, until they began to +give him short answers. Where were his pride and his serene +superiority to the friendship or enmity of his race? where his +philosophic self-criticism and fanciful badinage? his resolute, +conquering eyes? his bearing of graceful, careless authority? Had all +these attributes been packed in his haversack, and cast with that upon +the waters? and would they, no more than he to whose care they had +been intrusted, ever return? + +With each new hour, morning seemed farther off. In his objectless +wanderings, Helwyse came to the well of the engine-room and hung over +it, gazing at the bright, swift-sliding machinery, studying the parts, +tracing the subtle transmission of force from piece to piece. Here at +last was companionship for him! The engine was a beautiful +combination,--so polished, effective, and logical; like the minds of +some philosophers, moving with superhuman regularity and power, but +lifeless! + +Helwyse watched it long, till finally its monotony wearied him. It was +doing admirable work, but it never swerved from its course at the call +of sentiment or emotion. Its travesty of life was repulsive. Machinery +is the most admirable invention of man, but is modelled after no +heavenly prototype, and will have no part in the millennium. It seems +to annul space and time, yet gives us no taste of eternity. Man lives +quicker by it, but not more. With another kind of weapon must the true +victory over matter be achieved! + + + + +XII. + +MORE VAGARIES. + + +Most benign and beautiful was the morning. The "Empire State" emerged +from the fog and left it, a rosy cloud, astern. The chasing waves +sparkled and danced for joy. The sun was up, fresh and unstained as +yesterday. Night, that had changed so much, had left the sun undimmed. +With the same power and brightness as for innumerable past centuries, +his glorious glance colored the gray sky blue. Helwyse--he was at the +stern taffrail again--looked at the marvellous sphere with unwinking +eyes, until it blurred and swam before him, and danced in colored +rings. It warmed his face, but penetrated no deeper. Looking away, +black suns moved everywhere before his eyes, and the earth looked dim +and shabby, as though blighted by a curse. + +Helwyse had not slept, partly from disinclination to the solitude of +his berth, partly because the thought of awakening dismayed him. +Nevertheless, he could scarcely believe in what had happened, now. He +stood upon the very spot; here was the semicircle of railing, the +camp-stools, the white cabin-wall against which he had leaned. But the +blackness of night had so utterly past away that it seemed as though +the deed done in it must in some manner have vanished likewise. What +is fact at one time looks unreal at another. It must be associated +with all times and moods before it can be fully comprehended and +accepted. + +Glancing down at the deck, Helwyse saw there the cigar he had been +smoking the night before, flattened out by the tread of a foot, and +lying close beside it a sparkling ring. He picked it up; it was a +diamond of purest water, curiously caught between the mouths of two +little serpents, whose golden and black bodies, twisted round each +other, formed the hoop. Realizing, after a moment, from whose finger +it must have fallen, he had an impulse to fling it far into the sea; +but his second thought was not to part from it. The idea of its former +owner must indeed always be hateful to his murderer; but the bond +between their souls was closer and more indissoluble than that between +man and wife; and of so unnatural a union this ring was a fair emblem. +Unnatural though the union were, to Helwyse it seemed at the time +better than total solitude. + +He felt heavy and inelastic,--averse to himself, but still more to +society. He wished to see men and women, yet not to be seen of them. +He had used to be ready in speech, and willing to listen; now, no +subject interested him save one,--on which his lips must be forever +closed. When the sun had made himself thoroughly at home on earth and +in heaven, Helwyse went to his state-room, feeling unclean from the +soul outwards. While making his toilet, he took care to leave the +window-blind up, that he might at any time see the blue sky and water, +and the bright shore, with its foliage and occasional houses. He +shrank from severing, even for an instant, his communication with the +beneficent spirit of nature. And yet Nature could not comfort him,--in +his extremest need he found her most barren. He had been wont to +rejoice in her as the creature of his own senses; but when he asked +her to sympathize with his pain, she laughed at him,--the magnificent +coquette!--and bade him, since she was only the reflection of himself, +be content with his own sympathy. Truly, if man and Nature be thus +allied, and God be but man developed, then is self-sufficiency the +only virtue worth cultivating, and idolatry must begin at home! + +His efforts to improve his appearance were not satisfactory; the loss +of his toilet articles embarrassed him not a little; and he, moreover, +lacked zest to enter into the business with his customary care. And +what he did was done not merely for his own satisfaction, as +heretofore, but with an eye to the criticisms of other people. His +naively unconscious independence had got a blow. After doing his best +he went out, pale and heavy-eyed, the diamond ring on his finger. + +The passengers had begun to assemble in the cabin. It seemed to +Helwyse, as he entered, that one and all turned and stared at him with +suspicious curiosity. He half expected to see an accuser rise up and +point a dreadful finger at him. But in truth the sensation he created +was no more than common; it was his morbid sensitiveness, which for +the first time took note of it. He had been accustomed to look at +himself as at a third person, in whose faults or successes he was +alike interested; but although his present mental attitude might have +moved him to smile, he, in fact, felt no such impulse. The hue of his +deed had permeated all possible forms of himself, thus barring him +from any standpoint whence to see its humorous aspect. The sun would +not shine on it! + +As time passed on, however, and no one offered to denounce him, +Helwyse began to be more at ease. Seeing the steward with whom he had +spoken the night before, he asked him whereabouts he supposed the +schooner was. + +"O, she'll be in by night, sir, safe enough. Wind's freshened up a +good bit since; wouldn't take her long to rig a new bowsprit. Beg +pardon, sir, did you happen to know the party next door to you?" + +"I know no one. What about him?" + +"Can't find him nowhere, sir. Door locked this morning; hadn't used +his bed; must have come aboard, for there was a violin lying on the +bed in a black box, for all the world like a coffin, sir. Queer, ain't +it?" + +The steward was called away, but Helwyse's uneasiness had returned. +Did this fellow suspect nothing? The student of men could not read his +face; the power of insight seemed to have left him. Reason could tell +him that it was impossible he should be suspected, but reason no +longer satisfied him. + +He left the cabin and once more sought the deck, harried and anxious. +Why could not he be stolid and indifferent, as were many worse +criminals than he? Or was his disquiet a gauge of his moral +accountability? By as much as he was more finely gifted than other +men, was the stain of sin upon his soul more ineffaceable? Last night, +ignorance was the only evil; but had he been satisfied with less +wisdom, might he not have sinned with more impunity? Nevertheless, +Balder Helwyse would hardly have been willing to purchase greater ease +at the price of being less a man. + +The steamer descended the narrow and swift current of East River, +rounded Castle Garden, and reached her pier before eight o'clock. +Shoulder to shoulder with the other passengers, Helwyse descended the +gangplank. The official who took his ticket eyed him so closely that +there was the beginning of an impulse in his weary brain to knock the +fellow down. Finding himself not interfered with, however, he passed +on to the rattling street, beginning to understand that the attention +he excited was not owing to a visible brand of Cain, but to his beard +and hair which were at variance with the fashion of that day. He was +neither more nor less a cynosure than at other times. But he was more +sensitive to notice, and it now occurred to him that his unique +appearance was unsafe as well as irksome. Were a certain body found, +in connection with evidence more or less circumstantial, how readily +might he be pointed out! He fancied himself reading the description in +a newspaper, and realized how many and how easily noted were his +peculiarities. His carelessness of public remark had been folly. The +sooner his peculiarities were amended, the better! + +At the corner of the street stood a couple of policemen,--ponderous, +powerful men, able between them to carry to jail the most refractory +criminal. One path was open to Helwyse, whereby to recover his +self-respect, and regain his true footing with the world; and that led +into the hands of those policemen! With a revulsion of feeling perhaps +less strange than it seems, he walked up to them, resolved to +surrender himself on a charge of murder. It was the simplest issue to +his embarrassments. + +"Policemen!" he began, with a return of his assured voice and +bearing. They stared at him, and one said, "How?" + +"Direct me to the best hotel near here!" said Helwyse. + +They stared, and told him the way to the Astor House. + +There had been but the briefest hesitation in Helwyse's mind, but +during that pause he had reconsidered his resolve and said No to it. +Remembering some episodes of his past history, he cannot hastily be +accused of vulgar fear of death. In his case, indeed, it may have +required more courage to close his mouth than to open it. Be that as +it might, the question as to the degree and nature of his guilt was +still unsettled in his mind. Moreover, had he been clear on this +point, he yet distrusted the competence of human laws to do him +justice. He shrank from surrender, less as affecting his person than +as superseding his judgment. But, failing himself and mankind, to what +other court can he appeal? Should the fitting tribunal appear, will he +have the nerve to face it? + +He did not go to the Astor House, notwithstanding the trouble he had +taken to ask his way thither. He coasted along the more obscure +thoroughfares, seeming to find something congenial in them. Here were +people, many of whom had also committed crimes, whose eyes he need +not shun to meet, who were his brethren. To be sure, they gave him no +friendly glances, taking him for some dainty aristocrat, whom idle +curiosity had led to their domains. But Helwyse knew the secret of his +kinship; and he perhaps indulged a wild momentary dream of proclaiming +himself to them, entering into their life, and vanishing from that +world that had known him heretofore. It is a shorter step than is +generally supposed, from human height to human degradation. + +A pale girl with handsome features, careless expression, and somewhat +disordered hair, leant out of a low window, her loose dress falling +partly open from her bosom as she did so. + +"Where are you going, my love?" inquired she, with a professionally +attractive smile. "Aren't you going to give me a lock of that sweet +yellow hair?--there's a duck!" + +It so happened that Helwyse had never before been openly accosted by a +member of this class of the community. Was this infringement of the +rule the result of his own fall, or of the girl's exceptional +effrontery? He had an indignant glance ready poised, but forbore to +hurl it! The worst crime of the young woman was that she disposed of +herself at a rate of remuneration exactly corresponding to the value +of the commodity; whereas he, less economical and orderly, had +mortgaged his own soul by disposing of some one else's body, and was, +if anything, out of pocket by the transaction! Undoubtedly the young +woman had the best of it; very likely, had she been aware of the +circumstances, she would not have deigned him so much as a smile. He +therefore neither yielded to her solicitations nor rebuked them, but +passed on. The adventure rectified his fraternizing impulse. Albeit +standing accountant for so great a sin, the mire was as yet alien to +him. + +But there was pertinence in the young woman's question; where was he +going, indeed? Since the catastrophe on board the steamer, he had +forgotten Doctor Glyphic. He felt small inclination to meet his +relative now; but certain considerations of personal interest no +longer wore the same color as yesterday. Robbed of his self-respect, +he could ill afford to surrender worldly wealth into the bargain. On +the other hand, to palm himself off on his uncle for a true man was +adding hypocrisy to his other crime. + +Such an objection, however, could hardly have turned the scale. Great +crimes are magnets of smaller ones. It was necessary for Helwyse to +alter the whole scheme of his life-voyage; and since he had failed in +beating up against the wind, why not make all sail before it? +Meanwhile, it was easier to call on Doctor Glyphic than to devise a +new course of action; and thus, had matters been allowed to take their +natural turn, mere inertia might have brought about their meeting. + +But the irony of events turns our sternest resolves to ridicule. On +the next street-corner was a hair-dresser's shop, its genial little +proprietor, plump and smug, rubbing his hands and smiling in the +doorway. Beholding the commanding figure of the yellow-bearded young +aristocrat, afar off, his professional mouth watered over him. What a +harvest for shears and razor was here! Dare he hope that to him would +be intrusted the glorious task of reaping it? + +As Helwyse gained the corner, his weary eyes took in the smiling +hair-dresser, the little room beyond cheerful with sunshine and +colored paper-hangings, and the padded chair for customers to recline +in. Here might he rest awhile, and rise up a new man,--a stranger to +himself and to all who had known him. It was fitting that the inward +change should take effect without; not to mention that the wearing of +so conspicuous a mane was as unsafe as it was unsuitable. + +He entered the shop, therefore,--the proprietor backing and bowing +before him,--and sat down with a sigh in the padded chair. Immediately +he was enveloped in a light linen robe, a towel was tucked in round +his neck by deft caressing fingers, the soothing murmur of a voice was +in his ear, and presently sounded the click-click of shears. The +descendant of the Vikings closed his eyes and felt comfortable. + +The peculiar color and luxuriance of Balder's hair and beard were +marked attributes of the Helwyse line. In these days of ponderous +genealogies, who would be surprised to learn that the family sprang +from that Balder, surnamed the Beautiful, who was the sun-god of +Scandinavian mythology? Certain of his distinctive characteristics, +both physical and mental, would appear to have been perpetuated with +marvellous distinctness throughout the descent; above all, the golden +locks, the blue eyes, and the sunny disposition. + +For the rest, so far as sober history can trace them back, they seem +to have been a noble and adventurous race of men, loving the sea, but +often taking a high part in the political affairs of the nation. The +sons were uniformly fair, but the daughters dark,--owing, it was said, +to the first mother of the line having been a dark-eyed woman. But the +advent of a dark-eyed heir had been foretold from the earliest times, +not without ominous (albeit obscure) hints as to the part he would +play in the family history. The precise wording of none of these old +prophecies has come down to us; but they seem in general to have +intimated that the dark-eyed Helwyse would bring the race to a ruinous +and disgraceful end, saving on the accomplishment of conditions too +improbable to deserve recording. The dead must return to life, the +living forsake their identity, love unite the blood of the victim to +that of the destroyer,--and other yet stranger things must happen +before the danger could be averted. + +The superstitious reverence paid to enigmatical utterances of this +kind has long ago passed away; and, if any meaning ever attaches to +them, it is apt to be sadly commonplace. Nevertheless, when Balder was +born, and the hereditary blue eyes were found wanting, the +circumstance was doubtless the occasion of much half-serious banter +among those to whom the ominous prophecies were familiar. Certainly +the young man had already made one grave mistake; and he could hardly +have followed it up by a more disgraceful retreat than this to the +hair-dresser's saloon. The ghosts of his heroic forefathers in +Valhalla would disown his shorn head with indignant scorn; for their +golden locks had ever been sacred to them as their honor. When the +Roman Empire was invaded by the Goths and Vandals, a Helwyse--so runs +the tale--was taken prisoner and brought before the Roman General. The +latter summoned a barber and a headsman, and informed the captive that +he might choose between forfeiting his head, and that which grew upon +it. As to the precise words in which the Northern warrior couched his +reply, historians vary; but they are agreed on the important point +that his head was chopped off without delay! + +Did the memory of these things bring no blush to Balder's cheeks? +There he sat, as indifferent, to all outward seeming, as though he +were asleep. But this may have been the apathy consequent on the +abandonment of lofty pretensions and sublime ambitions; betraying +proud sensitiveness rather than base lack of feeling. Balder Helwyse +was not the first man of parts to appear in an undignified and +unheroic light. The foremost man of all this world once whined like a +sick girl for his physic, and preposterously overestimated his +swimming powers; yet his greatness found him out! + +In sober earnest, however, what real importance attaches to Helwyse's +doings at this juncture? Physically and mentally weary, he may have +acted from the most ordinary motives. As to his entertaining any +superstitious crotchets about having his hair cut,--the spirit of the +age forbid it! + + + + +XIII. + +THROUGH A GLASS. + + +The hair-dresser had the quality--now rare among his class--of +unlimited and self-enjoying loquacity; soothing, because its little +waves lapsed in objectless prattle on the beach of the apprehension, +to be attended to or not at pleasure. The sentences were without +regular head or tail, and were connected by a friendly arrangement +between themselves, rather than by any logical sequence; while the +recurring pauses at interesting epochs of work wrought a recognition +of how caressing had been the easy voice, and accumulated a lazy +disposition to hear it continue. + +After decking Helwyse for the sacrifice, he had murmured +confidentially in his ear, "Hair, sir?--or beard, sir?--or +both?--little of both, sir? Just so. Hair first, please, sir. Love-ly +morning!" + +And thereupon began to clip and coo and whisk softly about, in the +highest state of barberic joy. As he worked, inspired by the curly, +flowing glossy locks which, to his eye, called inarticulately for the +tools of his trade, his undulating monologue welled forth until +Coleridge might have envied him. Helwyse heard the sound, but let the +words go by to that unknown limbo whither all sounds, good or bad, +have been flying since time began. + +By and by the hair was done; there ensued a plying of brushes, a +blowing down the neck, and a shaking out of the linen apron. + +"Will you cast your eyes on the mirror now, sir, please?" + +"No,--go on and finish, first," replied Helwyse; and forthwith a +cushion was insinuated beneath his head, and his feet were elevated +upon a rest. He heard the preparation of the warm lather, and anon the +knowing strapping of a razor. He put up his hand and stroked his beard +for the last time, wondering how he would look without it. + +"Never saw the like before, sir; must have annoyed you dreadful!" +remarked the commiserating barber, as he passed the preparatory +scissors round his customer's jaw, mowing the great golden sheaf at +one sweep. He spoke of it as though it were a cancer or other painful +excrescence, the removal of which would be to the sufferer a boon +unspeakable. + +Helwyse's face expressed neither anguish nor relief; he presently lost +himself in thoughts of his own, only returning to the perception of +outside things when the barber asked him whether he, also, had ever +attended camp-meeting; the subject being evidently one which had been +held forth upon for some time past. + +"No?" continued the little man who by long practice had acquired a +wonderful power of interpreting silence. "Well, it's a great thing, +sir; and a right curious thing is experiencing religion, too! A great +blessing I've found it, sir; there's a peace dwells with me, as the +minister says, right along all the time now. Does the razor please +you, sir? Ah! I was a wild and godless being once, although always +reckoned a smart hand with the razor;--Satan never took my cunning +hand, as the poet says, away from me. Yes, there was a time when I was +how-d' y'-do with all the bloods around the place, and a good business +I used to do out of them, too, sir; but religion is a peace there's no +understanding, as the Good Book says; and if I don't make all I used +to, I save twice as much,--and that's the good of it, sir. Beau-ti-ful +chin is yours, sir, I declare!" + +"Do you believe in the orthodox faith?" demanded Helwyse; "in +miracles, and the Trinity, and so forth?" + +"Everything we're told to believe in I believe, I hope, sir; and as +quick as I hear anything more, why, I'm ready to believe that also, +provided only it comes through orthodox channels, as the saying is. +Ah, sir, it's the unquestioning belief that brings the happiness. I +wouldn't have anything explained to me, not if I could! and my faith +is such, that what goes against it I never would believe, not if you +proved it to me black and white, sir! Love-ly skin you've got, +sir,--it's just like a woman's. The intellect is a snare, that's what +it is,--ah, yes! You think with me, sir, don't you?" + +But Helwyse had relapsed into silence. The little hair-dresser was +happy, was he?--happy, and hopeful, and conscious of spiritual +progress?--had no misgivings and feared no danger,--because he had +eliminated reason from his scheme of religion! Divine reason,--could +man live without it? A snare?--Well, had not Balder found it so? + +True, that was not reason's fault, but his who misused reason. True, +also, that he who believed on others' authority believed not ideas but +men, and was destitute of self-reliance or dignity. Yet the +hair-dresser seemed to find in that very dependence his best +happiness, and to have built up a factitious self-respect from the +very ruin of true dignity. His position was the antipodes of Balder's, +yet, if results were evidence, it was tenable and more successful. + +This plump, superficial, smiling little hair-dresser was a person of +no importance, yet it happened to him to modify not only Helwyse's +external aspect, but the aspect of his mind as well,--by the +presentation of a new idea; for strange to say, Helwyse had never +chanced to doubt that seraphim were higher than cherubim, or that +independence was the only ladder to heaven. To be taught by one +avowedly without intellect is humiliating; but the experience of many +will furnish examples of a singular disregard of this kind of +proprieties. + +When the shaving was done to the artist's satisfaction, he held the +mirror before his customer's face. Helwyse looked narrowly at his +reflection, as was natural in making the acquaintance of one who was +to be his near and intimate companion. He beheld a set of features +strongly yet gracefully built, but shorn of a certain warm, manly +attractiveness. The immediate visibility of mouth and chin--index of +so large a part of man's nature--startled him. He was dismayed at the +ease wherewith the working of emotion might now be traced. Man wholly +unveiled to himself is indeed an awful spectacle, be the +dissection-room that of the surgeon or of the psychologist. Hardly +might angels themselves endure it. A measure of ignorance of ourselves +is wise, because consciousness of a weakness may lead us to give it +rein. Perfect strength can coexist only with perfect knowledge, but +neither is attainable by man. Man should pay to be screened from +himself, lest his sword fail,--lest the Gorgon's head on his breast +change him to stone. + +The gracious, outflowering veil of Balder Helwyse's life had vanished, +leaving nakedness. Henceforth he must depend on fence, feint and +guard, not on the downright sword-stroke. With Adam, the fig-leaf +succeeded innocence as a garment; for Helwyse, artificial address must +do duty as a fig-leaf. The day of guiltless sincerity was past; gone +likewise the day of open acknowledgment of guilt. Now dawned the day +of counterfeiting,--not always the shortest of our mortal year. + +On the whole, Helwyse's new face pleased him not. He felt +self-estranged and self-distrustful. Standing on the borders of a +darker land, the thoughts and deeds of his past life swarmed in review +before his eyes. Many a seeming trifling event now showed as the +forewarning of harm to come. The day's journey once over, we see its +issue prophesied in each trumpery raven and cloud that we have met +since morning. However, the omens would have read as well another way; +for nature, like man, is twofold, and can be as glibly quoted to +Satan's advantage as to God's. + +"Very well done!" said Helwyse to the barber, passing a hand over the +close-cropped head and polished chin. "The only trouble is, it cannot +be done once for all." + +As the little man smilingly remarked, however, the charge was but ten +cents. His customer paid it and went out, and was seen by the +hair-dresser to walk listlessly up the street. The improvement in his +personal appearance had not mended his spirits. Indeed, it cannot be +disguised that his trouble was more serious than lay within a barber's +skill altogether to set right. + +Were man potentially omniscient, then might Balder's late deed be no +crime, but a simple exercise of prerogative. But is knowledge of evil +real knowledge? God is goodness and man is evil. God knows both good +and evil. Man knows evil--knows himself--only; knows God only in so +far as he ceases to be man and admits God. But this simple truth +becomes confused if we fancy a possible God in man. + +This was Balder's difficulty. Possessed of a strong, comprehensive +mind, he had made a providence of himself; confounded intelligence +with integrity; used the moral principle not as a law of action but as +a means of insight. The temptation so to do is strong in proportion as +the mind is greatly gifted. But experience shows no good results from +yielding to it. Blind moral instinct, if not safer, is more +comfortable! + +Not the deed alone, but the revelation it brought, preyed on the young +man's peace. If he were a criminal to-day, then was the whole argument +of his past life criminal likewise. Yesterday's deed was the logical +outcome of a course of thought extending over many yesterdays. Why, +then, had not his present gloom impended also, and warned him +beforehand? Because, while parleying with the Devil, he looks angelic; +but having given our soft-spoken interlocutor house-room, he makes up +for lost time by becoming direfully sincere! + +On first facing the world in his new guise, Helwyse felt an +embarrassment which he fancied everybody must remark. But, in fact (as +he was not long discovering), he was no longer remarkable; the barber +had wiped out his individuality. It was what he had wished, and yet +his insignificance annoyed him. The stare of the world had put him out +of countenance; yet when it stopped staring he was still unsatisfied. +What can be the solution of this paradox? + +It perhaps was the occasion of his seeking the upper part of the city, +where houses were more scarce and there were fewer people to be +unconcerned! In country solitudes he could still be the chief figure. +He entered Broadway at the point where Grace Church stands, and passed +on through the sparsely inhabited region now known as Union Square. +The streets hereabouts were but roughly marked out, and were left in +many places to the imagination. On the corner of Twenty-third Street +was a low whitewashed inn, whose spreading roof overshadowed the +girdling balcony. Farmers' wagons were housed beneath the adjoining +shed, and one was drawn up before the door, its driver conversing with +a personage in shirt-sleeves and straw hat, answering to the name of +Corporal Thompson. + +Helwyse perhaps stopped at the Corporal's hospitable little +establishment to rest himself and get some breakfast; but whether or +not, his walk did not end here, but continued up Broadway, and after +passing a large kitchen-garden (whose owner, a stout Dutchman, was +pacing its central path, smoking a long clay pipe which he took from +his lips only to growl guttural orders to the gardeners who were +stooping here and there over the beds), emerged into open country, +where only an occasional Irish shanty broke the solitude. + +How long the young man walked he never knew; but at length, from the +summit of a low hill, he looked northwest and saw the gleam of Hudson +River. Leaving the road he struck across rocky fields which finally +brought him to the river-bank. A stony promontory jutted into the +water, and on this (having clambered to its outer extremity) Helwyse +sat down, his feet overhanging the swirling current. The tide was just +past the flood. + +About two hundred yards up stream, to the northward, stood a small +wooden house, on the beach in front of which a shabby old mariner was +bailing out his boat. Southwards, some miles away, curved the +shadowed edge of the city, a spire mounting here and there, a +pencilled mist of smoke from chimneys, a fringe of thready masts +around the farthest point. In front slid ceaselessly away the vast +sweep of levelled water, and still it came undiminished on. The +opposing shore was a mile distant, its rocky front gradually gaining +abruptness and height until lost round the northern curve. But +directly opposite Helwyse's promontory, the stony wall was for some +way especially precipitous and high, its lofty brink serried with a +thick phalanx of trees. + +This spot finally monopolized the adventurer's attention; had he been +in Germany, he would have looked for gray castle-towers rising behind +the foliage. The place looked inaccessible and romantic, and was +undeniably picturesque. New York was far enough away to be mistaken +for--say--Alexandria; while the broad river certainly took its rise in +as prehistoric an age as the Nile itself. Perhaps in the early morning +of the world some chieftain built his stronghold there, and fought +notable battles and gave mighty feasts; and later married, and begat +stalwart sons, or a daughter beautiful as earth and sky! Where to-day +were her youth and beauty, her loving noble heart, her warm melodious +voice, her eyes full of dark light? Why were there no such women +now?--not warped, imperfect, only half alive in body and spirit; but +charged from the heart outwards with pure divine vitality,--natures +vivid as fire, yet by strength serene! + +"Why did not I live when she lived, to marry her?" muttered Helwyse in +a dream. "A woman whose infinite variety age could not alter nor +custom stale! A true wife would have kept me from error. What man can +comprehend the world, if he puts half the world away? Now it is too +late; she might have helped me rise to greatness, but not to bear +disgrace. Ah, Balder Helwyse, poor fool! you babble as if she stood +before you to take or leave. _You_ rise to greatness? You never had +the germs of greatness in you! You are so little that not the goddess +Freya herself could have made you tall! Through what delusion did you +fancy yourself better than any other worm?" + +There was an interval, not more than a rod or two in width, in the +tree-hedge which lined the opposite cliff. Through this one might get +a narrow glimpse of what lay beyond. A strip of grassy lawn extended +in front of what seemed to be the stone corner of a house. The +distance obscured detail, but it looked massively built, though not +after the modern style. As Helwise gazed, sharpening his eyes to +discern more clearly, he saw a figure moving across the lawn directly +towards him. Advancing to the brink of the cliff, it there paused and +seemed to return his glance. Helwyse could not tell whether it were +man or woman. Had the river only been narrower! + +The next moment he remembered his telescope, and, taking it from its +case, he was at a bound within one hundred yards of the western shore. +Man or woman? he steadied the glass on his knee and looked again. A +woman, surely,--but how strangely dressed! Such a costume had not +been in vogue since Damascus was a new name in men's mouths. Balder +gazed and gazed. Accurately to distinguish the features was +impossible,--tantalizingly so; for the gazer was convinced that she +was both young and beautiful. Her motions, her bearing, the graceful +peculiarity of her garb,--a hundred nameless evidences made it sure. +How delightful to watch her in her unconsciousness! yet Helwyse felt a +delicacy in thus stealing on her without her knowledge or consent. But +the misgiving was not strong enough to shut up his telescope; perhaps +it added a zest to the enjoyment. + +"The very princess you were just now dreaming of! the most beautiful +and complete woman! Would I were the prince to win thee!" + +This aspiration was whispered, as though its object were within +conversable distance. Balder could be imaginative enough when the +humor took him. + +Hardly had the whisper passed his lips when he saw the princess +majestically turn her lovely head, slowly and heedfully, until her +glance seemed directly to meet his own. His cheeks burned; it was as +if she had actually overheard him. Was she gracious or offended? He +saw her stretch towards him her arms, and then, with a gesture of +beautiful power, clasp her hands and draw them in to her bosom. + +Prince Balder's hand trembled, the telescope slipped; the quick effort +to regain it lent it an impetus that shot it far into the water. It +had done its work and was gone forever. The beautiful princess was +once more a vague speck across a mile of rapid river; now, even the +speck had moved beyond the trees and was out of sight! + +The episode had come so unexpected, and so quickly passed, that now it +seemed never to have been at all! But Helwyse had yielded himself +unreservedly to the influence of the moment. Following so aptly the +fanciful creation of his thought, the apparition had acquired peculiar +significance. The abrupt disappearance afflicted him like a positive +loss. + +Did he, then, soberly believe himself and the princess to have +exchanged glances (not to speak of thoughts) across a river a mile +wide? Perhaps he merely courted a fancy from which the test of reason +was deliberately withheld. Spirits not being amenable to material +laws, what was the odds (so far as exchange of spiritual sentiment +was concerned) whether the prince and princess were separated by miles +or inches? + +But however plausible the fancy, it was over. Helwyse leaned back on +the rock, drew his hat over his eyes, folded his hands beneath his +head, and appeared to sleep. + + + + +XIV. + +THE TOWER OF BABEL. + + +In a perfect state of society, where people will think and act in +harmony with only the purest æsthetic laws, a knowledge of stenography +and photography will suffice for the creation of perfect works of art. +But until that epoch comes, the artist must be content to do the +grouping, toning, and proportioning of his picture for himself, under +penalty of redundancy and confusion. People nowadays seldom do or +think the right thing at the fitting moment; insomuch that the +biographer, if he would be intelligible, must use his own discretion +in arranging his materials. + +Now, in view of the rough shaking which late events had given Balder +and his opinions, it is doing no violence to probability to fancy him +taking an early opportunity to pass these opinions in review. It would +be easy, by a glance at the magic ring, to reproduce his meditations +just as they passed through his brain. Brevity and pertinence, +however, counsel us to recall a dialogue which had taken place about +three years before. + +Balder and his father were then in the North of England; and the +latter (who never concerned himself with any save the plainest and +most practical philosophy) was not a little startled at an analogy +drawn by his son between the cloud-cap on Helvellyn's head and the +Almighty! Premising that the cloud-cap, though apparently stable, was +really created by the continuous passage of warmer air through a cold +region around the summit of the mountain, whereby it was for a moment +condensed into visibility and then swept on,--having postulated this +fact, and disregarding the elder's remark that he believed not a word +of it,--Balder went on to say that God was only a set of +attributes,--in a word, the perfection of all human attributes,--and +not at all an individual! + +"And what has that to do with your cloud-making theory?" demanded +Thor, with scorn. + +"The perfect human attributes," replied Balder, unruffled, "correspond +to the region of condensation,--the cold place, you understand." + +"Do they? Well?" + +"The constant condensation of the warm current from below corresponds +to the taking on of these attributes by a ceaseless succession of +human souls. Filling out the Divine character, they lose identity, and +so make room for others." + +"What are these attributes?" + +"They are ineffable,--they are omniscience,--the comprehension of the +whole creative idea." + +"You expect me to believe that,--eh?" growled Thor. + +"If I could believe you understood it, dear old sceptic!" returned +Balder, with affectionate irreverence, throwing his arm across his +father's broad shoulders. "I say that every soul of right capacity, +living for culture, and not afraid of itself, will at last reach that +highest point. It is the sublime goal of man, and no human life is +complete unless in gaining it. Many fail, but not all. I will not! No, +I am not blasphemous; I think life without definite aim not worth +having; and that aim, the highest conceivable." + +Thor, having stared in silence at his descendant, came out with a +stentorian Viking laugh, which Balder sustained with perfect +good-humor. + +"Ho, ho!--the devil is in you, son!--in those black eyes of +yours,--ho, ho! No other Helwyse ever had such eyes,--or such ideas +either! Well, but supposing you passed the condensation point, what +then?" + +Balder, who was entirely in earnest about the matter, answered +gravely,-- + +"I cease to be; but what was I becomes the pure, life-giving, +spiritual substance, and enters into fresh personalities, and so +passes up again in endless circulation." + +"Hum! and how with the evil ones, boy?" + +"As with all waste matter; they are cast aside, and, as distinct +souls, are gradually annihilated. But they may still manure the soil, +and involuntarily help the growth of others. Sooner or later, in one +or another form, all come into use." + +"For all I see, then," quoth Thor, "your devils come to the same end +as your gods!" + +"There is the same kind of difference," returned the philosopher, "as +between light and earth,--both of which help the growth of flowers; +but light gives color and beauty, earth only the insipid matter. I +would rather be the light." + +"Another thing," proceeded Thor, ignoring this distinction; "admitting +all else, how do you account for your region of condensation?" + +"By the necessity of perfection," answered Balder, after some +consideration. "There would be no meaning in existence unless it +tended towards perfection. But you have hit on the unanswerable +question." + +Thor shook his head and huge grizzled beard. "German University +humbug!" growled he. "Get you into a scrape some day. The cloud's not +made in that way, I tell you! Come, let's go back to the inn." + +"Take my arm," said Balder; and as together they descended the spur of +the mountain, he added lovingly, "I'll bring no clouds across your +sky, my dear old man!" So the hospitable inn received them. + +The discussion between the two was never renewed; but Balder held to +his creed. He elaborated and fortified what had been mere outline +before. No dogma can be conceived which many circumstances will not +seem to confirm and justify. But we cannot attempt to keep abreast of +Balder's deductions. There are as many theological systems as +individual souls; and no system can be wholly apprehended by any one +save its author. + +Mastery of men and things,--supreme knowledge to the end of supreme +power,--such seems to have been his ambition,--an ambition too +abstract and lofty for much rivalry. Nature and human nature were at +once his laboratory and his instruments. His senses were to him +outlets of divinity. The good and evil of such a scheme scarce need +pointing out. It was the apotheosis of self-respect; but self-respect +raised to such a height becomes self-worship; human vision dazzles at +the sublimity of the prospect; at the moment of greatest weakness the +soul arrogates invincible power, and falls! For, the mightier man is, +the more absolutely does he need the support of a mightier Man than he +can ever be. + +No doubt Balder had often been assailed by doubts and weariness; the +path had seemed too long and arduous, and he had secretly pined for +some swift issue from perplexity and delay. In such a moment was it +that the voice of darkness gained his ear, and, like a will-o'-the-wisp, +lured him to calamity. Verily, it is not easy to be God. Only builders +of the Tower of Babel know the awfulness of its overthrow. + +Balder's spirit lay prostrate among the ruins, too stunned and +bewildered to see the reason or justice of his fall. Such a state is +dangerous, for, the better part of the mind being either occupied with +its disaster or stupefied by it, the superficial part is readily moved +to folly or extravagance,--to deeds and thoughts which a saner moment +would scout and ridicule. Well is it, then, if the blind steps are +guided to better foothold than they know how to choose. Angels are +said to be particularly watchful over those who sleep; perhaps, also, +during the darkness which follows on moral perversion. + + + + +XV. + +CHARON'S FERRY. + + +After lying motionless for half an hour, Balder suddenly sat upright +and settled his hat on his head. A new purpose had come to him which, +arriving later than it might have done, made him wish to act upon it +without delay. + +The old mariner had by this time bailed out his boat, and, having +shipped a mast in the forward thwart, was dropping down stream. As he +neared the promontory Balder hailed him:-- + +"Hullo! skipper, take me across?" + +The skipper, without replying, steered shorewards, the other +clambering down the rock to meet him. After a brief parley, during +which the old fellow closely scrutinized his intending passenger from +head to foot, a bargain was struck, and they put forth, tacking +diagonally across stream. For Balder, having charged his imagination +with castles, warlike chieftains, and beautiful princesses, had +finally arrived at the conclusion that the stone house was an +enchanter's castle; the figure he had seen, an imprisoned lady; +himself, a knight-errant bound to rescue her and give the wicked +enchanter his deserts. This idea possessed his brain for the moment +more vividly than do realities most men. The plumed helmet was on his +head, he glittered with shining arms and sword, his heart warmed and +throbbed with visions of conflict and bold emprise. The commonplace +assumed an aspect of grandeur and magnificence in harmony with his +chivalric mania. The leaky craft in which he sat became a majestic +barge; the skipper, some wrinkled Charon who doubtless had ferried +many a brave knight to his death beneath yonder castle's walls. That +seeming birch-stump on the farther shore was the castle champion, +armed cap-a-pie in silver harness and ready with drawn sword to do +battle against all comers. Trim the sail, ferryman, and steer thy +skilfullest! + +The kind of insanity which sees in outward manifestation the fantasies +of the mind is an affection incident at times to every one. An artist +sees beauties in a landscape, an artisan in pulleys and levers, and +either may be so far insane in the eyes of the other. Nature discovers +grandeur, beauty, or truth according as the quality abides in the +seer. In this view Balder or Don Quixote was no more insane than other +people. Their eyes bore true witness to what was in their minds, and +the sanest eyes can do no more. Their minds were, perhaps, out of +focus; but who can cast the first stone? + +The skipper, when not masquerading as Charon, was a lean, brown, and +wrinkled old salt, neither complete nor clean of garb, and bulging as +to one lank cheek with a quid of tobacco. At first he sat silent, +dividing his attention between the conduct of his boat and his +passenger. + +"Whereabouts will yer land, Captain?" he asked when they were fairly +under way. + +"Wherever there is a path upwards. Who is the owner of the castle?" + +"The castle? Well, there ain't many rightly knows just what his name +is," answered Charon, cocking his gray eye rather quizzically. "Some +says one thing, some another. I have heard tell he was Davy Jones +himself!" + +"Have you ever seen him?" + +"Well, I don't know; I've seen something that might have been him; but +there's no telling! he can fix himself up to look like pretty much +anything, they say. There ain't many calls up to the castle, anyway." + +"Why not?" + +"Well, there's a big wall all around the place, for one thing, and +never a gate in it; so without yer dives under ground and up again, +there don't seem no easy way of getting in." + +"Does the owner never come out, then?" + +"Well, he can get out, I expect, when he wants to," replied the +wrinkled humorist, with a weather-beaten grin. "They do say he whips +off on a broomstick about once a month and steers for Bos-ton!" His +fashion of utterance was a leisurely sing-song, like the roll of a +vessel anchored in a ground-swell. + +"Why does he go there?" demanded Prince Balder, with the air of +finding nothing extravagant or improbable in the sailor's yarn. The +latter (a little doubting whether his interlocutor were a simpleton or +a "deep one") answered, after a moment's pause,--to replenish his +imagination perhaps,-- + +"Well, in course, I knows nothing what he does; but they do say he +coasts around to all the ho-tels and overhauls the log. He's been +laying for some one this twenty year. My idea, it's about time he +hailed him!" + +"What does he want with him?" + +"Well, yer see, what folks say is, this chap had played some game or +other off on Davy; so Davy he puts a rod in pickle and vows he'd be +even with the chap, yet. + +"Yer see,--I'll tell yer," continued Charon, leaning forward on his +knee and speaking confidentially; "just as this chap was putting +off,--with some of Davy's belongings, likely,--Davy up and cuts a +slice of flesh and blood off him. Well, he takes this slice and fixes +it up one way or another, and makes a witch out of it,--handsome as +she can be,--enough to draw a chap's heart right out through his +jacket. Now, being as she's his own flesh and blood, d' yer see, this +chap I'm telling yer on's bound to come back after her afore he dies. +Well, soon as Davy gets hold on him, he ups with him to the place +yonder and outs with the witch. 'Here yer are, my dear friend!' says +he (as civil as may be), 'here's yer own flesh and blood a-waiting for +yer!' Well, the chap grabs for her, and once he touches her there +ain't no letting go no more. Off she starts on her broomstick, he +along behind, till they gets over Hell gate--" Charon checked himself, +made an ominous downward gesture with his right forefinger, and +emphasized it by spitting solemnly to leeward. + +"Did you ever meet him,--this man?" asked Helwyse, rousing himself +from a brown study and looking Charon in the eyes. + +"Well, now, I couldn't tell for certain as I ever met him," replied +the other, returning the look with an odd wrinkling of the features. +"But it's nigh on twenty year that I fetched a man across this very +spot, and back again in the evening, that might have been him. +Leastways, he was the last caller ever I took over to that house." + +"I am the first since he--eh?" + +"Well, yer are; and, Captain,--no offence to you,--but allowing for a +lot of hair he had, he was like enough to you to be yer twin brother!" + +"Or even myself! So Davy Jones goes by the name of Doctor Glyphic in +these parts, does he?" said Balder, with a sudden, incisive smile, +which almost cut through the old ferryman's self-possession. The boat +at the same moment glided into a little cove, and the passenger jumped +ashore. Charon stood deferentially touching his weather-stained hat, +too much mystified to speak. But the fare which Helwyse handed him +restored his voice. + +"Thank yer, Captain,--thank yer kindly!--hope no offence, Captain,--a +chap picks up a deal of gossip in twenty year, and--" + +"No offence in the world!" cried Helwyse; "I take you for a powerful +enchanter, who seems to steer one way, when he is in fact taking his +passenger in another. Where are you bound?" + +"Well, I was dropping down a bit to see if the schooner ain't around +yet. She'd ought to be in by now, if nothing ain't runned into her in +the fog." + +Helwyse paused a moment, eying Charon sharply. "The schooner +'Resurrection,'" he began, and, seeing he had hit the mark, continued, +"was run into last night on Long Island Sound, and had her bowsprit +carried away. But no serious damage was done, and she'll be in by +night, if the wind holds." + +With this he bade the awe-stricken old yarn-spinner farewell, and, +with secret laughter at his bewilderment, turned to the narrow zigzag +path that climbed the bank, passing the birch-stump champion without a +glance of recognition. A few vigorous minutes brought him to the +summit, whence, facing round, he saw the broad river crawl beneath +him; the little boat, with Charon in the stern, drift downwards; and +beyond, the whole rough length of Manhattan Island. + +A few days before Thor Helwyse's departure for Europe (some four years +after his wife's death) he had left a certain little boy and girl in +charge of the nurse,--a woman in whose faithfulness he placed the +utmost confidence,--and had crossed from Brooklyn to New Jersey, to +say good by to Brother Hiero. Returning at night he found one of the +children--his son Balder--locked up in the nursery; the nurse and the +little girl had disappeared, nor did Thor again set eyes on either of +them. + +Balder, as he grew up, often questioned his father concerning various +events which had happened beyond the reach of his childish memory; and +among other stories, no doubt this of the farewell visit to Uncle +Glyphic had been often told with all the details. By no miracle, +therefore, but simply by an acute mental process, associating together +time, place, and description, was Balder enabled so to dumfounder old +Charon. + +Embarking on a phantom quest, his brain full of whimsical visions, +Balder had thus unexpectedly stepped into the path of his legitimate +affair. The accident (for no better reason than that it was such) +inspired him with a superficial cheerfulness. He had landed some +distance below his uncle Glyphic's house,--for such indeed it +was,--and he now took his way towards it through trees and underbrush. +It was so situated, and so thickly surrounded with foliage, as to be +visible from no point in the vicinity. Had the site been chosen with a +view to concealment, the builder could not have succeeded better. +Remembering the eccentricity of his uncle's character, as portrayed in +many an anecdote, Balder would not have been surprised to find him +living under ground, or in a pyramid. + +On arriving at the wall whereof the ferryman had told him, he found it +a truly formidable affair, some twelve feet high and built of brick. +To scale it without a ladder was impossible; but Balder, never +doubting that there was a gate somewhere, set out in search of it. + +It was tiresome walking over the uneven ground and through obstructing +bushes, branches, and stumps. The tall brick barrier seemed as +interminable as unbroken. How many houses, thought Balder, might have +been built from the material thus wasted! If ever he came into +possession of the place, he resolved to present the brick to his +friend Charon, that he might replace his wooden shanty with something +more durable and convenient, and perhaps build a dock for the schooner +"Resurrection" to lie in. It must have taken a fortune to put up such +a wall; were the enclosure proportionally valuable, it was worth while +crossing the ocean to see it. Still more wall! fully a mile of it +already, and yet further it rambled on through leafy thickets. But no +signs of a gate! + +"I believe the Devil really does live here!" exclaimed Balder, in +impatient heat; "and the only way in or out is on a broomstick,--or by +diving under ground, as Charon said!" + +Stumbling onwards awhile farther, he suddenly came again upon the +river-bank, having skirted the whole length of the wall. There was +actually no getting in! The castle was impregnable. + +Helwyse sat down at the foot of a birch-tree which grew a few yards +from the wall. + +"How does my uncle manage about his butcher and baker, I wonder! He +might at least have provided a derrick for victualling his stronghold. +Perhaps he hauls up provisions by ropes over the face of the cliff. No +doubt, Charon knew about it. Shall I go down and look?" + +It was provoking--having come so far to call on a relative--to be put +off with a mile or two of brick wall. The gate must have been walled +up since his father's time, for Thor had never mentioned any +deficiency in that respect. But Balder's determination was +piqued,--not to mention his curiosity. Had the path from Mr. +MacGentle's office to Doctor Glyphic's door been straight and +unobstructed, the young man might have wandered aside and never +reached the end. As it was, he was goaded into the resolution to see +his uncle at all hazards. An additional spur was the thought of the +gracious apparition which he had seen--or dreamt he saw--from the +farther bank. Was she indeed but an apparition?--or the single reality +amidst the throng of fantasies evoked by his overwrought +mind?--beaconing him through misty errors to a fate better than he +knew! In all seriousness, who could she be? Had Doctor Glyphic crowned +his eccentricities by marrying, and begetting a daughter? + +These speculations were interrupted by the clear, joyous note of a +bird, just above Balder's head. It was such a note as might have been +uttered by a paradisical cuckoo with the breath of a brighter world in +his throat. Looking up, he saw a beautiful little fowl perched on the +topmost twig of the birch-tree. It had a slender bill, and on its head +a crest of splendid feathers, which it set up at Balder in a most +coquettish manner. The next moment it flew over the wall, and from the +farther side warbled an invitation to follow. + +Although he could not fly, Balder reflected that he could climb, and +that the top of the tree would show him more than he could see now. +The birch looked tolerably climbable and was amply high; as to +toughness, he thought not about it. Beneath what frivolous disguises +does destiny mask her approach! Discretion is a virtue; yet, had +Balder been discreet enough to examine the tree before getting into +it, the ultimate consequences are incalculable! + +As it was (and marvelling why he had not thought of doing it before) +he set stoutly to work, and, despite his jack-boots, was soon among +the upper branches. The birch trembled and groaned unheeded. The bird +(an Egyptian bird,--a hoopoe,--descendant of a pair brought by Doctor +Glyphic from the Nile a quarter of a century ago),--the hoopoe was +fluttering and warbling and setting its brilliant cap at the young man +more captivatingly than ever. A glance over the enclosure showed a +beautifully fertile and luxurious expanse, damasked with soft green +grass and studded with flowers and trees. A few hundred yards away +billowed the white tops of an apple-orchard in full bloom. Southward, +half seen through boughs and leaves, rose an anomalous structure of +brick, glass, and stone, which could only be the famous house on whose +design and decoration old Hiero Glyphic had spent years and fortunes. + +The tract was like an oasis in a forbidding land. The soil had none +of the sandy and clayey consistency peculiar to New Jersey, but was +deep and rich as an English valley. The sunshine rested more warmly +and mellowly here than elsewhere. The southern breeze acquired a +tropical flavor in loitering across it. The hoopoe had seemed out of +place on the hither side the wall, but now looked as much at home as +though the Hudson had been the Nile indeed. + +"My uncle," said Balder to himself, as he swayed among the branches of +his birch-tree, "has really succeeded very well in transporting a +piece of Egypt to America. Were I on the other side of the wall, no +doubt I might appreciate it also!" + +The hoopoe responded encouragingly, the tree cracked, and Balder felt +with dismay that it was tottering beneath him. There was no time to +climb down again. With a dismal croak, the faithless birch leaned +slowly through the air. There was nothing to be done but to go with +it; and Balder, even as he descended, was able to imagine how absurd +he must appear. The tree fell, but was intercepted at half its height +by the top of the wall. The upper half of the stem, with its human +fruit still attached to it, bent bow-like towards the earth, the trunk +not being quite separated from the root. + +Helwyse had thus far managed to keep his presence of mind, and now, +glancing downwards, he saw the ground not eight feet below. He loosed +his hold, and the next instant stood in the soft grass. The birch had +been his broomstick. Meanwhile the hoopoe, with a triumphant note, +flew off towards the house to tell the news. + + + + +XVI. + +LEGEND AND CHRONICLE. + + +Hiero Glyphic's house came not into the world complete at a birth, but +was the result of an irregular growth, progressing through many years. +Originally a single-gabled edifice, its only peculiarity had been that +it was brick instead of wooden. Here, red and unornamented as the +house itself, the future Egyptologist was born. The parallel between +him and his dwelling was maintained more or less closely to the end. + +He was the first pledge of affection between his mother and father, +and the last also; for shortly after his advent the latter parent, a +retired undertaker by profession, failed from this world. The widow +was much younger than her husband, and handsome to boot. Nevertheless, +several years passed before she married again. Her second lord was +likewise elderly, but differed from the first in being enormously +wealthy. The issue of this union was a daughter, the Helen of our +story, a pretty, dark-eyed little thing, petted and indulged by all +the family, and reigning undisputed over all. + +Meanwhile the old brick house had been deserted, Mrs. Glyphic having +accompanied her second husband to his sumptuous residence in Brooklyn. +But in process of time Hiero (or, as he was then called, Henry) took +it into his head to return to the original family mansion and live +there. No objection was made; in truth, Henry's oddities, +awkwardnesses, and propensity to dabble in queer branches of research +and experiment may have allayed the parting pangs. Back he blundered, +therefore, to the banks of the Hudson, and established himself in his +birthplace. What he did there during the next few years will never be +known. Grisly stories about the man in the brick house were current +among the country people. A devil was said to be his familiar friend; +nay, it was whispered that he himself was the arch-fiend! But nothing +positively supernatural, or even unholy, was ever proved to have taken +place. The recluse had the command of as much money as he could spend, +and no doubt he wrought with it miracles beyond the vulgar +comprehension. His mind had no more real depth than a looking-glass +with a crack in it, and its images were disjointed and confused. There +are many such men, but few possess unlimited means of carrying their +crack-brained fancies into fact. + +During this--which may be called the second--period of Glyphic's +career, he made several anomalous additions to the brick house, all +after designs of his own. He moreover furnished it anew throughout, in +a manner that made the upholsterers stare. Each room--so reads the +legend--was fitted up in the style of a different country, according +to Glyphic's notion of it! He was said to live in one apartment or +another according as it was his whim to be Spaniard, Turk, Russian, +Hindoo, or Chinaman. He also applied himself to gardening, and +enclosed seven hundred acres of ground adjoining the house with a +picket-fence, forerunner of the famous brick wall. The whole tract was +dug out and manured to the depth of many feet, till it was by far the +most fertile spot in the State. The larger trees were not disturbed, +but the lesser were forced to give place to new and rare importations +from foreign countries. Gorgeous were the hosts of flowers, like banks +of sunset clouds; the lawns showed the finest turf out of England; +there was a kitchen-garden rich and big enough to feed an army of +epicures all their lives. In short, the place was a concentrated +extract of the world at large, where one might at the same moment be a +recluse and a cosmopolitan. Here might one live independent of the +world, yet sipping the cream thereof; and might persuade himself that +all beyond these seven hundred enchanted acres was but a diffused +reflection of the concrete existence between the cliff and the fence. + +But to this second period succeeded finally the third,--that which +witnessed the birth and growth of the Egyptian mania. Its natal moment +has not been precisely determined; perhaps it was a gradual accretion. +Mr. Glyphic's relatives in Brooklyn were one day electrified by the +news that the quondam Henry--now Hiero--purposed instant departure for +Europe and Egypt. Before starting, however, he built the brick wall +round his estate, shutting it out forever from human eyes. Then he +vanished, and for nine years was seen no more. + +His return was heralded by the arrival at the port of New York of a +mountain of freight, described in the invoice as the property of +Doctor Hiero Glyphic of New Jersey. The boxes, as they stood piled +together on the wharf, might have furnished timber sufficient to build +a town. They contained the fruits of Doctor Glyphic's antiquarian +researches. + +The Doctor himself--where he picked up his learned title is +unknown--was accompanied by a slender, swarthy young factotum who +answered to the name of Manetho. He was introduced to the Brooklyn +relatives as the pupil, assistant, and adopted son of Hiero Glyphic. +The latter, physically broadened, browned, and thickened by his +travels, was intellectually the same good-natured, fussy, flighty +original as ever; shallow, enthusiastic, incoherent, energetic. + +He and his adopted son shut themselves up behind the brick wall; but +it soon transpired that extensive additions were making to the old +house. Beyond this elementary fact conjecture had the field to itself. +Both architects and builders were imported from another State and +sworn to secrecy, while the high wall and the hedge of trees baffled +prying eyes. Quantities of red granite and many blocks of precious +marbles were understood to be using in the work. The opinion gained +that such an Oriental palace was building as never had been seen +outside an Arabian fairy-tale. + +By and by the work was done, the workmen disappeared. But whoever +hoped that now the mystery would be revealed, and the Oriental palace +be made the scene of a gorgeous house-warming, was disappointed. The +dwellers behind the wall emerged not from their seclusion, nor were +others invited to relieve it. In due course of time Doctor Glyphic's +worthy step-father died. The widow and her daughter continued to live +in Brooklyn until the former's death, which took place a few years +afterwards. Then Helen came to her brother, and the Brooklyn house was +put under lock and key, and so remained till Helen's marriage, when it +was set in order for the bridal pair. But Thor's wife died as they +were on the point of moving thither, and he sold it four years later +and left America forever. + +After his departure less was known, than before of how things went on +behind the brick wall. The gateway was filled in with masonry. No one +was ever seen entering the enclosure or leaving it; though it was +supposed that, somehow or other, communication was occasionally had +with the outside world. As knowledge dwindled, legend grew, and wild +were the tales told of the invisible Doctor and his foster-son. In his +youth, the former had been suspected of simple witchcraft, but he was +not let off so easily now. Manetho was first dubbed a genie whom the +Doctor had brought out of Egypt. Afterwards it was hinted that these +two worthies were in fact one and the same demon, who by some infernal +jugglery was able to appear twain during the daytime, but resumed his +proper shape at night, and cut up all manner of unholy capers. + +By another version, Doctor Glyphic died in Egypt, not before +bargaining with the Prince of Darkness that his body should return +home in charge of a condemned soul under the guise of Manetho. During +the day, affirmed these theorists, the body was inspired by the soul +with phantom life; but became a mummy at night, when the condemned +soul suffered torments till morning. With sunrise the ghastly drama +began anew. This state of things must continue until the sun shone all +night long within the brick wall enclosure. + +A third, more moderate account is that to which we have already +listened from Charon's lips. And he perhaps built on a broader basis +of truth than did the other yarn-spinners. But under whatever form the +legend appeared, there was always mingled with it a vaguely mysterious +whisper relating to the alleged presence in the Doctor's Den (so the +enclosure was nicknamed) of an apparition in female form. What or +whence she was no one pretended soberly to conjecture. Even her +personal aspect was the subject of vehement dispute; some maintaining +her to be of more than human beauty, while others swore by their heads +that she was so hideous fire would not burn her! These damned her for +a malignant witch; those upheld her as a heavenly angel, urged by love +divine to expiate, through voluntary suffering, the nameless crimes of +the demoniac Doctor. But unless the redemption were effected within a +certain time, she must be swallowed up with him in common destruction. +Were the how and wherefore of these alternatives called in question, +the answer was a wise shake of the head! + +The gentle reader will believe no one of the fantastic legends here +recorded; possibly they were not believed by their very fabricators. +They are useful only as tending to show the moral atmosphere of the +house and its occupants. There is sometimes a subtile symbolic element +inwoven with such tales, which--though not the truth--helps us to +apprehend the truth when we come to know it. Moreover, the fanciful +parts of history are to the facts as clouds to a landscape; a picture +is incomplete without them; they aid in bringing out the distances, +and cast lights and shadows over tracts else harsh and bare. + +Beyond what he had gathered from the ancient mariner, Balder Helwyse +knew nothing of these fearful fables. This perhaps accounted for the +boldness wherewith he pursued his way towards the mysterious house, +following in the airy wake of the clear-throated little hoopoe. + + + + +XVII. + +FACE TO FACE. + + +The ground-plan of the house was like a capital H placed endwise +towards the river. The northern side consisted of the original brick +building and the additions of the second period; the southern was that +stone edifice which so few persons had been lucky enough to see. The +centre or cross-piece comprised the grand entrance-hall and staircase, +heavily panelled with dark oak, and the floor flagged with squares of +black and white marbles. + +This entrance-hall opened eastward into a generous conservatory, +filling the whole square court between the wings at that end. The +corresponding western court was devoted to the roomy portico. Two or +three broad steps mounted to a balcony twenty feet deep and nearly +twice as wide, protected by a lofty roof supported on slender Moorish +columns. Crossing this, one came to the hall-door, likewise Moorish in +arch and ornamentation. Considered room by room and part by part, the +house was good and often beautiful; taken as a whole, it was the +craziest amalgamation of incongruities ever conceived by human brain. + +Balder, approaching from the north, trod enjoyingly the silken grass. +No misgiving had he; his uncle would hardly be from home, nor would he +be apt to discredit his nephew's identity. His face had already been +evidence to more than one former knower of his father, and why not +also to his uncle? + +The house was more than half a mile in a direct line from the +birch-tree, and presented an imposing appearance; but on drawing near, +the odd architectural discrepancies became noticeable. Side by side +with the prosy Americanism of the northern wing, sprang gracefully the +Moorish columns of the portico; beyond, uprose in massive granite, +quaintly inscribed and carved, and strengthened by heavy pilasters, +the ponderous Egyptian features of the southern portion. The latter +was neither storied nor windowed, and, as Balder conjectured, probably +contained but a single vast room, lighted from within. + +Meanwhile there were no signs of an inhabitant, either in the house or +out of it. It wore in parts an air of emptiness and neglect, not +exactly as though gone to seed, but as if little human love and care +had been expended there. The deep-set windows of the brick wing, like +the sunken eyes of an old woman, peered at the visitor with dusky +forlornness. Lonely and stern on the other side stood the Egyptian +pilasters, as though unused to the eye of man; the hieroglyphics along +the cornice intensified the impression of desertion. As the young man +set foot beneath the portico, he laid a hand on one of the slender +pillars, to assure himself that it was real, and not a vision. Cool, +solid marble met his grasp; the building did not vanish in a peal of +thunder, with an echo of demoniac laughter. Yes, all was real! + +But the stillness was impressive, and Balder struck the pillar sharply +with his palm, merely for the sake of hearing a noise. There was no +answering sound, so, after a moment's hesitation, he walked to the +door,--which stood ajar,--purposing to call in the aid of bell and +knocker. Neither of these civilized appliances was to be found. While +debating whether to use his voice or to enter and use his eyes, the +note of the hoopoe fell on his ear. An instant after came an answering +note, deeper, sweeter, and stronger,--it thrilled to Balder's heart, +bringing to his mind, by some subtile process, the goddess of the +cliff. + +He crossed the oak-panelled hall (where the essence of mediæval +England lingered) and came to the threshold of the conservatory. It +was a scene confusedly beautiful. The air, as it touched his face, was +tropically warm and indolent with voluptuous fragrance of flowers and +plants. Luxuriant shrubs, with broad-drooping leaves, stood +motionless in the heat. Two palm-trees uplifted their heavy plumes +forty feet aloft, on slender stalks, brushing the high glass roof. In +the midst of the conservatory a pool slumbered between rocky margins, +overgrown with a profusion of reeds, grasses, and water-plants. There +floated the giant leaves and blossoms of the tropic water-lily; and on +a fragment of rock rising above the surface dozed a small crocodile, +not more than four feet long, but looking as old, dried up, and coldly +cruel as sin itself! + +The place looked like an Indian jungle, and Balder half expected to +see the glancing spits of a tiger crouching beneath the overarching +leaves; or a naked savage with bow and arrows. But amid all this +vegetable luxuriance appeared no human being,--no animal save the evil +crocodile. Whence, then, that melodious voice,--clear essence of +nature's sweetest utterances? + +At the left of the conservatory was a door, the entrance to the +Egyptian temple. It was square and heavy-browed, flanked by short +thick columns rising from a base of sculptured papyrus-leaves, and +flowering in lotus capitals. Three marble steps led to the threshold, +while on either side reclined a sphinx in polished granite, softened, +however, by a delicate flowering vine, which had been trained to cling +round their necks. On the deep panels of the door were mystic emblems +carved in relief. A line of hieroglyphics inscribed the lintel in deep +blue, red, and black,--to what purport Balder could not divine. + +At the opposite side of the conservatory was a corresponding door, +veiled by an ample fold of silken tapestry, cunningly hand-worked in +representation of a moon half veiled in clouds, shining athwart a +stormy sea. By her light a laboring ship was warned off the rocks to +leeward. The room (one of the later additions) by its external promise +might have been the bower of some fashionable beauty thousands of +years ago. + +Balder looked from one of these doors to the other, doubting at which +to apply. The tapestry curtain was swept aside at the base, leaving a +small passage clear to the room beyond. In this opening now appeared +the bright-crested head and eyes of the hoopoe, peeping mischievously +at the intruder, who forthwith stepped down into the conservatory, +holding forth to the little bird a friendly finger. The bird eyed him +critically, then launched itself on the air, and, alighting on a spray +above his head, warbled out a brilliant call. + +Hereupon was heard within a quick rustling movement; the curtain was +thrust aside, and a youthful woman issued forth amongst the warm +plants. She was within a few feet of Balder Helwyse before seeming to +realize his presence. She caught herself motionless in an instant. The +sparkle of laughter in her eyes sank in a black depth of wonder. Her +eyes filled themselves with Balder as a lake is filled with sunshine; +and he, the man of the Wilie and philosopher, could only return her +gaze in voiceless admiration. + +Were a face and form of primal perfection to appear among men, might +not its divine originality repel an ordinary observer, used to +consider beautiful such abortions of the Creator's design as sin and +degeneration have produced? Not easily can one imagine what a real man +or woman would look like. Painting nor sculpture can teach us; we must +learn, if at all, from living, electric flesh and blood. + +This young woman was tall and erect with youthful majesty. She stood +like the rejoicing upgush of a living fountain. Her contour was +subtile with womanly power,--suggesting the spring of the panther, the +glide of the serpent. Warm she seemed from the bosom of nature. One +felt from her the influence of trees, the calm of meadows, the high +freedom of the blue air, the happiness of hills. She might have been +the sister of the sun. + +The moulding finger of God seemed freshly to have touched her face. It +was simple and harmonious as a chord of music, yet inexhaustible in +its variety. It recalled no other face, yet might be seen in it the +germs of a mighty nation, that should begin from her and among a +myriad resemblances evolve no perfect duplicate. No angel's +countenance, but warmest human clay, which must undergo some change +before reaching heaven. The sphinx, before the gloom of her riddle had +dimmed her primal joy,--before men vexed themselves to unravel God's +webs from without instead of from within,--might have looked thus; or +such perhaps was Isis in the first flush of her divinity,--fresh from +Him who made her immortally young and fair. + +Her black hair was crowned with a low, compact turban,--a purple and +white twist of some fine cottony substance, striped with gold. Round +her wide, low brow fitted a band of jewelled gold, three fingers' +breadth, from which at each temple depended a broad, flat chain of +woven coral, following the margin of the cheeks and falling loose on +the shoulders. A golden serpent coiled round her smooth throat and +drooped its head low down in her bosom. Her elastic feet, arched like +a dolphin's back, were sandalled; the bright-colored straps, crossing +one another half-way to the knee, set dazzlingly off the clear, dusky +whiteness of the skin. + +From her shoulders fell a long full robe of purple byssus, over an +underdress of white which readied the knee. This tunic was confined at +the waist by a hundred-fold girdle, embroidered with rainbow flowers +and fastened in a broad knot below the bosom, the low-hanging ends +heavy with fringe. The outer robe, with its long drooping sleeves +falling open at the elbow, was ample enough wholly to envelop the +figure, but was now girded up and one fold brought round and thrust +beneath the girdle in front, to give freedom of motion. A rare perfume +emanated from her like the evening breath of orange-blossoms. + +Balder was no unworthy balance to this picture, though his else +stately features showed too much the stimulus of modern thought. He +was eminent by culture; she by nature only. But Balder's culture had +not greatened him. Greatness is not of the brain, save as allied to +the deep, pure chords which thrill at the base of the human symphony. +He might have stood for our age; she, for that more primitive but +profounder era which is at once man's beginning and his goal. + +Balder's eyes could not frankly hold their own against her gaze of +awful simplicity. All he had ever done amiss arose and put him to the +blush. Nevertheless, he would not admit his inferiority; instead of +dropping his eyes he closed the soul behind them, and sharpened them +with a shallow, out-striking light. Without understanding the change, +she felt it and was troubled. Loftily majestic as were her form and +features, she was feminine to the core,--tender and finely perceptive. +The incisive masculine gaze abashed her. She raised one hand +deprecatingly, and her lips moved, though without sound. + +He relented at this, and straightway her expression again shifted, and +she smiled so radiantly that Balder almost looked to see whence came +the light! The wondrous lines of her face curved and softened; all +that was grave vanished. A tree standing in the sober beauty of +shadow, when suddenly lit by the sun, changes as she changed; for +sunshine is the laughter of the world. + +The smile refreshed her courage, for she came nearer and made a +sideways movement with her arm, apparently with the expectation that +it would pass through the stalwart young man as readily as through the +air. On encountering solid substance, she drew startled back, half in +alarm and wholly in surprise. Balder had felt her touch, first as a +benediction; then it chilled him, through remembrance of a deed +forever debarring him from aught so pure and innocent as she. The +subtleties of his philosophy might have cajoled him anywhere save in +her presence. There, he felt unmistakably guilty; yet from irrational +dread that she, whose intuitions seemed so swift and deep, might grasp +the cause of his discomposure, he strove to hide it. Last of all the +world should she know his crime! + +Scarce two minutes since their meeting, yet perhaps a large proportion +of their lives had meanwhile been charmed away. No word had been +spoken,--eyes had superseded tongues. Nay, was ordinary conversation +possible with a young goddess such as this? So perfect seemed her +mastery over those profounder elements of intercourse underlying +speech, which are higher and more direct than the mechanism of +articulate words, that perhaps the latter method was unknown to her. + +Nevertheless, one must say something. But what?--with what sentence of +supreme significance should he begin? Moreover, what language should +he use? for she, whose look and bearing were so alien to the land and +age, might likewise be a stranger to modern dialects. But Aryan or +Semitic was not precisely at the tip of Balder's tongue! + +In the midst of his embarrassment, the startling note of the hoopoe +pierced his ear, and precipitated him into asking that great elemental +question which all created things are forever putting to one +another,-- + +"What is your name?" + + + + +XVIII. + +THE HOOPOE AND THE CROCODILE. + + +"Gnulemah!" she answered, laying a finger on the head of her golden +serpent, and uttering the name as though it were of the only woman in +the world. + +But the next moment she found time to realize that something +unprecedented had occurred, and her wonder trembled on the brink of +dismay. + +"Speaks in my language!" she exclaimed below her breath; "but is not +Hiero." + +Until Balder's arrival, then, Hiero would seem to have been the only +talking animal she had known. The singularity of this did not at first +strike the young man. Gnulemah was the arch-wonder; yet she so fully +justified herself as to seem very nature; and by dint of her magic +reality, what else had been wonderful seemed natural. Balder was in +fairy-land. + +He fell easily into the fairy-land humor. + +"I am a being like yourself," said he, with a smile; "and not dumb +like your plants and animals." + +"Understood!--answered!" exclaimed Gnulemah again, in a tremor. As +morning spreads up the sky, did the sweet blood flow outward to warm +her face and neck. As the blush deepened, her eyelids fell, and she +shielded her beautiful embarrassment with her raised hands. A pathos +in the simple grace of this action drew tears unawares to Balder's +eyes. + +What was in her mind? what might she be? Had she lived always in this +enchanted spot, companionless (for poor old Hiero could scarcely serve +her turn) and ignorant perhaps that the world held other beings +endowed like herself with human gifts? Had she vainly sought +throughout nature for some kinship more intimate than nature could +yield her, and thus at length fancied herself a unique, independently +created soul, imperial over all things? Since her whole world was +comprised between the wall and the river, no doubt she believed the +reality of things extended no further. + +In Balder she had found a creature like, yet pleasingly unlike +herself, palpable to feeling as to sight, and gifted with that +articulate utterance which till now she had accounted her almost +peculiar faculty. Delightful might be the discovery, but awesome too, +frightening her back by its very tendency to draw her forward. + +Whether or not this were the solution of Gnulemah's mystery, Balder +recognized quiet to be his cue towards her. Probably he could not do +better than to get the ear of Doctor Hiero, and establish himself upon +a footing more conventional than the present one. His next step +accordingly was to ask after him by name. + +She peeped at the questioner between her fingers, but ventured not +quite to emerge from behind them, as she answered,--her primary +attempt at description,-- + +"Hiero is--Hiero!" + +"And how long have you been here?" inquired Balder with a smile. + +Gnulemah forgot her embarrassment in wondering how so remarkable a +creature happened to ask questions whose answers her whole world knew! + +"We are always here!" she exclaimed; and added, after a moment's +doubtful scrutiny, "Are you a spirit?" + +"An embodied spirit,--yes!" answered he, smiling again. + +"One of those I see beyond,"--she pointed towards the cliff,--"that +move and seem to live, but are only shadows in the great picture? No! +for I cannot touch them nor speak with them; they never answer me; +they are shadows." She paused and seemed to struggle with her +bewilderment. + +"They are shadows!" repeated Helwyse to himself. + +Though no Hermetic philosopher, he was aware of a symbolic truth in +the fanciful dogma. Outside his immediate circle, the world is a +shadow to every man; his fellow-beings are no more than apparitions, +till he grasps them by the hand. So to Gnulemah the cliff and the +garden wall were her limits of real existence. The great picture +outside could be true for her only after she had gone forth and felt +as well as seen it. + +Fancy aside, however, was not hers a condition morally and mentally +deplorable? Exquisitely developed in body, must not her mind have +grown rank with weeds,--beautiful perhaps, but poisonous? Herein +Balder fancied he could trace the one-sided influence of his +crack-brained uncle.--Whether his daughter or not, Gnulemah was +evidently a victim of his experimental mania. What particular crotchet +could he have been humoring in this case? Was it an attempt to get +back to the early sense of the human race? + +The materials for such an evolution were certainly of tempting +excellence. In point of beauty and apparent natural capacity, Gnulemah +might claim equality with the noblest daughter of the Pharaohs. The +grand primary problem of how to isolate her from all contact with the +outside world was, under the existing circumstances, easy of solution. +Beyond this there needed little positive treatment. Her creed must +arise from her own instinctive and intuitive impressions. Of all +beyond the reach of her hands, she trust to her eyes alone for +information; no marvel, therefore, if her conclusions concerning the +great intangible phenomena of the universe were fantastic as the +veriest heathen myths. The self-evolved feelings and impulses of a +black-eyed nymph like Gnulemah were not likely to be orthodox. She was +probably no better than a worshipper of vain delusions and idols of +the imagination. + +Her attire--a style of costume such as might have been the fashion in +the days of Cheops or Tuthmosis--showed a carrying out of the Doctor's +whim,--a matching of the external to the internal conditions of the +age he aimed to reproduce. The project seemed, on the whole, to have +been well conceived and consistently prosecuted. It was seldom that +Uncle Hiero achieved so harmonious a piece of work; but the idea +showed greater moral obliquity than Balder would have looked for in +the old gentleman. + +But there was no deep sincerity in the young man's strictures. There +before him stood the woman Gnulemah,--purple, white, and gold; a +vivid, breathing, warm-hued life; a soul and body rich with Oriental +splendor. There she stood, her hair flowing dark and silky from +beneath her twisted turban, her eyes,--black melted loadstones; the +broad Egyptian pendants gleaming and glowing from temple to shoulder. +The golden serpent seemed to writhe on her bosom, informed from its +wearer with a subtile vitality. Through all dominated a grand repose, +like the calm of nature, which storms may prove but not disthrone! + +There she stood,--enchanted princess, witch, goddess,--woman at all +events, palpable and undeniable. She must be accepted for what she +was, civilized or uncivilized, heathen or Christian. She was a +perfected achievement,--vain to argue how she might have been made +better. Who says that an evening cloud, gorgeous in purple and +heavenly gold, were more usefully employed fertilizing a garden-patch? + +Balder Helwyse, moreover, was not a simple utilitarian; he was almost +ready to make a religion of beauty. If he blamed his uncle for +shutting up this superb creature within herself, he failed not to +admire the result of the imprisonment. He knew he was beholding as +rare a spectacle as ever man's eyes were blessed withal; nor was he +slow to perceive the psychological interest of the situation. To a +student of mankind, if to no one else, Gnulemah was beyond estimation +precious. But had Balder forgotten what fruit his tree of philosophy +had already yielded him? + +At all events, he forbore to press his question as to the whereabouts +of Uncle Hiero, who would turn up sooner or later. It was enough for +the present to know that he still existed. Meanwhile he would sound +the depths of this fresh nature, undisturbed. + +The hoopoe (who had played an important part in promoting the +acquaintance thus far) forsook his perch above Balder's head, and +after hovering for a moment in mid-air, as if to select the best spot, +he alighted on the mossy cushion at the foot of the twin palm-trees. +Such a couch might Adam and Eve have rejoiced to find in Paradise. +Balder took the hint, and without more ado threw himself down there, +while Gnulemah half knelt, half sat beside him, propped on her arm, +her warm fingers buried in the cool moss. The little master-of-ceremonies +remained, with a fine sense of propriety, between the two, preening +and fluttering his brilliant feathers and casting diamond glances +sidelong. + +"You remember nothing before coming to this place, Gnulemah?" + +"Only dream-memories, that grow dimmer. Before this, I was a spirit in +the great picture, and when my lamp goes out I shall return thither." + +"Your lamp, Gnulemah?--what lamp?" + +"How can you understand me and yet not know what I know? My lamp is +the light of my life; it burns always in the temple yonder; when it +goes out my life will become a darkness, for I am Gnulemah, the +daughter of fire!" + +"I knew not that my uncle was a poet," muttered Balder to himself. "A +daughter of fire,--yes, there is lightning in her eyes!" Aloud he +said, secretly alluding to the manner of his descent into the +garden,-- + +"I dropped from the sky into your world, Gnulemah. Though we can talk +together, whatever we tell each other will be new." + +She caught the idea of a lifetime spent instructing this delightful +being, and receiving in return instruction from him. She entered at +once the charming vista. + +"Tell me," she began, bending towards him in her earnestness, "are +there others like you?--are they bright and beautiful as you are?--or +do they look like Hiero?" + +Balder laughed, and flushed, and his heart warmed pleasurably. Here +was a compliment from the very soul of nature. And albeit the lovely +flatterer's experience of men was avowedly most limited, yet her taste +was unvitiated as her sincerity, and her judgment may therefore have +been more valuable than that of the most practised belle of fashion. +But he answered modestly,-- + +"Hiero and I are both men, and there are as many men as stars in +heaven, and as many women as men, myriads of men and women, Gnulemah!" + +She lifted her face and hand in eloquent astonishment. + +"O, what a world!" she exclaimed in her low-toned way. "But are the +women all like me?" + +"There is not one like you," answered Balder, with the quiet emphasis +of conviction. How refreshing was it thus to set aside conventionalism! +Her ingenuousness brought forth the like from him. + +"Have you never wished to go beyond the wall?" he asked her. + +"Yes, often!" she said, fingering the golden serpent thoughtfully. +"But that could not be unless I put out the lamp. Sometimes I get +tired of this world,--it has changed since I first came to it." + +"Is it less beautiful?" + +"It is smaller than it used to be," said Gnulemah, pensively. "Once +the house was so high, it seemed to touch heaven;--see how it has +dwindled since then! And so with other things that are on earth. The +stars and the sun and clouds, they have not changed!" + +"That is a consolation, is it not?" observed Balder, between a smile +and a sigh. Gnulemah was not the first to charge upon the world the +alterations in the individual; nor the first, either, to find comfort +in the constancy of Heaven. + +She went on, won to further confidence by her listener's sympathy,-- + +"I used to hope the wall would one day become so low that I might pass +over it. But it has ceased to change, and is still too high. Shall I +ever see the other side?" + +"It can be broken down if need be. But you might go far before +finding a world so fair as this. Perhaps it would be better to stand +on the cliff, and only look forth across the river." + +"I cannot stay always here," returned Gnulemah, shaking her turbaned +head, with its gleaming bandeau and rattling pendants. "But no wall is +between me and the sky; the flame of my lamp goes upward, and why +should not Gnulemah?" + +"A friend is the only world one does not tire of," he replied after a +pause. "You have lacked companions." + +Gnulemah glanced down at the hoopoe, who forthwith warbled aloud and +fluttered up to her shoulder. The bird was her companion, and so, +likewise, were the plants and flowers. Gnulemah could converse with +them in their own language. Nature was her friend and confidant, and +intimately communed with her. + +All this was conveyed to Balder's apprehension, not by words, but by +some subtile expressiveness of eye and gesture. Gnulemah could give +voiceless utterances in a manner pregnant and felicitous almost beyond +belief. + +"I meet also a beautiful maiden in the looking-glass," she added; "her +face and motion are always the same as my own. But though she seems to +speak, her voice never reaches me; and she smiles, but only when I +smile; and mourns only when I mourn. We can never reach each other; +but there is more in her than in my birds and flowers." + +"She is the shadow of yourself; no reality, Gnulemah." + +"Are we shadows of each other, then? is she weary of her world, as I +of mine? shall we both escape to some other,--or only pass each into +the other's, and be separated as before?" + +Balder, like wise men before him, was at some loss how to bring his +wisdom to bear here. He could not in one sentence explain the +complicated phenomena in question. Fortunately, however, Gnulemah (who +had apparently not yet learned to appeal from her own to another's +judgment) seemed hardly to expect a solution to problems upon which +she had expended much private thought. + +"I have come to look on her as though she were myself, and she tells +me secrets which no one else can know. Some things she tells me that I +do not care to hear, but they are always true. I can see changes in; +her face that I feel in my own heart." + +"Does she teach you that you grow every day more beautiful?" He was +willing to prove whether Gnulemah could thus be disconcerted. Many a +woman had he known, surprisingly innocent until a chance word or +glance betrayed profoundest depths. + +"Our beauty is like the garden, which is beautiful every day, though +no day is just like another. But the changes I mean are in the spirit +that looks back at me from her eyes, when I enter deeply into them." + +What connection could, after all, subsist between beauty and vanity in +one who neither had rivals nor aught to rival for? Doubtless she +enjoyed her beauty,--the more, as her taste was pure of conventional +falsities. How much of worldly experience would it take to vitiate +that integrity in her? Would it not be better to leave her to end her +life, restricted to the same innocent and lovely companionship which +had been hers thus far? Here the hoopoe, startled at some movement +that Balder made, abandoned his perch on his mistress's shoulder, and +flew to the top of the palm-tree. Had the day when such friends would +suffice her needs gone by? + +Yes, it was now too late. No one who has beheld the sun can +thenceforth dispense with it. Balder had shone across the beautiful +recluse's path, and linked her to outside realities by a chain which, +whether he went or stayed, would never break. Flowers, birds, shadows +in the mirror,--less than nothing would these things be to her from +this hour on. + +Heretofore the intercourse between the two had been tentative and +incoherent,--a doubtful, aimless grappling with strange conditions +which seemed delightful, but might mask unknown dangers. No solid +basis of mutual acquaintanceship had been even approached. Balder, +accustomed though he was to woman's society, knew not how to apply his +experience here; while Gnulemah had not yet perhaps decided whether +her visitor were natural or supernatural. The man was probably the +less at ease of the two, finding himself in a pass through which +tradition nor culture could pilot him. Gnulemah, being used to daily +communion with things mysterious to her understanding, would scarcely +have altered her demeanor had Balder turned out to be a genie! + +But the first step towards fixing the relations between them was +already taken. The young man's abrupt movement of his hand to his face +(probably with purpose to stroke the beard no longer growing there) +had not only scared away the hoopoe, but had flashed on Gnulemah a ray +from the diamond ring. + +She rose to her feet suddenly, yet easily as a startled serpent rears +erect its body. Vivid emotion lightened in her face. Balder knew not +what to make of the look she gleamed at him. + +"What are you?" she asked, her voice sunk to almost a whisper. +"Hiero?--are you Hiero?" + +Balder stared confounded,--partly inclined to smile! + +"Come back,--transfigured!" she went on, her eyes deepening with awe. +What did it mean? Somewhat disturbed, Balder got also on his feet. As +he did so, Gnulemah crouched before him, holding out her hands like a +suppliant. An on-looker might have fancied that the would-be God had +found his worshipper at last! + +"My name is Balder," his Deityship managed to say. As he spoke, the +sun rounded the corner of the house, and the light fell brightly on +him, Gnulemah kneeling in shadow. The glory of his splendid youth +seemed to have shone out from within him in sudden effulgence. + +"Balder!" she slowly repeated, still gazing up at him. + +"There is a relationship between us," said he, a vague uneasiness +urging him to take refuge behind the quaint fantasy, "You are the +daughter of fire, and I the descendant of the sun!" + +He spoke the unpremeditated notion which the sunburst had created in +his brain,--spoke not seriously nor yet lightly. He had as much right +to his genealogy as she to hers. + +But what a strange effect his words wrought on her! She clasped her +hands together quickly in a kind of ecstasy. + +"The sun,--Balder! I have prayed to him,--he as come to me,--Balder, +my God!" With how divine an accent did her full low voice give him the +name to which he had dared aspire! He was God--and her God! + +He perhaps divined one part of the process through which her mind must +have gone; but he could not find a word to answer, whether of +acceptance or disclaimer. He turned pale,--his heart sick. Had the +recognition of his Godhood been too tardy? Gnulemah fancied he +repulsed her, and her passion kindled,--only religious passion, but it +seared him! + +"Do not be cold to me, Balder!"--his name as she uttered it moved him +as a blasphemy. "In my lonely kneelings I have felt you! my eyes +close, my hands grow together, my breath flutters, every breath is joy +and fear! I think 'He is with me,--the Being I adore!' but when I +opened my eyes, He was gone,--Balder!" + +Still motionless and seeming-deaf stood the Divinity, bathed in +mocking sunlight. He was powerless to stop her from unveiling to him, +as to a visible God the sacred places of her maiden heart. That +sublime office whose reversion he had boldly courted, in the +possession shrivelled his soul to nothing and left him dead. It was +not easy to be God,--even over one human being! + +But Gnulemah, in her mighty earnestness, knelt nearer, so that the +edge of Balder's sunlight smote the golden ornaments that clung round +her outstretched arms. She almost touched him, but though his spirit +recoiled, the doltish flesh would not be moved. + +"It was not to be always so," she continued, an appealing vehemence +quivering through her tones. "Some day I was to see Him and know Him +more clearly. Shine on me, Balder! am not I your priestess? in the +morning do not I worship you, and at noon, and in the evening? At +night do not I kneel at your altar and pray you to care for me while I +sleep? Hear me, Balder! I see you in all things,--they are your +thoughts and meet again in you! The sun himself is but your shadow! Do +not I know you, my Balder? Be not clouded from your servant! Leave me +not,--take me with you where you go!" + +It was at this moment that the young man's mind, stumbling stupidly +hither and thither, chanced to encounter that picture of the +courtesan, leaning from the open window in the city street, beckoning +him to come. She took Gnulemah's place, beckoning, making a hateful +parody of Gnulemah's expression and gestures. Could a devil take the +consecrated place of angels? or was the angel a worse devil in +disguise? In the same day, to him the same man, could two such voices +speak,--such faces look? And could the germ of Godhead abide in a soul +liable to the irony of such vicarious solicitation? + +Speech or motion was still denied him. His priestess, strengthened by +religious passion, was bold to touch with hers his divine hand, on the +finger of which demoniacally glittered the murder-token. The hand was +so cold and lax that even the smooth warmth of her soft fingers failed +to put life in it. + +"You have taken Hiero to yourself,--take me also! be my God as well as +his, for I shall be alone now he is gone. This ring which he always +wore--" + +Balder roughly snatched back his hand. + +"Hiero's ring?" + +"Why do you look so?--is it not a sign to me from him?" + +"Hiero's ring?--tell me, Gnulemah, is this Hiero's ring?--Stop--stand +up! No--call me Satan!--Hiero's ring!" + +"Where is Hiero, then?" demanded Gnulemah, rising and dilating. "You +wear his ring,--what have you done with him?--Is there no God?" + +The words came riding on the waves of deep-drawn breaths, for her soul +was in a tumult. Her life had thus far been like a quiet sequestered +pool, reflecting only the sky, and the ferns and flowers that bent +above its margin; ignorant, moreover, of its own depth and nature. +Now, invaded by storm, God and nature seemed swept away and lost, and +a terror of loneliness darkened over it. + +"Is there no Balder?" reiterated Gnulemah. But all at once the +fierceness in her eyes melted, as lightning is followed by summer +rain. She came so near,--he standing dulled with horror of his +discovery,--came so near that her breath touched him, and he could +hear the faint rustling of the white byssus on her bosom, and the soft +tinkle of the broad pendants that glowed against her black hair; and +could see how profoundly real her beauty was. Mighty and beneficent +must be the force or the law which could combine the rude elements +into such a form of life as this! + +"Let me live for you and serve you! Though the world has no Balder, +may not I have mine? You shall be everything to me! Without you I +cannot be; but I want no other God if I have my Balder!" + +This was another matter! Nevertheless,--so subtle is the boundary +between love human and divine,--Gnulemah in these first passionate +moments may easily have deemed the one no less sublime than the other. + +But there was no danger of Balder's falling into such an error. The +distinction was clear to him. Yet with remorse and abasement strove +the defiant impulse to pluck and eat--forgetful of this world and the +next the royal fruit so fairly held to his lips! For herein fails the +divinity of nature,--she can minister as well to man's depravity as to +his exaltation; which could not happen were she one with God. Nay, +man had need be strong with Divine inspiration, before communing +unharmed with nature's dangerous loveliness. + +His hand in Gnulemah's was now neither cold nor lax. She raised it in +impetuous homage to her forehead. The diamond left a mark there; first +white, then red. For a breath or two, their eyes saw depths in each +other beyond words' fathoming.... + +A door was closed above; and the echo stole down stairs and crept with +a hollow whisper into the conservatory. The little lord chamberlain +fluttered down from his lofty perch and hovered between the two faces, +his penetrating note sounding like a warning, Gnulemah drew back, and +a swift blush let fall its rosy veil from the golden gleam of her +jewelled forehead-band to below the head of the serpent which twisted +round her neck. + +One parting look she gave Balder, pregnant of new wonder, fear, and +joy. Then she turned and glided with quick ophidian grace to the +doorway from which she had first appeared, and was eclipsed by the +curtain. The inner door shut; she was gone. Dull, dull and colorless +was the conservatory. The hoopoe had flown out through the hall to the +open air. Only the crocodile continued to keep Balder company. + +After standing a few moments, he once more threw himself down on the +moss couch beneath the palm-trees. There he reclined as before, +supported on his elbow, and turned the diamond ring this way and that +on his finger in moody preoccupation. + +Was the crocodile asleep, or stealthily watching him? + + + + +XIX. + +BEFORE SUNDOWN. + + +If Balder Helwyse had been in a vein for self-criticism at this +juncture, the review might probably have dissatisfied him. He +possessed qualities which make men great. He could have discharged +august offices, for he saw things in large relations and yet minutely. +His mind and courage could rise to any enterprise, and carry it with +ease and cheerfully. His nature was even more receptive than active. +He had force of thought to electrify nations. + +But his was the old story of the star-gazer walking into the well, who +might have studied the stars in the well, but could not be warned of +the well by the stars. He had whistled grand chances down the wind, +reaching after what was superhuman. His hunger had been vast, but the +food wherewith he had filled himself nourished him not, and suddenly +he had collapsed. His first actual step towards realizing his lofty +aspirations had landed him low amongst earth's common criminals,--nor +had the harm stopped there. That defiant impulse to which he had just +now been on the point of yielding had not dared so much as to have +shown its face before his unvitiated will. He was disorganized and at +the mercy of events, because without law sufficient to keep and guide +himself. + +Though fallen, there was in him somewhat giant-like, perhaps easier to +see now than before,--as the ruin seems vaster than the perfect +building. The travail of a soul like Balder's must issue greatly, +whether for good or ill. He could not remain long inchoate, but the +elements would combine to make something either darker or fairer than +had been before. Meanwhile, in the uncrystallized solution the curious +analyst might detect traits bright or sinister, ordinarily invisible. +Here were softness, impetuosity, romantic imagination, and tender +fire, enough to set up half a dozen poets. Again, there was a fund of +malignity, coldness, and subtlety adequate to the making an Iago. +Here, too, were the clear sceptical intellect, the fertility and +versatile power of brain, which only the loftier minds of the world +have shown. + +Such seemingly incongruous qualities are, in the human crucible, so +mingled, proportioned, and refined, as to form a seeming simple and +transparent whole. We may feel the presence of a spirit weighty, +strong, deep, without understanding the how and why of impression. +Only at critical moments, such as this in Balder's life, can we point +out the joining lines. + +Balder's present attitude, viewed from whatever side, was no less +irksome than ignoble. One misfortune was with diabolic ingenuity +dovetailed into another. It was bad enough to have killed a man; but +the victim was his own uncle, and the father--at least the +foster-father--of Gnulemah. And she, forsooth, must idolize the +murderer; and, finally, his heart must leap forth in passionate +response to hers at the moment--partly perhaps for the reason--that +every honest motive forbade it. That look and touch, at the molten +point of various emotions, had welded their spirits together at once +and lastingly. + +What next? For Gnulemah and for himself what course was least +disastrous?--the heroic line,--to leave her without a word?--or, +concealing what he was, should he stay and be happy in her arms? Was +there a third alternative? + +"To part would be yet worse for her than for me. She would think I had +deceived her. And, love apart, how can I leave her whose only +protector I have killed? That deed puts me in his place; so love and +duty are at one for once. Her Balder,--her God,--she calls me. She is +my universe; the depth and limit of my knowledge and power are gauged +by her. Such is the issue of my aspirations!" + +He breathed out a half-laugh, ending in a sigh. "But loving her is +sweeter than to inform creation!" he added, aloud. + +The crocodile made no reply. Balder went on, fingering the telltale +ring and talking with himself; the earth, meanwhile, slowly turning +her warm shoulder to the western sun. A still half-light filled the +conservatory as with a clear mellow liquor, and the rich leaves, and +blossoms stood breathless with delight. The painfully rigid +contraction of Balder's features was softening away; he was coming +into harmony with the sensuous beauty of the scene, or its refined +voluptuousness--serene, unambitious, content with time and careless of +eternity--interpreted his altered temper. + +Be happy in the sunlight, O men and women! Love and kiss,--bow down +and worship each the other! Who can tell of another joy like this? +Everlasting knows it not, for only the flavor of death can give it +perfection! Save for the foreshadow of midnight, noonday were not +beautiful. But when night comes, sink ye in one another's arms, and +sleep! Heaven on earth is a richer, stronger draught than Heaven; but +pray that in vouchsafing death, it cheat ye not of annihilation! + +He had forgotten that there was anything ugly in the world, or that +the blindest cannot always escape the Gorgon. He recked not the risk +of bringing a being such as Gnulemah face to face with modern life, +nor bethought him that the secret in his heart would still be nearer +it than love could come. Neither, during this fortunate moment, did +fear of discovery harass him. + +Oddly, too, it was not to domestic comforts,--the love of wife, +children, and friends,--nor yet to the absorbing duties of a +profession, that Balder looked for a shield against inward trouble. +Hope held him no more than fear; his happiness must consist in freedom +from both. He thought only of the Gnulemah of to-day,--unique, +beautiful, untamed, divinely ignorant; but whose heart walked before, +leading the giddy mind by paths the wisest dared not tempt. The sounds +of her voice, the shiftings of her expression, her look, her +touch,--he recalled them all. He centred time and space in her. +Change, new conditions, succession of events,--these came not near +her. Their life should know neither past nor future, but abide a +constant Now,--until the end! + +His lips followed his thought with soundless movement. Handsome lips +they were,--the under, full, but sharply defined from the +bulwark-chin; the upper, slender, boldly curved, firm, yet +sensitive;--the mouth was a compendium of the man's physical nature. +His eyes, large and almost as dark as Gnulemah's, albeit far different +in effect,--were now in-looking; the pupils, always extraordinarily +large and brilliant, almost filled the space between the eyelids. His +hair clung round his head in yellow curls; the dark dense eyebrows +arched at ease. With velvet doublet and well-moulded limbs, in the +enchanted evening-glow, he looked the ideal fairy prince,--noble, +wise, and valiant; conquering fate for love's sake. They were brave +princes,--they of old time. But one wonders whether the giants and +enchanters, nowadays, are not stronger and subtler than they used to +be! + + + + +XX. + +BETWEEN WAKING AND SLEEPING. + + +There was an old woman in the house who went by the name of Nurse; her +duties being to cook the meals and preserve a sort of order in such of +the rooms as were occupied by the family. Since the greater part of +the house was uninhabited, and there were only two mouths to feed +beside her own, Nurse was not without leisure moments. How were they +employed? + +Not in gossiping, for she had no cronies. Not in millinery and +dressmaking, for there were no admiring eyes to reward such labors. +Not in gadding, for she might not pass the imprisoning wall. Not even +in reading, perhaps because she was not much of a proficient in that +art. + +The truth is that--to the outward eye at least--she was uniformly +idle. For years past she had spent many hours of each night in the +corner of the kitchen fireplace, which was as large, roomy, and +smoke-seasoned as any in story-books or mediæval halls. Here sat she, +winter and summer, her body bent forward over her knees, her +disfigured face supported on one hand, while the other lay across her +breast. This was her common position, and she seldom moved to change +it. She hummed tunes to herself sometimes,--not hymn tunes,--but never +was heard to utter an articulate word. Often you might have thought +her asleep,--but no! when you least expected it a shining black eye +was fixed oh you; an eye which, two hundred years ago, would have +convicted its owner of witchcraft. It was the only bright thing about +the poor woman. + +Whenever the master of the house came to the kitchen, Nurse's +witch-eye followed him animal-like; no movement of his, no expression, +seemed to escape it. A curious observer might sometimes have remarked +in her, during the few moments after the man's entrance, a muffled +agitation, an irregularity of the breath, an obscure anxiety and +suspense. This, however, would soon subside, and rarely recur during +his stay. The phenomenon had been observable daily for nearly a score +of years, yet nothing had meantime happened to explain or justify it. +Had an original dread--groundless or not--prolonged its phantom +existence precisely because it had never met with justification? + +Often for weeks at a time, complete silence would obtain between +master and Nurse. He would enter and ramble hither and thither the +ample kitchen; eat what had been prepared for him, and be off again +without a word or glance of acknowledgment. Or, again, pacing +irregularly to and fro before the fireplace, he would pour forth long +disjointed rhapsodies, wild speculations, hopes, and misgivings; his +mood changing from solemn to gay, and round through gusty passion to +morbid gloom. But never did he address his words to Nurse so much as +to himself or to some imaginary interlocutor; and she for her part +never answered him a syllable, but sat in silence through it all. Yet +was she ever alert to listen, and sometimes the subdued trembling +would come on and the obstruction of breath. But when the talker, in +mid-excitement of speech, snatched his violin and drew from it +melodies weirdly exquisite, soothing his diseased thoughts and +harmonizing them, Nurse would become once more composed; the phantom +danger was again put off, and the violinist would presently fall into +silence,--sometimes into sleep. But still, while he slept, the +witch-eye watched him; though with an expression of yearning, uncouth +intensity which seldom ventured forth while he was awake. + +With Gnulemah, Nurse's intercourse became yearly more and more +infrequent. As the child arose to womanhood, she grew apart from the +voiceless creature who had cared for her infancy. It was not +Gnulemah's fault, whose heart was never barren of loving impulses. +But mother, father, were words whose meaning she had never been +taught; and had Nurse comprehended the unconscious thirst and hunger +of the girl's soul,--unconscious, but not therefore harmless,--she +might have tried, by dint of affectionate observances and +companionship, to represent the motherly office which she had filled +in the beginning. But this was not to be. Some hidden agency had +forced the two ever farther asunder. Moreover, Gnulemah developed +rapidly, while Nurse underwent a process of gradual congealment,--her +wits and emotions became torpid. Besides this, she was the victim of +disfigurement, physical as well as spiritual; while Gnulemah, both +naturally and by training, was sensitive to beauty and ugliness. Other +surface causes no doubt there were, in addition to the hidden one, +which was perhaps the most potent of all. + +A considerable time had passed since Gnulemah's departure, when Balder +became aware that he was not alone in the conservatory. His thoughts +were all of Gnulemah, and he looked quickly round in expectation of +seeing her. The apparition of a widely different object startled him +to his feet. + +A female figure stood before him, wrapped in sad-colored garments of +anomalous description, her head tied up in dark turban-like folds of +cloth. A lock of rusty black hair escaped from beneath this head-dress +and hung down beside her face. She might once have been tall and +erect, but her form now sagged to the left, losing both height and +dignity. Her visage, seamed and furrowed by the scar of some terrible +calamity, had lost its natural contour. The left eye was extinguished, +but the right remained,--the only feature in its original state. It +was dark and bright, and possessed, by very virtue of its disfigured +environment, a repulsive kind of beauty. Its influence was peculiar. +In itself, it postulated an owner in the prime of life, handsome and +graceful. But, one's attention wandering, the woman's actual ugliness +impressed itself with an intensity enhanced by the imaginary contrast. + +A grotesque analogy was thus brought to light. The woman was dual. Her +right side lived; the left--blind, inert, and soulless--was dragged +about a dead weight. It was an unnatural emphasizing of the +spiritual-material composition of mankind. Observable, moreover, was +her strange method of disguising emotion. There was no muscular +constraint; she simply turned her blank left side to the spectator, +with an effect like the interposition of a dead wall! + +Such, on Balder's perhaps abnormally excited apprehension, was the +impression the nurse produced. She, on her part, was perhaps more +disconcerted than he. Her single eye settled upon him in a panic of +surprise. The dressing of the scene gave Balder a grisly reminder of +the first moments of Gnulemah's eloquent astonishment. There was as +great an apparent difference between the superb Egyptian and this poor +creature, as between good and evil; but there was also the +disagreeable suggestion of a similar kind of relationship. Gnulemah, +withered, stifled, and degraded by some unmentionable curse, might +have become a thing not unlike this woman. + +"Have we met before, madam?" asked Helwyse, impelled to the question +by what he took for a bewildered recognition in her eye. + +She moved her lips, but made no audible answer. + +"I am Balder Helwyse," he added; for he had made up his mind that all +concealments (save one) were unnecessary. + +A grotesque quake of emotion travelled through the woman's body, and +she gave utterance to a harsh inarticulate sound. She came confusedly +forwards, groping with hands outstretched. Balder, though not wont to +fail in courtesy to the sorriest hag, could scarce forbear recoiling; +especially because he fancied that an expression of affectionate +interest was struggling to get through the scarred incrustation of the +woman's nature. + +Perhaps she marked his inward shrinking, for she checked herself, and, +slowly turning her lifeless screen, hid behind it. It was impotent +deprecation translated into flesh,--at once ludicrous and painful. The +young man found so much difficulty in restraining the manifestation +of his distaste, that he blushed in the twilight at his own rudeness. +He would do his best to redeem himself. + +"Doctor Hiero Glyphic is my uncle," said he, moving to get on Nurse's +right side, and speaking in his pleasantest tone. "Is he at home? I +have come a long way to see him." + +Preoccupied by his amiable purpose to reassure the woman, Helwyse had +got to the end of this speech before realizing the ghastly mockery +involved in it. Nevertheless, it was well. Even thus falsely and +boldly must he henceforth speak and act. By a happy accident he had +opened the path, and must see to it that his further steps did not +retrograde. + +Still Nurse answered not a word, which was the less surprising, +inasmuch as she had been dumb for a quarter of a century past. But +Balder, supposing her silence to proceed from stupidity or deafness, +repeated more loudly and peremptorily,-- + +"Doctor Glyphic,--is he here? is he alive?" + +He felt a morbid curiosity to hear what reply would be made to the +question whose answer only he could know. But he was puzzled to +observe that it appeared to throw Nurse into a state of agitation as +great as though she had herself been the perpetrator of Balder's +crime! She stood quaking and irresolute, now peeping for a moment +from behind her screen, then dodging back with an increase of panic. + +This display--rendered more uncouth by its voicelessness--revolted the +æsthetic sensibilities of Helwyse. Besides, what was the meaning of +it? Had it actually been Davy Jones with whom he had striven on the +midnight sea? and had his adversary, instead of drowning, spread his +bat-wings for home, and left his supposititious murderer to disquiet +himself in vain? Verily, a practical joke worthy its author! + +This conceit revealed others, as a lightning-flash the midnight +landscape. Balder was encircled by witchcraft,--had been ferried by a +real Charon to no imaginary Hades. The quaint secluded beauty of +circumstance was an illusion, soon to be dispelled. Gnulemah +herself--miserable thought!--was perhaps a thing of evil; what if this +very hag were she in another form? Glancing round in the deepening +twilight, Balder fancied the dark, still plants and tropic shrubs +assumed demoniac forms, bending and crowding about him. The old witch +yonder was muttering some infernal spell; already he felt numbness in +his limbs, dizziness in his brain. + +The devils are gathering nearer. A heavy, heated atmosphere quivers +before his eyes, or else the witch and her unholy crew are uniting in +a reeling dance. In vain does Balder try to shut his eyes and escape +the giddy spectacle; they stare widely open and see things +supernatural. Nor can he ward off these with his hands, which are +rigid before him, and defy his will. The devilish jig becomes wilder, +and careers through the air, Balder sweeping with it. In mid-whirl, he +sees the crocodile,--cold, motionless, waiting with long, dry +jaws--for what? + +A cry breaks from him. With a wrench that strains his heart he bursts +loose from the devil's bonds that confine his limbs. The witch has +vanished, and Helwyse seems to himself to fall headlong from a vast +height, striking the earth at last helpless and broken. + +"Gnulemah!" + +Gasping out that name, he becomes insensible. + +Beneath an outside of respectable composure have turmoiled the tides +of such remorse and pain as only a man at once largely and finely made +can feel. Added to the mental excitement carried through many phases +to the point of distraction, have been bodily exertion and want of +food and sleep. The apparition of unnatural ugliness, of behavior +strange as her looks, coming upon him in this untoward condition, +needed not the heat of the conservatory and stupefying perfume of the +flowers to bring on the brief delirium and final unconsciousness. As +he lies there let us remember that his last word threw back the +unworthy, dark misgiving, that beauty and deformity, good and bad, +could by any jugglery become convertible. + +As a mere matter of fact, Nurse was no witch, nor had she, of her own +will and knowledge, done Balder any harm. On the contrary, she was +already at work, with trembling hands and painfully thumping heart, to +relieve his sad case. She was touched and agitated to a singular +degree. It was not the first time in the patient's life that she had +tended him. The reader has guessed her secret,--that she had known +Balder before he knew himself, and cared for him when his only cares +had been to eat and sleep. She knew her baby through his manly stature +and mature features, less from his likeness to his father than from +certain uneffaced traces of infantine form and expression. She was of +gypsy blood, and had looked on few human faces since last seeing his. +He did not recognize her until some time afterwards. All things +considered, it was hardly possible he should do so. + +It was curious to observe how awkwardly she now managed emotions that +had once flowed but too readily. She was moved by impulses which she +had long forgotten how to interpret. Her only outlet for tenderness +was her solitary eye, which might well have given way under the strain +thus put upon it. + +But by and by the inward heat began to thaw the stiff outward crust, +which had been hardening for so many years. Glimpses there were of the +handy, affectionate, sympathizing woman, emerging from fossilization. +Her withered heart once more hungered and thirsted, and the strange +duality tended to melt back again into unity. + +Balder's attack at length yielded, and a drowsy consciousness +returned, memory and reason being still partly in abeyance. His heavy, +half-closed eyes rested on darkness. A crooning sound was in his +ear,--a nursery lullaby, wordless but soothing. Where was he? Had he +been ill? Was he in his cradle at home? Was Salome sitting by to watch +him and give him his medicine? Yes, very ill he was, but would be +better in the morning; and meanwhile he would be a good boy, and not +cry and make a fuss and trouble Salome. + +"Nurse,--Sal!--I say, Sal!" + +Salome bent over him as of old. + +"Had such a funny dream, Sal! dreamt I was grown up, and--killed a +man! What makes you shake so, Sal? it wasn't true, you know! And I'm +going to be a good boy and go to sleep. Good night! give a kiss from +me--to--my--little--" + +So sinks he into slumber, profound as ever wooed his childhood; his +head pillowed in Salome's lap, his funny dream forgotten. + + + + +XXI. + +WE PICK UP ANOTHER THREAD. + + +Darkness and silence reigned in the conservatory; the group of the +sleeping man and attendant woman was lost in the warm gloom, and +scarcely a motion--the low drawing of a breath--told of their +presence. + +A great gray owl, which had passed the daylight in some obscure +corner, launched darkling forth on the air and winged hither and +thither,--once or twice fanning the sleeper's face with silent +pinions. The crocodile lazily edged off the stone, plumped quietly +into the water, and clambered up the hither margin of the pool, there +coming to another long pause. A snail, making a night-journey across +the floor, found in its path a diamond, sparkling with a light of its +own. The snail extended a cool cautious tentacle,--recoiled it +fastidiously and shaped a new course. A broad petal from a tall +flowering-shrub dropped wavering down, and seemed about to light on +Balder's forehead; but, swerving at the last moment, came to rest on +the scaly head of the crocodile. The night waited and listened, as +though for something to happen,--for some one to appear! Salome, too, +was waiting for some one;--was it for the dead? + +Meantime, pictures from the past glimmered through her memory. When, +in our magic mirror, we saw her struck down by the hand of her lover, +she was far from being the repulsive object she is now. Indeed, but +for that chance word let fall yesterday, about her having been badly +burnt, we might be at a loss to justify our recognition of her. + +After Manetho's rude dismissal of her, she fled--not knowing whither +better--to Thor Helwyse, who was living widowed in his Brooklyn house, +with his infant son and daughter. Because she had been Helen's +attendant, she besought Helen's husband to give her a home. She was in +sore trouble, but said no more than this; and Thor, suspecting nothing +of her connection with Manetho, gladly received her as nurse to his +children. + +But past sins and imprudences would find out Salome no less than +others. At the critical moment for herself and her fortunes, the house +took fire. She risked her life to save Thor's daughter, was herself +burned past recognition, and (one misfortune treading on another's +heels) balanced on death's verge for a month or two. She got well, in +part; but the faculty of speech had left her, and beauty of face and +figure was forever gone. + +In her manifold wretchedness, and after such devotion shown, it was +not in Thor's warm heart to part with her; so, losing much, she gained +something. She remained with her benefactor, whose manly courtesy ever +forbore to probe the secret of her woman's heart, over which as over +her face she always wore a veil. The world saw Salome no more. She sat +in the nursery, watching year by year the dark-eyed little maiden +playing with the fair-haired boy. Broad-shouldered Thor would come in, +with his grand, kindly face and royal beard; would kiss the little +girl and tussle with the boy, mightily laughing the while at the +former's solicitude for her playmate; would throw himself on the +groaning sofa, and exclaim in his deep voice,-- + +"God bless their dear little souls! Why, Nurse! when did a brother and +sister ever love each other like that,--eh?" + +Salome probably was not unhappy then; indeed,--whether she knew it or +not,--she was at her happiest. But new events were at hand; Thor, +growing yearly more restless, at length resolved to sell his house and +go to Europe, taking with him Salome and both the children. Everything +was ready, down to the packing of Salome's box. A day or two before +the sailing, Thor went to New Jersey, to bid farewell to his eccentric +brother-in-law. It was a warm summer day, and the children played from +morning till night in the front yard, while Nurse sat in the window +and kept her eye on them. Her thoughts, perhaps, travelled elsewhere. + +Since her misfortune she had, no doubt, had more opportunity than most +women for reflection: silence breeds thought. What she thought about, +no one knew; but she could hardly have forgotten Manetho. On this last +evening, when at the point of leaving America forever, it would have +been strange had no memory of him passed through her mind. + +She had not heard his name in the last four years, and she knew that +he suspected nothing of her whereabouts. Had he ever wished to see +her? she wondered and thought, "He would not know me if he did see +me!" With that came a tumultuous longing once more to look upon him. +Too late! Why had she not thought of this before? Now must her last +memory of him be still as when, disfigured by sudden rage, he turned +upon her and struck her on the bosom. There was the scar yet; the fire +had spared it! It was a keepsake which, as time passed, Salome +strangely learned to love! + +It was growing dusk,--time for the children to come in. They were +sitting deep in the abundant grass, weaving necklaces out of +dandelion-stems. Nurse leaned out of window and beckoned to attract +their attention. But either they were too much absorbed to notice +her, or they were wilfully blind; so Nurse rose to go out and fetch +them. + +Before reaching the open front door, she stopped short and her heart +seemed to turn over. A tall dark man was leaning over the fence, +talking with the little girl. Nurse shrank within the shadow of the +door, and thence peeped and listened,--as well as her beating pulses +would let her. + +"I know where fairy-land is," says the man, in the soft, engaging tone +that the listener so well remembers. "Come! shall we go together and +visit it?" + +"He come too?" asks the little maiden, nodding towards the boy, who is +portentously busy over his dandelions. + +"He may if he likes," the man answers with a smile. "But we must make +haste, or fairy-land will be shut up!" + +It flashes into Salome's head what this portends. She had heard this +man vow revenge on Thor long ago, and she now sees how he means to +keep his oath. He has shrewdly improved the opportunity of Thor's +absence, and has come intending to carry off either his son or his +daughter. Fortune, it seems, had chosen for him the dark-eyed little +girl. See! he stoops and lifts her gently over the wall, and they are +off for fairy-land! + +Rush out, Salome! alarm the neighborhood and force the kidnapper to +give up his booty! After Thor's kindness to you, will you be false to +him? Besides, what motive have you for unfaithfulness? Grant that you +love Manetho,--what harm, save to his revengeful passion, could result +from thwarting him? + +Salome acted oddly on this occasion,--it would seem, irrationally. But +that which appears to the spectator but a trivial modification may +have vital weight with the actor. Had Manetho taken Balder, for +example, Salome might have pursued another and more intelligible +course than the one she actually took. She hurried out of the door and +caught Manetho by the arm before he was twenty paces on his way. He +turned, savage but frightened, setting down the little girl but not +letting go her hand. She was in her happiest humor, and informed Nurse +that she was to be queen of fairy-land! + +Nurse lifted the veil from her face and looked steadfastly at Manetho +with her one eye. It was enough,--he saw in her but a hideous +object,--would never know her for the bright girl he had once +professed to love. Salome gave one sob, containing more of womanly +emotion than could be written down in many words, and then was quiet +and self-possessed. Manetho did not offer to escape, but stood on his +guard; half prepared, however,--from something in the woman's +manner,--to find her a confederate. + +"S'e come too?" chirped the unconscious little maiden. + +But Manetho's attention was turned to some words that Salome was +writing in a little blank-book which she always carried in her pocket +She offered to help him carry off the child, on condition of being +herself one of the party! + +He looked narrowly at the woman, but could make nothing by his +scrutiny. Was it love for the child that prompted her behavior? No; +for she could easily have raised the neighborhood against him. She +completely puzzled him, and she would give no explanations. What if he +should accept her offer? She would be an advantage as well as an +inconvenience. The child would have the care to which it had been +accustomed, and Manetho would thus be spared much embarrassment. When +the woman's help became superfluous, it would not be difficult to give +her the slip. + +There was small leisure for reflection. An agreement was made,--on +Salome's part, with a secret sense of intense triumph, not unmixed +with fear and pain. She caught up Master Balder and his dandelions, +kissed and hugged him violently, and locked him into the nursery; +where he was found some hours afterwards by his father, in a state of +great hunger and indignation. But the little dark-haired maiden was no +more. She was gone to her kingdom of fairy-land, and Nurse with her. +Long mourned Balder for his vanished playmate! + +Salome has kept her secret well. And now, there she sits, her +long-lost baby's head in her lap, thinking of old times; and the +longer she thinks, the more she softens and expands. Has she done a +great wrong in her life? Surely she has suffered greatly, and in a +manner that might well wither her to the core. But there must still +have been a germ of life in the shrivelled seed, which this +night--memorable in her existence--has begun to quicken. + +By and by come a few tears, with a struggle at first, then more +easily. Kind darkness lets us think of Salome bright and comely as in +the old days, with the added grace of inward beauty wrought by sad +experience. But, in truth, she is marred past earthly recovery. +Nothing removes a soul so far from human sympathy as +self-repression,--especially for any merely human end! + +The night creeps reluctantly westward; the gray owl wings back to his +shady corner; the adventurous snail, half-way up the palm-tree, glues +himself to the bark and turns in for a nap. The crocodile has resumed +his old position on the rock in the pool, and the flower petal floats +on the water. Here comes the brilliant hoopoe with his smart crest and +clear chirrup, impatient to bid Gnulemah good morning! All is as +before, save that the group beneath the palm-trees has disappeared! + + +Balder slept late, yet, on awakening, he thought he must be dreaming +still. He could not distinguish imagination from reality. His mind had +temporarily lost its grasp, his will its authority. Where was he? Was +it years or hours since he had entered Boston harbor? + +Suddenly rose before him the vision of the deadly struggle on the +midnight sea. Round this central point the rest crystallized in order. +His heart sank, and he sighed most heavily. But presently he rose to +his elbow and stared about in bewilderment. Had he ever seen this room +before? How came he here? + +He was lying on a carved bedstead, furnished with sheets of fine linen +and a counterpane of blue embroidered satin; but all bearing an +appearance of great age. The room was oval, like a bird's-egg halved +lengthwise; the smoothly vaulted ceiling being frescoed with a crowd +of figures. The rich and costly furniture harmonized with the +bedstead, and bore the same marks of age. The chairs and lounge were +satin-covered; the sumptuous toilet-table was fitted with a mirror of +true crystal; the arched window was curtained with azure satin and +lace. It was a chamber fit for a princess of the old _régime_, +unaltered since its fair occupant last abode in it. + +Balder now examined the frescos which covered wall and ceiling. The +subject seemed at the first glance to be a Last Judgment, or something +of that nature. A mingled rush of forms mounted on one side to the +bright zenith, and thence lapsed confusedly down the opposite descent. +The dark end of the room presented a cloud of gloomily fantastic +shapes, swerved from the main stream, and becoming darker and more +formless the farther they receded, till at the last they were lost in +a murky shadow. Not entirely lost, however; for as Balder gazed +awfully thitherward, the shadow seemed to resolve itself into a mass +of intertwined and struggling beings, neither animal nor human, but +combining the more unholy traits of both. + +But from the centre of the upward stream shone forms and faces of +angelic beauty; yet, on looking more narrowly, Balder discerned in +each one some ghastly peculiarity, revealing itself just when +enjoyment of the beauty was on the point of becoming complete. Such +was the effect that the most angelic forms were translated into +mocking demons, and where the light seemed brightest there was the +spiritual darkness most profound. + +In the zenith was a white lustre which obliterated distinction of form +as much as did the cloudy obscurity at the end of the room. Now the +design seemed about to unfold itself; then again it eluded the gazer's +grasp. Suddenly at length it stood revealed. A gigantic face, with +wide-floating hair and beard, looked down into Balder's own. Its +expression was of infinite malignity and despair. The impersonation of +all that is wicked and miserable, its place was at the top of Heaven; +it was moulded of those aspiring forms of light, and was the goal +which the brightest attained. Moreover, either by some ugly +coincidence or how otherwise he could not conceive, this countenance +of supreme evil was the very reflex of Balder's,--a portrait minutely +true, and, despite its satanic expression, growing every moment more +unmistakable. + +Was this accident, or the contrivance of an unknown and unfathomable +malice? Balder, Lord of Heaven, instinct with the essence of Hell! A +grim satire on his religious speculations! But what satirist had been +bitter enough so to forestall the years?--for the painting must have +been designed while Balder was still an infant. + +He threw himself off the bed and stepped to the window, and saw the +blue sky and the river rhyming it. The breath of the orchard visited +him, and he was greeted by the green grass and trees, He sighed with +relief. There had been three mornings since his return to America. For +the first he had blessed his own senses; the second had looked him out +of countenance but the third came with a benediction, serene and +mighty, such as Balder's soul had not hitherto been open to. + +"This is more than a plaster heaven," said he, looking up; "but I +fear, Balder Helwyse, your only heaven, thus far, has been of plaster. +You have seen this morning how the God of such a heaven looks. How +about the God of this larger Heaven, think you?" + +Presently he turned away from the window; but he had quaffed so deeply +of the morning glory, that the sinister frescos no longer depressed +him. They were ridiculously unimportant,--nothing more than stains on +the wall, in fact. Balder could not tell why he felt light-hearted. It +was solemn light-heartedness,--not the gayety of sensuous spirits, +such as he had experienced heretofore. It had little to do with +physical well-being, for the young man was still faint and dizzy, and +weak from hunger. Behold, then, at the foot of the bed, a carved table +covered with a damask cloth and crowned with an abundant breakfast; +not an ordinary breakfast of coffee, rolls, omelette, and beefsteak, +but a pastoral breakfast,--fresh milk, bread and honey and fruit and +mellow cheese,--such food as Adam might have begun the day with. + +In face of the yet unsolved mystery of his own presence in the room, +this new surprise caused Balder no special wonder. Beyond the +apparition of the ugly dumb woman, he recollected nothing of the +previous evening's experience. Could she have transported him hither? +Well, he would not let himself be disturbed by apparent miracles. "No +doubt the explanation is simple," thought he; and with that he began +his toilet. The dressing-table displayed a variety of dainty articles +such as a lady might be supposed to use,--pearl-handled brushes, +enamelled powder-boxes, slender vases of Meissen porcelain, a fanciful +ring-stand; from the half-open drawer a rich glimpse of an Indian fan; +a pair of delicate kid gloves, which only a woman's hands could have +worn, were thrown carelessly on the table. There were still the little +wrinkles in the fingers, but time had changed the pristine white to +dingy yellow. + +"Whose hands could have worn them? whose chamber was this?" mused +Balder. "Not Gnulemah's; she knows nothing of kid gloves and powder! +and these things were in use before she was born. Whose face was +reflected in this glass, when those gloves were thrown down here? Was +that her marriage-bed? Were children born in it?" + +His seizure of the night before must have dulled the edge of his wit, +else he had scarce asked questions which chance now answered for him. +A scratch on one corner of the polished mirror-surface showed, on +closer inspection, a name and a date written with a diamond. Shading +off the light with his hand, Balder read, "Helen, 1831." + +"My mother's name; the year I was born. My mother!" he repeated +softly, taking up the old yellow gloves. "And this room was my +birthplace,--and my little sister's! My mother's things, as she left +them; for father once told me that he never entered her room after she +was buried. She died here; and here my little sister and I began to +live. And here I am, again,--really the same little helpless innocent +baby who cried on that bed so long ago. Only not innocent now! +Perhaps, not helpless, either! + +"How happy that barber was yesterday! prattled about being born again. +Cannot I be born again,--to-day,--in this room? Here I first began, +and have come round the world to my starting-point. I will begin +afresh this morning." + +And heavily as he was weighted in the new race, he would not be +disheartened. Unuttered resolves brightened his eyes and made his +courage high. + +Before beginning breakfast, he returned to the window and drank again +of the divine blue and green. From the branch of a near tree the +hoopoe startled him and made him color. Was the bird an emissary from +Gnulemah? Balder's mouth drew back, and his chin and eyes +strengthened, as though some part of his unuttered resolves were +recalled by the thought of her. + +When he was ready to go, he turned at the door, and threw a parting +glance round the dainty old-fashioned chamber, trying to gather into +one all the thoughts, memories, and resolves connected with it. He +had nearly forgotten the frescos; the victorious sunshine had reduced +the figures, satanic or beautiful, to a meaningless agglomeration of +wandering lines and faded colors. As for his own portrait, it was no +longer distinguishable. + + + + +XXII. + +HEART AND HEAD. + + +Balder easily found his way to the conservatory, but it was +empty,--Gnulemah, at least, was not there! The tapestry curtain in her +doorway was pushed aside, the door itself open. Where should he seek +her? + +As he stood in doubt, he saw lying at his feet a violet. Picking it +up, he saw another some distance beyond it, and still another on the +threshold which he had just crossed. They were Gnulemah's +footsteps,--the scent of this sweet quarry, teaching him how to follow +her. So he followed, nor let one fragrant trace escape him; and +presently he had a nosegay of them. + +She was out of doors, then. Truly, on such a day as this, where else +should she be? What walls could presume to hold her? Her loveliness +was at one with nature's, and they attracted each other. To the +solitary nymph, her mighty playmate had been all-sufficient; for she +saw not the earth and sky as they appear nowadays to mankind, but the +divine meaning which they clothe. Thus she could converse with +animals, and could read plants and stones more profoundly than +botanist or geologist. She followed inward to her own fresh and +beautiful soul the sympathies which allied her to outward things, and +found there their true prototypes. + +But when the strong magnetism of a new human spirit began to act upon +her, these fine communings with nature suffered disturbance. In such +thunderstorms as the meeting of the electric forces must engender, +there was need of a trustworthier safeguard than simple perception of +a divine purpose underlying creation. Only the personal God is strong +enough to govern the relations of soul with soul. Barren of Eve, Adam +would not have fallen; but with her he will one day not only retrieve +his fall, but climb to a sublimer height than any to which he could +have aspired alone. + +Balder strolled out on the wide lawn. Southwestward wound an avenue of +great trees, overshadowing the narrow footpath that stole beneath +them. To the right, round the northern corner of the house, he could +see far off the white tops of the blossoming apple-trees; and beyond, +the river. The orchard perfume came riding on the untamed breeze, and +whispered a fragrant secret in the young man's ear. Orchardward he +pursued his search. + +As he went on, Gnulemah grew every moment nearer. At length he caught +the flutter of her mantle amidst the foliage, and presently saw her +on the brink of the precipice, looking out across the broad blue +river. Thus had he, through his glass, darkly, seen her stand the day +before. Were the crossing a river and the flight of a day all that +divided his past life from what he thought awaited him now! + +While yet at a distance, he called to her,--not from impatience, but +because he stood in awe of the meeting, and wanted the first moments +over. His voice touched Gnulemah like a beloved hand, and turned her +towards him. Her face, which had not learned to be the mask of +emotion, but was instead the full and immediate index thereof, +brightened with joy; and as he came near, the joy increased. Yet a +seriousness deep down in her eyes, marked the shadow of a night and +the dawn of another day. A spiritual chemistry had been working in +her. + +She did not move forward to meet him but stood delighting in the sense +of his ever-growing nearness. When at length he stood close before +her, she drew a long, pleasant breath and said,-- + +"A beautiful morning!" + +This was no commonplace greeting, for it was not made in a commonplace +manner. It said that his coming had consummated the else imperfect +beauty of nature, and won its expression from Gnulemah's lips. The +commonplace wondered to find itself transmuted into a compliment of +fine gold! + +Gnulemah's attire to-day was more Diana-like than yesterday's, and +looked as appropriate to her as leaves to trees or clouds to the sky. +Her dress, indeed, was not so much a conventional appendage as a +living, sensitive part of her, which might be supposed to change its +color and style in sympathy with her shifting moods and surroundings, +yet never losing certain distinctive traits which had their foundation +in her individual nature. + +"A beautiful morning!" returned Balder, taking her hand. "Were you +expecting me?" + +"I feared you might not show yourself to me again," she answered, with +sudden tears twinkling on her eyelashes. She seemed more tenderly +human and approachable to-day than heretofore. Had she found her +mountain-height of unmated solitude untenable?--found in herself a +yielding woman, and in Balder the strength that is a man? This +descent, which was a sweet ascent, made her endlessly more lovable. + +"I come here always when I feel lonely," continued she. "If it had not +been for this place, with its great outlook, I should often have been +too lonely to stay in the world." + +"We all need an outlook to a larger, world, Gnulemah." + +"Besides, you came to me from the other side!" said she glancing in +his face. + +"Did you see me there?" Balder was on the point of asking; but he was +wise enough to refrain. If he could believe it true, let him not tempt +his happiness; if faith were weak, why build a barrier against it? So +he kept silence. + +"You found my violets!" whispered Gnulemah, with a shy smile. "You +understand all I do and am; it is happiness to be with you." + +They sat down by mutual consent beneath a crooked old apple-tree, +which yet blossomed as pure and fresh as did the youngest in the +orchard. From beneath this white and perfumed tent was a view of the +distant city. + +Gnulemah could not be called talkative, yet in giving her thoughts +expression she outdid vocabularies. Many fine muscles there were +around her eyes, at the corners of her mouth, and especially in the +upper lip,--whose subtile curvings and contractions spoke volumes of +question, appeal, observation. Her form by its endless shiftings +uttered delicate phrases of pleasure, surprise, or love; her hands and +fingers were orators, and eloquent were the curlings and tappings of +her Arab feet. + +This kind of language would be blank to one used rather to hear words +than to feel them; but Balder, in, his present exalted mood, delighted +in it. Was there any enjoyment more refined than to see his thought, +before he had given it breath, lighten in the eyes of this daughter +of fire? and with his own eyes to catch the first pure glimmer of her +yet unborn fancies? A language genial of intimacy, for the talkers +must feel in order to utterance,--must meet each other, from the heart +outward, at every point. The human form is made of meanings. It is the +full thought of its Creator, comprising all other thoughts. Is it +blind chance or lifeless expediency that moulds the curves of woman's +bosom, builds up man's forehead like a citadel, and sets his head on +his shoulders? Is beauty beautiful, or are we cozened by congenial +ugliness? But Balder's philosophic scepticism should never have braved +a test like Gnulemah! + +Except music, painting, sculpture,--all the arts and inspiration of +them,--waited on the nib of the pen, such talk as passed between these +two could not be written. Some things--and those not the least +profound and admirable of life--transcend the cunning of man to +interpret them, unless to an apprehension as fine as they! We are fain +to content ourselves with the husks. + +"It must be happy there!" said Gnulemah, looking cityward. "So many +Balders and Gnulemahs!" + +"Why happy?" asked the man of the world, with a faint smile. + +"We are only two, and have known each other to-day and yesterday. But +they, you said, are as many as the stars, and have been together many +yesterdays." + +Such was the woman's unclinched argument, leaving her listener to draw +the inference. He would not forestall her enlightenment from the grim +page of his own experience. But do not many pure and loving souls pass +through the world without once noticing how bad most of the roads are, +and how vexed the climates? So might not the earthly heaven of +Gnulemah's imagination tenderly blind her to the unheavenly earth of +Balder's knowledge? + +Through his abstraction Balder felt on his hand a touch soft as the +flowing of a breath, yet pregnant of indefinite apprehension. When two +clouds meet, there is a hush and calm; but the first seeming-trifling +lightning-flash brings on the storm whereby earth's face is altered. +So Balder, full-charged as the thunder-cloud, awaited fearfully the +first vivid word which should light the way for those he had resolved +to speak. + +"I see you with my open eyes, Balder, and touch you and hear you. Is +this the end I thought would come? Balder, are you greatest?" With +full trust she appealed to him to testify concerning himself. This was +the seriousness he had marked beneath the smile. + +"Are you content it should be so?" + +She plucked a blade of grass and tied it in a knot, and began, +drawing a trembling breath between each few words,-- + +"O Balder,--if I must kneel to you as to the last and greatest of +all,--if there is nothing too holy to be seen and touched,--if there +is no Presence too sublime for me to comprehend--" + +"What then?" asked he, meeting her troubled look with a strong, +cheerful glance. + +"Then the world is less beautiful than I thought it; the sun is less +bright, and I am no more pleasing to myself." Tears began to flow down +her noble cheeks; but Balder's eyes grew brighter, seeing which, +Gnulemah was encouraged to continue. + +"How could I be happy? for either must I draw myself apart from you--O +Balder!--or else live as your equal, and so degrade you; for I am not +a goddess!" + +"Then there are no goddesses on earth, nor gods! Gnulemah, you need +not shrink from me for that." + +The beautiful woman smiled through her sparkling eyelashes. She could +love and reverence the man who, as a deity, bewildered and +disappointed her. But was the intuition therefore false which had +revealed to her the grand conception of a supreme, eternal God? + +They sat silent for a while, and neither looked in the other's face. +They had struck a sacred chord, and the sweet, powerful sound thrilled +Balder no less than Gnulemah. But presently he looked up; his cheeks +warmed, and his heart swelled out. He was about to put in jeopardy his +most immediate jewel, and the very greatness of the risk gave him +courage. Not to the world, that could not judge him righteously, would +he confess his crime,--but to the woman he loved and who loved him. +Her verdict could not fail to be just and true. + +Could a woman's judgment of her lover be impartial? Yes, if her +instincts be pure and harmonious, and her worldly knowledge that of a +child. Her discrimination between right and wrong would be at once +accurate and involuntary, like the test of poison. Love for the +criminal would but sharpen her intuition. The sentence would not be +spoken, but would be readable in eyes untainted alike by prejudice or +sophistry. + +Gnulemah was thus made the touchstone of Balder's morality. He stood +ready to abide by her decision. Her understanding of the case should +first be made full; then, if condemned by her look, he would publish +his crime to the world, and suffer its penalty. But should her eyes +absolve him, then was crime an illusion, evil but undeveloped good, +the stain of blood a prejudice, and Cain no outcast, but the venerable +forefather of true freedom. + +Unsearchable is the heart of man. Balder had looked forward to +condemnation with a wholesome solemnity which cheered while it +chastened him. But the thought of acquittal, and at Gnulemah's hands, +appalled him. The implicit consequences to humanity seemed more +formidable than the worst which condemnation could bring upon himself. +So much had he lately changed his point of view, that only the fear of +seeing his former creed confirmed could have now availed to stifle his +confession. + +But that fear did not much disquiet him; he trusted too deeply in his +judge to believe that she would justify it. In short, Gnulemah was in +his opinion right-minded, exactly in proportion as she should convict +him of being in the wrong. Balder resigned the helm of his vessel, +laden as she was with the fruits of years of thought and speculation, +at the critical moment of her voyage,--resigned her to the guidance of +a woman's unreasoning intuition. He might almost as well have averred +that the highest reach of intellect is to a perception of the better +worth and wisdom of an unlearned heart. + + + + +XXIII. + +BALDER TELLS AN UNTRUTH. + + +By way of enheartening himself for what he was to do, Balder kissed +the posy of Gnulemah's fragrant footsteps. He kept his eyes down, lest +she should see something in them to distract her attention from his +story. He must go artfully to work,--gain her assent to the abstract +principles before marshalling them against himself. + +Meanwhile Gnulemah had picked up a gold beetle, and was examining it +with a certain grave interest. + +"I never told you how I came by this ring of Hiero's. It was the night +before I first saw you, Gnulemah." + +"The ring guided you to me!" said she, glancing at his downcast +visage. + +"Perhaps it did!" he muttered, struck by the ingenious superstition; +and he eyed the keen diamond half suspiciously. How fiercely the +little serpents were struggling for it! "But Hiero--he has lost it, +and you will see him no more!" + +"You are with me!" returns she, shining out at him from beneath her +level brows. What should she know of death and parting? + +Balder still forbore to raise his face. Gnulemah was in a frolicsome +humor, the reaction of her foregoing solemnity. But Balder, who deemed +this hour the gravest of his life, was taken aback by her unseasonable +gayety. Casting about for means to sober her,--an ungracious thing for +a lover to do!--he hit upon the gold beetle. + +"Dead; the poor little beetle! Do you know what death is, Gnulemah?" + +"It is what makes life. The sun dies every night, to get life for the +morning. And trees die when cold comes, so as to smile out in green +leaves again,--greener than if there had been no death. So it is with +all things." + +"Not with everything," said Balder, taking her light-heartedness very +gravely. "That gold beetle in your hand is dead, and will never live +or move again." + +But at that Gnulemah smiled; and bringing her hand, with the beetle in +it, near her perfect lips, she lent it a full warm breath,--enough to +have enlivened an Egyptian scarabæus,--and behold! the beetle spread +its wings and whizzed away. Before Balder could recover from this +unexpected refutation, the lovely witch followed up her advantage. + +"You thought, perhaps, that Hiero was as dead as the little beetle; +but he lives more beautifully in you!" + +He looked startled up, his large eyes glittering blackly in the +paleness of his face. Gnulemah, with the serenity of a victorious +disputant willing to make allowances, continued,-- + +"It may be different in the outside world from which you come; but +here death ends nothing, but makes life new and strong." + +After a silence of some duration, poor Balder renewed his attack from +another quarter. + +"What would you think of one who put to death a creature you loved?" + +She smiled, and shook her glowing pendants. + +"Only God puts to death; and no one would hurt a thing I love!" + +"What should you think of one who put to death a man?" + +Gnulemah looked for a moment perplexed and indignant. Then, to +Balder's great discomfiture, she laughed like a bird-chorus. + +"Why do you imagine what cannot be? Would you and Hiero kill each +other? The gray owl kills little mice, but that is to eat them. Would +you eat Hiero--" + +"Don't laugh, Gnulemah!" besought he. "I should kill him, not as +animals kill one another, but from rage and hatred." + +"Hatred!" repeated Gnulemah, dislikingly; "hatred,--what is it?" + +"A passion of men's hearts,--the wish that evil may befall others. +When the hatred is bitter enough, and the opportunity fair, they +kill!" + +Gnulemah shuddered slightly and looked sad. Then she leaned towards +Balder and touched his shoulder persuasively. + +"Never think of such things, or talk of them! Could you hate anyone, +Balder? or kill him if you did?" + +With that glorious presence so near him,--her voice so close to his +ear,--how could he answer her? His heart awoke, and beat and drove the +tingling blood tumultuously forth to the remotest veins. She saw the +flush, and caught the passionate brilliancy of his eyes. Happy and +afraid, she drew back, saying in haste,-- + +"You have not told me yet about the ring!" + +That was not wisely said! Balder checked himself with a sudden, strong +hand, and held still,--his brows lowered down and his lips settled +together,--until his pulses were quiet and his cheeks once more pale. + +"I will tell you," he said; "but to understand, you must first hear +some other things." He hesitated, face to face with an analysis of +murder. The position was at once stimulating and appalling. To dissect +and reduce to its elements that grisly murder-devil which had once +possessed his own soul, and whose writhings beneath the scalpel he +would therefore feel as his own--here loomed a prospect large and +terrible! Nevertheless, Balder took up the knife. + +The white petal of an apple-blossom, part from its calyx, came +floating earthwards; but a breeze caught it and wafted it aloft. It +sank again, and was again arrested and borne skywards. Finally is +disappeared over the cliff-edge. + +"The weight that made it fall is of the earth," said Balder (both he +and Gnulemah had been watching the petal's course). "The breeze that +buoyed it up was from heaven, and so it is with man. Were there no +heavenly support, he would fall at once, but whether or not, he always +tends to fall." + +Gnulemah objected, "It loves the air better than the earth!" + +"When man begins to fall, he becomes mad, and thinks he is not +falling, but that earth is heaven, to which he is rising. But since +earth is not like heaven, infinite, he does not wish others to enjoy +it, lest his own pleasure be marred." + +"How can that be?" said the unwilling Gnulemah. "What can make men so +happy on earth as other men?" + +"Each wants all power for himself," rejoined Balder, his voice growing +stern as he pursued his theme. "They want to hurl their fellows out of +the world, even to annihilation. Every moment this hatred is let grow +in the heart's garden, it spreads and strengthens, till it gains +dominion and makes men slaves, and madder than before. Each will be +above his rival,--his enemy! he will be absolute master over him. And +from that resolve is born murder!" + +"Why do you tell Gnulemah this?" she asked, lifting her head like a +majestic serpent. But she could not stop him now. His voice, measured +at first, was now driven by emotion. + +"Murder comes next; and many a man, had fear or impotence not withheld +him, would have done murder a thousand times. But sometimes the demon +leaps up and masters impotence and fear. The man is drunk with +immeasurable selfishness,--greater than the universe can satisfy; +which would fain make one victim after another, till all the human +race should be destroyed; and then would it turn against Heaven and +God. Save for man's mortal frailty, the population of the world would +ever and anon be swept away by some giant murderer. + +"Wickedness grows faster, the wickeder it is; he who has been wicked +once will easily be so again,--the more easily as his crime was great. +Even though through all his mortal life he sin no more, yet his drift +is thitherward! Only the air of Heaven breathing through his soul +after death can make him pure." + +Balder was speaking out all the gloom and terror which had been +silently gathering within him since his fatal night. As he spoke, his +mind expanded, and perceived things before unknown. As the reasons for +condemnation multiplied, he did but push on the harder, striking at +each tender spot in his own armor. And as the day turned fatally +against him, his face looked great and heroic, and his voice sounded +almost triumphant. + +Thus far, he had only generalized; now, he was come to his own plight. +On several points he had been painfully in doubt: whether he had done +the deed in self-defence; whether he had meant to do it; whether it +had not been a blind, mad accident, since swollen by fevered +imagination into the likeness of wilful crime. But against such doubts +arrayed itself the ineffaceable memory of that wild joy which had +filled his soul, when he had felt his enemy in his power! Had the man +survived, Balder might still have doubted; being dead, doubts were but +cowardly sophistry. + +But during the brief pause he made, came a backward recoil of that +impulse which had swept him on. All at once he was cold, and wavered. +Gnulemah was sitting with her elbow on her knee, her strange eyes +fixed upon him. Had he duly considered what effect all this might have +on her? In aiming at his own life, might not the sword pass also +through hers? Abruptly to behold sin,--to find in the first man she +had learnt to know, the sinner,--to be left this burden on her untried +soul,--might this not ruin more than her earthly happiness? Did she +still love him, such love could end only in misery; should she hate +him who of all men was bound to protect her defencelessness,--that +were misery indeed! + +This misgiving, arresting his hand at the instant of delivering the +final blow, almost discouraged the much-tried man. He glanced sullenly +toward the edge of the cliff, only a few yards off. A new thought +jarred through his nerves! He got up and walked to the brink. Full +sixty feet to the bottom. + +Gnulemah also rose slowly, and stretched herself like a tired child, +sending a lazy tension through every noble limb and polished muscle. +She sighed with a deep breathing in and out, and pressed her hands +against her temples. + +"I was not made to understand such things. Tell me of what you have +done or seen--I shall understand that. The things my love does not +enter only trouble me and make me sad." + +As she spoke, she turned away towards the house. She saw, or thought +she saw, a man's figure stealing cautiously behind a clump of bushes +near the north-eastern corner. Her listlessness fell from, her like a +mantle, and she watched, motionless! + +Her last words had goaded Balder past bearing. As she turned away, his +face looked grim and forlorn. He balanced with half-raised arms on the +cliff's brink. The river slumbered bluely on below, peace was aloft in +the sky, and joy in the trees and grass. But in the man were darkness +and despair and loathing of his God-given life! + +The thing he meditated was not to be, however. Close in shore a little +boat glided into view, beating up against stream. In the stern, the +sheet in one hand and the tiller in the other, sat Balder's old friend +Charon. He nodded up at the young man with a recognizing grin. Then he +laid his tiller-hand aside his brown cheek and sang out,-- + +"Look out there, Capt'n! Davy Jones's got back,--run foul of you!" + +The next moment he put down the helm and ran out. + +Meantime Balder, coloring from shame, had stepped back from his +dangerous position; and the peril was past. But the paltering +irresolution which he had at all points displayed urged him to redeem +himself,--else was he lower than a criminal. He went towards +Gnulemah,--knelt down,--caught her dress,--he knew not what he did! In +a blind dance of sentences he told her that he was a murderer, that +all he had said pointed at himself, that with his own hands he had +killed Hiero, whose body now lay at the bottom of the sea; many +frantic words he spoke. Thus, without art or rhetoric, roughly dragged +forth by head and ears, came his momentous confession into the world. +Gnulemah had more than once striven to check it, but in vain. When he +had come to an end, and stood tense and quivering as a bowstring whose +arrow has just flown, these words reached him:-- + +"Hiero is not dead; he is there behind the trees." + +Stiffly he turned and stared bewildered. Landscape, sky, Gnulemah, +swam before his eyes in fragments, like images in troubled water. She +put out her arm and tenderly supported him. + +"Where?" said he at length. + +"Near the house,--there!" she pointed. + +Balder began to walk forward doubtfully. But, suddenly realizing what +lay before him, clearness and vigor ebbed back. He saw a figure turn +the corner of the house. Then he leapt out and ran like a stag-hound! + + + + +XXIV. + +UNCLE HIERO AT LAST. + + +In a couple of minutes Balder was at the house, breathless: the figure +was nowhere to be seen. He sprang across the broad portico, and +hurried with sounding feet through the oaken hall. Should he go up +stairs, or on to the conservatory? The sound of a softly shutting door +from the latter direction decided him. The place looked as when he +left it a half-hour before. Gnulemah's curtain had not been moved. The +other door was closed; he ran up the steps between the granite +sphinxes, and found it locked. Butting his shoulder against the panel +with impatient force, the hinges broke from their rotten fastenings, +and the door gave inwards. Balder stepped past it, and found himself +in the sombre lamp-lit interior of the temple. + +He could discern but little; the place seemed vast; the corners were +veiled in profound shadow. At the farther end a huge lamp was +suspended, by a chain from the roof, over a triangular altar of black +marble. The architecture of the room was strange and massive as of +Egyptian temples. Strong, dark colors met the eye on all sides; in the +panels of the walls and distant ceiling fantastic devices showed +obscurely forth. Nine mighty columns, of design like those in the +doorway, were ranged along the walls, their capitals buried in the +upward gloom. + +Becoming used to the dusk, Balder now marked an array of colossal +upright forms, alternating between the pillars. Their rough +resemblance to human figures drew him towards one of them: it was an +Egyptian sarcophagus covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and +probably holding an immemorial mass of spiced flesh and rags. These +silent relics of a prehistoric past seemed to be the only company +present. In view of his uncle's well-known tastes, the nephew was not +unprepared to meet these gentry. + +But he was come to seek the living, not the dead. The figure that he +had seen outside must be within these four walls, there being no other +visible outlet besides the door through which Balder had entered. Was +old Hiero Glyphic lurking in one of these darksome corners, or behind +some thick-set column? The young man looked about him as sharply as he +could, but nothing moved except the shadows thrown by the lamp, which +was vibrating pendulum-like on its long chain. + +He approached this lamp, his steps echoing on the floor of polished +granite. What had set the thing swinging? It had a leisurely +elliptical motion, as from a moderate push sideways. The lamp was +wrought in bronze, antique of fashion and ornament. It had capacity +for gallons of oil, and would burn for weeks without refilling. The +altar beneath was a plain black marble prism, highly polished, resting +upon a round base of alabaster. A handful of ashes crowned its top. +Between the altar and the wall intervened a space of about seven feet. + +The glare of the lamp had blinded Balder to what was beyond it; but, +on stepping round it, he was confronted by an old-fashioned upright +clock, such as were in vogue upon staircase-landings and in +entrance-halls a hundred years ago. With its broad, white, dial-plate, +high shoulders, and dark mahogany case, it looked not unlike a tall, +flat-featured man, holding himself stiffly erect. But whether man or +clock, it was lifeless; the hands were motionless,--there was no sound +of human or mechanical heart-beat within though Balder held his yet +panting breath to listen. Was it Time's coffin, wherein his corpse had +lain still many a silent year,--only that years must stand still +without Time to drive them on! But this still had had no part in the +moving world,--knew naught of life and change, day and night. Here +dwelt a moveless present,--a present at once past and to come, yet +never here! No wonder the mummies felt at home! though even they could +only partially appreciate the situation. + +The clock was fastened against the wall. The longer Balder gazed at +it, the more human-like did it appear. Its face was ornamented with +colored pictures of astronomical processes, sufficiently resembling a +set of shadowy features, of a depressed and insignificant type. The +mahogany case served for a close-fitting brown surtout, buttoned to +the chin. The slow vibration of the lamp produced on the countenance +the similitude of a periodically recurring grimace. + +Not only did the clock look human, but--or so Balder fancied--it bore +a grotesque and extravagant likeness to a certain elderly relative of +his, whose portrait he had carried in an inner pocket of his +haversack,--now in Long Island Sound. It reminded him, in a word, of +poor old Uncle Hiero, whom he had--no, no!--who was alive and well, +and was perhaps even now observing his dear nephew's perplexity, and +maliciously chuckling over it! + +The young man glanced uneasily over his shoulder, but all beyond the +lamp was a gloomy blank, The same moment he trod upon some tough, +thick substance, which yielded beneath his foot! Thoroughly startled, +he jumped back. It lay near the foot of the clock. He stooped, picked +it up, and held in his hands the well-known haversack, from which he +had parted on board the "Empire State." How his heart beat as he +examined it! It was stained and whitened with salt water, and the +strap was broken in two. Opening it, there were his toilet articles +and all his other treasures,--even the cherished miniature,--not much +the worse for their wetting. So there could no longer be any doubt +that his uncle had come back. Where was he? + +That queer fancy about the clock stuck in Balder's head! Somehow or +other it must be connected with Doctor Glyphic. The haversack, dropped +at its foot, was direct evidence. Yet, did ever wise man harbor notion +so irrational! Its manifest absurdity only excuse for thinking it. + +With no declared object in view, Balder grasped the clock by its high +shoulders and shook it, but with no result. He next struck the smartly +with clenched fist: the blow sounded,--not hollow, but close and +muffled! The case either solid, or filled with something that deadened +the echo. Filled with what? who would think of putting anything in a +clock? It was big enough to be sure, to hold a man, if he could find a +way to get in! + +The sequence of thoughts is often obscure, but Balder's next idea, +wild as it was, could hardly be called incoherent. A man might be +conceived to be in the clock; perhaps a man was in it; but if so, the +man could be none other than Doctor Hiero Glyphic! + +This conclusion once imagined, suspense was unendurable. The logician +tried to open the front of the case, but it was riveted fast. With +impetuous fingers he then wrenched at the disc. With a sound like a +rusty screech, it came off in his hands. The lamp so flickered that +Balder feared it was going out, and even at this epoch had to look +round to reassure himself. Meanwhile, a pungent, but not unpleasant +odor saluted his nostrils: he turned back to the clock,--a clock no +longer!--and beheld the unmistakable lineaments of his worthy uncle +peeping forth with half-shut eyes from the place where the dial-plate +had been. + +The nephew dropped the dial-plate, and it was shattered on the granite +floor. He was badly frightened. There was no delusion about the +face,--it was a sufficiently peculiar one; and the miniature portrait, +though doing the Doctor's beauty at least justice, was accurate enough +to identify him by. This was no unsubstantial apparition,--no brain +phantom, to waver and vanish, leaving only an uncomfortable doubt +whether it had been at all. Stolid, undeniable matter was, peering +phlegmatically between its wrinkled eyelids. + +But admitting that now, at last, we have lighted upon the genuine and +authentic Doctor Glyphic, why should the sight of him so oddly affect +Balder Helwyse, whose avowed object in pulling off the dial-plate had +been to justify a suspicion that Uncle Hiero was behind it? Why, +moreover, did the young man not address his relative, congratulating +himself upon their meeting, and rallying the old gentleman on his +attempt to escape his nephew's affectionate solicitude? There had, +indeed, been a misunderstanding at their last encounter, and Balder +had so far forgotten himself as to throw Hiero into the sea; but it +was the part of good-breeding, as well as of Christianity, to forget +such errors, and heal the bruise with an extra application of balsamic +verbiage. + +Why so speechless, Balder? Do you wait for your host to speak first? +Nay, never stand on ceremony. He is an eccentric recluse, unused to +the ways of society, while a man of the world like you has at his +tongue's tip a score of phrases just suited to the occasion. Speak up, +therefore, in your most genial tone, and tell the Doctor how glad you +are to find him in such wonderful preservation! Put him at his ease by +feigning that his position appears to you the most natural in the +world,--just what befits a gentleman of his years and honors! Flatter +him, if only from self-interest, for he has a deep pocket, and may be +induced to let you put a hand in it. + +Not a word in response to all this eloquence, Balder? Positively your +behavior appears rather curmudgeonly than heroic! You stand gazing at +your relative with almost as much fixedness as he returns your stare +withal. There is something odd about this. + +What is that pungent odor? Is the Doctor a dandy, that he should use +perfumes? And where did he get so peculiar a scent as this? It is +commonly in vogue only at that particular toilet which no man ever +performed for himself, but which never needs to be done twice,--a kind +of toilet, by the way, especially prevalent amongst the ancient +Egyptians. Since, then, Doctor Glyphic is so ardent an Egyptologist, +perhaps we have hit upon the secret of his remarkable odoriferousness. +But to shut one's self up in a box that looks so uncommonly like a +coffin,--is not that carrying the antiquarian whim a trifle too far? + +This face of his,--one fancies there is a curiously dry look about it! +The unnaturally yellow skin resembles a piece of good-for-nothing +wrinkled parchment. The lips partake of the prevailing sallow tint, +and the mouth hangs a little awry. From the cloth in which the head is +so elaborately bandaged up strays forth, here and there, an arid lock +of hair. The lack of united expression in his features produces an +effect seldom observable in a living face. The eyes are lustreless, +and densely black; or possibly (the suspicion is a startling one) we +are looking into empty eye-sockets! No eyes, no expression, parchment +skin, swathed head, odor of myrrh and cassia, and, dominating all, +this ghastly immobility! Has Doctor Glyphic even now escaped, leaving +us to waste time and sentiment over some worn-out disguise of his? +Nay, if he be not here, we need not seek him further. Having forsaken +this, he can attain no other earthly hiding-place. We must pause here, +and believe either that this dry time-husk is the very last of poor +Hiero, or that a living being which once bore his name has vanished +inward from our reach, and now treads a more real earth than any that +time and space are sovereign over. + +Balder (whose perceptions were unlimited by artistic requirements) +probably needed no second glance to assure him that his uncle was a +mummy of many years' standing. But no effort of mental gymnastics +could explain him the fact. Were this real, then was his steamboat +adventure a dream, the revelation of the ring a delusion, and his +water-stained haversack a phantom. He wandered clewless in a maze of +mystery. Nor was this the first paradox he had encountered since +overleaping the brick wall. He began to question whether +supernaturalism had not teen too hastily dismissed by lovers of +wisdom! + +Thus do the actors in the play of life plod from one to another +scene, nor once rise to a height whence a glance might survey past and +future. Memory and prophecy are twin sisters,--nay, they are +essentially one muse, whom mankind worships on this side and slights +on that. This is well, for had she but one aspect, the world would be +either too confident or too helpless. But in reviewing a life, one is +apt to make less than due allowance for the helplessness. Thus it is +no prejudice to Balder's intellectual acumen that he failed for a +moment to penetrate the thin disguises of events, and to perceive +relations obvious to the comprehensive view of history. We will take +advantage of his bewildered pause to draw attention to some matters +heretofore neglected. + + + + +XXV. + +THE HAPPINESS OF MAN. + + +When Manetho,--who shall no longer perplex us with his theft of a +worthier man's name,--when Manetho felt himself worsted in the brief +strenuous struggle, he tried to drag his antagonist overboard with +him. But his convulsive fingers seized only the leathern strap of the +haversack. Balder--his Berserker fury at white heat--flung the man +with such terrible strength as drove him headlong over the taffrail +like a billet of wood, the stout strap snapping like thread! + +Manetho struck the water in sorry plight, breathless, bruised, half +strangled. He sank to a chilly depth, but carried his wits down with +him, and these brought him up again alive, however exhausted. Too weak +to swim, he yet had strength left to keep afloat. But for the +collision, he had drowned, after all! + +The cool salt bath presently helped him to a little energy, and by the +time the steamer was under way, he could think of striking out. It was +with no small relief that he heard near voices sounding through the +black fog. Partly by dint of feeble struggles, partly shouldered on +by waves,--ready to save as to drown him,--he managed to accomplish +the short distance to the schooner. With all his might he shouted for +a rope, and amidst much yo-heave-ho-ing, cursing, and astonishment, +was at length hauled aboard, the haversack in his grasp. + +The skipper and his crew were kind to him; for men still have +compassion upon one another, and give succor according to the need of +the moment,--not to the balance of good and evil in the sufferer. The +wind freshened, an impromptu, bowsprit was rigged, and the +"Resurrection" limped towards New York. Manetho's partial stupor was +relieved by hot grog and the cook's stove. He gave no further account +of himself than that he had fallen overboard at the moment of +collision; adding a request to be landed in New York, since he had +left some valuable luggage on the steamer. + +The skipper gave the stranger his own bunk, the off-watch turned in, +and Manetho was left to himself. He lay for a long while thinking over +what had happened. Bewitched by the spell of night, he had spoken to +Helwyse things never before distinctly stated even to his own mind. +The subtle, perverse devil who had discoursed so freely to his unknown +hearer had scarcely been so unreserved to Manetho's private ear; and +the devilish utterances had stirred up the latter not much less than +the former. + +Both men had been wrought, according to their diverse natures, to the +pitch of frenzy. But similar crazy seizures had been incident to the +Egyptian from boyhood. He had anxiously watched against them, and +contrived various means to their mitigation,--the most successful +being the music of his violin, which he seldom let beyond his reach. +Yet, again and again would the fit steal a march on him. Hence, in +part, his retired way of life, varied only by the brief journeys +demanded by the twofold craving--for gambling and for news of Thor, +who figured in his morbid imagination as the enemy of his soul! + +The news never came, but all the more brooded Manetho over his hatred +and his fancied wrongs. His mind had never been entirely sound, and +years tinged it more and more deeply with insanity. His philosophy of +life--obscure indeed if tried by sane standards--emits a dusky glimmer +when read by this. He would creep through miles of subterranean +passages to achieve an end which one glance above ground would have +argued vain! + +Lying on the bunk in the close cabin, lighted by a dirty lantern +pendent from the roof, the Reverend Manetho began to fear that not his +worst misfortune was the having been thrown overboard. At the moment +when madness was smouldering to a blaze within him, the lantern flash +had revealed to him the face which, for twenty years, he had seen in +visions. Often had he rehearsed this meeting, varying his imaginary +behavior to suit all conceivable moods and attitudes of his enemy, but +never thinking to provide for perversity in himself! So far from +veiling his designs with the soft-voiced cunning of his Oriental +nature, he had been a wild beast! A misgiving haunted him, moreover, +that he had babbled something in the false security of darkness, which +might give Helwyse a clew to his secret. + +But here Manetho asked himself a question that might have suggested +itself before. Was it really his enemy, Thor Helwyse, whose face he +had seen? or only some likeness of him? + +Thor must be threescore years old by this,--the senior by ten years of +Manetho himself; while his late antagonist had the strength and aspect +of half that age. Yet how could he be mistaken in the face which had +haunted him during more than the third part of his lifetime? He had +recognized it on the instant! + +"I will ask the haversack!" said he. He sat up, and, bracing himself +against the roll of the vessel, he opened the bag and carefully +examined its contents. In an inner pocket he found an old letter of +Doctor Glyphic's to Thor; another from Thor to his son, dated three +years back; and finally a diary kept by Balder Helwyse, which gave +Manetho all the information he wanted. + +He had so arranged matters that at Glyphic's death he had got the +control of the money into his own hands, and had made such diligent +use of it that enough was not now left to pay for his prosecution as a +thief and forger. In fact, had Balder delayed his return another year, +he would have found the enchanted castle in possession of the +auctioneer; and as to the fate of its inhabitants, one does not like +to speculate! + +Having read the papers, Manetho replaced them, and next pulled out the +miniature of Doctor Glyphic. He studied this for a long time. It was +the portrait of a man to whom--so long as their earthly relations had +continued--the Egyptian renegade had been faithful. Perhaps there was +some secret germ of excellence in poor Hiero, unsuspected by the rest +of the world, but revealed to Manetho, from whom in turn it had drawn +the best virtues that his life had to show. Doctor Glyphic had never +been a comfortable companion; but Manetho was always patient and +honest with him. This integrity and forbearance were the more +remarkable, since the Doctor seldom acknowledged a kindness, and knew +so little of business that he might have been robbed of his fortune at +any moment with impunity. + +Either from physical exhaustion or for some worthier reason, the +Egyptian cried over this miniature, as an affectionate girl might have +cried over the portrait of her dead lover. For a time he was all tears +and softness. His emotion had not the convulsiveness which, with men +of his age, is apt to accompany the exhibition of much feeling. He +wept with feminine fluency, nor did his tearfulness seem out of +character. There was a great deal of the woman in him. + +Having wept his fill, he tenderly wiped his eyes, and returned the +picture to its receptacle; and first assuring himself that nothing +else was concealed in the haversack, he shut it up and resumed his +meditations. + +It was the son, then, whom he had met,--and Thor was dead. Dead!--that +was a hard fact for Manetho to swallow. His enemy had escaped +him,--was dead! Through all the years of waiting, Manetho had not +anticipated this. How should Thor die before revenge had been wreaked +upon him?--But he was dead! + +By degrees, however, his mind began to adjust itself to the situation. +The son, at all events, was left him. He cuddled the thought, +whispering to himself and slyly smiling. Did not the father live again +in the son? he would lose nothing, therefore,--not lose, but gain! +The seeming loss was a blessing in disguise. The son,--young, +handsome, hot of blood! Already new schemes began to take shape in the +Egyptian's brain. His dear revenge!--it should not starve, but feed on +the fat of the land,--yea, be drunk with strong wine. + +He lay hugging himself, his long narrow eyes gleaming, his full lips +working together. He was revolving a devilish project,--the flintiest +criminal might have shuddered at it. But there was nothing flinty nor +unfeeling about Manetho. His emotions were alert and moist, his smile +came and went, his heart beat full; he was now the girl listening to +her lover's first passionate declaration! + +He had gathered from Balder's diary that the young man was in search +of his uncle, and had been on his way to the house at the time of +their encounter. There was a chance that this unlucky episode might +frighten him away. He no doubt supposed himself guilty of manslaughter +at least; how gladly would the clergyman have reassured him! And +indeed there was no resentment in Manetho's heart because of his rough +usage at Balder's hands. His purposes lay too deep to influence +shallower moods. He presented a curious mixture of easy forgiveness +and unmitigable malice. + +The only other anxiety besetting him arose from the loss of the ring. +He looked upon it as a talisman of excellent virtue, and moreover +perceived that in case Balder should pick it up, it might become the +means of identifying its owner and obstructing his plans. But these +were mere contingencies. The probability was that young Helwyse would +ultimately appear at his uncle's house, and would there be ensnared in +the seductive meshes of Manetho's web. The ring was most likely at the +bottom of the Sound. So, smiling his subtle feminine smile, the +Egyptian fell asleep, to dream of the cordial welcome he would give +his expected guest. + +Towards midnight of the same day he approaches the house by way of the +winding avenue, his violin-case safe in hand. He steps out joyfully +beneath the wide-spread minuet of twinkling stars. On his way he comes +to a moss-grown bench at the foot of a mighty elm,--the bench on which +he sat with Helen during the stirring moments of their last interview. +Manetho's soul overflows to-night with flattering hopes, and he has +spare emotion for any demand. He drops on his knees beside this +decayed old bench, and kisses it twice or thrice with tender +vehemence; stretches out his arms to embrace the air, and ripples +forth a half-dozen sentences,--pleading, insinuating, passionate. He +can love her again as much as ever, now that the wrong done him is on +the eve of requital. + +But his mood is no less fickle than melting. Already he is up and +away, almost dancing along the shadowed, romantic tree-aisle, his eyes +glistening black in the starlight,--no longer with a lover's luxurious +sorrow, but with the happy anticipation of an artless child, promised +a holiday and playthings. So lightsome and expansive is Manetho's +heart, the hollow hemisphere of heaven seems none too roomy for it! + +Evil as well as good knows its moments of bliss,--its hours! Hell is +the heaven of devils, and they want no better. Often do the wages of +sin come laden with a seeming blessing that those of virtue lack. The +sinner looks upon Satan's face, and it is to him as the face of God! + +But from the womb of this grim truth is born a noble consolation. Were +hell mere torment, and joy in heaven only, where were the good man's +merit? Only when the choice lies between two heavens--the selfish and +the unselfish--is the battle worthy the fighting! No human soul dies +from earth that attains not heaven,--that heaven which the heart +chiefly sought while in this world; and herefrom is the genesis of +virtue. Sin brings its self-inflicted penalties there as here; but +hell is still the happiness of man, heaven of God! + +Reaching the house, Manetho passed through the open door, crossed the +hall with his customary noiselessness, and entered the conservatory. +Despite the darkness, he was at once aware of the motionless group +beneath the palm-trees. A stranger in the house was something so +unprecedented that he could not repress a throb of alarm. Nurse looked +up and beckoned him. Drawing near, he heard the long, deep breathing +of the sleeper. With a sudden fore-glimpse of the truth, he knelt +down, and bent over the upturned countenance. + +Though the beard was close-shaven and the hair cropped short, there +could be no doubt about the face. His guest had come before him, and +was lying defenceless at his feet; but Manetho harbored no thought of +violence. He pressed his slender hands together with an impulse of +sympathy. "Poor fellow!" he whispered, "how he has suffered! How the +horror of blood-guiltiness must have tortured him! The noble Helwyse +hair,--all gone! Too dear a price to pay for the mere sacrifice of a +human life! And pain and all might have been spared him,--poor fellow! +poor fellow!" Manetho lacked but little of shedding true tears over +the evidence of his dearest foe's useless dread and anguish. Did he +wish Balder to bring undulled nerves to his own torture-chamber? + +His lament over, Manetho turned to Nurse for such information +regarding the guest's arrival and behavior as she might have to +communicate. Of his own affair with Balder he made no mention. The +conversation was carried on by signs, according to a code long since +grown up between the two. When the tale was told, Nurse was despatched +to make ready Helen's room for the new-comer, and thither did the two +laboriously bear him, and laid him, still sleeping, on his mother's +bed. + + + + +XXVI. + +MUSIC AND MADNESS. + + +Before leaving Balder to his repose, Manetho paused to regain his +breath, and to throw a glance round the room. It was a place he seldom +visited. He had seen Helen's dead body lie on that bed, and the sight +had bred in him an animosity against the chamber and everything it +contained. After Doctor Glyphic's death he had gratified this feeling +in a characteristic manner. Possessing a genius for drawing second +only to that for music, he had exercised it on the walls of the room, +originally modelled and tinted to represent a robin's egg. He mixed +his colors with the bitter distillations of his heart, and created the +beautiful but ill-omened vision which long afterwards so disquieted +Balder.-- + +From the chamber he now repaired to the kitchen, which was in some +respects the most attractive place in the house. The smoky ceiling; +the cavernous cupboards opening into the walls; the stanch dressers, +polished by use and mottled with many an ancient stain; the great +black range, which would have cooked a meal for a troop of +men-at-arms,--all spoke of homely comfort. Nurse had Manetho's meal +ready for him, and, having set it out on the table, she retired to her +position in the chimney-corner. The Egyptian's spare body was +ordinarily nourished with little more than goes to the support of an +Arab, and Nurse's monotonous life must have been unfavorable to large +appetite. As for Gnulemah,--although young women are said to thrive +and grow beautiful on a diet of morning dew, noonday sunshine, and +evening mist,--it seems quite likely that she ate no less than the +health and activity of a Diana might naturally require. + +Manetho made a gleeful repast, and Nurse looked on from her corner, +externally as unattractive-looking a woman as one would wish to see. +Nevertheless, had she been made as some clocks are, with a plate of +glass over her inner movements, she would have monopolized the +clergyman's attention and impaired his appetite. He did not sit down +to the table, but took up one viand after another, and ate as he +walked to and fro the floor. Supper over, he crowned it with an +unheard-of excess,--for Manetho was commonly a very temperate man. He +brought from a cupboard a dusty bottle of priceless wine, which had +once enriched the cellar of a king of Spain. Drawing the cork, he +poured some of the golden liquor into a slender glass, while the +spiritual aroma flowed invisible along the air, visiting every +darksome nook, and even saluting Nurse, who had long been a stranger +to any such delicate attention. + +Manetho filled two glasses, and then beckoned Nurse to come from her +corner, and drink with him. Forth she hobbled accordingly, looking +more than usually ugly by reason of her surprise and embarrassment at +the unexpected summons. Manetho, on the other hand, seemed to have +cast aside his years, and to be once more the graceful, sinuous, +courteous youth, whose long black eyes had, long ago, seen Salome's +heart. With an elegant gesture he handed her the brimming wineglass, +accompanying it with a smile which well-nigh shook it from between her +fingers. He took up his own glass, and said,-- + +"I seldom drink wine, Nurse,--never, unless a lady, joins me! Once I +drank with her whose chamber our guest now occupies; and once with +another--" Manetho paused. "I never speak her name, Nurse; but we +loved each other. I did not treat her well!" He murmured with a sigh, +tears in his eyes. "Were she here to-night, at her feet would I sue +for pardon,--the renewal of our love. By my soul!" he cried, suddenly, +"I had thought to drink a far different toast; but let this glass be +drained to the memory of the sweet moments she and I have known +together! Drink!" + +He tossed off the wine. But poor Nurse, strangely agitated, dropped +hers on the floor; the precious liquor was spilled, and the glass +shivered. She gazed beseechingly at Manetho. Could he not penetrate +that mask to the face behind it? Is flesh so miserably opaque that no +spark of the inwardly burning soul can make itself felt or seen +without? Manetho saw only the broken glass and its wasted contents! + +"You are as clumsy as you are ugly!" said he, "Go back to your corner. +I must converse with my violin." + +She returned heavily to her place, feeling the darker and colder +because that wine had been spilled before she could raise it to her +lips. One taste, she fancied, might have begun a transformation in her +life! But we know not the weight of the chains we lay upon our limbs. + +The Egyptian's buoyant humor had dismissed the whole matter in another +moment. He opened his violin-case, lovingly caressing the instrument +as he took it out. Then he tucked it fondly under his chin, and +resumed his walking. The delicately potent wine warbled through his +nerves, and tinted memory with imagination. + +The bow, traversing the strings, drew forth from them a sweet and +plaintive note, like the tender remonstrance of a neglected friend. No +language says so much in so short space as music, nor will, till we +banish those dead bones, consonants, and adopt the pure vowel speech +of infants and angels. + +"Ay, long have we been apart, my beloved one, and much have I needed +thee!" murmured Manetho. "I yearned for thy soothing and refreshing +voice; yea, death walked near me, because thou, my preserver, wast not +by to guard me. But, rejoice! all is again well with us,--the hour of +our triumph is near!" + +The fine instrument responded, carolling forth an exquisite pæan,--an +ascending scale, mounting to a breathless ecstasy, and falling in +slower melody along gliding waves of fortunate sound. The player drank +each perfect note, till his pulses beat in unison with the rhythm. His +violin and he were wedded lovers since his youth, nor had discord ever +come between them. + +"Two little children weaving flower-chains for each other in the +grass. I said, 'The one that first comes to me shall be mine!' And the +little maiden arose, leaving her brother among the flowers. So one was +taken and the other left. But, behold! the brother has come to play +with his sister once more!" + +Again the music--a divine philosopher's stone--touched the theme into +fine-spun golden harmony. The dusky kitchen, with its one dull lamp +glimmering on the table, broadened with marble floors, and sprang +aloft in airy arches! Twinkling stars hung between the columns, +burning with a fragrance like flowers. It was a summer morning, just +before sunrise. The clear faces of children peeped from violet-strewn +recesses where they had passed the night; and, as their sweet eyes +met, they shouted for joy, and ran to embrace one another. + +"Oh! my beloved," softly burst forth the Egyptian, "how blessed are we +to-night!" He touched the strings to a measured tune, following with a +minuet-step up and down the floor. A fantastic spectacle! for as he +passed and repassed the lamp, an elastic shadow crept noiselessly +behind him, dodged beneath his feet, and anon outstretched itself like +a sudden pit yawning before him. "This night repays the dreary years +that lie behind. How have I outlasted them! What had I fallen on the +very threshold of requital?--all I had hoped and labored for, a +failure!" + +Here paused the tune and the dance, and arose a weird dirge of +compassion over what might have been! So moving was it, the player +himself was melted. His dark nature showed its fairest side,--sensitive +refinement, grace of expression, flowing ease of manner. Quick was he in +fancy, emotional, soft and strong, gentle and fiery. In this hour he +bloomed, like some night-flowering plant, of perfume sweet but +poisonous. This was Manetho's apogee! + +Again his humor changed, and he became playful and frivolous. Had old +Nurse in the corner been little more personable, he might have caught +her round the waist, and forced her to tread a wild measure with him. +But this unfolding of his faculties in the shower of good fortune had +refined his æsthetic susceptibility. The withered, disfigured woman +was no partner for him! + +She sat, following, with the intentness of her single eye, his every +motion, her head swaying in unconscious sympathy. Although her body +sat so stiff and awkward in the chimney-seat, her spirit, inspired +with the grace of love, was dancing with Manetho's. But the body kept +its place, knowing that erelong he too must come to rest. In the light +of a vivid recollection, the long tract between fades and +foreshortens, till only the Then and the Now are notable. However, the +light will pale, the dusty miles outstretch their length once more, +and the pilgrim find himself wearier than ever. + +But meanwhile the clergyman floats hither and thither like a wreath of +black smoke blown about by a draught of air. One might have expected +to see him all at once vanish up the wide-mouthed chimney. The music +seems to emanate less from the instrument than from the player; it +interprets and colors every motion and expression. His chanting and +his playing answer and supplement each other, like strophe and +antistrophe. + +"Let me tell thee why I rejoice, that thy sympathy may increase my +joy! + +"A beautiful woman, young, a fountain of fresh life, an ivory vase +filled with earthly flowers. The eye that gazes on her form is taken +captive; yea, her face intoxicates the senses. But she is poisonous, a +queen of death, and her feet walk towards destruction! + +"Supple and strong is she as the serpent, quick and graceful as the +panther. Food has she for nourishment, for the warming of the blood; +exercises for the body, to keep her healthful and fair. Her triumph is +in the flesh,--she finds it perfect. The flesh she deems divine,--the +earth, a heaven! + +"Books, the world of men,--she knows not: sees in herself Creation's +cause and centre; in God, but the myriad reflex of her beauty. Self is +her God, whom she worships in thunder and lightning, in sun and stars, +in fire and water. Dreaming and waking are alike real to her: she +knows not to divide truth from falsehood. + +"Whom should she thank for health, for life and birth? She is born of +the fire that burns in her own bosom. To her is nothing lawful nor +unlawful. No tie binds her soul to salvation. A fair ship is she, but +rudderless, and the wind blows on the rocks. Let God save her if He +will--and can!" + +The inspiration of the Arab improvisatore would have seemed tame +beside Manetho's nervous exaltation. Save for the tingling satire of +the violin-strings, his rhapsody might easily have lapsed to madness. +From this point, however, his rapture somewhat abated, and he began to +descend towards prose, his music clothing him downwards. + +"As for me, I have bowed down before her, pampering her insolent +majesty, preserving her poison to rancor first in her father's heart. +Of him, death robbed me; but the son,--the brother is left. Even death +spared brother and sister to each other! + +"A handsome man! worthy to stand by her. Never fairer couple sprang +from one stem. They love each other,--and shall love!--more than ever +brother and sister loved before. But they shall be bound by a tie so +close that the mere tie of blood hangs loose beside it! Then shall +night come down on them,--a night no rising sun shall ever chase away. +In that; darkness will I speak--" + +This devilish monologue ended abruptly here. The faithful instrument, +whose responsive sympathy had failed him, jarringly snapped a string! +A sting of anguish pricked through Manetho's every nerve. His +fictitious buoyancy evaporated like steam,--he barely made shift to +totter to a chair. Laying the violin with tremling hands on the table, +his head dropped on his arms beside it; and there was a long, feverish +silence. + +At length he raised his haggard face, and, supporting it upon his +hands, he gazed at the figure in the chimney-corner; and began, in a +tone sullen and devoid of animation as November rain,-- + +"Why did you force yourself upon me?--not for Gnulemah's sake, I +think. Not for money,--you had none. Not for love of me either, I +fancy,--grisly harpy! + +"Once I suspected you of being a spy. You walked among pitfalls then! +But what spy would sit for eighteen years without speech or movement? +You have been useful too. No one could have filled your place,--with +your one eye and dumb mouth! + +"Did you hate Thor? were you my secret ally against him? But how could +you fathom my purposes enough even to help me? And what wrong has he +done you terrible enough for such revenge as mine? What human being, +except Manetho, could hold an unwavering purpose so many years? Have +you never pitied or relented? Sometimes I have almost wavered myself! + +"What name and history have you buried, and never shown me? Why have +you spent your dumb life in this seclusion? You are a mystery,--yet a +mystery of my own making! I might as wisely dissect my violin to find +where lurks the music. A mass of wood and strings,--the music is from +me! + +"Have you a thought of preventing the scheme I spoke of to-night?" The +Egyptian leaned far across the table, the better to scrutinize the +unanswering woman's face. Her eye met his with a steady intelligence +that disconcerted him. + +"Are you a woman?" he muttered, drawing back, "and have you no pity on +the children whom you nursed in their infancy?--not any pity! as +implacable--almost more implacable than I? But think of her beauty and +innocence,--for is she not innocent as yet? Would you see her forever +ruined,--and stretch forth no saving hand?" Nurse moved her head up +and down, as in slow, deliberate assent. Manetho, beholding the +reflection in her of his own moral deformity, was filled with +abhorrence! + +"More hideous within than without,--you demon! come to haunt me and +make me wicked as yourself. It was you snapped the chord of my +music,--that better spirit which had till then saved me from your +spells! My evil genius! I know you now, though never until this +moment." + +This madman was not the first sinner who, happening to catch an +outside glimpse of his interior grime, has tried to cheat his scared +conscience by an outcry of "Devil!--devil!" Is there not a touch of +pathos in the vanity of the situation? For the cry is in part sincere; +no man can be so wholly evil, while in this world, as quite to divorce +the better angel from his soul. But alas! for the poor righteous +indignation. + + + + +XXVII. + +PEACE AND GOOD-WILL. + + +Balder Helwyse, dumfounded before the revelation of the clock, might +have stared himself into imbecility, had not he heard his name spoken +in sweet human music, and, turning, beheld Gnulemah peeping through +the doorway down the hall. + +There was no great distance between them, yet she seemed immeasurable +spaces away. Against the bright background of the conservatory her +form stood dark, the outlines softened by semi-transparent edges of +drapery. But the dull red lamplight lit duskily up the folds of her +robe, her golden ornaments, and the black tarns, her eyes. She +appeared to waver between the light of heaven and the lurid gloom of +heaven's opposite. + +Balder came hastily towards her, waving her back. He was +superstitiously anxious that she should return unshadowed to the clear +outer sunshine, instead of joining him in this tomb of dead bones and +darkness. Darkness might indeed befriend his own imperfections; but +should Gnulemah be dimmed to soothe his vanity? + +Such emblematic fancies are common to lovers, whose ideal passion +tends always to symbolism. But to those who have never loved, it will +be enough to say that the young man felt an instinctive desire to +spare Gnulemah the ugly spectacle in the clock, and was perhaps not +unwilling to escape from it himself! + +She awaited him, in the bright doorway, like an angel come to lead him +to a better world. "Do not leave me any more!" she said, putting her +hand in his. "You did not do the thing you thought. Let us be +together, and dream no more such sadness!" + +"Is her innocence strong enough to protect her against that sinful +deluge of confession I poured out upon her?" thought Helwyse, glancing +at her face. "Has it fallen from her harmless, like water from a +bird's breast? And am I after all no murderer?" + +Doubt nor accusation was in her eyes, but soft feminine faith. Her +eyes,--rather than have lost the deep intelligence of their dark +light, Balder would have consented to blotting from heaven its host of +stars! Through them shone on him,--not justice, but the divine +injustice of woman's love. That wondrous bond, more subtile than +light, and more enduring than adamant, had leagued her to him. +Consecrated by the blessing of her trust, he must not dare distrust +himself. If the past were blindly wrong, she was the God-given clew to +guide him right. + +An unspeakable tenderness melted them both,--him for what he +received, her for what she gave. The rich bud of their love bloomed at +once in full, fragrant stateliness. Their hearts, left unprotected by +their out-opened arms, demanded shelter, and found it in nestling on +each other. Heaven touched earth in the tremulous, fiery calm of their +meeting lips,--magnets whose currents flowed from the mysterious poles +of humanity. + +At such moments--the happiest life counts but few--angels draw near, +but veil their happy eyes. Spirits of evil grind their teeth and +frown; and, for one awful instant, perceive their own deformity! + +Before yet that dear embrace had lasted an eternity, the man felt the +woman shiver in his arms. The celestial heights and spaces dwindled, +the angelic music fainted. Heaven rolled back and left them alone on +earth. Manetho stood on the threshold between the sphinxes, wearing +such a smile as God has never doomed us to see on a child's face! + +To few men comes the opportunity of facing in this life those whom +they believed they had put out of it. One might expect the palpable +assurance of the victim's survival would electrify the fancied +murderer. But to Balder's mind, his personal responsibility could not +be thus lightened; and any emotion of selfish relief was therefore +denied him. On the other hand, such inferences as he had been able to +draw from things seen and heard were not to Manetho's advantage. While +he could not but rejoice to have been spared actually hurrying a soul +from the life of free will to an unchangeable eternity, yet his +dominant instinct was to man himself for the hostile issues still to +arise. He looked at the being through whom his own life had received +so dark a stain with stern, keen eyes. + +Gnulemah remained within the circle of her lover's arm. She seemed but +little interested in Manetho's appearance, save in so far as he +invaded the sanctity of her new immortal privilege. She had never +known anxiety on his account; he had never appealed to her feeling for +himself. If she loved him, it was with an affection unconscious +because untried. She had shivered in Balder's embrace at the moment of +the Egyptian's presence, but before having set eyes on him. Had the +nearness of his discordant spirit--his familiar face unseen--made her +conscious of an evil emanation from him, else unperceived? + +Manetho, to do him justice, assumed anything but a hostile attitude. +His pleasure at seeing the pair so well affected towards each other +was plainly manifested. He clasped his hands together, then extended +them with a gesture of benediction and greeting, and came forward. His +swarthy face, narrowing from brow to chin, if it could not be frank +and hearty, at least expressed a friendliness which it had been +ungracious to mistrust. + +"Yes, son of Thor, I live! God has been merciful to both of us. Let +one who knew your father take your hand. Believe that whatever I have +felt for him, I now feel for you,--and more!" + +The speaker had cast aside the fashionable clothes which he was in the +habit of wearing during his journeys abroad, probably with a view to +guard against being conspicuous, and was clad in antique priestly +costume. A curiously figured and embroidered robe fell to his feet, +and was confined at the waist by a long girdle, which also passed +round his shoulders, after the manner of a Jewish ephod. It invested +him with a dignity of presence such as ordinary garments would not +have suggested. This, combined with the unexpectedly pacific tone of +his address (its somewhat fantastic formality suiting well with that +of his appearance), was not without effect on Balder. He gave his hand +with some cordiality. + +"Yours, also?" continued the other, addressing Gnulemah with an +involuntary deference that surprised her lover. She complied, as a +princess to her subject. This incident seemed to indicate their +position relatively to each other. Had the wily Egyptian played the +slave so well, as finally in good earnest to have become one? + +The three stood for a moment joined in a circle, through which what +incongruous passions were circulating! But Gnulemah soon withdrew the +hand held by Manetho, and sent it to seek the one clasped by Balder. +The priest turned cold, and stepped back; and, after an appearance of +mental struggle, said huskily,-- + +"Hiero is forgotten; you are all for the stranger!" + +"You never told me who lived beyond the wall," returned Gnulemah, with +simple dignity; and added, "You are no less to me than before, but +Balder is--my love!" The last words came shyly from her lips, and she +swayed gently, like a noble tree, towards him she named. + +Manetho's lips worked against each other, and his body twitched. He +was learning the difference between theory and practice,--dream and +fact. His subtle schemes had been dramas enacted by variations of +himself. No allowance had been made for the working of spirit on +spirit; even his special part had been designed too narrowly, with but +a single governing emotion, whereas he already found himself assailed +by an anarchic host of them. + +"Gnulemah!" he cried at length, "my study,--my thought,--my +purpose,--body of my hopes and prayers!" He knelt and bowed himself at +her feet, in the Oriental posture of worship, and went on with rising +passion:--"My secrets have bloomed in thy beauty,--been music in thy +voice,--darkened in thine eyes! O my flower--fascinating, +terrible!--the time is ripe for the gathering, for the smelling of the +perfume, for the kissing of the petals! I must yield thee up, O my +idol! but in thy hand are my life and my reason,--yea, Gnulemah, thou +art all I am!" + +The tears, gestures, voice, with which Manetho thus delivered himself, +shocked the Northern taste of Helwyse. Through the semi-scriptural, +symbolic language, he fancied he could discern a basis of materialism +so revolting that the man of the world--the lover now!--listened with +shame and anger. Here was a professed worshipper of Gnulemah, who +ascribed to her no nobler worth than to be the incarnation of his own +desires and passions! It was abject self-idolatry, thought Balder, +masquerading as a lofty form of idealization. + +The priest's mind was in a more complex condition than Balder +imagined. His absorption in Gnulemah, if only as she was the +instrument of his dominant purpose, must have been complete; the +success (as he deemed it) of his life was staked on her. But, in +addition to this, the unhappy man had, unwittingly, and with the +vehemence of his ill-ordered nature, grown to love the poison-draught +brewed for his enemy! When the enemy's lips touched the cup, did +Manetho first become aware that it brimmed with the brewer's own +life-blood! + +Yet it might have been foreseen. He loved her, not because she was +identified with his aims, nor even because she was beautiful, but (and +not inconsistently with his theoretical belief in her devilishness) +because she was pure and true. Under the persuasion that he was +influencing her nature in a manner only possible, if at all, to a +moral and physical despot, he had himself been ruled by her stronger +and loftier spirit. The transcendent cunning on which he had prided +himself, as regarded his plan of educating Gnulemah, had amounted to +little more than imbecile inaction. + +As Manetho prostrated himself, and even touched the hem of Gnulemah's +robe to his forehead, Balder looked to see her recoil; but she +maintained a composure which argued her not unused to such homage. So +much evil (albeit unintentionally) had the Egyptian done her, that she +could suffer, while she slighted, his worship. Yet, in the height of +her proud superiority to him, she turned with sweet submission to her +lover, and, obedient to his whisper, gathered up her purple mantle and +passed through the green conservatory to her own door, through which, +with a backward parting glance at her master, she superbly vanished. +Balder had disliked the scene throughout, yet his love was greater +than before. An awe of the woman whose innate force could command a +nature like this priest's seemed to give his passion for her a more +vigorous fibre. + +The two men were now left alone to come to what understanding they +might. Manetho rose to his feet, obliquely eying Helwyse, and spoke +with the manner and tone of true humility,-- + +"You have seen me in my weakness. I am but a broken man, Balder +Helwyse." + +"We had better speak the plain truth to each other," said Balder, +after a pause. "You can have no cause to be friendly to me. I cannot +extenuate what I did. I think I meant to kill you." + +"You were not to blame!" exclaimed the other, vehemently, holding up +his hands. "You had to deal with a madman!" + +"It is a strange train of chances has brought us together again; it +ought to be for some good end. I came here unawares, and, but for this +ring, should not have known that we had met before." + +"I lie under your suspicion on more accounts than one," observed +Manetho, glancing in the other's face. "I have assumed your uncle's +name, and the disposal of his property; and I have concealed his +death; but you shall be satisfied on all points. The child, too, +Gnulemah!--I have kept her from sight and knowledge of the world, but +not without reason and purpose, as you shall hear. Ah! I am but a +poor broken man, liable, as you have seen, to fits of madness and +extravagance. You shall hear everything. And listen,--as a witness +that I shall speak truth, I will say my say before the face of Hiero +Glyphic yonder, and upon the steps of his altar! See, I desire neither +to palliate nor falsify. Shall we go in?" + +With some repugnance Helwyse followed the priestly figure through the +low-browed door, He had seen too much of men to allow any instinctive +aversion to influence him, in the absence of logical evidence. And +this man's words sounded fair; his frank admission of occasional +insanity accounted for many anomalies. Nevertheless, and apart from +any question of personal danger, Balder felt ill at ease, like animals +before a thunder-storm. As he sat down beside his companion on the +steps of the black altar, and glanced up at the yellow visage that +presided over it, he tried to quiet his mind in vain; even the thought +of Gnulemah yielded a vague anxiety! + + + + +XXVIII. + +BETROTHAL. + + +The ring, which Balder had taken off with the intention of returning +it to its owner, still remained between his thumb and finger; and as +he sat under the gloom of the altar, its excellent brilliancy caught +his eye. He had never examined it minutely. It was pure as virtue, and +possessed similar power to charm the dusky air into seven-hued beauty. +A fountain of lustre continually welled up from its interior, like an +exhaustless spring of wisdom. From amidst the strife of the little +serpents it shone serenely forth, with, divine assurance of +good,--eternal before the battle began, and immortal after it should +cease. The light refreshed the somewhat jaded Helwyse, and during the +ensuing interview he ever and anon renewed the draught. + +But the Egyptian seemed to address a silent invocation to the mummy. +The anti-spiritual kind of immortality belonging to mummies may have +been congenial to Manetho's soul. Awful is that loneliness which even +the prospect of death has deserted, and which must prolong itself +throughout a lifeless and hopeless Forever! If Manetho could imagine +any bond of relationship between this perennial death's-head and +himself, no marvel that he cherished it jealously. + +"You shall hear first about myself," said the priest; "yet, truly, I +know not how to begin! No mind can know another, nor even its own +essential secrets. My time has been full of visions and unrealities. I +am the victim of a thing which, for lack of a better name, I call +myself!" + +"Not a rare sickness," remarked Balder. + +"A ghost no spell can lay! It grasps the rudder, and steers towards +gulfs the will abhors. A crew of unholy, mutinous impulses fling +abroad words and thoughts unrecognizable. Not Manetho talked in the +blackness of that night; but a devil, to whom I listened shuddering, +unable to control him!" + +"The Reverend Manetho Glyphie, my cousin by adoption,--and sometimes a +devil!" muttered Balder, musingly. "I had forgotten him." + +People are more prone to err in fancying themselves righteous, than +the reverse; nevertheless, the course and limits of self-deception are +indefinite. It is within possibility for a man to believe himself +wicked, while his actual conduct is ridiculously blameless, even +praiseworthy! Although intending to mislead Balder, Manetho's +utterances were true to a degree unsuspected by himself. He was more +true than had he tried to be so, because truth lay too profound for +his recognition! + +"A shallower man," he resumed, "would bear a grudge against the hand +that clutched his throat; but I own no relationship to the madman you +chastised. And there are deep reasons why I must set your father's son +above all other men in my regard." + +"My father seldom spoke of you, and never as of an especial friend," +interposed the ingenuous Balder. + +"He knew not my feeling towards him, nor would he have comprehended +it. It is a thing I myself can scarce understand. To the outward eye +there is juster cause for hatred than for love. + +"I will speak openly to you what has hitherto lain between my heart +and God. Before Thor saw your mother, I had loved her. My life's hope +was to marry her. Thor came,--and my hope lingered and died. For it, +was no resurrection." Here Manetho broke all at once into sobs, +covering his face with his hands; and when he continued, his voice was +softened with tears. + +"Thor called her to him, and she gladly went. He stormed and carried +with ease the fortress which, at best, I could hope only slowly to +undermine. She loved him as women love a conqueror; she might have +yielded me, at most, the grace of a condescending queen. I kept +silence: to whom could I speak? I had felt great ambitions,--to become +honored and famous,--to preach the gospel as it had not yet been +preached,--all ambitions that a lover may feel. But the tree died for +lack of nourishment. See what is left!" + +He opened out his arms with a gesture wanting neither in pathos nor +dignity. Balder could not but sympathize with what he felt to be a +genuine emotion. + +"Amidst the ruins of my Memphis, I kept silence. I hated--myself! for +my powerlessness to keep her. In my hours of madness I hated her too, +and him; but that was madness indeed! Deeper down was a sanity that +loved him. Since he had made my love his, I must love him. So only +might I still love her. The only beauty left my ruins was that! + +"She died; and with her would have died all sanity,--all love, but +that her children kept me back from worse ruin than was mine already. +They were a link to bind me to the good. Now Thor is dead, but still +his son--her son--survives. Hence is it that you are more to me than +other men." + +"Did Doctor Glyphic know nothing of this?" + +"I never told him of either my hope or my despair. My beloved master! +he lived and died without suspicion that I had striven to be a brother +as well as son to him." + +"When did he die?" + +"Eighteen years ago," said Manetho, solemnly. "You are the first to +whom his death has been revealed. Beloved master! have I not obeyed +thy will?" And he looked up to his master's parchment visage. + +"I discovered his death for myself, you know," observed Helwyse. "But +it could not have been more than eighteen years since my father, then +on the point of departure for Europe, saw Hiero Glyphic alive!" + +"Yes, yes! Did he ever tell you what passed in that interview?" +demanded Manetho, eagerly. + +"Little more than a farewell, I think. There was some talk about the +estate. At my uncle's death, the house was to come to you, the +property to my father or his heirs. But neither expected at that time +that it was to be their last meeting." + +"Was no one mentioned beside Thor's children and myself?" asked the +priest, looking askant at Balder as he spoke. + +"No my uncle neither had nor expected children, as far as I know!" + +"Thor did not see her,--Gnulemah?" + +"Gnulemah?--how should he have seen her?" exclaimed Balder, in +surprise. + +"Then her mystery remains!" said Manetho, looking up. + +He had perhaps doubted whether any suspicion of who Gnulemah really +was had found its way to the young man's mind. The latter's reception +of his question reassured him. There could be no risk in catering to +his aroused curiosity. The account Manetho now gave was true, though +falsehood lurked in the pauses. + +"That day Thor came, I left the house early in the morning. It was +night when I returned; and Thor was gone. The house was dark, and at +first there was no sound. But presently I heard the voice of a child, +murmuring and babbling baby words. I passed through the outer hall and +the conservatory, and came to where we now are. The lamp was burning +as it has burned ever since. + +"I saw him lying on the altar steps,--lying so!" Marrying act to word, +the Egyptian slid down and lay prostrate at the altar's foot. "He was +dead and cold!" he added; and gave way to a shuddering outburst of +grief. + +Balder's nerves were a little staggered at this tale with its +heightening of dramatic action and morbid circumstance; and he was +silent until the actor (if such he were) was in some degree +repossessed of himself. Then he asked,-- + +"What of the child?" + +"I have named her Gnulemah. She played about the dead body, bright and +careless as the flame of the lamp. Whence she came she could not +tell, nor had I seen her before that day. It seemed that, at the +moment my master's life burned out, hers flamed up; and since that day +it has lighted and warmed my solitude." + +"And Doctor Glyphic--" + +"I embalmed him!" cried Manetho, clasping his hands in grotesque +enthusiasm. "It was my privilege and my consolation to render his body +immortal. In my grief I rejoiced at the opportunity of manifesting my +devotion. Not the proudest of the Pharaohs was more sumptuously +preserved than he! In that labor of love there was no cunning secret +of the art that I did not employ. Night and day I worked alone; and +while he lay in the long nitre bath, I watched or slept beside him. +Then I enwound him thousand-fold in finest linen smeared with fragrant +gum, and hid his beloved form in the coffin he had chosen long +before." + +"Did my uncle choose this form of burial?" + +"He lived in hopes of it! It was his wish that his body might be +disposed as became his name, and the passion that had ruled his life. +Me only did he deem worthy of the task, and equal to it. Had I died +before him, his fairest hope would have been blighted, his life a +failure!" + +"A dead failure, truly!" muttered Balder, impelled by the very +grewsomeness of the subject to jest about it. "Was his loftiest +aspiration to mummy and be mummied?--But yours was a dangerous office +to fulfil, Cousin Manetho. Had the death got abroad, you might have +been suspected of foul play!" + +"The cause was worth the risk," replied the other, sententiously. + +Helwyse shot a keen look at his companion, but could discern in him +none of the common symptoms of guilt. The priest, however, was a mine +of sunless riddles, one lode connecting with another; it was idle +attempting to explore them all at once. So the young man recurred to +that vein which was of most immediate interest to himself. + +"Have you no knowledge concerns Gnulemah's origin?" he inquired. + +Manetho laid his long brown hand on Balder's arm. + +"If she be not Gnulemah, daughter of fire, it must rest with you to +give her another name," said he. + +"I care not who was her father or her mother," rejoined the lover, +after a short silence; "Gnulemah is herself!" + +The lithe fingers on his arm clutched it hard for a moment, and +Manetho averted his face. When he turned again, his features seemed to +express exultation, mingled with a sinister flavor of some darker +emotion. + +"Son of Thor, you have your father's frankness. Do you love her?" + +"You saw that I loved her," returned Balder, his black eyes kindling +somewhat intolerantly. + +"If I can hasten by one hour the consummation of that love, my life +will have been worth the living!" + +"That's kindly spoken!" exclaimed Helwyse, heartily; and, opening his +strong white hand, he took the narrow brown one into its grasp. He had +not been prepared for so friendly a profession. + +"When I have seen your soul tied to hers in a knot that even death may +not loosen,--and if it be permitted me to tie the knot, I shall have +drained the cup of earthly happiness!" He spoke with a deliberate +intensity not altogether pleasant to the ear. He would not relinquish +Balder's hand, as he continued in his high-strung vein,-- + +"I know at last for whom my flower has bloomed. Through the world, +across seas, by strange accidents has Providence brought you safe to +this spot; and has made you what you are, and her incomparable among +women.--You love her with heart and soul, Balder Helwyse?" + +"So that the world seems frail; and I--except for my +love--insignificant!" + +In the sudden emphasis of his question, Manetho had risen to his +feet; and Balder likewise had started up, before giving his reply. As +he spoke the words strongly forth, his swarthy companion seemed to +catch them in the air, and breathe them in. Slowly an expression of +joy, that could hardly be called a smile, welled forth from his long +eyes, and forced its way, with dark persistency of glee, through all +his face. + +"By you only in the world would I have her loved!" he said; and +repeated it more than once. + +He remained a full minute leaning with one arm on the altar, his eyes +abstracted. Then he said abruptly,-- + +"Why not be married soon?" + +The lover looked up questioningly, a deep throb in his heart. + +"Soon--soon!" reiterated Manetho. "Love is a thing of moments more +than of years. I know it! Do you stand idle while Gnulemah awaits you? +We may die to-morrow!" + +"I have no right to hurry her," said Helwyse in a low voice. "She +knows nothing of the world. I would marry her to-morrow--" + +"To-morrow! why not to-day? Why wait? that she may learn the +falsehoods of society,--to flirt, dress, gossip, crave flattery? Why +do you hesitate? Speak out, son of Thor!" + +"I have spoken. Do you doubt me? Were it possible, she should be my +wife this hour!" + +"Oh!" murmured Manetho, the incisiveness of his manner melting away +as suddenly as it came; "now have you proved your love. You shall be +made one,--one!--to-day. Four-and-twenty years ago this day, I married +your parents on this very spot. The anniversary shall become a double +one!" + +The black eye-sockets of the mummy stared Balder in the face. But at a +touch from Manetho, he turned, and saw Gnulemah, bright with beautiful +enchantment, in the doorway. + +"Yes, to-day!" he said impetuously. + +"You shall wed her with that ring!" whispered the victorious tempter +in his ear. "Go to her; tell her what marriage is! I will call you +soon." + +The lover went, and the woman, coming forward, sweetly met him +half-way. But glancing back again before passing out, Balder saw that +the priest had vanished; and the lamp, flickering above the mummy's +dry features, wrought them into a shadowy semblance of emotion. + + + + +XXIX. + +A CHAMBER OF THE HEART. + + +Manetho neither sank through the granite floor, nor ascended in the +smoke of the lamp. He unlocked a door (to the panels of which the +clock was affixed, and which it concealed) and let himself into his +private study, a room scarce seven feet wide, though corresponding in +length and height with the dimensions of the outer temple. Books and +papers were kept here, and such other things of a private or valuable +nature as Manetho wished should be inaccessible to outsiders. Against +the wall opposite the door stood a heavy mahogany table; beside it, a +deep-bottomed chair, in which the priest now sat down. + +The room was destitute of windows, properly so called. The walls were +full twenty feet high; and at a distance of some sixteen feet from the +floor, a series of low horizontal apertures pierced the masonry, +allowing the light of heaven to penetrate in an embarrassed manner, +and hesitatingly to reveal the interior. Viewed from without, these +narrow slits would be mistaken for mere architectural indentations. To +the inhabitant they were of more importance, contracted though they +were; and albeit one could not look out of them, they served as +ventilators, and to distinguish between fine and cloudy weather. + +In his earlier and more active days, Manetho had lived and worked +throughout the whole extent of this study, and it had been kept clean +and orderly to its remotest corner. But as years passed, and the range +of his sympathies and activities narrowed, the ends of the room had +gradually fallen into dusty neglect, till at length only the small +space about the chair and table was left clear and available. The rest +was impeded by books, instruments of science, and endless chaotic +rubbish; while spiders had handed down their ever-broadening estates +from father to child, through innumerable Araneidæan generations. A +gray uniformity had thus come to overspread everything; and with the +exceptions of a cracked celestial globe, and the end of a worm-eaten +old ladder, there was nothing to catch the attention. + +Here might the Egyptian indulge himself in whatever extravagances of +word or act he chose, secure from sight or hearing; and here had he +spent many an hour in such solitary exercises as no sane mind can +conceive. To him the room was thick with associations. Here had he +pursued his studies, or helped the Doctor in his erratic experiments +and research; here, with Helen in his thoughts, he had shaped out a +career,--not all of Christian humility and charity, perhaps, but at +least unstained by positive sin, and not unmindful of domestic +happiness. Here, again, had Salome visited him, bringing discord and +delight in equal parts; for at times, with the strong heat of youth, +he had vowed to love only her and to forsake ambition; and anon the +bloodless counsels of worldly power and welfare banished her with a +curse for having crossed his path. Head and heart were always at war +in Manetho. The talismanic diamond flashed or waned, and fiercely +wriggled the little fighting serpents. + +At length Thor Helwyse's gauntlet was thrown into the ring; and +peace--if still present to outward seeming--abode not in the feverish +soul of the Egyptian. But it was his nature to dissemble. In this room +he had often outwatched the night, chewing the cud of his wrongs, +invoking vengeance upon the thwarter of his hopes, and swearing +through his teeth to even the balance between them. The black serpent +held the golden one helpless in his coils. The obtuse Doctor, +blundering in at morning, would find his adopted son with pallid +cheeks and glittering eyes, but ever ready with a smile and pleasant +greeting, obedience and help. Hiero Glyphic, however wayward and +cross-grained, never had cause to censure this creature of his,--to +remind him that he might have been food for crocodiles. + +Manetho's dissimulation was almost without flaw. Even Helen, whose +fancy had played with him at first, but who in time had indolently +yielded to the fascination exerted over her, and even gone so far as +to permit his adulation, and accept in the ring the mystic pledge +thereof (during all the countless ages of its experience it had never +touched woman's hand before),--even she, when her lazy heart and +overbearing spirit were at length aroused and quelled by the voice +rather of a master than suitor, was deceived by forsaken Manetho's +unruffled face, gentle voice, and downcast eyes. She told herself that +his love had never dared be warmer than a kind of worship, like that +of a pagan for his idol, apart from human passion; such, at all +events, had been her understanding of his attentions. As to the ring, +it had been tendered as an offering at the shrine of abstract +womanhood; to return it too soon would imply a supposition of more +personal sentiment. Neither must Thor see it, however; his rough sense +would fail to appreciate her fine-drawn distinction. So she concealed +it in her bosom, and Manetho's serpents were ever between Thor and his +wife's heart. She was false both to husband and lover. + +Great Thor, meanwhile, pitied the slender Egyptian, and in a kindly +way despised him, with his supple manners, quiet words, and religious +studies. To the young priest's timid yet earnest request for +permission to pronounce the marriage-service of him and his bride, +Thor assented with gruff heartiness. + +"Marry us? Of course! marry us as fast as you can, if it gives you any +pleasure, my friend of the crocodile. A good beginning for your +ministerial career,--marrying a couple who love each other as much as +Nell and I do. Eh, Nellie?" + +The ceremony over, Manetho had retired to his study, and there passed +the night,--their marriage-night! What words and tones, what twistings +of face and body, did those passionless walls see and hear? How the +smooth, studious, submissive priest yearned for power to work his will +for one day! And as the cool, still morning sheared the lustre from +his lamp-flame, how desolate he felt, with his hatred and despair and +blaspheming rage! Evil passions are but poor company, in the early +morning. + +But was not Salome left him? The only sincerely tender words he had +ever spoken to woman had been said to her: his humblest and happiest +thoughts had been born of their early acquaintance,--before he had +raised his eyes to the proud and languid mistress. Yet on her only did +the evil passions of Manetho wreak themselves in harm and wrong; her +only, on a later day, did he dastardly strike down. Poor Salome had +given him her heart. These walls had seen their meetings. + +Years afterwards, Manetho had here embalmed his foster-father: +through long hours had he labored at his hateful task, with curious +zest and conscientiousness. As regarded the strange place of +sepulture, the Egyptian had perhaps imagined a symbolic fitness in +enclosing his human immortal in the empty shell of time. Over this +matter of Hiero Glyphic's death and burial, however, must ever brood a +cloud of mystery. Undoubtedly Manetho loved the man,--but death was +not always the worst of ills in Manetho's philosophy. + +The clock had been affixed to the study door both as an additional +concealment, and possibly as a congenial sentry over the interior +associations. Since then the place had become the clergyman's almost +daily resort. Pacing the contracted floor, sitting moodily in the +chair,--many a brooding hour had gone over his barrenly busy head, and +written its darkening record in his book of life. Here had been +schemed that plan of revenge, whose insanity the insane schemer could +not perceive. Nor could he understand that mightier powers than he +could master worked against him, and even used his efforts to bring +forth contrary results. + +But not all hours had passed so. Spaces there had been wherein evil +counsels had retired to a cloudy background, athwart which had +brightened a rainbow, intangible, whose source was hidden, but whose +colors were true before his eyes. The grace and aerial beauty of +sunshine lightened through the rain,--the pleasing loveliness of +essential life was projected on the gloom of evil imaginations. For +Manetho's actual deeds were apt to be prompted by far gentler +influences than governed his theories. The man was better than his +mind: and goodness, perhaps, bears an absolute blessing; insomuch that +the sinner, doing ignorant good, yet feels the benefit thereof; just +as the rain, however dismal, cannot prevent the sun from making +rainbows out of it. + +On this particular morning Manetho sank into his deep-seated chair, +and was quite still. A great part of what had hitherto made his daily +life ended here. The activity of existence was over for him. Thought, +feeling, hope, could live hereafter only as phantoms of memory. But to +look back on evil done is not so pleasant as to plan it; the dead body +of a foe moves us in another way than his living hostile person. + +When, therefore, Manetho should have hurled to its mark the +long-poised spear, he would have little to look forward to. That one +moment of triumph must repay, both for what had been and was to come. +To-day of all his days, then, must each sense and faculty be in +exquisite condition. Unseasonably enough, however, he found himself in +a perversely dull and callous state. Could Providence so cajole him as +to mar the only joyful hour of his life! Then better off than he were +savages, who could destroy their recusant idols. But nothing short of +spiritual suicide would have destroyed the idol of Manetho! + +He was wearing to-day the same priestly robe which he had put on when, +for the first and last time, he performed a ministerial duty. In this +robe had he married Helen to Thor. Itself a precious relic of +antiquity, it had once dignified the shoulders of a contemporary of +Manetho's remotest ancestors. Old Hiero Glyphic had counted it amongst +his chiefest treasures; and on his sister's wedding-day had produced +it from its repository, insisting that the minister should wear it +instead of the orthodox sacerdotal costume. Since then it had lain +untouched till to-day. + +Manetho brooded over the dim magnificence of its folds, sitting amidst +the cobwebbed rubbish, a narrow glint of sunshine creeping +slope-downwards from the crevice above his head. He smoothed the +fabric abstractedly with his hand, recalling the thoughts and scenes +of four-and-twenty years ago. + +"I joined them in the holy bonds of matrimony,--read over them that +service, those sacred words heavy with solemn benediction. Rich, +smooth, softly modulated was my voice, missing not one just emphasis +or melodious intonation. Ah! had they seen my soul. But my eyes were +half closed like the crocodile's, yet never losing sight of the two I +was uniting in sight of God and man. The Devil too was there. He +turned the blessings my lips uttered into blighting curses, that fell +on the happy couple like pestilential rain! + +"Laughable! Covered head to foot with curses, and felt them not! All +was smiles, blushes, happiness, forward-looking to a long, joyful +future. They knelt before me; I uplifted my hands and invoked the last +blessing,--the final curse! My heart burned, and the smoke of its fire +enveloped bride and groom, fouling his yellow beard, and smirching her +silvery veil; shutting out heaven from their prayers, and blackening +their path before them. They neither felt nor knew. They kissed,--I +saw their lips meet,--as Balder and Gnulemah to-day. Then I covered my +face and seemed to be in prayer! + +"Gnulemah,--I hate her!--yes, but hatred sometimes touches the heart +like love. I love her!--to marry her? Woe to him who becomes her +husband! As a daughter?--no daughter is she of mine!--I hate her, +then. + +"Why am I childless?--how would I have loved a child! I would have +left all else to love my child! I would have been the one father in +the world! My life should have been full of love as it has been of +hate. Why did not God send me a wife and a daughter?" + +Men's ears have grown deaf to any save the most commonplace oracles. +But there is ever a warning voice for who will listen. One may object +that its language is unknown, or its whisper inaudible; but to the +question, "Whence your ignorance and deafness?" what shall be the +answer? + +In Manetho's case it appears to have been the venerable robe that took +on itself the task of remonstrance. + +"You are unreasonable, friend," it interposed with a gentle rustle. +"Gnulemah, if not your daughter, might, however, have stood you in +place of one; and she would have done you just as much good, in the +way of softening and elevating your nature, as though she had been the +issue of your own loins. You have turned the milk and honey of your +life into gall and wormwood; and I wish I could feel sure that only +you would get the benefit of it!" + +The reproof had as well been spared; it is doubtful whether the +culprit heard so much as a word of it. His reverie rambled on. + +"Keen,--that Balder! he half suspects me. Had I not so hurried him to +a conclusion, he would have questioned me too closely. He shall know +all presently, even as I promised him!--shall hear a sounder guess at +Gnulemah's genealogy than was made to-day. + +"Do I love her?--only as the means to my end! The end once gained, I +shall hate her as I do him. But not yet,--and therefore must I love +him as well as her. They shall be, to-day, my beloved children! +To-morrow,--how shall I endure till to-morrow,--all the night +through? O Gnulemah!-- + +"They love each other well,--seem made to make each other happy; yet +have they come together from the ends of the earth to be each other's +curse! Only if I keep silence might it be otherwise, for love might +tame the devil that I have bred in Gnulemah. Even now she seems more +angel than devil!--Am I mad?" + +He straightened himself in his chair, and glanced up towards the +crevice whence slanted the dusty sunshine. The old robe took the +opportunity to deliver its final warning. + +"Not yet mad beyond remedy, Manetho; but you look up too seldom at the +sunshine, and brood too often over your own dusty depths. You have had +no consciously unselfish thought during the last quarter of a century. +You eat, drink, and breathe only Manetho! This room is yours, because +it is fullest of rubbish, and least looks out upon the glorious +universe. Break down your walls! take broom in hand without delay! +Proclaim at once the crime you meditate. Go! there is still sunshine +in this dust-hole of yours, and more of heaven in every man than he +himself dreams of. The sun is passing to the other side. Go while it +shines!" + +But Manetho's dull ears heard not; and the aged garment of truth spoke +no more. + + + + +XXX. + +DANDELIONS. + + +It seems a pity that, with all imagination at our service, we should +have to confine our excursions within so narrow a domain as this of +Hiero Glyphic's. One tires of the best society, uncondimented with an +occasional foreign relish, even of doubtful digestibility. Barring +this, it only remains to relieve somewhat the monotony of our food, by +variety in the modes of dishing it up. + +Balder had been no whit disconcerted at the priest's abrupt +evanishment. The divine sphere of Gnulemah had touched him with its +sweet magnetism, and he was sensible of little beyond it. Their hands +greeted like life-long friends. Drawing hers within his arm, he still +kept hold of it, and her rounded shoulder softly pressed his, as they +loitered out between the impenetrable sphinxes. The conservatory, +however beautiful in itself and by association, was too small to hold +their hearts at this moment. They passed on, and through the columns +of the Moorish portico, into the fervent noon sunshine. + +Grasshoppers chirped; fine buzzing flies darted swift circles and lit +again; birds giggled and gossiped, bobbing and swinging among swaying +boughs. Battalions of vast green trees stood grand in shadow-lakes of +cooler green, their myriad leaves twinkling light and dark. Tender +gleams of river topped the enamelled bank,--the further shore a +slumbering El Dorado. The trees in the distant orchard wore bridal +veils, and even Gnulemah's breath was not much sweeter than theirs! + +Emerging arm in arm on the enchanted lawn the lovers turned southwards +up the winding avenue. The fragrance, the light and warmth, the bird +and insect voices, imperfectly expressed their own heart-happiness. +The living turf softly pressed up their feet. This was the fortunate +hour that comes not twice. Happy those to whom it comes at all! To +live was such full bliss, every new movement overflowed the cup. Joy +was it to look on earth and sky; but to behold each other was heaven! +More life in a moment such as this, than in twenty years of scheming +more successful than Manetho's. + +They followed the same path Helen had walked the eve of her death; and +presently arrived at the old bench. Shadow and sunshine wrestled +playfully over it, while the green blood of the leaves overhead glowed +vividly against the blue. Around the bench the grass grew taller, as +on a grave; and crisp lichens, gray and brown, overspread its surface. +Man had neglected it so long that Nature, overcoming her diffidence +towards his handiwork, had at length claimed it for her own. + +The glade was full of great golden dandelions, whose soft yellow +crowns were almost too heavy for the slender necks. The prince and +princess of the fairy-tale paused here, recognizing the spot as the +most beautiful on earth,--albeit only since their love's arrival. They +seated themselves not on the bench, but on the yet more primitive +grass beside it. They had not spoken as yet. Balder plucked some +dandelions, and proceeded to twist them into a chain; and Gnulemah, +after watching him for a while followed his example. + +"You and I have sat on the grass and woven such chains before," +asserted she at length. "When was it?" + +"I haven't done such a thing since I was a child not much taller than +a dandelion," returned Balder. He was not ethereal enough to follow +Gnulemah in her apparently fanciful flight, else might he have lighted +on a discovery to which all the good sense and logic in the world +would not have brought him. + +"Yes; we have made these chains before!" reiterated Gnulemah, looking +at her companion in a preoccupied manner. "They were to have chained +us together forever." + +"We should have made them of stronger stuff then. But which of us +broke the chain?" + +"They took us away from each other, and it was never finished. Do you +remember nothing?" + +"The present is enough for me," said her lover; and he finished his +necklace with a handsome clasp of blossoms, and threw it over her +neck. She gave a low sigh of satisfaction. + +"I have been waiting for it ever since that time! And here is mine for +you." + +Thus adorned by each other's hands, their love seemed greater than +before, and they laughed from pure delight. Their bonds looked +fragile; yet it would need a stronger wrench to part them than had +they been cables of iron or gold, unsustained by the subtile might of +love. + +"Let us link them together," proposed Balder; and, loosening a link of +his chain, he reunited it inside Gnulemah's. "We must keep together," +he continued with a smile, "or the marriage-bonds will break." + +"Is this marriage, Balder? to be tied together with flowers?" + +"One part of marriage. It shows the world that we belong only to each +other." + +"How could they help knowing that,--for to whom else could we +belong? besides, why should they know?" + +"Because," answered Balder after some consideration, "the world is +made in such a way, that unless we record all we do by some visible +symbol, everything would get into confusion." + +"No no," protested Gnulemah, earnestly. "Only God should know how we +love. Must the world know our words and thoughts, and how we have sat +beneath these trees?--Then let us not be married!" + +They were leaning side to side against the bench, along whose edge +Balder had stretched an arm to cushion Gnulemah's head. As he turned +to look at her, a dash of sunlight was quivering on her clear smooth +cheek, and another ventured to nestle warmly below the head of the +guardian serpent on her bosom, for Gnulemah and the sun had been +lovers long before Balder's appearance. Where breathed such another +woman? From the low turban that pressed her hair to the bright sandals +on her fine bronze feet, there was no fault, save her very uniqueness. +She belonged not to this era, but to the Golden Age, past or to come. +Could she ever be conformed to the world of to-day? Dared her lover +assume the responsibility of revealing to this noble soul all the +meanness, sophistries, little pleasures, and low aims of this +imperfect age? Could he change the world to suit her needs? or endure +to see her change to suit the world? Moreover, changing so much, might +she not change towards him? The Balder she loved was a grander man +than any Balder knew. Might she not learn to abhor the hand which +should unveil to her the Gorgon features of fallen humanity?--Much has +man lost in losing Paradise! + +Contemplating Gnulemah's entrance into the outer world, Manetho had +anticipated her ruin from the flowering of the evil seed which he +believed himself to have planted in her. Might not the same result +issue from a precisely opposite cause? The Arcadian fashion in which +the lovers' passion had ripened must soon change forever. It was +perilous to advance, but to retreat was impossible. Balder was at bay; +had he loved Gnulemah less, he would have regretted Charon's +ferry-boat. But his love was greater for the danger and difficulty +wherewith it was fraught. He could not summon the millennium; well, he +might improve himself. + +"If I could but shut her glorious eyes to all the shabby littleness +they will have to see, we might hazard the rest," he sighed to +himself. "If the pure visions of her maiden years might veil from her +those gross realities of every-day life! With what face shall I meet +her glance after it has suffered the first shock?" + +Meanwhile her last objection remained unanswered, and Balder, +distrustful of his capacity, was inspired to seek inspiration from her +he would instruct. + +"Tell me how you love me, Gnulemah," said he. + +She roused herself, and bending her face to his, breathlessly kissed +his lips. Then she drooped her warm cheek on his shoulder, and +whispered the rest:-- + +"My love is to be near you, and to breathe when breathe; it is love to +become you, as water becomes wave. And love would make me sweet to +you, as honey and music and flowers. I love to be needed by you, as +you need food and drink and sleep; and my love will be loved, as God +loves the world." + +To the lover these sentences were tender and sublime poetry. The tears +came to his eyes, hearing her speak out her loving soul so simply. He +had travelled through the world, while she had lived her life between +a wall and a precipice. But not the noisy, gaudy, gloomy crust which +is fresh to-day, and to-morrow hardens, and the next day crumbles, is +the world; but the fire-globe within: and Gnulemah was nearer that +fire than Balder. There was puissance in her simplicity,--in her +ignorance of that crust which he had so widely studied. Her knowledge +was more profound than his, for she had never learned to stultify it +with reasons. + +"It is true,--God only can know our love," said Balder, and, having +said it, he felt his mind clear and strengthen. For it is the +acknowledgment of God that lends the deepest seeing to the eye, and +tunes the universe to man; and Balder, at this moment of mingled love, +humility, and fear, made and confessed that supreme discovery.--"Only +He knows what our love is, but the marriage-rite informs the world +that He knows it." + +"But why must the world know?" persisted Gnulemah, still seeming to +shrink at the idea. + +"Because it is wholesome for all men to know that we have made God +party to our union. That our love may be pure and immortal, we must +look through each other to Him; the acknowledgment will keep others as +well as ourselves from misusing love's happiness." + +"Then, after we have knelt together before Him, we shall be no longer +two, but one!" Gnulemah spoke, after some pause, in a full tone of +joy; yet her voice shrank at the last, from the feeling that she had +penetrated all at once to a holy place. A delicious fear seized her, +and she clung to her lover so that he could perceive the tremor that +agitated her. + +No more was said. Their confidence was in each other; with Balder at +her side, Gnulemah was fearful of the world no longer. But her visions +were all spiritual; even the kisses on her lips were to her a sacred +miracle! Love makes children of men and women,--shows them the wisdom +of unreason and the value of soap-bubbles. These lovers must meet the +world, but the light and freshness of the Golden Age should accompany +them. The man held the maiden's hand, and so faced the future with a +smile. + +Few as were the hours since they first had seen each other, it seemed +as though they could hardly know each other better; then why put off +the consummation a single hour? Manetho had been right, and Balder +marvelled at having required the spur. He knew of no material +hindrances; unlimited resources would be his, and these would render +easier Gnulemah's introduction to society. Perhaps (for doubtless +Manetho would desire it) they might begin housekeeping in this very +house, and thus, by gradual approaches, make their way to life's +realities,--vulgarly so called! + +At this moment, Balder's respect for wealth was many fold greater than +ever it had been before. It should be the sword and shield wherewith +he would protect the woman of his heart. Gnulemah was not of the kind +who need the discipline of poverty; her beauty and goodness would be +best nurtured beneath an affluent sun. Wants and inconveniences would +rather pain and mystify than educate her. How good was that God who +had vouchsafed not only the blessing, but the means of enjoying it! + +God gave Balder Helwyse opportunity to prove the soundness of his +faith. Labor and poverty awaited him; what else and worse let time +show. In anguish, fear, and humiliation had his love been born, but +the birth-pangs had been as brief as they were intense. A brave soul's +metal is more severely tried by crawling years of monotonous effort, +discord of must with wish, and secret self-suppression and misgiving. +Happily life is so ordered that no blow can crush unless dealt from +within, nor is any sunshine worth having that shines only from +without. + +Balder's eyes were softer than their wont, and there was a tender and +sweet expression about his mouth. Never had life been so inestimable a +blessing,--never had nature looked so divinely alive. He could imagine +nothing gloomy or forbidding; in darkness's self he would have found +germs of light. His love was a panoply against ill of mind or body. He +thought he perceived, once for all, the insanity of selfishness and +sin. + +Suddenly he was conscious through Gnulemah of the same shiver that had +visited her in the conservatory that morning. Looking round, he was +startled to see, beyond the near benison of her sumptuous face, the +tall form of the Egyptian priest. He was not a dozen yards away, +advancing slowly towards them. Balder sprang up. + +"Our chain,--you have broken it!" exclaimed Gnulemah. It was only a +flower chain, but flowers are the bloom and luxury of life. + +Manetho came up with a smile. + +"Come, my children!" said he. "This chain would soon have faded and +fallen apart of itself, but the chain I will forge you is stronger +than time and weightier than dandelions. Come!" + +Gnulemah picked up the broken links, and they followed him to the +house. + + + + +XXXI. + +MARRIED. + + +The significant part of most life histories is the record of a few +detached hours, the rest being consequence and preparation. Helwyse +had lived in constant mental and physical activity from childhood up; +but though he had speculated much, and ever sought to prove the truth +by practice, yet he had failed to create adequate emergencies, and was +like an untried sword, polished and keen, but lacking still the one +stern proof of use. + +Thus, although a man of the world, in a deeper sense he was untouched +by it. He had been the sentimental spectator of a drama wherein some +shadow of himself seemed to act. The mimic scenes had sometimes moved +him to laughter or to tears, but he had never quite lost the suspicion +of an unreality under all. The best end had been--in a large +sense--beauty. Beauty of love, of goodness, of strength, of +wisdom,--beauty of every kind and degree, but nothing better! Beauty +was the end rather than the trait of all desirable things. To have +power was beautiful, and beautiful was the death that opened the way +to freer and wider power. Most beautiful was Almightiness; yet, +lapsing thence, it was beautiful to begin the round again in fresh, +new forms. + +This kind of spider-webs cannot outlast the suns and snows. Personal +passion disgusts one with brain-spun systems of the universe, and may +even lead to a mistrust of mathematics! One feels the overwhelming +power of other than intellectual interests; and discovers in himself a +hitherto unsuspected universe, profound as the mystery of God, where +the cockle-shell of mental attainments is lost like an asteroid in the +abyss of space. + +What is the mind?--A little window, through which to gaze out upon the +vast heart-world: a window whose crooked and clouded pane we may +diligently clean and enlarge day by day; but, too often, the deep view +beyond is mistaken for a picture painted on the glass and limited by +its sash! Let the window by all means expand till the darksome house +be transformed to a crystal palace! but shall homage be paid the +crystal? Of what value were its transparency, had God not built the +heavens and the earth?-- + +Though Helwyse had failed to touch the core of life, and to recognize +the awful truth of its mysteries, he had not been conscious of +failure. On the contrary he had become disposed to the belief that he +was a being apart from the mass of men and above them: one who could +see round and through human plans and passions; could even be separate +from himself, and yield to folly with one hand, while the other jotted +down the moral of the spectacle. He was calm in the conviction that he +could measure and calculate the universe, and draw its plan in his +commonplace book. God was his elder brother,--himself in some distant +but attainable condition. He matched finity against the Infinite, and +thereby cast away man's dearest hope,--that of eternal progress +towards the image of Divine perfection. + +Once, however, the bow had smitten his heart-strings with a new result +of sound, awakening fresh ideas of harmony. When Thor was swept to +death by that Baltic wave, Balder leapt after him, hopeless to save, +but without demur! The sea hurled him back alone. For many a month +thereafter, strange lights and shadows flashed or gloomed across his +sky, and sounds from unknown abysses disquieted him. But all was not +quite enough; perhaps he was hewn from too stanch materials lightly to +change. Yet the sudden shock of his loss left its mark: the props of +self-confidence were a little unsettled; and the events whose course +we have traced were therefore able to shake them down. + +For Destiny rained her sharpest blows on Balder Helwyse all at once, +and the attack marks the turning-point of his life. She chose her +weapons wisely. He was beaten by tactics which a coarser and shallower +nature would have slighted. He sustained the onslaught for the most +part with outward composure,--but bleeding inwardly. + +His had been a vast egoism, rooted in his nature and trained by his +philosophy. It must die, if at all, violently, painfully, and--in +silence. The truer and more constant the soul, the more complete the +destruction of its idol. Character is not always the slow growth of +years: often do the elements mingle long in formless solution; some +sudden jar causes them to spring at once to the definite crystal. +There had, hitherto, been a kind of impersonality about Balder, having +its ultimate ground in his blindness to the immutable unity of God. +But so soon as his eye became single, he stood pronounced in his +individuality, less broadly indifferent than of yore, but organized +and firm. + +In this inert world the body pursues but imperfectly the processes of +the soul. These three days had made small change in Helwyse's face. +His expression was less serene than of yore, but pithier as well as +more joyful. The humorous indifference had given place to a kindlier +humanity. Gone was the glance half satiric, half sympathetic; but in +its stead was something warmer and more earnest. For the charity of +scepticism was substituted a sentiment less broad, but deeper and +truer. It would need an insight supernaturally keen to detect thus +early these alterations in the page of Balder's countenance; but their +germs are there, to develop afterwards. + +During this pause in our narrative, Helwyse was sitting at his chamber +window, awaiting the summons to the ceremony. The afternoon was far +advanced, and the landscape lay breathless beneath the golden burden +of the lavish sun. The bridegroom rose to his feet; surely the bride +must be ready! Was that strange old Nurse delaying her? Did she +herself procrastinate? Balder was waxing impatient! + +The clear outcry of the hoopoe startled the calm air, and that good +little messenger came fluttering in haste to the window. Bound its +neck was twined a golden dandelion,--Gnulemah's love-token! With a +knowing upturn of its bright little eye, the bird submitted to being +robbed of its decoration; then warbled a keen good-by, and flew away. + +The lover behaved as foolishly towards the dandelion as a lover +should. At last he drew the stem through the button-hole of his +velveteen jacket, and was ready to answer in person the shy invitation +it conveyed. The bride waited! + +His hand was on the latch, when some one knocked. He threw open the +door,--and had to look twice before recognizing Nurse. Her dingy +anomalous drapery had been exchanged for another sort of costume. Her +scars strove to be hidden beneath the yellow lace and crumpled +feathers of an antique head-dress. She wore a satin gown of an old +fashion, whose pristine whiteness was much impaired by time. An aged +fan, ragged, but of tasteful pattern, dangled at her wrist. She +resembled some forgotten Ginevra, reappearing after an age's seclusion +in the oaken chest. Her aspect was painfully repellent, the more for +this pathetic attempt at good looks. The former unlovely garb had a +sort of fitness to the blasted features; but so soon as she forsook +that uncanny harmony and tried to be like other women, she became +undesirably conspicuous. + +"The bridesmaid!" came to Balder's lips,--but did not pass them. He +would not hurt the poor creature's feelings by the betrayal of +surprise or amusement. She was a woman,--and Gnulemah was no more. +According to his love for his wife, must he be tender and gentle +towards her sex. + +When, therefore, Nurse gave him to understand that she was to marshal +him to the altar, Balder, never more heroic than at that moment, +offered her his arm, which she accepted with an air of scarecrow +gentility. Either the change of costume had struck in, or it was the +symbol of inward change. She seemed struggling against her torpor, her +dimness and deadness. She tried, perhaps, to recall the day when that +dress was first put on,--the day of Helen's marriage, when Salome had +attended her mistress to the altar,--when she hoped before many weeks +to stand at an altar on her own account.--Not yet, Salome, nor in this +world. Perchance not in another; for they who maim their earthly lives +may not enjoy in heaven the happiness whose seed was not planted here. +The injury is justly irreparable; else had angels been immediately +created. + +But Salome was practising deception on herself. Airs and graces which +might have suited a coquettish lady's-maid, but were in her a ghastly +absurdity, did she revive and perpetrate. Struggling to repress the +ugly truth, she was in continual dread of exposure. Fain would she +dream for an hour of youth and beauty, knowing, yet veiling the +knowledge, that it was a dream. Divining her desire, Balder helped out +the masquerade as best he might. She was thankfully aware of his +kindness, yet shunned acknowledgment, as a too bare betrayal of the +cause of thanks. + +As they passed a cracked cheval-glass in an intervening room, the +bridesmaid stole a glance at her reflection, flirting her fan and +giving an imposing whisk to the train of her gown. Helwyse, whom, +three days before, this behavior would simply have amused, felt only +pitying sympathy to-day. Gnulemah was always before him, and charmed +his eyes and thoughts even to the hag on his arm. He brought himself +to address courteous and pleasant remarks to his companion, and to +meet unwincingly her one-eyed glance; and was as gallant as though her +pretence had been truth. + +On entering the conservatory, Nurse seemed as much agitated as though +she, instead of Gnulemah, were to be chief actress in the coming +ceremony. At the Sphinx door she relinquished Balder's arm, and, +hurrying across the conservatory, vanished behind Gnulemah's curtain. +As she passed out of sight she threw a parting glance over her +shoulder. The action recalled Gnulemah's backward look of the day +previous, when she had fled at the sound of the closing door. What +ugly fatality suggested so fantastic a parallel between this creature +and Balder's future wife! + +He entered the temple, which glowed and sparkled like a sombre gem. +Many-colored lamps were hung on wires passing round the hall from +pillar to massive pillar. Their glare defined the strange character of +the Egyptian architecture and ornament; nevertheless, the place looked +less real and substantial than in the morning. It seemed the +impalpable creation of an enchanter, which his wand would anon +dissolve into air once more! + +On each side the door sat a statue of polished red granite, with calm +regular face and hands on knees. Helwyse, who had not observed them +before, fancied them summoned as witnesses to the compact then to be +solemnized. Doubtless they had witnessed ceremonies not less solemn or +imposing. + +On the black marble altar at the further end of the hall was burning +some rich incense, whose perfumed smoke, clambering heavily upwards, +mingled with that of the lamps beneath the ceiling. On the polished +floor, in front, lay a rug of dark blue cloth, heavily bordered with +gold; upon it were represented in conscientious profile a number of +lank-limbed Egyptians performing some mystic rite. To the right of the +altar stood the priest Manetho, apparently engaged in prayer. Balder +spoke to him. + +"This is more like a tomb than a wedding hall. Would not the +conservatory have been more fitting?" + +"Better make a tomb the starting-point of marriage than its goal!" +smiled the holy man. "And is it not well that your posterity should +begin from the spot which saw the union that gave you being? and +beneath the eyes of him but for whom neither this hall nor we who here +assemble would to-day have existed!" He pointed to the mummy of old +Hiero Glyphic, the aspect of which might have left a bad taste in the +mouth of Joy herself. Balder shrugged his shoulders. + +"It matters little, perhaps, where the seed is sown, so that the +flower reach the sunshine at last. But your mummy is an ill-favored +wedding-guest, whatever honor we may owe the man who once lived in it. +I would, not have Gnulemah--" + +"Behold her!" interrupted Manetho, speaking as hough a handful of dust +had suddenly got in his throat. + +Yes, there she came, the old Nurse following her like a misshapen +shadow. Daughter of sun and moon,--a modern Pandora endowed with the +strength of a loftier nature! She was robed in creamy white; her +pendants were woven pearls. Fine lines of virgin gold gleamed in her +turban, and through her long veil, and along the folds of her girdle. +But the serpent necklace had been replaced by the dandelion chain that +Balder had made her. Her lips and cheeks were daintily aflame, and a +tender fire flickered in her eyes, which saw only Balder. She was a +bridal song such as had not been sung since Solomon. + +As the two reached the altar, Salome stepped to one side, and +Manetho's eye fell upon her; for a moment his gaze fixed, while a +slight movement undulated through his body, as the wave travels along +the cord. The old white dress, unseen for five-and-twenty years; some +intangible trick of motion or attitude in the wearer; the occasion and +circumstance recurring with such near similarity,--these and perhaps +other trifles combined to recall long-vanished Salome. She had stood +at that other wedding, just where Nurse was now,--bright, shapely, +sparkling-eyed, full of love for him. What a grisly contrast was +this!--Why had he thrown away that ardent, loving heart? How sweet and +comfortable might life have been to-day, with Salome his wife, and +sons and daughters at her side,--daughters beautiful as Gnulemah, sons +tall as Balder! But Hatred had been his chosen mistress, and dismal +was the progeny begotten on her! The pregnant existence that might +have been his, and the scars and barrenness which had actually +redounded to him, were symbolized in the remembered Salome and her of +to-day. + +The brief reminiscence passed, leaving Manetho face to face with his +sacred duty. With the warning of the past in his ears and that of the +future before his eyes, did he step unrelenting across the threshold +of his crime? At all events he neither hesitated nor turned back. But +there was no triumph in his eyes, and his tones and manner were heavy +and mechanical; as though the Devil (having brought him thus far with +his own consent and knowledge) had now to compel a frozen soul in a +senseless body! + +The service began, none the less hallowed for the lovers, because for +Manetho it was the solemn perversion of a sacred ceremony. His voice +labored through the perfumed air, and recoiled in broken echoes from +gloomy corners and deep-tinted walls. The encircling lamps glowed in +serried lines of various light; the fantastic incense-flame rustled +softly on the altar. The four figures seemed a group of phantoms,--a +momentary rich illusion of the eye. And save for their viewless souls, +what were they more? Earth is a phantom; but what we cannot grasp is +real and remains!-- + +The rite was over, the diamond gleamed from Gnulemah's finger, and the +priest with uplifted hands had bade man not part whom God had united. +Husband and wife gazed at each other with freshness and wonder in +their eyes; as having expected to see some change, and anew delighted +at finding more of themselves than ever! + +Male and female pervades the universe, and marriage is the end and +fulfilment of creation. God has builded the world of love and wisdom, +woman and man; truly to live they must unite, she yielding herself to +his form, he moulding himself of her substance. As love unquickened by +wisdom is barren, and knowledge impotent unkindled by affection, so +are the unmarried lifeless. + +Ill and bitter was it, therefore, for Manetho and Salome, after the +married ones had departed, taking their happiness with them. The +priest's, eyes were dry and dull, as he leaned wearily against the +smoking altar. + +"You did not speak!" he said to the woman; "you saw her betrayed to +ruin and pollution, and spoke not to save her!--Dumb? the dead might +have moved their tongues in such need as this! She will abhor and +curse me forever! may you share her curse weighted with mine!--O +Gnulemah!"-- + +Salome cowered and trembled in her satin dress, beneath the burden of +that heavy anathema. She had risen that day determined to reveal the +secret of her life before night. She had been awaiting a favorable +moment, but opportunity or decision still had failed her. +Nevertheless, another morning should not find her the same nameless, +forsaken creature that she was now.--Manetho had bowed his face upon +the altar, and so remained without movement. With one hand fumbling at +the bosom of her dress--(the scar of her lover's blow should be the +talisman to recall his allegiance),--Salome made bold to approach him +and timidly touch his arm. + +"Unhand me! whatever you are,--devil! my time is not yet come!" + +He raised a threatening arm, with a gleam of mad ferocity beneath his +brows. But the woman did not shrink; the man was her god, and she +preferred death at his hands to life without him. Ignorant of the +cause of her firmness, it seemed to cow him. He slunk behind the +altar, hurriedly unlocked the secret door, and let himself into the +study. His haste had left the key in the lock outside. The door +slammed together, the spring-bolt caught, and the swathed head of old +Hiero Glyphic shook as though the cold of twenty winters had come on +him at once. + + + + +XXXII. + +SHUT IN. + + +Left alone, Salome was taken with a panic; she fancied herself +deserted in a giant tomb, with dead men gathering about her. She +herself was in truth the grisliest spectre there, in her white satin +gown and feathers, and the horror of her hideous face. But she took to +flight, and the key remained unnoticed in the lock. + +We, however, must spend an hour with Manetho in his narrow and +prison-like retreat. There is less day and more night between these +high-shouldered walls than elsewhere; for though the sun is scarce +below the horizon, cobwebs seem to pervade the air, making the evening +gray before its time. Yonder seated figure is the nucleus of the +gloom. The room were less dark and oppressive, but for him! + +Does he mean to spend the night here? He sits at ease, as one who, +having labored the day long hard and honestly, finds repose at sundown +grateful. Such calm of mind and body argues inward peace--or +paralysis! + +But Manetho has food for meditation, for his work is still +incomplete. Ah, it has been but a sour and anxious work after all! +when it is finished, let death come, since Death-in-life will be the +sole alternative. Yet will death bring rest to your weariness, think +you? Would not Death's eyes look kindlier on you, if you had used more +worthily Death's brother,--Life? What would you give, Manetho, to see +all that you have done undone? if to undo it were possible! + +One picture is ever before you,--you see it wherever you look, and +whether your eyes be shut or open,--two loving souls, standing hand in +hand before you to be married. How happy they look! how nobly +confident is their affection! with what clear freedom their eyes sound +one another's depths! Neither cares to have a thought or feeling +unshared by the other.--What have you done, Manetho?--shall the deed +stand? O dark and distorted soul! the minutes are slipping fast away, +and you are slipping with them to a black eternity. Will you stir hand +nor foot to save yourself, to break your fall? not raise your voice, +for once to speak the truth? Even yet the truth may save!-- + +The night of your life will this be, Manetho. Will you dream of those +whose few hours of bliss will stamp Forever on the seal of your +damnation? Think,--through what interminable æons the weight of their +just curse will pile itself higher and heavier on your miserable +soul! Fain would you doubt the truth of immortality: but the power of +unbelief is gone; devil-like, you believe and tremble. And where is +the reward which should recompense you for this large outlay? Does the +honey of your long-awaited triumph offend your lips like gall?--Then +woe for him whose morning dreams of vengeance become realities in the +evening!-- + +How stands it between you and Gnulemah, Manetho? She has never loved +you ardently, perhaps; but how will you face her hatred? It is late to +be asking such questions,--but has not her temperate affection been +your most precious possession? have you not yearned and labored for +it? have you not loved her with more than a father's tenderness? Under +mask of planning her ruin, have not all the softer and better impulses +of your nature found exercise and sustenance? Conceiving a devil, have +you brought forth an angel, and unawares tasted angelic joy?--If this +be true, Manetho, your guilty purpose towards her is not excused, but +how much more awful becomes the contemplation of her fate! Rouse up! +sluggard, rush forth! you may save her yet. Up! would you risk the +salvation of three souls to glut a meaningless spite? You have been +fighting shadows with a shadow. Up!--it is the last appeal.-- + +You stir,--get stiffly to your feet,--put hand to forehead,--stare +around. The twilight has deepened apace; only by glancing upwards can +you distinguish a definite light. You are uncertain and lethargic in +your movements, as though the dawning in you of a worthy resolution +had impaired the evil principle of your vitality. You are as a man +nourished on poison, who suddenly tastes an antidote,--and finds it +fatal! + +You halt towards the door and put forth a hand to open it. You will +save Gnulemah; her innocence will save her from the knowledge of her +loss. As for Balder,--his suffering will satisfy a reasonable enemy. +No wife, no fortune, the cup dashed from his lips just as the aroma +was ravishing his nostrils!--O, enough! Open the door, therefore, and +go forth. + +In your magnanimity you feel for the key, but it is not in its +accustomed place. Try your pockets; still in vain! Startled, you turn +to the table, and feel carefully over it from end to end. You raise +the heavy chair like a feather, and shake it bottom downwards. Nothing +falls. You are down on your knees groping affrighted amongst the dust +and rubbish of the floor. The key is lost! You spring up,--briskly +enough now,--and stand with your long fingers working against one +another, trying to think. That key,--where had you it last?-- + +A blank whirl is your memory,--nothing stands clearly out. How came +you here? With whom did you speak just now? What was said?--Two +persons there seemed to be, oddly combined in one,--most unfamiliar in +their familiarity. Or was it your evil genius, Manetho? who by +devilish artifice has at this last hour shut the door against your +first good impulse; locked the door against soul and body; shut you in +and carried off the key of your salvation. + +Do not give way yet; review your situation carefully.--Your voice +would be inaudible through these massive walls, were the listener but +a yard away.--Be quick with your thinking, for the unmitigable minutes +are dying fast and forever.--Were it known that you were here, could +you be got out? No, for the secret of the door is known only to +yourself. Those who once shared the knowledge with you are dead, or +many years gone! Your evil genius no doubt knows it, and all your +secrets; but dream not that she will liberate you. She has been +awaiting this opportunity. You shall remain here to-night and many +nights. Your bones shall lie gaunt on this cobwebbed floor. Only the +daily sunbeam shall know of your tomb. And Gnulemah?... + +Your knees falter beneath you, and you sink in wretched tears to the +floor,--tears that bring no drop of comfort. To be shut up alone with +a soul like yours, at the moment when the sin so long tampered with +has escaped your control, and is pitilessly doing its devilish work +on the other side your prison-walls, near, yet inaccessible,--who can +measure the horror of it? Till now you have made your will the law of +right and wrong, and read your life by no higher light than your own. +You read it otherwise to-night, lying here helpless and alone. That +lost key has unlocked the fair front of your complacency and revealed +the wizened deformity behind it. You have been insane; but the anguish +that would craze a sane man clears the mist from your reason. You +behold the truth at last; but as the drowning man sees the ship pass +on and leave him. + +But we care not to watch too curiously the writhings of your +imprisoned soul, Manetho; the less, because we doubt whether the agony +will be of benefit to you. Forgiveness of enemies is perhaps beyond +your scope; even your rage to save Gnulemah was kindled chiefly by +your impotence to do so. God forbid we do you less than justice! but +hope seems dim for such as you; nor will a death-bed repentance, +however sincere, avail to wipe away the sins of a lifetime. Jealousy +of Balder, rather than desire for Gnulemah's eternal weal, awoke your +conscience. For the thought of their spending life in happy ignorance +of their true relationship inflames--does not allay--your agony! + +Your womanish outburst of despairing tears over, a hot fever of +restlessness besets you. The space is narrow for disquiet such as +yours,--you hunt up and down the strip of floor like a caged beast. No +way out,--no way out!--Face to face with lingering death, why not +hasten it? No moral scruple withholds you. Yet will you not die by +your own hand. Through all your suffering you will cling to life and +worship it. Never will you open your arms to death,--which seems to +you no grave, compassionate angel, but a malignant fiend lying in +ambush for your soul. And such a fiend will your death be; for to all +men death is the reflection of their life in the mind's mirror.--Still +to and fro you fare, a moving shadow through a narrow gloom, walled in +with stone. + +Awful is this unnatural sanity of intellect: it is like the calm in +the whirlwind's centre, where the waves run higher though the air is +deadly still, and the surly mariner wishes the mad wind back +again.--To and fro you flit, goaded on and strengthened by untiring +anguish. You are but the body of a man; your thought and emotion are +abroad, haunting the unconscious, happy lovers!-- + +Suddenly you stop short in your blind walk, throw up your arms, and +break into an irrepressible chuckle. Has your brain given way at +last?--No, your laugh is the outcome of a genuine revulsion of +feeling, intense but legitimate. What is the cause of it?--You plunge +into the rubbish-heap at one end of the room, and grasp and draw +forth the rickety old ladder which has been lying there these twenty +years. You have seen it almost daily, poking out amidst the cobwebs, +and probably for that very reason have so long failed to perceive that +it was susceptible of a better use than to be food for worms. You set +it upright against the wall; its top round falls three feet below the +horizontal aperture. Enough, if you tread with care. Narrow, steep, +and rickety is the path to deliverance; but up! for your time is +short. + +Upward, with cautious eagerness! The ladder is warped and rests +unevenly, and once or twice a round cracks beneath the down-pressing +foot; the thing is all unsound and might fall to pieces at any moment. +However, the top is gained, and your nervous hands are on the sill at +last. Easing yourself a little higher, you look forth on the world +once more. + +Not so late after all! Red still lingers along the western horizon, +but against it is mounting and expanding a black cloud, glancing ever +and anon with dangerous lightning. In a clear sky-lake above the +cloud, steadily burns a planet. The gentle twilight rests lovingly on +earth's warm bosom-- + +Hark! look! what moves yonder beneath the trees?-- + +Your parched, eager face strained forwards, your hungry eyes eating +through the gloom,--see emerge from the avenue two figures, sauntering +lover-like side to side! How forgetful of the world they seem! Little +think they of you, of the rack on which you have been outstretched. +But their hour has come. This moment shall be their last of +peace,--their last of happy love. + + * * * * * + +--What sound was that?--Was it a yell of triumph,--a shout for +help,--a scream of terror?--It does not come again; but the silence is +more terrible than the cry. + + + + +XXXIII. + +THE BLACK CLOUD. + + +"Hiero,--it was his voice!" said Gnulemah. She looked in her lover's +face, trusting to his wisdom and strength. She rested her courage on +his, but her eyes stirred him like a trumpet-call. The burden of that +cry had been calamity. Love is protean, makes but a step from +dalliance to grandeur. Balder, no longer a sentimental bridegroom, +stood forth ready, brief, energetic,--but more a lover than before! + +The voice had at the first moment sounded startlingly clear, then it +had seemed distant and muffled. As Helwyse swiftly skirted the granite +wall of the temple, his mind was busy with conjecture; but he failed +to hit upon any reasonable explanation. The cry had come from the +direction of the temple, and had he known of the existence of the +apertures through the masonry, he might partly have solved the +mystery. As it was, he thought only of getting inside, feeling sure +that, explainably or not, Manetho must be there. + +In the oaken hall he met Nurse, who had also heard the cry, but knew +not whence it proceeded. + +"In the temple, I think," said Helwyse, answering her agitated +gesture. + +The clew was sufficient; she sped along towards the door whence she +had so lately fled panic-stricken, Helwyse following. Beneath the +solemn excitement and perplexity, lay warm and secure in his heart the +thought of Gnulemah,--his wife. Blessed thought! which the whips and +scorns of time should make but more tenderly dear and precious. + +As he breathed the incense-laden air of the temple, Balder's face grew +stern. At each step he thought to see death in some ghastly form. In +the joy of this his marriage night he had wished all the world might +have rejoiced with him; but already was calamity abroad. Birth and +death, love and hate, happiness and woe, are borne on every human +breath, and mingled with daily meat and drink. So be it!--They were +parodies of humanity who should live on a purer diet or inhale a rarer +atmosphere. + +All the lights in the great hall, except the altar lamp, were burnt +out, and the place was very dusky. Nurse went straight towards the +secret door, looking neither to the right nor left; while Helwyse, who +did not suspect its existence, was prying into each dark nook and +corner. An inarticulate exclamation from the woman arrested him. She +was standing behind the altar, close to the clock. As he approached +she pointed to the wall. She had found the key in the lock, but dared +not be first to brave the sight of what might be within. She appealed +to the strength of the man, yet with a morbid jealousy of his +precedence. + +Helywse saw the key, and, turning it, the seeming-solid wall disclosed +a door, opening outwards, a single slab of massive granite. Within all +was dark, and there was no sound. Was anything there? + +He looked round to address Nurse, but her appearance checked him. She +was staring into the darkness; he could feel her one-eyed glance pass +him, fastening on something beyond. He moved to let the lamplight +enter the doorway; and then in the illuminated square that fell on the +floor he saw Manetho's upturned face. The fallen priest lay with one +arm doubled under him, the other thrown across his breast. Nurse +stared at her broken idol, motionless, with stertorous breathing. + +But was Manetho dead? Helwyse, the physician, stepped across the +threshold, and stooped to examine the body. The dumb creature followed +and lay down, animal-like, close beside the deity of her worship. +Presently the physician said,-- + +"There's life in him, but he's hurt internally. We must find a way to +move him from here." + +"Life!"--the woman heard, nor cared for more. Her dry fixedness gave +way with a gasp, and she broke into hysteric tears, rocking herself +backwards and forwards, crooning over the insensible body, or stooping +to kiss it. She had no sense nor heed for the lover of her youth. + +"Could such a creature have been his wife? even his mistress?" +questioned Helwyse of himself. But he spoke out sharply:-- + +"You must stop this. He must be revived at once. Go and make ready a +bed, and I will carry him to it." + +As he spoke, a silent shadow fell across the body, and Gnulemah stood +in the doorway. Balder's first impulse was to motion her away from a +spectacle so unsuited to her eyes. But though the shadow made her face +inscrutable, the lines of her figure spoke, and not of weak timidity +or effeminate consternation. Womanly she was,--instinct with that +tender, sensitive power, the marvellous gift of God to woman only, +which almost moves the sick man to bless his sickness. A holy +gift,--surely the immediate influx of Christ's spirit. Man knows it +not, albeit when he and woman have become more closely united than +now, he may attain to share the Divine prerogative. Study nor skill +can counterfeit it; but in the true woman it is perfect at the first +appeal as at the last. + +"He shall have my bed," said this young goddess Isis; "it is ready, +and my lamp is burning." + +Balder stooped to uplift his insensible burden. + +"O, not so!--more tenderly than that," she interposed, softly. A +moment's hesitation, and then she unfastened the golden +shoulder-clasp, and shook off her ample mantle. This was Manetho's +litter. + +"I will help you carry him.--Why do you-weep, Nurse? he will awake, or +Balder would have told us." + +Never, since Diana stooped to earth to love Endymion, was seen a +nobler sight than Gnulemah in her simple, clinging tunic, whose heavy +golden hem kissed her polished knee, while her round and clear-cut +arms were left bare. After the first glance, her lover lowered his +eyes, lest he should forget all else in gazing at her. But the blood +mounted silently to his cheeks and burned there. As for her,--she +trusted Balder more freely than herself. + +Manetho was laid gently on the broad robe, and so upraised and borne +forwards; Balder at the head, Gnulemah at the foot. Heavy, heavy is a +lifeless body; but the man had cause to wonder at the woman's fresh +and easy strength. What a contrast was she to the disfigured creature +who hobbled moaning beside the litter, the relaxed hand clutched in +both hers, kissing it again and again with grotesque passion! Yet both +were women, and loved as women love. + +The granite statues sitting serene at the doorway maintained the stony +calm which, only, deserves the name of supernatural. These passed, the +flowery heat of the dim conservatory brought them to Gnulemah's room. +The curtain was looped up and the passage clear. Thus first did the +wedded pair enter what should have been their bridal chamber, and laid +the lifeless body on the nuptial bed. + +A fair, pure room; the clear walls frescoed with graceful wreaths of +floating figures. In the eastern window, through which the earliest +sunbeams loved to fall, stood an alabaster altar; on it a chain of +faded dandelions. The bed was a lovely nest, the lines flowing in long +curves,--a barge of Venus for lovers to voyage to heaven in. On a +table near at hand lay some embroidered work at which Gnulemah's magic +needle had been busy of late. Balder glanced at these things with a +reverence almost timid; and, turning back to what lay so inert and +doltish on the sacred bed, he could not but sigh. + +Every means was employed to rally the Egyptian from his swoon. He bore +no external marks of injury, but there could be no doubt that he had +sustained a terrible shock, and possibly concussion of the brain; the +amount of the internal damages could not yet be estimated.--Meanwhile +the black cloud from the west was muttering drowsily overhead, and an +occasional lightning-flash dulled the mild radiance of the lamp. As +consciousness ebbed back to the patient, the storm increased, and the +trembling roll of heavy thunder drowned the first gasps of returning +life. Had that vast cloud come to shut out his soul from heaven, and +was its mighty voice uttering the sentence of his condemnation? The +air was thick with the inconsolable weeping of the rain, and gusty +sighs of wind drove its cold tear-drops against the window. + +How was it with Manetho?--During the instant after the ladder had +given way and he was rushing through the air and clutching vainly at +the dark void, every faculty had violently expanded, so that he seemed +to see and think at every pore. The next instant his rudely battered +body refused to bear the soul's messages; light and knowledge sank +into bottomless darkness! + + +By and by--for aught he knew it might have been an eternity--a brief +gleam divided the night; then another, and others; he seemed to be +moving through air, upborne on a cloud. He strove to open his eyes, +and caught a glimpse of reeling walls,--of a figure,--figures. A deep +rumbling sound was in his ears, as of the rolling together of chaotic +rocks, gradually subsiding into stillness. + +He felt no pain, only dreamy ease. He was resting softly on a bank of +flowers, in the heart of a summer's day. He was filled with peace and +love, and peace and love were around him. Some one was nestling beside +him; was it not the woman,--the bright-eyed, smiling gypsy with whom +he had plighted troth?--surely it was she. + +"Salome,--Salome, are you here? Touch me,--lay your cheek by mine. +So,--give me your hand. I love you, my pretty pet,--your Manetho loves +you!" + +The slow sentences ended. Nurse had laid her unsightly head beside his +on the pillow, and the two were happy in each other. O piteous, +revolting, solemn sight! Those faces, grief-smitten, old; long ago, in +passionate and lawless youth, they had perchance lain thus and +murmured loving words. And now for a moment they met and loved +again,--while death knocked at their chamber door! + +But Balder had perceived a startling significance in Manetho's words. +He took Gnulemah by the hand and led her to the eastern window. A +flash greeted them, creating a momentary world, which started from the +womb of night, and vanished again before one could say "It is there!" +Then followed a long-drawn, intermittent rumble, as if the fragments +of the spectre world were tumbling avalanche-wise into chaos. + +"I remember now about the dandelions," Balder said. "Was not Nurse +with us then?" + +"Yes," answered Gnulemah; "and it was she and Hiero who took me from +you. But why does he call her Salome? and who is Manetho?" + +Balder did not reply. He leant against the window-frame and gazed out +into the black storm. Knowing what he now did, it required no great +stretch of ingenuity to unravel Manetho's secret.--He turned to +Gnulemah, and, taking her in his arms, kissed her with a defiant kind +of ardor. + +"What is it?" she whispered, clinging to him with a reflex of his own +unspoken emotion. + +"We are safe!--But that man shall not die without hearing the truth," +he added, sternly. + +Again there was a dazzling lightning-flash, and the thunder seemed to +break at their very ears. By a quick, sinuous movement, Gnulemah freed +herself from his arm and looked at him with her grand eyes,--night-black, +lit each with a sparkling star. Her feminine intuition perceived a +change in him, though she could not fathom its cause. It jarred the +fineness of their mutual harmony. + +"Our happiness should make others' greater," said she. + +He looked into her eyes with a gaze so ardent that their lids drooped; +and the tone of his answer, though lover-like, had more of masculine +authority in it than she had yet heard from him. + +"My darling, you do not know what wrong he has done you--and others. +It is only justice that he should learn how God punishes such as he!" + +"Will not God teach him?" said Gnulemah, trembling to oppose the man +she loved, yet by love compelled to do so. + +Balder paused, and looked towards the bed. There was a flickering +smile on Manetho's face; he seemed to be reviving. His injuries were +perhaps not fatal after all. Should he recover, he must sooner or +later receive his so-called punishment; meanwhile, Balder was inclined +to regard himself as the chosen minister of Divine justice. Why not +speak now? + +This was the second occasion that he had held Manetho in his power, at +a time when the Egyptian had been attempting his destruction. In the +previous encounter he had retaliated in kind. Would the bitter issue +of that self-indulgence not make him wary now? Here was again the +murderous lust of power, albeit disguised as love of justice. Had +Balder's penitent suffering failed to teach him the truth of human +brotherhood, and equality before God? Love, typified by Gnulemah, +would fain dissuade him from his purpose: but love (as often happens +when it stands in the way of harsh and ignoble impulses) appeared +foolishly merciful. + +Once again his glance met Gnulemah's,--lingered a moment,--and then +turned away. It was for the last time. At that moment he was less +noble than ever before. But the expression of her eyes he never +forgot; the love, the entreaty, the grandeur,--the sorrow!-- + +He turned away and approached the bedside, while Gnulemah went to +kneel at her maiden altar. Manetho's eyes were closed; his features +wore a singularly childlike expression. In truth, he was but half +himself; the shock he had sustained had paralyzed one part of his +nature. The subtle, evil-plotting Egyptian was dormant; his brain +interpreted nothing save the messages of the heart; only the +affectionate, emotional Manetho was awake. The evil he had done and +the misery of it were forgotten.--All this Balder divined; yet his +assumption of godlike censorship would not permit him to relent. It is +when man deems himself most secure that he falls, in a worse way than +ever. + +"Do you know me, Manetho?" demanded the young man. + +The priest opened his eyes dreamily, and smiled, but made no further +answer. + +"I am Balder Helwyse,--the son of Thor," continued the other, speaking +with incisive deliberation, better to touch the stunned man's +apprehension, "I once had a twin sister. You believe that Gnulemah is +she." + +The priest's features were getting a bewildered, plaintive expression. +Either he was beginning to comprehend the purport of Balder's words, +or else the sternness of the latter's tone and glance agitated him. + +Bader concentrated all his force into the utterance of the final +sentences, vowing to himself that his fallen enemy should understand! +Did he think of Gnulemah then? or of Salome--partly for whose; sake, +he feigned, he had assumed the scourge? + +"My sister died,--was burned to death before she was a year old. In +trying to save her, the nurse almost lost her own life. On that same +night, this nurse gave birth to a daughter,--whose name you have +called Gnulemah. Salome is her mother. Who her father is, Manetho, you +best know!" + +The words were spoken,--but had the culprit heard them? Salome (who +from the first had shrunk back to the head of the bed, beyond the +possible range Manetho's vision) burst into confused hysteric cries. +Gnulemah had risen from her altar and was looking at Balder: he felt +her glance,--but though he told himself that he had done but justice, +he dared not meet it!--He kept his eyes fastened on the pallid +countenance of the Egyptian. The latter's breath came feebly and +irregularly, but the anxious expression was gone, and there was again +the flickering smile. All at once there was an odd, solemn change.-- + +The man was dying. Balder saw it,--saw that his enemy was escaping him +unpunished! There yet remained one stimulant that might rouse him, and +in the passion of the moment this self-appointed lieutenant of the +Almighty applied it. + +"Come forward here, Salome!" cried he; "let him look on the face that +his sins have given you. As there is a God in Heaven, your wrongs +shall be set right!" + +Salome moved to obey; but Gnulemah glided swiftly up and held her +back. Balder stepped imperiously forward to enforce his will. Had he +but answered his wife's eyes even then!--He came forward one step. + +Then burst a thunder-clap like the crashing together of heaven and +earth! At the same instant a blinding, hot glare shut out all sight. +Balder was hurled back against the wall, a shock like the touch of +death in every nerve. + +He staggered up, all unstrung, his teeth chattering. He saw,--not the +lamp, flickering in the draught from the broken window,--not Manetho, +lying motionless with the smile frozen on his lips,--not Salome, +prostrate across the body of him she had worshipped. + +He saw Gnulemah--his wife whom he loved--rise from the altar's step +against which she had been thrown; stand with outstretched arms and +blank, wide-open eyes; grope forwards with outstretched arms and +uncertain feet; grope blindly this way and that, moaning,-- + +"Balder,--Balder,--where are you?" + +Shivering and desperate,--not yet daring for his life to +understand,--he came and stood before her, almost within reach of +those groping hands. + +"I am here,--look at me, Gnulemah!--I am here--your husband!" + +There was a pause. The storm, having spent itself in that last burst, +was rolling heavily away. There was silence in the nuptial chamber, +infringed only by the breathing of the newly married lovers. + +"I hear you, Balder," said Gnulemah at length, tremulously, while her +blank eyes rested on his face, "but I cannot see you. My lamp must +have gone out. Will not you light it for me?"-- + +Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord: I will repay! + + * * * * * + +The storm-cloud moved eastward and was dispersed. Black though had +been its shadow, it endured but for a moment; the echo of its fury +passed away, and its deadly thunderbolt left behind a purer +atmosphere. So sweeps and rages over men's heads the storm of +calamity; and so dissolves, though seeming for the time indissoluble. + +But the distant planet comes forth serene from its brief eclipse, and +as night deepens, bears its steady fire yet more aloft. Like God's +love, its radiance embraces the world, yet forgets not the smallest +flower nor grain of sand. From its high station it beholds the +infinite day surround the night, and knows the good before and beyond +the ill. Great is its hope, for causes are not hidden from its quiet +eternal eye. + +No journal of a life has been our tale; rather a glimpse of a +beginning! We have traversed an alpine pass between the illimitable +lands of Past and Future. We have felt the rock rugged beneath our +feet; have seen the avalanche and mused beside the precipice, and have +taken what relief we might in the scanty greensward, the few flowers, +and the brief sunshine. Now, standing on the farewell promontory, let +us question the magic mirror concerning the further road,--as, before, +of that from the backward horizon hitherwards. + +Mr. MacGentle's quiet little office: himself--more venerable by a year +than when we saw him last--in his chair: opposite him, Dr. Balder +Helwyse. The latter wears a thick yellow beard about six inches in +length, is subdued in dress and manner, and his smile, though genial, +has something of the sadness of autumn sunshine. The two have been +conversing earnestly, and now there is a short silence. + +"We must give up hoping it, then," says Mr. MacGentle at last, in a +more than usually plaintive murmur. "It is hard,--very hard, dear +Balder." + +"Now that I know there is no hope, I can acknowledge the good even +while I feel the hardship. Her dreams have been of a world such as no +real existence could show; to have been awakened would permanently +have saddened her, if no worse. But she is great enough to believe +without seeing; and in the deepest sense, her belief is true. She +still remains in that ideal fairy-land in which I found her; and no +doubt, as time goes on, her visions grow more beautiful!" + +Thus Balder Helwyse, in tones agreeably vigorous, though grave and +low. + +"Yes--yes; and perhaps, dear Balder, the denial of this one great boon +may save her from much indefinite disquiet; and certainly, as you say, +from the great danger of disappointment and its consequences. +Yes,--and you may still keep her lamp alight, with a more lasting than +Promethean fire!--But how is it with you, dear boy?" + +"Let none who love me pray for my temporal prosperity," returns +Helwyse, turning his strong, dark gaze on the other's aged eyes. "I +have met with many worshippers of false gods, but none the germs of +whose sin I found not in myself. The _I_ to whom was confided this +excellent instrument of faculties and senses is a poor, weak, selfish +creature, who fancied his gifts argued the possession of the very +merits whose lack they prove. God, in His infinite mercy, deals +sternly with me; and I know how to thank Him!"-- + +Mr. MacGentle does not reply in words; but a grave smile glimmers in +his faded eyes, and, smiling, he slowly shakes his venerable head. + +One more brief glimpse, and then we are done.-- + +A pleasant parlor of southern aspect, looking through a deep +bay-window over a spacious garden. Here sits a stalwart gentleman of +middle age, with a little boy and girl on either knee, who play +bo-peep with his wide-spreading yellow beard. How they all laugh! and +what a pleasant laugh has the stalwart, dark-eyed gentleman,--so +deep-toned and yet so boyish! But presently all three pause to take +breath. + +"Thor," then says the gentleman, "whose portrait did I tell you that +was?" And he points to an oil-painting hanging over the piano. + +"Grandpapa MacGentle, papa!" + +"What did he do for all of us?" + +As Master Thor hesitates a moment, the little golden-haired lady +breaks in,--"_I_ know, papa! He made uth rich, and gave uth our +houthe, and he thaw me when I wath a wee, wee baby, and then he--he--" + +"He went to Heaven, papa!" says Thor, recovering himself. + +Hereupon there was a silence, because the two children, glancing up in +their father's face, saw that it was grave and thoughtful. + +But suddenly the little girl pricks up her small ears, and scrambles +to the carpet, and sets off for the door at full speed, without a +word. Thor is close behind, but just too late to be first in opening +the door. + +"Mamma! mamma!" + +And Balder Helwyse springs up, and as she enters with the rejoicing +children at each hand, he meets her with the thrilling smile which, in +this world, she will never see! + + + + +THE END. + + + +Cambridge: Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Idolatry, by Julian Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IDOLATRY *** + +***** This file should be named 16283-8.txt or 16283-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/8/16283/ + +Produced by Wright American Fiction, J.N. 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